Reading with QR Codes

     Ever since I noticed the little black squares with irregular patterns all over the place and learned that they contain coded information that can be read with iPads and phones, I've been thinking of how to use them in the library.  Today, I started working on a project that will allow me to invite students to experience the joy of reading in a different way!  

     In my new reading corner, students will be invited to use iPads to read magazines and to use QR codes to listen to books read by various authors online.  I started by compiling a list of youtube videos of books read aloud by some of my favourite authors.  Once I had a few videos, I used Quietube to get rid of the advertisements and unnecessary content found on youtube.  

     My goal is for students to use this new reading corner independently, therefore,  I used "Explain Everything" app to create a set of instructions for using QR codes.  

     In the future, I hope to invite teachers to participate in this project by recording podcasts of their favourite books.  I will then turn the podcasts into QR codes and tape the codes into the books.

Using notebook computers for research

Students in grade 3 have started researching urban and rural communities. Today, they played interactive games selected from the Ontario Educational Resource Bank and watched videos on Learn 360. Once they gather enough knowledge about communities, thy will take a closer look at pictures of our local community and identify some problems that the members of our community have to face. They will then propose possible solutions to these problems and create an action plan that they will present on an iPad.

Graphic Novels in Our Library

Check out the graphic novel area.  It a got a "face lift" and I hope the new system will help students keep the books organized.  I felt it was important to create a section with graphic novels for younger students to make graphic novels more accessible to them and to help them select good quality novels.

Book Room

With help from many wonderful volunteers, the book room has been reorganized and re-freshed.  Sets of books have been placed in plastic bags, barcoded and clearly labeled.  The book bags are stored in magazine file boxes and each box is labeled with a list of contents.

A big thank you to all amazing volunteers!!!