Have you tried audio-books?

I am always looking for ways to maximize my time by doing several things at once.  If you’re like me you may find that in our technology-rich world it is hard to find time to sit down and read a good book as often as we’d like.  What’s the solution?

Audio-books!

I discovered audio-books about 13 years ago when I was commuting from the north side of Los Angeles to my school librarian job way down south in Long Beach USD.  Things have changed over the years, but not as dramatically as you might think.  If you can work your car stereo and your cell phone then you’re halfway there!

Personally, I use a few methods to listen to audio-books.

1. Books on CD from the public library. (best for long car rides)

When searching in the Kitsap Regional Library Catalog (www.krl.org), do a typical search for whatever it is that you are interested in listening to, but limit the search by choosing “audio-book” in the drop down menu next to “limit by:”

One of the fantastic things about the public library (there are so many), is that all you need to do is find what you want in the online catalog, click the “place hold” button, and KRL will pull the materials for you.  They’ll even email to tell you that your things are ready.  Fabulous, right?

2. Digital audio-books from the public library.

Search as in #1, but choose “audio e-book” OR go to the search on the KRL Overdrive website: http://krl.lib.overdrive.com/  You don’t even need to leave your couch to check out e-books with this method!

To listen to audio-books through Overdrive, you will need to download the Overdrive app to your phone or tablet device. Go to the Overdrive website to get started: Overdrive  Overdrive requires an additional login that ties in with your library card.

The Wilson girls are currently listening to the 4th Land of Stories book.

You can also search the library collection through the app. Overdrive also gives you access to KRL’s collection of E-books (if you want to check out books to read on your phone, Kindle, iPad or other e-reader). After you check out a book through Overdrive, you will be prompted to download the book onto your device.

I like to use Overdrive to listen to audio-books through the Bluetooth connection in my car. When I turn the car off, Overdrive knows to pause the book.

Books borrowed through Overdrive can be borrowed for 21 days. After the 21 day period, they are deleted from your device.

If you have a library card from KRL, you may also obtain a card for the Seattle Public Library and/or King County Library System. All you need to do is take your KRL card to any Seattle or King County library branch with your ID and ask for a library card. I have one of each simply because it gives me access to a much greater selection of audio-books.

You can also search and put audio-books on hold. It’s true.

3. Audible.com

Audible is an app that allows you to buy audio-book titles and download them to your device. I typically buy 12 credits per year (it is cheaper this way) and cash them in slowly over time to buy books that I’d like to hear that the public library doesn’t own. This is good for newer titles especially. They have several sales per year, including many Buy One, Get One Free sales and they also have inexpensive (less than $2) kids titles. For example, I just bought a dozen or so “Who was” biographies for my older daughter. Audible is an Amazon company, so if you have a Kindle, the titles that you buy show up in your titles list on your device and then you download them from there.

Some of the titles I’ve purchased from Audible.com

Audible also offers many things in addition to books including: newspapers, magazines, radio shows and podcasts for free. I have listened to State of the Union speeches using Audible.

I started using Audible in 2002 and I still have access to all of the books that I have purchased over the years.  My husband and I share the account, so he can listen to the titles that I have purchased on his mobile devices.

 

I would be pleased to help any of you navigate through this stuff if you’d like help getting yourself set up with some audio-books. Pop in and let me know or drop me an email at followthereaders@icloud.com

Happy listening!

The Christmas Truce of 1914

Looking for a heartwarming Christmas story? Try this historical fiction picture book about Allied and German soldiers in the trenches of France during World War I taking time out from their fighting to join together in song – “Silent Night.”  A delightful book written from the point of view of a miserable British soldier’s letters home.  A lovely story to share to put our modern lives into perspective.  Text and gorgeous illustrations by John Hendrix.  Find it at the EPO library.

I loved this book so much  that I decided to share it with my intermediate classes before winter break.  I found some great videos to go with it if you want some more visuals to accompany the story.

For a background of World War I, “The Great War,” start with this clip from History.com: Bet You Didn’t Know: World War I

For a dramatic reenactment, I found that this Sainsbury’s (a UK grocery store chain) commercial tells a nice story and leaves out the gory bits: Sainsbury’s Official Christmas Advert 2014.  Sainsbury’s also has a “the story behind” video that helps to explain some of the finer points.

 

 

EPO celebrating Computer Science Education Week with HOUR OF CODE!

 

December 7-13, 2015 is Computer Science Education Week.  Students throughout South Kitsap School District will celebrate by participating in Hour of Code activities with their classmates.  Here at East Port Orchard Elementary, we have been talking about what “coding” means and why we would want to know more about it.

For links to the activities that I will be doing with your students in the library, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/epolinks and choose one of the links from the “code.org coding” section.  Additional links to other websites can be found in the “coding” section. We are doing the Minecraft puzzles.

Coding can be a fun activity to work on with your child – and it’s absolutely FREE!

You can bring the whole family to South Kitsap High School on December 10^th during the Hour of Code event.   SKHS will open a couple of computer labs during the hours of 5 – 7 PM for anyone to come in and write some code.  To cap off the event, SKHS will be screening CODEGIRL, an engaging and inspirational documentary about the Technovation Challenge, a global technology entrepreneurship program for girls, centered on app development to help solve local problems.  The screening begins at 7 pm in the high school auditorium.

Please watch these short videos for a taste of what we discovered and a preview of the coding that we will be working on next week in the library.

What is Coding?

Preview of Hour of Code:

Make sure to check out the EPO Library on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EPOLibrary/

Mrs. Wilson’s Donorschoose.org page: http://www.donorschoose.org/mrswilsonslibrary/