National Constitution Center educational materials

Constitution Center - Education - The National Constitution Center’s framework for learning integrates three main components: Historical Foundations through Storytelling; Constitutional Interpretation Skills; and Civil Dialogue and Reflection.

You can find classroom materials by constitutional topic.

Constitution Day is September 17.

Greater Good Science Center

Based at UC Berkeley, the Greater Good Science Center provides a bridge between the research community and the general public. The GGSC studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society.

Greater Good Education Center "presents education professionals with practical, scientific insights that help them bring the science of a meaningful life into their lives, schools, and classrooms. It draws on disciplines such as social-emotional learning (SEL), mindfulness, character education, and related topics. Our goal is to help them better understand the roots of kind, helpful--or "prosocial"--behavior and emotional well-being, and how they can build those skills in themselves, their colleagues, and their students."

Teaching & Learning for the Greater Good is "An online course that puts the science of social-emotional learning & mindfulness into action in classrooms and schools." It costs $199.

Podcasts for Kids

14 podcasts to teach kids about history, identity, and current events (Mashable, 11 Aug 2023) has podcasts that are recommended by Common Sense Media and geared to kids mostly ages 9-14. Topics range from current events and news to issues about identity, multiculturalism (and in multiple languages!), history, culture and more.

Wheelock Family Theatre 23-24 school year

The exact dates aren't out yet, but you can see what the show are at the Wheelock Family Theater for the coming school year in case you want to consider for a field trip next year

• The Addams Family
• Mr Popper's Penguins
• A Wrinkle in Time

Keep Tech Safe & Dry

 4 Simple Tips to Keep Your Tech Safe and Dry This Summer

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-keep-tech-dry/

Leveled French books

Lectures Jeunesse

Dialogues
Low-Intermediate / Intermediate

Each book features four short dialogue stories especially written for teenagers learning French. Friends, sports, careers and more everyday themes teenagers can relate to.

Each book is 48 pages

Companion online audio-visual editions are also available.

Learn more Brochure Watch video

News Quiz

 May News Quiz for Students

Regional Mexican Music

 Latin music style known as Regional Mexican marks another milestone in its popularity

Female Electricians article

 Female electricians: a climate solution?

Democratic Knowledge Project

10 Questions for Young Changemakers Booklist

Civic Learning in the 21st century library

The books on this list would be great for use with a book club with a civics twist.

Middle grade

• Unfadeable by Maurice Broaddus
• Haven Jacobs Saves the Planet by Barbara Dee
• Turn the Tide by Elaine Dimopoulos
• Dress Coded by Carrie Firestone
• The First Rule of Climate Club by Carrie Firestone
• Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles
• Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino
• Nowhere Better Than Here by Sarah Guillory
• Revenge of the Red Club by Kim Harrington
• Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan
• Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King
• Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King
• Linked by Gordon Korman
• Answers in the Pages by David Levithan
• From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks (whole series)
• A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramee
• The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Rauf
• Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
• Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed
• Small Town Pride by Phil Stamper
• Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson
• Front Desk by Kelly Yang (whole series)
• A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser

Young Adult

• How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon
• All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
• Dear Martin by Nic Stone
• Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

NF

• The Promise of Change by Jo Ann Allen Boyce
• Greta's Story by Valentina Camerini
• Kids Fight Climate Change: Act now to be a #2minutesuperhero by Martin Dorey
• We Rise, We Resist, We Raise our Voices edited by Cheryl Hudson and Wade Hudson
• How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other (young readers’ edition) by Naomi Klein
• Dictionary for a Better World by Irene Latham and Charles Waters
• Girls Resist! by Kaelyn Rich
• Dear America: The story of an undocumented citizen (young readers' edition) by Jose Antonio Vargas
• The Sum of Us: How Racism Hurts Everyone (young readers’ edition) by Heather McGhee
• The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B Tyson
• Kent State by Deborah Wiles
• The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis 
• The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks (Revisioning History for Young People) by Brandy Colbert
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in America by Matthew Desmond 
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi We already own the YA version
• March Trilogy by John Lewis Our copies are getting very well used
• Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger by Soraya Chemaly
• Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild
• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America by Ari Berman
• No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder
• The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Act, and Die by Keith Payne 
• How to Change Everything: The Young Human's Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other by Naomi Klein 
• Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez
• Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court by Renee Newman Knake
• Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy by Eric Liu
• Drawing the Vote: The Illustrated Guide to the Importance of Voting in America by Tommy Jenkins, illustrated by Kati Lacker
• We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson with Tonya Bolden
• You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People by Elizabeth Rusch

Raspberry Pi Tracks ISS

Slashgear: This Awesome Raspberry Pi Project Can Track The International Space Station . "Around the web, there are various tools that allow users to track the International Space Station's orbit. The European Space Agency, for instance, shows the station's approximate location, as well as where it was 90 minutes back and where it will be an hour and a half in the future. An enterprising Raspberry Pi user, however, has been able to emulate the effect of this high-tech software using a humble ePaper display and some Python coding."

Ideas for Reflecting at the End of the School Year

This might be a good resource to share with teachers on the weekly memo as we enter the home stretch from the New York Times Learning Network. I believe that everything the Learning Network provide is available free and is not behind the regular NY Times paywall.


10 Ideas for Reflecting at the End of the School Year

Petit Nicolas Movies

There's a movie that is recently out - Little Nicholas Happy As Can Be. I've attached a trailer here.
https://youtu.be/cqni6H-952k

Takes place in 1960s Paris and weaves together the adventures of schoolboy Nicholas and his legendary creators, writer René Goscinny and cartoonist Jean-Jaques Sempé.

It's not currently streaming - I came across a listing on the Brattle Theatre website, where it's showing on Jan 16 (MLK Day). But perhaps it'll make it to some other theatres and streaming sometime soon.There are several PN movies


The animated 2022 movie may be available on AppleTV+? although it says here it's not available for streaming. I'm not sure it's been released in the US, although it was screened at Cannes last year.
https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/little-nicholas


Nicolas on Holiday is available from Apple TV for $1.99 and free a few ways. You can also rent from Prime video for $0.99 or buy the DVD from Amazon
It's here on YouTube https://youtu.be/uCRcGRS7DII for $0.99

Colleen Hoover Book Ratings

As you're probably aware, Colleen Hoover is ridiculously popular these days, largely due to her social media presence.


I don't have any of her books in the BMS library, nor do I intend to get them, as even the tamest are best for HS age students. But I've had fairly young students ask for them from time to time, and I hear from other school librarians that they've had kids come in to ask about some of the "activities" going on in the books and looking things up, and have needed to coordinate with the health teachers about materials. I have had conversations with students where I've told them that I don't have them because they're really pretty sexy and are for an older audience -- and they were surprised! Oftentimes they only know they are popular.

I found out today that Colleen's website has a list where it shows not just the order of all her books, but also rates them by age appropriateness, from 14+ YA to 17+ Mature (sometimes called "new adult fiction) to "WHOA - very mature/dark". I thought you might be interested to see this list in case you are having any conversations with students or families about her books. For example, the books on current bestseller lists, It Starts With Us and It Ends with Us, and Ugly Bones are all rated 17+ and Verity is rated "WHOA" as is the book she has coming out in June.

Op-Doc Movie about Patsy Mink

I'm in the middle of watching this 20 min. Op-Doc movie from the NY Times about Patsy Mink. It's fantastic! The director is Ben Proudfoot, who also directed the Queen of Basketball, which won an Oscar for best short doc, the Queen of Basketball, which I've shown to kids a number of times.


This film has a lot in it about 20th century history, discrimination and civics in a compelling personal narrative voiced by Patsy Mink's daughter. Great for AAPI Heritage month (which is part of the reason I'm looking at it)

https://youtu.be/faL6ERtj5oM

Refreshing the Canon

If you have certain touchstone books you like to recommend but are looking for some updated read-alikes, School Library Journal has a great feature, Refreshing the Canon, with recommendations for fans of:

• Hatchet
• The Outsiders
• Little House
• Little Woman
• Island of the Blue Dolphins
• and others that skew more toward HS readers. 

Some of the suggestions are books I have here, and others are ones I"m working on getting! Definitely some are more for HS in terms of content, so just be a little cautious about suggesting them to our younger students unless you know the book or have found out a little about it first. It may be helpful in terms of diversifying your classroom books too.

Cost of Education vs. Salary Infographic

Good infographic here

https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/money-finance/salaries-vs-education-costs-of-50-common-u-s-jobs/

Portuguese Interface of Sora

The Portuguese interface of Sora is now live! To set this up, go to the menu (3 horizontal lines on the top-right hand side of Sora), scroll down to Settings then Language and you can change the Sora interface language. Other available language interfaces are Chinese (simplified & traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. 

Note that changing the language interface doesn’t change the language of the titles in the collection. It just changes the navigational words of Sora itself. (do remember that there are ebooks in a few languages of varying numbers).

May the 4th Be With You

If you've never seen it before, you may enjoy the 1978 spoof,  Hardware Wars (12 min.)

Read more about it

Massachusetts Reading Challenge

From the Mass Center for the Book:

Massachusetts Center for the Book in partnership with Massachusetts School Library Association is delighted to announce the inaugural Reading Challenge: Massachusetts Student Edition, a companion to the Adult Reading Challenge, which launched in January.

The Reading Challenge: Student Edition gives students of all ages a chance to set and meet the goal of reading a book each month in a specific category and to share their experience within their reading community.

We invite your library to host this Reading Challenge locally by signing on to become a Reading Partner using this form. This would entail:
- Promoting the Reading Challenge to the students you serve in your community. Attached you will find flyers (color and black & white versions) with the category calendar and a QR code linking to our the Reading Challenge: Student Edition page on our website, accessible here.
- Creating a way for students to sign up for the challenge and tracking the number of participating readers monthly.
- Reporting out to us once a month with the number of students participating, using this form.
- (Optional) creating an incentive plan to encourage students to read! Note that your library would be responsible for obtaining these incentives.

That's it! We ask that your library signs on as a Reading Partner by May 31. The first month students will be reading for this challenge is June.

Note that Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners is supporting the creation of a Beanstack component to this challenge, which will be made available early summer.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly at kzapal@massbook.org.