The library newsletter provides updates on recent events and resources. It summarizes that the soup fundraiser raised $625 for typhoon relief efforts. It also promotes winter reading materials like the Canada Reads contenders and new arrivals. Students are encouraged to participate in reading programs and contests to win prizes and attend literary events. Additionally, the newsletter provides teaching tips and reviews of educational technology tools and apps.

1. Library
News
DEC 2013
NEWSLETTER
Another success with
Great Soup. Perhaps
our best yet. We raised
$625 to send to relief
efforts in the wake of
Typhoon Haiyan.
Happy Holidays... Enjoy your break... Read some good books...
Take home some great winter
reads... suggestions abound!
‘Tis the season... for taking home a
good book and curling up in front of the
fire with a hot cup of mulled cider.
To start off your winter reading,
consider this year’s contenders for
Canada Reads. The five finalists were
announced on November 27th.
Meet the five books, and their
defenders at the Canada Reads website.
We do have copies of all of the books in
the Library. Drop by and pick one up.
The ESA Library has a great
selection of New Arrivals which should
pique just about everyone’s interest.
The Forest of
Reading
You can find out about all of our
New Arrivals at the ESA Library
Pinterest board.
Each Pinterest posting is
accompanied by a (very) brief note, and
at least one link out to a book review.
Try the books on before signing them
out.
If you’ve read a good book lately,
be sure to stop by the Library and tell us
about it.
Fill out a ballot for our Get Excited
About Reading holiday book giveaway.
Ballots will be drawn, and books
awarded, on Thursday December 19th,
in time to take home for the Winter
Break.
Visit the ESA Virtual Library and
submit an entry to Just Read It. We’ve
already had two students win monthly
book prizes so far this year. Help us
bring in a visiting author for free.
Family Literacy Day!
January 27th, 2014. Start
planning for your family activities
now. Information at the Family
Literacy Day website
Check
out the listed events. Events taking
place throughout the month of
January.
Students are invited to join our White Pine Reading Club. Read one or more of this year’s White
Pine books and join in the conversation on our blog and/or at lunch. We kicked off this year’s
White Pine with a visit from author Don Aker last week.
Read at least 5 White Pine books and be eligible to vote for your favourite in April. Students will
also be able to join us, in May, for the Festival of Trees... a Literary Festival designed specifically for
students. Workshop with various authors and learn more about the creative writing process.

2. The Holiday Spirit in the Library.
Other News...
Tidbits that hopefully
will interest someone...
Evernote
I’ve been using Evernote since the
summer and am loving it. No more
notes on little slips of paper to
misplace. Everything I have to do at
my fingertips anytime, anywhere.
EdTech Twitter Chats
Whether you are new to Twitter or an
experienced Twitter type, the folks at
Edudemic have 5 recommendations for
EdTech chat groups. Read about them
at Edudemic.
iPad Tips for Teachers
Enders Game: Media
Literacy
12 Effective Ways to Use
Google Drive in Education
Without reiterating the issues, there has
been something of a media storm that has
accompanied the release of the movie
adaptation of this popular sci-fi novel.
Check out School Library Journal for
suggestions about how to turn the controversy
into a teachable moment.
Check out another great little
infographic, by Susan Oxnevad, chock full of
lots of ideas about how to incorporate
Google Apps for Education (GAFE) into your
classroom practice. Find a short discussion
about using GAFE at Edudemic.
Students working with Mr. Berkan, Mr.
Humphreys and Ms. Neag have been using
their GAFE accounts for presentations with
great success. We’re looking forward to
bringing more teachers and students on
board in the coming months.
QuizBean
Quiz Bean allows you to create simple
image based quizzes. Perhaps even better,
Quiz Bean will score the quizzes and return
results to your personal teacher dashboard.
Another interesting application could be
having students incorporate Quiz Bean
quizzes into their in-class presentations, if you
have an evaluation component built into such
assignments.
Read more, and try a (very simple)
sample quiz, at FreeTech4Teachers.
What Colours Communicate
From the folks at Educational Technology
and Mobile Learning comes a great little
infographic reminding us that the colours we
use - be it in decorating our classrooms, or
designing our teaching presentations - can
have a huge impact.
Use the link above to read more about
the chart and what the colours mean. Find
the infographic itself here.
Building Digital Citizenship
As we continue to work on refining
student’s 21st Century Research and Inquiry
Skills, we are mindful of developing good
digital citizens.
A recent article at Edudemic discusses 3
Quick Tips for Building Digital Citizenship:
always model appropriate behaviour; openly
discuss online etiquette; and, incorporate
social media into your lessons.
Other useful resources include the ESA
Library Digital Literacy Wiki... still very much
a work under construction.
Another highly recommended resource is
Common Sense Media’s Digital Literacy and
Citizenship in the 21st Century. This site is
designed for students, teachers and parents.
Lots of great resources, including full blown
lesson plans for incorporating Digital Literacy
into your everyday classroom practice.
If you’re having students use iPads in
the classroom you might find these Top
Ten Tips for iPads in the Classroom
useful.
Simple Surface
With Simple Surface students are able
to collaborate to create mind maps
and outlines... for free. Read more
about the applications for education at
FreeTech4Teachers.
Top Children’s Books of Last
100 Years
The New York Public Library recently
announced their picks for the top 100
books of the last 100 years. And what
a wonderful list it is. Read the full list
of entries at the NYPL.
App of the Week
Are you interested in a weekly e-mail
highlighting an App which has interest
from an educational perspective? Last
month’s feature App’s are archived on
the ESA Library EduBlog.
If you are interested in being on the
receiving end of the weekly e-mail,
and/or interested in keeping up with
what else is going on in the Library,
sign up here.
Happy App’ing.