As educators continue to integrate more technology into the classroom, Boise School District librarians offer this monthly newsletter to provide tips and information about some of the digital resources at your disposal.

All of these programs and tools are available at the Boise Schools Library Portal Page or on individual school library websites. Each section heading below is a direct link to the page where the resource can be found.

"My guess is (it will be) about 300 years until computers are as good as, say, your local reference library in search."
-Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology, Google.com

An infographic is a visual image such as a chart or diagram used to represent information or data. Infographics are a fun and quick way for students to learn about a topic or show what they have learned by creating their own. Piktochart is an infographic design app that one can use to produce simple and high quality graphics.

Click here to view an example infographic of your district library statistics.

PebbleGo is an award-winning pre-K to grade 3 resource for reading and research. PebbleGo includes built-in reading and research tools for emerging readers. Leveled text, educational games, and multimedia help teach concepts to your youngest researchers. Located on your library's database pages.

The short video tutorial below is a quick tour of the database.

View the Common Core state standards in one convenient FREE app! A great reference for parents and teachers to easily read and understand the core standards. Quickly find standards by subject, grade, and subject category. This app currently includes Math standards K-12, English Language Arts standards K-12. It also includes the Literacy in History/Social Studies and Literacy in Science & Technical Subjects 6 - 12.

Find this app and the new exciting Next Generation Science Standards app from Google Play and iTunes on our Apps for Education page by clicking here.

If you would like your pages to express the season or events going on in and around your classroom, check out the video below that shows you how to update your page photo, background, text color and even add sound to your page!

With Dec. 7 we honor the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Visit our Resource Page organized by subject to find information on WWII from several free sites. Our spotlight is on the Library of Congress' After the Day of Infamy site. This is a collection of opinions recorded in the days and months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. More than two hundred individuals in cities and towns across the United States were interviewed. This is an amazing first hand view of the emotions and attitudes about the war.

Click the link below to hear a selection of individuals from Denver, Colorado.

Newsela is an innovative way for students to build reading comprehension with nonfiction that's always relevant: daily news. It's easy and amazing. Newsela builds close reading and critical thinking skills. Newsela automatically gives each student the version of an article that's just right for his or her reading ability. Articles are accompanied by Common Core-aligned quizzes to provide quick and powerful feedback. Teachers can assign articles, review student quizzes and track Common Core mastery.

Click here to go straight to Newsela, or watch a great video about Newsela below.