Hey ~ have you visited the English Companion Ning yet? Best resource ever!

THE ENGLISH COMPANION
Where English teachers go to help each other

This is a "must" site to check out. Once you've explored (and believe me, there is a lot to explore) you will want to join and become a regular. 

The site won the award for "best educational use of a social networking service..."for the 2nd year in a row. 

  
Literally hundreds of other educators frequent this site...you can get so many ideas.
Plus there is a monthly book discussion conducted by the book's author(s).



I was amazed the first time I saw the site and it continues to expand... becoming more amazing every day!

What do you know about "Projectable Books?"

Spotlight on Projectable Books

One of the hottest new techno teaching tools is the interactive whiteboard, which, many educators say, is revolutionizing group instruction.

With whiteboards and group or whole-class instruction in mind, Reading A-Z recently formatted all 723 of its printable leveled readers as Projectable Books. These books make text visible to all of the students and allow teachers to highlight key features.  The A-Z books are accompanied by Projectable Book Tips, which guide educators in effective instruction for fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, phonics, and grammar.

A Search Engine Just For Students in Grades K-8

You need to check this out...
Dulcinea Media has launched  SweetSearch4Me  (a search engine for students in grades K-8). General commercial search engines aren’t designed for young learners. What may be the best search results for adults are often difficult for young users to understand. A handful of search engines for kids have been on the market for years, but most don’t do nearly enough to ensure that high-quality content written specifically for kids is easy to find.
SweetSearch4Me searches only Web sites that our staff of research experts, librarians and teachers have evaluated and approved as high-quality content appropriate for young users. Only the best sites directed at elementary school students are included, and many of the results on the first page were created exclusively for kids.

ALA | ALSC 2010 Media Award Winners

 Look what we have here...!  Award winning literature for our students.  Newbery Medal and Honor books. Caldecott Medal and Honor books... and that's just the beginning.  This link is the "list of lists"...check it out soon!!

ALA ALSC 2010 Media Award Winners