Interesting article in School Library Journal about the challenges faced by children whose parents are deployed. The article discusses the impact of the emotional strain on academics and how it can be helpful to provide opportunities for these children to discuss these issues rather than avoid them.  Also mentioned is a book you may want to investigate by Deborah Ellis Off to War: Voices of Soldiers' Children (Groundwood, 2008).

I discovered a wonderful resource on one of the poetry blogs. Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets: 100 Poems to Rip Out & Read is a book, not to catalog in your library but to use as a resource during April: Poetry Month as a source of poems for various activities. I plan on using some of these for the Poetry Suitcases I'm building for check-out.
It was $10.96 and no shipping if you include it with other items. Secondary folks could consider the version for older readers.
                                                                                                        Katie
Image courtesy of Discovery Ed Clipart

While this may be a little late for this season bookmark this Library Game page idea for next year and while you're at the site check out all the other great resources. Their signage is very nice. If you need LARGE signs for your library you could print them in the black and white version and bring them to LMS to enlarge on our poster machine (for a fee-approx $5 a poster).                                                                                 Katie

image courtesy of Discovery Ed Clip Art

Just want to share this screen shot I took of our department's district webpage AFTER I logged in and clicked the 'edit' tab. Notice that it is possible now to embed both Prezis and Animotos on your webpages. This should be a much better way to present both of these features rather than linking to them. Try it out and let us know when you have some new material for us to check out on your page.

Check out what the Chronicle of Higher Education has to say about this in a fine article by Robert Darnton, a professor and university librarian at Harvard.                    Katie

Once I Was a Cardboard Box But Now I’m a Polar Bear  by Anton Poitier  ISBN 978-1906824334 (PF)

Over in the Arctic: Where the cold wind blows  by Marianne Berkes  ISBN 978-1584691105 (PF)
Over in the Rainforest: a rainforest rhyme by Marianne Berkes  ISBN 978-1584690924  
Over in the Ocean: In a coral reef  by Marianne Berkes  ISBN 978-0439760201

Wink the Ninja Who Wanted to be Noticed by JC Phillips  ISBN 978-0670010929 (JF)
Wink the Ninja Who Wanted to Nap by JC Phillips ISBN 978-0670011926

Storybook Peep Show…. 152 +  entries at Badger Elementary

Children Make Terrible Pets  by Peter Brown ISBN 978-0316015486 (BB)

Nubs: true story of a Mutt, a Marine and a Miracle by Major Brian Dennis ISBN 978-0316053181 (LD-Pearl Cr)

Ellie McDoodle series– 
           New Kid in School by  Ruth McNally Barshaw ISBN 978-1599903613 (MD)
           Best Friends Fur-ever by Ruth McNally Barshaw ISBN 978-1599904269 (MD)

Iron Man by Mathew Manning   a DK book  ISBN 978-0756657499 (MD)

Big Nate series  by Lincoln Pierce(BB)   grades 4-6
            Big Nate in a Class by Himself  ISBN 978-0061944345
            Big Nate Strikes Again  ISBN 978-0061944369
            Big Nate: From the Top  ISBN 978-1449402327
            Big Nate Out Loud  ISBN 978-0061944345

Calvin Coconut series by Graham Salisbury (MH)  grades 2-4
            Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet  ISBN 978-0375846007
            Calvin Coconut: Dog Heaven ISBN 978-0375846021
            Calvin Coconut: Zoo Breath ISBN 978-0385737043
            Calvin Coconut: Hero of Hawaii ISBN 978-0385739627
            Calvin Coconut: The Zippy Fix ISBN 978-0375846014
            Calvin Coconut:Kung Fooey ISBN 978-0385739634

Dinosaur Cove series (cliff hanger chapter endings)  uses document camera   (SH)
            Attack of the Tyrannosaurus ISBN 978-1436450317 library binding
            Charge Of The Triceratops  ISBN 978-1436450324 library binding
            March of the Ankylosaurus ISBN 978-1436450348 library binding
            Flight of the Quetzalcoatlus  ISBN 978-1436450331 library binding
            Catching the Velociraptor  ISBN 978-0606043700 library binding
            Stampede of the Edmontosaurus ISBN 978-0545053822 library binding
            Tracking the Diplodocus  ISBN 978-0606068420 library binding

Poetry Suitcase – items with associated poems   Lisa Moore

How to Pet a Porcupine  by Bo Kitteridge   no ISBN found (LW)

The Trouble With Chickens: A J.J. Tully Myster by Doreen Cronin  ISBN 978-0061215322 (LW)

My Name is Sangoel by Khadra Mohammed ISBN 978-0802853073 (JH)

Love to rearrange that selection of words to make one new poem after another?
Well here's the digital version for kids, with lots of words to chose from as well as an option to save for those masterpieces!!  Magnetic Poetry - Kids' Kits Online        Katie

Thank you, Robert, for reminding me of this bulletin board I had one April. Robert sent an email out about Poem In Your Pocket Day and the folks at Poets.org have all sorts of great ideas to share on how to celebrate this day. On my board I had a wide variety of poems printed on slips of paper which fit into the apron pocket for the students to take away an read. It had to be refilled frequently.
                                                                  Katie

A contest for some of your creative students with an engineering bent. Build something creative only build it BIG too!!

Design Squad Nation (hosted by PBS) wants kids to BUILD BIG. Choose an activity from the DSN Web site, form a team, and build your own super-big version. Then take a video of your working design and upload it to YouTube. Big winners get a Flip camera on top of having their creation hosted on the DSN Web site.

Share with your teachers and parents. Kids will need an adult han

Makes me think of the David Macauley books... doesn't he have one called Building Big?
Katie

I just spent waaay too much time not being very good at moving up levels in this game as I tried to identify(Poke) different major muscles and click and drag (Whack)  away at the bones of the arm. My problem was more figuring out the games than learning the muscles or bones so I imagine students will clean up!! And then there was the Bone game and the Cell game and much, much more for all the various body systems at the Anatomy Arcade.                             Katie
http://www.school-clip-art.com