october 2014 library newsletter
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S I D N E Y C I T Y
S C H O O L S
SHS Library News
O C T O B E R , 2 0 1 4 V O L U M E I I I , I S S U E 2
S P E C I A L
P O I N T S O F
I N T E R E S T :
PBS NewsHour
pearltrees
flubaroo
NEWSELA
Science Online
ReadWorks
eGFI
Tech Skills for
Online Testing
Click here to access the Next Generation Assessment Resources
P A G E 2
Hot Stuff: and other things!
PBS NewsHour has a wealth of
educational resources for edu-
cators to use with their stu-
dents. You can search by grade
level and subject area to find
lesson plans that meet your
needs.
PearlTrees—is a place to organ-
ize, explore and share everything
you like. You can organize your
web pages, files, photos and
notes to find them everywhere
(on your computer, smartphone
or tablet) and share them easily.
Do you have a class of students who read at differ-
ent levels? NEWSELA publishes high-interest news
articles daily at five levels of complexity for grades
3-12 using NEWSELA’s proprietary, rapid text-
leveling process. Common Core–aligned quizzes
attached to articles give educators and parents in-
sight into their students’ reading strengths and
weaknesses. NEWSELA develops nonfiction fluen-
cy and critical-thinking skills necessary to master
the Common Core standards for informational text.
S H S L I B R A R Y N E W S
“Education means
inspiring someone’s
mind, not just filling
their head.”
-Katie Lusk
Flubaroo— is a free tool that
helps you quickly grade multi-
ple choice or fill-in-the-blank
assignments. It will also com-
mute average assignment
scores, average scores per ques-
tion, flag low-scoring ques-
tions, create grade distribution
graphs and more!
NEWSELA
Science Online provides reliable information in a variety of useful formats. The content is
organized by subject area and type of resource, as well as by national and state science educa-tion standards. Use Science Online for:
Science Experiments—more than 1,000 experiments and activities
Images, Videos and Animations—more than 6,300 printable diagrams, illustra-tions, and images plus hundreds of videos and flash animations
Biographies—thousands of biographies of key scientists throughout history
State and National Science Education Standards—authoritative content tied di-rectly to the curriculum.
Science Online
P A G E 3 V O L U M E I I I , I S S U E 2
ReadWorks The non-profit ReadWorks is committed to solving the nation's
reading comprehension crisis by giving teachers the research-
proven tools and support they need to improve the academic
achievement of their students.
ReadWorks provides research-based units, lessons, and au-
thentic, leveled non-fiction and literary passages directly to
educators online, for free, to be shared broadly. You can
search by skill and strategy type, unit type and by grade level.
The ReadWorks curriculum is aligned to the Common Core
State Standards and the standards of all 50 states. Most im-
portantly, ReadWorks is faithful to the most effective research-
proven instructional practices in reading comprehension.
eGFI
eGFI promotes and enhances efforts to improve K-12 STEM and engineering education. The interactive
website provides resources for teachers and students. Teachers can find a variety of tools to boost
students’ math and science skills, enliven the classroom with engineering projects an expand their
professional horizons. There are lessons plans, class activities, outreach programs, Web resources and
much more!
Ohio schools are moving toward online assessments for their students which include interactive assessment
items. These interactive assessment items have been enhanced by technology and in order for students to suc-
cessfully complete these online assessments, they will need to be able to perform many technology tasks in-
cluding:
click/tap, scroll, plot points, drag/drop, type with text editor, select object, select text, use video player, select
area, drag/slide, deselect, highlight, use ruler, use calculator, use protractor
It is crucial for students to be proficient using these technological skills before taking the online assessments.
The purpose of the assessments are not to assess technology capabilities, but to assess knowledge of content
area subject matter. The purpose of this Pearltree is to create a place where teachers, librarians, administrators,
parents and students can obtain information on the tech skills for online assessments as well as places to prac-
tice and learn the tech skills listed above. These resources contain interactive online activities that will simu-
late the technological tasks the students will need to complete. Each tab also contains ways to integrate tech-
nology skills into everyday classroom activities.