Sabotage: The Mission to Destroy Hitler's Atomic Bomb by Neal Bascomb

While WW II was waging furiously in Europe, some countries didn't see as much action. But it didn't mean that pivotal moments didn't occur in those countries.  Switzerland declared itself neutral, but Norway didn't.  And there was one place in Norway that became very VERY interesting to the Nazis.  It was a place so obscure and rare, they would do anything to make sure they could control it. 

An interesting fact - the science behind the nuclear bomb was being explored before and during World War II.  Everyone knew that whomever developed it first would win the war.  And the race was on.  Different physicists and scientists came up with various ways to create one and there were many elements that had to be used.  One of them was called heavy water.  Hydrogen has been replaced by deuterium, which made it essential for bomb making. The unfortunate thing was that heavy water was difficult to produce and there wasn't much of it.

But there was one place in Europe where heavy water was produced.  The Vemork Hydroelectric Plant in Norway.  Difficult to access, it was the perfect Nazi situation, making it hard to infiltrate.  It was to be a huge Nazi secret that gave them the extra incentive to win the nuclear race. 

One thing they didn't count on was the patriotism of the Norwegians.  There were underground resistance groups that sprung up and when the Nazis found them out, they used scare and death tactics to contain them.  It only bolstered them to fight back even more.  Several Norwegians went to England to train with the secret intelligence service to become infiltrators, spies and saboteurs.  They were to go back to Norway and create new resistance groups and sabotage any Nazi effort.

The top priority was to destroy Vemork....but could they without getting caught or putting the small town of Rjukan in jeopardy for their lives? Even worse, their mission was to take place in winter across a vast frozen area where survival would be severely tested.

Young adult non-fiction is fascinating for one very simple reason - these are the events that aren't usually written about in history books. Neal Bascomb hit it out of the park with his newest book. Narrative in nature, Bascomb tells a riveting story as well as providing images and photographs of the main players and sites.  In hindsight, readers will see how one mistake could have changed the outcome of the war. This is the invisible part of WWII teens will find fascinating.

Fiction book pair:

Black Out by Robison Wells

New Kind of Orientation!

Freshmen library orientation, if anything else, should be straight up interesting.  First impressions are the best (and most lasting) ones, so it is up to us to create relationships day one of meeting the first freshmen class that comes in.  Last year, I did a meme powerpoint, which the students absolutely loved!  I am going to use this again, but I thought I'd also create something else for the little time I have left afterward.  

My creation?  10 Things to Know About the Library web list.  But it isn't just any list....it's set up like Buzzfeed and other feeds that have lists with animated gifs in it.  Fun and definitely relatable teen and tweens who are familiar with animated lists.  Pictures do tell a thousand words (boy, I'm full of classic cliches this morning!!).  Enjoy!

That beginning of the school year post!

The week before school starts

And through the library,

We started getting ready

For the extraordinary.

Books were displayed

On the shelves here and there,

Waiting for readers

From here and elsewhere.

The students still had

A week to sleep late,

While librarians work hard

For the big opening date.

via GIPHY

Not only the students

But also the teachers,

Were all given info

On things that were keepers.

Like sources and websites

And great info to know,

About books and collab’ing

Great things we can show.

Emails and posters

All ready to make,

To show off resources

For the campus to take.

via GIPHY

And use for their projects

And digital work,

The library is here

Like Spock is to Kirk.

Not only does reading

Take place in here often,

But makerspace, gaming

And Lunches, and talkin’.

The library has changed

Through the years can’t you see,

From quiet hush zones

To chill places to be.

via GIPHY

The collection has more

Than just books to check out,

But all sorts of things

For all users to scout.

From movies to audio

Kids books and much more,

All for the taking

On the fab library floor.

So with only five days

To get ready to open,

How bangin', how awesome

Let's bring lots of hope in!  

100 Useful Websites for Educators and Students

There are so many websites out there, it's sometimes difficult to run the gauntlet and not get hit with websites you weren't expecting or even dead links.  I know I've blogged and tweeted many websites I liked over the years and it didn't occur to me to make a list until this summer.  So here is my list of what I consider the top 100 sites for educators, students, and of course librarians.  I tried my best to make sure they were free to use, but always keep in mind the appropriate age of use.

If you see one you love and it isn't listed, please share on the comments section below!
Here is the link to the Google doc you can download.

Happy new school year!!

1001fonts.com - free downloads to make your projects pop a little more

4shared.com - free 5 GB online storage and file sharing

Adobe Spark - a suite of tools to create presentations, posters,  videos, and websites

Awwapp.com - online interactive whiteboard

Bighugelabs.com - do cool stuff it hour digital photos from posters to magazine covers and more

Bingobaker.com - create and generate hundreds of random cards in PDF

Blockposters.com- take your personal images and create a huge poster through segmentation

Cacoo.com - timeline creator

Canva.com - make beautiful posters, social media graphics and presentations

Cell.ly - send text messages to students, parents and others without sharing your private number

Citationmachine.net - help with citations including APA and MLA

Classbadges.com - award virtual badges to students for their accomplishments

Classtools.net - free games, quizzes and activities for classrooms K-12

Code.org - create classes and teach students to code the easy way

Commoncraft.com - explainer videos for teaching and a library of cutouts

Commoncurriculum.com- online lesson planning where yu can attach files, re-arrange lessons, collaborate with other teachers

Coursera.org - online courses from top universities

Coverr.co- public domain stock videos. Seven new videos a week

Croak.it - record voice messages in three simple steps

Dipity.com - create, share, embed, collaborate on interactive timelines incorporating video, audio, image, text, link, social media and more

Duolingo.com - language learning app

Easel.ly- create infographics from templates or on your own  

Easybib.com -help with citations including APA and MLA

Easypolls.net - create online polls for free.  Save them hen you create an account

Edweb.net - professional online networking via webinars for educators

Edutopia.com - online community dedicated to bringing quality resources to the K12 community of educators

Emaze.com - online presentation creator unlike standard presentation. Create attractive presentations with provided templates

Todoist.com - manage task/projects on and offline. Share tasks in a collaborative environment. Works with many different platforms

Everystockphoto.com- Creative Commons photos

Evernote.com-save, share and work on documents across devices

Flippity.net - use Google spreadsheets to create flash cards

Fotor.com - create collages or seamlessly photo stitch images into one picture

Geogebra.org - dynamic math software for geometry, algebra, calculus, and statistics Getkahoot.com - create interactive games, polls, surveys

Pocket.com- save anything you want to see online for later.  Includes social media apps so you can save from Twitter and other social media sites

Goo.gl - shortens URLs that can be tracked for statistics

Gosoapbox.com - student response system with integrated tools to check for understanding, play quizzes, and generate reports

Grammarbase.com- free grammar checker

Gutenberg.org - Project Gutenberg offers free e-books and audiobooks on works that are copyright free, most of which are classics

Hstry.co - interactive timeline includes quizzes, did you know sections. Add images and videos.  Allows students to interject via comments

Imagechef.com - use photos and texts to create a myriad of different products Imgflip.com/meme generator - use images, add text, create memes

Instapaper.com - save websites for future browsing. Perfect for research

Join.me - screen sharing with anyone on the web

Khanacademy.org -academic videos to learn almost anything

Kizoa.com - create videos with a multitude of options and no time limit

Knowledgehook.com- online game show that targets mathematics for all grade levels

Kwiksurveys.com - create unlimited surveys and polls

Libib.com -cloud based cataloging for beyond the library (think classroom libraries)

List.ly - curate and share lists as well as allow others to add to them

Makerbook.net - creative graphics

Marinaratimer.com - three different types of timers to help with classrooms, presentations et al.  Features pomodoro, custom and kitchen timers

Meez.com - avatar creator

Mentormob.com - online community creating and providing lessons for skills and hobbies

Mindmeister.com - online software with great visualization

Mindomo.com - mind map creator that can be used as a presentation tool as well

Moovly.com - interesting and different approach to presentations based on cartoon images and hand actions

Morguefile.com- free digital photos for projects that doesn't require citations

Online-convert.com - convert most any type of file, videos, documents etc,  into different formats

Openbadges.me - create badges for websites and blogs

Pablobuffer.com- use an image provided or your own, add amazing text, share with the world

Panopen.com -open educational resources which include quizzes, videos, PowerPoint slides

Photosforclass.com- Creative Commons images with attribution

Photopeach.com- video creator with a twist-literally!

Photopin.com- Creative Commons images with easy to find attribution

Piktochart.com - create infographics that can be shared.  Has a presentation mode and are downloadable

Pixteller.com - create online posters

Popplet.com-  create a board to collaborate with others anywhere anytime

Presentation tube.com - record and share quality presentations with free recording and video sharing platform

Purple-planet.com - Creative Commons music for digital projects

Quizzizz.com - create and play multiplayer games

Quozio.com - create beautiful quotes

Readwritethink.org - classroom resources for K12 classrooms created by NCTE

Remind.com - send text reminders of class work to students and parents without sending your cell phone number.  Create chats or send to individuals as well

Ribbet.com - online image editor

Scoop.it - web curation tool to share information

Screencastomatic.com- captures your screen to create and share videos/tutorials

Showbie.com- teacher creates account which allows students to upload their work

Slidedog.com - multimedia tool that allows the user to bring in different types of media from documents to videos and more into one presentation

Slides carnival.com - free templates for Google Slides

Smore.com - create informational posters for organizations, schools, newsletters and more

Snapguide.com - discover and create how-to guides

Spiral.ac - suite of tools to make learning g more engaging.  Includes student response quizzes (quickfire) , interactive presentations (discuss), and group work/collaboration (team up)

Stich.it -  copy and paste web sites into the box, this site will “stitch” or curate them into one web address

Studyblue.com - crowd sourced site with academic flash cards and notes

Sway.com- create and share interactive presentations, personal stories, reports and more

Tackk.com - create pages for anything from online posters to presentations to specific pages you build by inputting information and links

Teachwithmovies.org movie clips with lesson plans

Thenounproject.com - downloadable icons of all types

Timetoast.com- interactive timelines to create and share

Tripline.net - interactive maps you create with images, dates, and descriptions

Twiddla.com - web based, no sign in needed to collaborate online

Tynker.com- programs games, Mindcraft Mods and more

Visibletweets.com - display tweets during a conference or meeting via unique hashtag to see what others are sharing

Voxer.com- text messages with voice, photos and videos to share with groups

Videonot.es -  synchronize videos with your notesto share.  Click on the note to jump to that particular part of the video. Syncs with Google Drive

Visme.co - only site that create infographics, presentations, reports, and web content

Wevideo.com - create quick videos with the free version

Whatshouldireadnext.com - type in a title and it will generate a list of similar titles and subjects Wordpress.com - create a blog with a website look

Zaption.com - turn online videos into interactive learning experience you customize

Ziteboard.com - collaborate, brainstorm, create and plan with a whiteboard