ALA Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2013

The American Library Association, always a trusted source for recommendations, provides a list of apps that it considers “of exceptional value to inquiry-based learning . . .”  These are apps that encourage students to be innovative and creative as they engage in collaboration with others. Categories on the list include: Books, STEM, Organization & Management, Social Sciences, and Content Creation. A few of the apps on the ALA Best App List are: Shakespeare in Bits, Got to Have Music, Operation Math, SimplePhysics, Tinkerbox, Dropbox, Evernote, Socrative, News-O-Matic: Daily for Kids, GarageBand, and Educreations. There are links to all the apps on the list.

Summer Reading for Teachers and Administrators

Teacher and Educational Journalist Mark Phillips, in his Edutopia article, Summer Reading for Educators: My Favorites, has some excellent suggestions for us.  These include a book that tackles the problems of bullying, one that keeps you informed about what your students are reading, and others that address creative thinking, learning settings, student engagement, media literacy, engaged teaching, and sensitivity.

So, what is the next Hunger Games for our students? Most likely, it will be The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey. Phillips’ summer film recommendation for you is: A Year at Mission Hill.

The Flying Kids’ Bookstore App

The Flying Kids’ Bookstore is an app that sends children “soaring” with their reading.  The Bookstore is free; the books students can load on their personal shelves are priced at about $2 to $3 each. Brief descriptions of books that may be purchased appear when the book images are clicked. These interactive books are divided into categories for ages 2+, 3+, 4+, and all books are available in English, Spanish, French, and German. The Bookstore app is a nice way to introduce young children to good books, good reading, and fun literature on bookshelves online. It’s also an excellent way to help children learn to read in foreign languages.

Grants for School Libraries

The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries provides grants of up to $5000 to help school libraries improve and diversify their collections of books and magazines. The grants are for low-income schools in which 80% or more of their students qualify for the free or reduced lunch programs.  The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2012.