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Occasional News from the
Educational Resources Center
Western Kentucky University
366 Tate Page Hall
270-745-4552
Visit our website!
http://www.wku.edu/Library/dlps/edcenter.htm
Bibliographic Instruction | New Curriculum Resources |
| Staff Picks | Audiobooks |New ERC Hours|
| Special Resources| Displays |
Welcome Back!
At-Your-Service Bibliographic Instruction Roxanne Myers Spencer, ERC Coordinator, invites all education faculty to schedule bibliographic instruction classes in the Educational Resources Center for their teacher education students. BI classes include a tour of our unique subject alcoves, the ever-growing juvenile collection, curriculum guides, and online subscription databases. We encourage faculty to ask us to design instruction to suit their particular needs. Please don't hesitate to ask us to create a specific class for your students! To schedule your class for an ERC orientation, please call 745-4552 or 745-4659. ERC staff, Ellen Micheletti, Esther French, and our able student workers look forward to assisting you!
Between the Bookends...
Noteworthy Titles @ the ERC
New Curriculum Resources @ the ERC NEW TEXTBOOKS
The Educational Resources Center serves as a display area for textbooks being considered for adoption in Kentucky P-12 schools. This year, the state is evaluating Mathematics textbooks and related teacher resources. Students, teachers, and parents are welcome to visit the ERC and browse this unique collection.
Some of the textbooks we have are:
The Houghton Mifflin, Scott Foresman, and Harcourt Elementary Mathematics series:
- Calendar Math
- Math Trailblazers
- Growing With Mathematics
- The Saxon Math series
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Excellent Teaching Resources Bain, Amy. Physical Sciences: Curriculum Resources and Activities for School Librarians and Teachers.
If you are ever short on ideas for labs, lesson plans, extra readings, and many other resources for the physical sciences, this book is for you! Brush up on the latest teaching models for all the physical sciences here.Collison, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind, S., Tinker, R. Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators.
The explosion of online teaching has created both opportunity and concerns for faculty. This titles balances theory and practice for new online instructors who want to build a sense of community in online and distance education.Hanna, D. E., Glowacki-Dudka, M., and Conceicao-Runlee, S. 147 Practical Tips for Teaching Online Groups: Essentials of Web-Based Education.
Faculty are bound to have many questions about teaching online. The authors address many of the issues new online faculty will need for effective web-course teaching. The list format makes this a handy reference for new online instructors.Parker, Walter. Social Studies in Elementary Education.
This is targeted to elementary and middle school teachers and provides units, activities, and lesson plans for teachers who teach social studies classes. A good overview of the curriculum for these crucial developmental years.Roberts, Patricia, and Kellough, Richard D. A Guide For Developing an Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit.
Exactly as the title states, this is a guide for the teacher who is interested in developing an interdisciplinary thematic unit for the classroom. It guides, gives examples, and includes a number of planning master forms for use.Sedgwick, Fred. Writing to Learn: Poetry and Literacy Across the Primary Curriculum.
Early reading and writing are crucial to students' later development and achievement in schools. This title explores ways that poetry and stories can be used in the primary curriculum. Includes a chapter on how to use computers to aid children’s writing.Sobel, David. Map Making with Children.
Explore map-making at all grade levels, beginning with the child’s own room, and
branching out to the home, neighborhood, city, and beyond. This title can be used in social studies, language arts, math, and other subjects.
Staff Picks @ the ERC... Gutman, Dan. Shoeless Joe & Me.
This is the latest in Gutman’s Baseball Card Adventures series. Joe Stoshack travels back in time via a baseball card. This time, he tries to prevent the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 and get Shoeless Joe Jackson into the Baseball Hall of Fame.King, Laurie R. The Moor: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.
If you miss Sherlock Holmes, and don't mind a modern author daring to tamper with the Great Detective, try this new suspense series. May be a useful, modern introduction for reluctant readers to the classic Conan Doyle series.Metzer, Milton. Piracy and Plunder.
Pirates are easily recognizable characters in children's literature. But their image has been sanitized and they have always been portraryed as romantic, if dangerous, figures. Milton Metzer gives us pirates as they really were, and still are.Murphy, Jim. My Face To The Wind: The Diary of Sarah Jane Price, A Prairie Teacher.
This is part of the Dear America series. It tells of a young woman who comes out West where she becomes a teacher. Life is hard and often lonely for her, but she comes to love the land and the people of the vast, sweeping prairie.Myers, Walter Dean. Bad Boy: A Memoir.
This well-loved author of books for older readers tells the poignant story of his own upbringing in Harlem in the 1940s and 1950s. Myers was often in and out of trouble as a boy, but his secret love of books and writing have been guiding forces all his life.Nye, Naomi Shihab, ed. The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East.
Art and literature are both excellent ways to introduce different cultures. With the tragic events of September 11, 2001, it is vital to educate ourselves on the beauty and importance of art and poetry in Middle Eastern cultures.Penman, Sharon Kay. The Queen's Man: A Medieval Mystery.
Historical fiction has a place in the language arts and social studies curricula. Follow the intrepid Justin de Quincy as he unravels a dangerous mystery for Eleanor of Acquitaine in the bitterly cold winter of 1193.Powell, Randy. Three Clams and an Oyster.
The title refers to a four-man flag football team that needs a new member since one of them is totally unreliable. But who? And can they kick their old friend off the team that easily?Walker, Sally M. Fossil Fish Found Alive: Discovering the Coelacanth.
Back in 1938, Marjorie Courtney-Latimer found an unusual fish in a pile of specimens on the deck of a fishing boat. The fish turned out to be a coelacanth, which everyone thought to be extinct. Readers will especially enjoy the excellent pictures.Yolen, Jane. Briar Rose.
The Sleeping Beauty fairytale takes a poignant twist in this story of family secrets, war atrocities, and the power of the human spirit. Yolen deftly weaves fantasy with horrific reality, as this mysterious and evocative tale unfolds.
Audiobooks Block, Francesca Lia. Weetzie Bat.
Prepare for a zany, sophisticated ride into LA-LA-Land...the home of Weetzie Bat and her crazy cohorts. This unpredictable, hang-on-to-your hat urban fable won the ALA Best Books for Young Adults Award, and is an ALA Recommended Book for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. [2 cassettes]Brooks, Bruce. The Moves Make the Man.
When you have lost just about everything that matters to you, what do you have left but the truth? Following young Bix Rivers' exploration of loss, friendship, basketball, and when to make the moves or tell the truth.... [6 cassettes]George, Jean Craighead. WJulie of the Wolves.
An unforgettable story of survival in the wilds of an Arctic winter. Miyax, raised in the ancient Eskimo ways, knows how to look after herself. But the cruel winds wipe away all traces of food in this barren land. Can a pack of wild wolves help her? [3 cassettes]Holm, Jennifer L. Our Only May Amelia.
What's it like to be the only girl ever born on the Nasal River? Her family call May Amelia A Real Miracle--and with seven brothers, she can sometimes believe it! But sometimes, she just wants to be a regular tom-girl.... [2 cassettes]Jiang, Ji-Li. Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution.
This moving story of a young girl torn between the loyalties of family and national politics serves as a chilling reminder of how events can sweep us along, shattering our dreams, but also forging new ones from the struggle. [5 cassettes]Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird.
The fight against ignorance and prejudice has never been more poignantly portrayed than in this story of Scout Finch and her father, the town lawyer, who face a desperate battle to uncover and prove the truth of a horrible crime. [9 cassettes]Paterson, Katherine. Lyddie.
The struggle to save her family and the injustice she sees in the sweatshops of a Massachusetts textile mill are the conflicts Lyddie must face in this historical novel by one of America's best-respected authors for young people. [5 cassettes]Jack Prelutzky's Big Collection: Something Big Has Been Here & The New Kid on the Block.
Music, sound effects, and the fun of Jack Prelutzky's poetry, read by the author --that's the treat in store when you pick up this collection. "Poetry can be as delectable as chocolate chip cookies," says the author. Dig in! [2 cassettes]A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the First by Lemong Snicket.
Says Lemony Snicket, "In this short audiobook alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast." Can it get any worse?! [2 cassettes]Staples, Suzanne Fisher. Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind.
Family values and honor, the outbreak of violence, and the fate of young women given in arranged marriages in a culture very different from our own will give American readers an uncommonly sensitive insight into the life of these Pakistanis. [5 cassettes]Wiesel, Elie. Night.
The fate of the Jews in the small town of Sighet, shown through the eyes of a 14-year-old, has become a classic of Holocaust literature. The author is winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Medal of Honor. [3 cassettes]
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ERC Special Resources Two coin-operated photocopiers are available for copying Reserve Readings and other materials. The ERC has 12 computers with access to TopCat and excellent resources through TIP, Western Kentucky Libraries' Topper InfoPortal The ERC has an Ellison machine with a large selection of letter and figure dies. Please supply your own construction paper. Lamination services are available for posters and other special projects We look forward to helping you find the resources you need!
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| Brainy
games: Instruction,
strategy, brain-teasers and lots of fun.
What more could teachers or students ask for?! Language Arts skills can be enhanced by playing "Bingo" or "Language Play by Play" Hone
your students' skills with a game of
Explore
science concepts with "Stories Bones Tell: From Body Basics to Mummy Mysteries,"
"The Big Weather Adventure,"
Kids
always enjoy the tangled-up fun of "Twister"
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Esther French, Educational Resources Center Assistant |
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Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
~Thomas Jefferson, 1816
ERC Bookends, September 11, 2002.