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An effort to organize the artists at Burbank, California-based Stoopid Buddy Stoodios has gained momentum in recent weeks.

The post Exclusive: Artists At Stoopid Buddy, Studio Behind ‘Robot Chicken,’ Are Uniting To Unionize appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Recent announcements for four animated series that will be returning for second seasons.

The post Season 2 Renewals: ‘Powerpuff Girls,’ ‘Voltron,’ ‘Supermansion,’ and ‘Legends of Chamberlain Heights’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

The TV industry is under attack, with Xbox Live nailing down deals with Verizon, Comcast, HBO, Crackle, and more (hoping to entice users to the console platform with TV content. Speaking of disrupting TV, popular music platform Spotify is teaming up... Read the rest of this post

Crackle’s 'The Bannen Way', Felicia Day’s 'The Guild' leads Streamy Awards (Also nominated for "Best Writing for a Drama Web Series" Susan Miller and Tina Cesa Ward of "Anyone But Me" previously featured on Ypulse and the team behind MTV's... Read the rest of this post

I just started the “Snapple Real Facts Buster” wiki a couple of weeks ago and lo and behold, you can find our site by searching “snapple real facts” on google already.  If you search “snapple real facts” wiki, then we are the first on the results list.  I just sent a mass email to all the 4th graders and hopefully, they will find this an exciting turn of events.  (I really wasn’t expecting google spidering us so quickly!)

This is a report on my new Information Literacy Unit for 4th graders.  The link to the unit wiki site is here: http://snapplerealfactsbuster.wikidot.com/ for reference.

My daughter has always been fascinated by those Snapple “Real Facts” under their bottle caps.  Not long ago, a few odd-sounding “facts” piqued my interest and I started to verify the validity behind each fact we encountered.  It turns out that not all of those facts are entirely true.  I have concluded that the good folks at Snapple did not start out to fool their public, but due to the space limitation of the caps, they had to truncate quite a bit of their facts into short sentences and along the way choices of words and syntax often altered the meanings of the facts.

A few weeks ago, I thought, hey, why don’t I use this into an Info. Lit. Unit for my fourth graders?  First of all, I have been trying to figure out a way that will make creating wiki documents meaningful to the children.  A wiki can be a natural space where they can share their findings with each other and the world, where I can give them instant and continuous comments and pointers, and where they can formulate a solid understanding of how wiki sites are put together and thus are less likely to be simply just believe in whatever they find online.

We started the unit by looking at how wikipedia works and how we could add and change information about our school on wikipedia without submitting any proof of our identities or expertise.   And then  the students were shown how to create their individual group’s wiki file and record their “research findings” of the randomly assigned caps/facts.  We named our wiki “Snapple Real Facts Buster” in the fashion of the very popular Discovery Channel’s “Myth Busters.”  We are in the thick of figuring out whether any of the facts is valid and discovering that it is not always that easy to verify a simple factual statement.    In a week or two, we will be done with the unit and a final reflection and discussion will be posted on our site.  So far, this has been a fun unit to create and it seems that the students have enjoyed the idea behind the unit.  It is, however, hard work for 9- and 10-year-olds to have the patience and tenacity to continue working both after 15 minutes of futile searching or seeing one source, regardless of its validity.  This is part of the discovery process and hopefully both the success stories and difficulties will prove to be illuminating for both the children and the library teacher.

The ALSC legislation committee is urgently requesting your aid in support of the SKILLS (Strengthening Kids Interest in Learning and Libraries) Act in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. For more information and to take immediate action, please go to the ALA Legislative Action Center site: http://capwiz.com/ala/home/ . (It’s so easy — it’s harder not to take action.)
Also please consider hosting a “I Love My Library” or “I Love My Librarian” Valentine’s Day program, during which kids, teens, parents and teachers can make valentines for their Senators and Representatives that support legislation that impacts libraries.

This is the single most important piece of legislation concerning school libraries that will come before Congress this year. Reauthorization of this bill is critical to the future of school libraries, and you can make it happen!

Make this election year, the year of the library!

submitted by Brandy Morrill, ALSC Legislation Committee

by Brenda F. Pruitt-Annisette

December is one of those times during the school year when the school library media specialist becomes the jack of all trades, the grinch who stole the holiday spirit, or the deer in the headlights. Here’s why.

The K-12 media specialist juggles cross curricular “fires” throughout the school year. In December it is a little more challenging for those of us who feel that our staff and students want us to be involved in every concert, play, reception, open house, etc., that takes place. Never knowing just how to say “no,” we over extend ourselves to the point that December is not too much fun.

For those veteran K-12 media specialists who have learned how to say “no,” we are then perceived as the Grinch who lacks the holiday spirit. We are more concerned with completing the introduction of the research strategies students will need in order to complete the science fair project looming large in January. So what if the bulletin board is full of books to read during fall foliage. Winter does not officially start until December 22, 2007! Until then, the autumn theme works!

Finally, for those new to school librarianship, the deer in the headlights syndrome is the theme of the month. Do not fret, we have all been there and worn that same holiday fare. With the amount of energy the students are exhibiting combined with the frantic urgency of the teachers to tie up all instructional loose ends for the semester, the month becomes a swirl of activity that is quite surreal. Yes, you are there, moving between the real and the surreal wondering, “Can it get anymore hectic than this?”

Oh, but yes it can! Wait until January when everyone returns, ready to delve into the next program, project, and curricular deadline.

The excitement never ends. It is so much fun!