Great Resource: Sweet Search

Happy Halloween, One Day Early!

Image Credit: Magic Moonlight

If you are worried about having your students conduct Internet searches on their own, here is a site that is expressly designed for students to use.  Take a peek!  Let us, here at The Things You Can Read, know how it works for your students!

Happy Reading!
The Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Day 6 of Banned Books Week: September 30-October 6, 2012

In celebration of Banned Books Week, The Things You Can Read will be sharing quotes from authors of banned works...

“Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?" "Yes." Billy, in fact, had a paperweight in his office which was a blob of polished amber with three lady-bugs embedded in it. "Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of this moment. There is no why.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five 

What do you think of this quote from , Kurt Vonnegut an author of banned works? Let us know your thoughts by sharing a comment!

Great lesson on Censorship at ReadWriteThink, as they too celebrate Banned Book Week.

Other Internet Resources:

• NCTE's Anti-Censorship Center
  
  NCTE offers advice, helpful documents, and other support at no cost to teachers faced with challenges to literary works, films and videos, drama productions, or teaching methods.
• Banned Books Week
  
  This site offers resources for celebrating Banned Books Week. Included are Banned Books Week news, events and materials.
• Banned Books Online
  
  The Online Books Page presents a brief look at book banning with links to online texts of books banned by legal authorities and schools.
• National Coalition Against Censorship
  
  The National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of fifty-two participating organizations, is dedicated to protecting free expression and access to information.

Post a comment sharing how your celebration of Banned Book Week is going.  We'd love to know.  

Happy Banned Books Week Reading!
Things You Can Read

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Back to School Resource Series: Giant Cookie Message Maker

According to the Giant Cookie Message Maker, "Giant cookies are much yummier than their normal-sized counterparts."  So make as many as you want using the Giant Cookie Message Maker!

Happy Messaging,
The Things You Can Read

Another Tool in our Back to School Series

Here is another tool in our series of Back to School resources to use in your classroom or on your blogs.  Write your own message for your multimedia presentation using Back to School Chalkboard Message.  Fun, easy, and free, three things we love at The Things You Can Read.  Give it a whirl and share your messages in the comment section here at The Things You Can Read, and one more thing, don't forget to follow us via email or Google Connect.

Happy Reading☮

The Things You Can Read!

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Another Great Tool: Animoto for Educators

In The Things You Can Read's quest to find new and exciting resources to make teaching and blogging more exciting, we have found another great tool:  Animoto.  If you use YouTube in your classroom and you noticed all those great projects popping up many of them were created with Animoto.  Check out our one minute video to see how it works.  We haven't shared the best part yet, Animoto will give teachers a free trial for 160 days.  Since you are limited to 50 videos with the free educator account, you may want to consider a personal account too.  Here is the link for all those educators out there: Animoto for Education.  Just an FYI...We have both types of accounts here at The Things You Can Read because with over 100 students, we'll use up our 50 video limit in no time.  Now, if you don't mind being limited to 30 seconds, then you can create 30 second videos for free all the time, but you will still need to set up an account.  Let us know, here at The Things You Can Read, how this tool works out for you!

Happy Animotoing!

The Things You Can Read

Quotes to Turn a Quote into a Masterpiece: Create a Quote

Image Credit: L. Frank Baum

In celebration of the The Things You Can Read's discovery of Create a Quote.  We thought we'd share a few quotes from the inimitable L. Frank Baum, the writer of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series.  Enjoy and think about creating a masterpiece using Create a Quote, and don't forget to share your masterpiece with us here at The Things You Can Read.

Quotes courtesy of Goodreads:

“A baby has brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get.

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

“Oh - You're a very bad man!"

Oh, no my dear. I'm a very good man. I'm just a very bad Wizard.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

“I shall take the heart. For brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.
”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

“To be angry once in a while is really good fun, because it makes others so miserable. But to be angry morning, noon and night, as I am, grows monotonous and prevents my gaining any other pleasure in life.”― L. Frank Baum, The Emerald City of Oz

“As a matter of fact, we are none of us above criticism; so let us bear with each other's faults.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz

“Everything has to come to an end, sometime.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz

“Never question the truth of what you fail to understand, for the world is filled with wonders.”
― L. Frank Baum, Rinkitink in Oz

“No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Lost Princess of Oz

“. . .It is the Law that while Evil, unopposed, may accomplish terrible deeds, the power of Good can never be overthrown when opposed to Evil. . .”
― L. Frank Baum, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

Image Credit: Create a Quote

Turn a Quote into a Masterpiece: Create a Quote

We, here at The Things You Can Read, are gearing up for our return to the classroom, and have been scouring the Internet for resources, which we can use to add a bit of spice to our multimedia presentations and our classroom walls.  First, we have to say that we love quotes.  We collect them!  So, imagine our surprise to discover our most recent find.  Turn your most beloved quote into a stunning masterpiece using Create a Quote.  The Things You Can Read is really in love with this Internet tool, and to start the year off, we plan on having our students bring in their favorite quote, and make their own masterpieces.  Do you have a favorite quote?  Share it with us here at The Things You Can Read, and enjoy creating your own masterpieces using Create a Quote.

Happy Reading☮

The Things You Can Read!

Believe In Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love, and the Power of Books!

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

Boy, are we here at The Things You Can Read excited about this great find.  If you want to spice up your blog or your classroom multimedia presentations here is a resource for you, The newspaper snippet generator.   This free Internet tool can presto chango  your writing or that of your students, and make the words look like a real newspaper article.  Fun stuff!

Also on this site are links to The Movie Clapper Generator:

The animated Squirrel, Daffodil, Tomato, Owl...etc, etc, etc...


Have fun playing with these resources and let us here at The Things You Can Read know what you create with them.  We love to hear from our readership!

Happy Reading & Writing from the folks here at...

Did You Know? Amazing Fact Generator

Did You Know?

Image Credit: olooa.blogspot.com/

As we, here at The Things You Can Read, were perusing the Internet, we came across a great little feature on Mental Floss.  We had some fun hitting the The Amazing Fact Generator a number of times as our brain was fast at work thinking...how we might use this in our English classroom?  We don't have an answer yet, but we would love to hear from our readership.  We'll throw the question out there.  Give us your suggestions-How can this great feature be used in a middle school English classroom?  Check out The Amazing Fact Generator on Mental Floss, and don't forget...have fun!

 

In early drafts of Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Holly Golightly was named Connie Gustafson.

Read the full text here: