Videos and QR Codes in the Library

Ohhh my. What fun I am having!  Let's start with  YouTube. I watched some great videos that inspired me to create some of my own. The first one I watched showed the school mascot using the library. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeUhXLvFAi4 Kids on my campus would love to see Ricky Ricebird in action, so I will definitely add this to my to do list.

Another fun video was watching kids create public service announcements about overdue books.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05UVqAe5l_w  The characters Bella and Edward from Twilight are having a discussion about overdue books.  Pretty funny! 

In this video, the media specialist is showing students how to cite references using Easy Bib.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRhEc-SJcHo  She has many more helpful videos as well. 



 

Inside out & back again.
 (Photo)
 Retrieved 6/13/15
 from Amazon.com

Scan the QR code to
view the book trailer I made.

The next fun thing I did was make a book trailer.  I had not made one before.  In fact I dreaded it because of my limited tech abilities.  I've seen whole day workshops dedicated to making book trailers.  It must be complicated.   However, the website  Animoto saved the day.  Talk about easy! Educators can have a free account (you will have to renew every six months).  A favorite book of mine is called Inside out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai.  It's about a girl named Ha who has to escape Vietnam because of the war.  She and her family end up, in all places, Alabama.  This is a story
                                           written in verse about starting a new life in America.
                                           It's emotional.   It's enlightening.  And some parts will
                                           make you chuckle.  This was a Newbery Honor
                                           Book and on the New York  Times Bestseller list.   And rightly so.
In a recent Tweet from AASL, I learned about photos that can be used with the references already cited on the photos.  Animoto has a variety of photos and videos that can be used.  Some of the additional photos I found for my book trailer were found at www.photosforclass.com.  I will definitely share this site with my kids in a lesson about copyright. 

Finally let's talk about QR codes.  To find research some ways to use QR codes in the library, I clicked on one of my favorites...Pinterest.  I found some great ideas from the obvious:  Using QR codes for book trailers.  A another one that I liked included using QR codes for scavenger hunts in the library for orientation.  One pin that ignited a firestorm in my brain was using QR codes in an animal research project.  However...sadly...the link to the pin "could not be displayed."  This is where the firestorm started smoldering.  Last year I purchased some "Would you rather" cards from the Teacher Pay Teacher website.  One of the cards read something to the effect of, "Would you rather have Clifford the Big Red Dog for a pet or Shiloh."  Some kids did not have a clue as to who these characters were.  So now I would like to add QR codes to the cards that would provide a link to a summary or book trailer.  Then the kids could really play AND possibly find a good book to read.


My to do list is growing!