Teaching and Learning Tools

---

Teaching and Learning Tools

Filled with well-researched facts about the people, animals, and customs of fifthcentury Ireland, The Wolf and the Shield is historical fiction for children ages 7-10. Exciting and fast-paced, this adventure novel explores what friendship with a saint might be like, showing Saint Patrick as approachable and understanding of the challenges of a young boy. Search for the book at store.pauline.org.

School of the Month brought to you by Varco Pruden.

PBS KIDS has released its first coding app called PBS KIDS ScratchJr. Designed for kids ages 5-8, ScratchJr enables kids to create their own interactive stories and games featuring their favorite characters from Wild Kratts, Nature Cat, WordGirl, and Peg + Cat. By snapping together colorful programming blocks, children can make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. In the process, kids will learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively. The app is free and can be downloaded on the App Store and Google Play. Encourage kids as they prepare for a new school year by holding a backpack blessing event. The Backpack Blessings Event Kit has everything you need to hold an event, which only takes about 10 minutes. The event kit includes a litany, sermon, 10 backpack tags for students, 10 parent-child backpack blessing sheets, and a CD-Rom with all materials including PowerPoint slides and tools to promote backpack blessings in your church or school. Order from Creative Communication for the Parish at http://tinyurl.com/j4976w8. Follett has launched Students’ Choice, a monthly list developed by compiling regularly generated, real-circulation statistics straight from school libraries. Unlike other lists, the information compiled through Follett Destiny Library Manager provides educators with regularly updated and reliable year-long trends based on what students are checking out of their school libraries. The list provides reliable information that will help you confidently determine the best ways to build, maintain, and grow your collection, and students will have better access to materials they want to read. Find the list at http://tinyurl. com/hmsk8pt. With the integration of multiple STEM concepts and a competition setting, gravity jousting gives students—and teachers—a fun way to integrate STEM and medieval history into a single hands-on classroom activity. Pitsco’s Gravity Jousting Starter Pack provides enough building material for 30 students to build their own gravity jousters. The package also comes with a teacher’s guide with reproducible student procedures and worksheets. Buy the kit at pitsco.com/Gravity_Jousting_Class_Pack.

28 | April/May 2016