Powerful Collaboration: Library and Art

In honor of Georgia O’Keeffe’s birthday, let’s talk about the many ways school librarians and art teachers can collaborate. Librarian and teacher collaboration is a must for school librarians! Collaboration provides teachers, librarians, and students with new opportunities, resources, and ideas. It’s a win-win for everyone involved. Start small! Collaborate by helping the art teacher … read more »

A Guide to Understanding and Implementing Computational Thinking

Computational thinking (CT) is an essential set of skills required for success in the 21st Century. Wikipedia defines computational thinking as “a set of problem-solving methods that involve expressing problems and their solutions in ways that a computer could also execute.” The four problem-solving methods are problem decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithms.  But what does … read more »

Tech Tool of the Month: Animoto – Part 2

In Part 1 of this blog, we introduced you to Animoto and discussed the application of both the SAMR Model and the Triple E Framework using Animoto in your instruction. Today’s post offers detailed instructions for using this tool and shares classroom use ideas. Animoto:  When you get to the Animoto site, click to Sign … read more »

Tech Tool of the Month: Animoto – Part 1

Animoto is an amazing free tool to create slideshows with many extra touches (images, music, video clips, sounds, and other forms of media). The user interface is easy to use and basically requires click and drag to move text, add images, and more. There are many templates to choose between as you begin your project, … read more »

Primary Sources for Native American Heritage Month

Each November, Americans celebrate Native American Heritage Month. It is a time to celebrate the culture and heritage along with the contributions of Native people. In addition, it is an opportunity to raise awareness of the real stories of Native Americans, not caricatures and stereotypes. A quick search of the TeachersFirst blog page finds many … read more »