Website Review: Landmarks

LANDMARKS is an interactive exhibition focusing on Canada’s National Parks and Historic Sites.

As part of their 150th anniversary celebration, this website celebrates Canada’s rich land and its history through stories and contemporary artwork. The interactive experience allows users to select a destination based on a night sky visualization. Users are then immersed into a particular location in Canada. As participants wander through the exhibition, they view images and listen to sounds, music, and stories created by Canadians. Many of the areas incorporate historical documents and other resources.

Librarians will find this website to be an interesting way to explore Canada’s natural and historical areas. Ask youth to select an American location and create their own interactive exhibition, story, sound, or piece of music. Build an interdisciplinary project that combines art, music, writing, and social studies.

To visit the website, go to https://landmarks2017.ca/experience/.

Digital Spotlight: Listen to Nature

LISTEN TO NATURE

British Library

Contents: This large collection includes 400 sound recordings related to wildlife and the language of birds. Users can browse by location, animal group, or habitats. A section of the website also includes information about the language of birds.

Classroom Connections: Encourage students to incorporate sounds into their animal projects.

Featured Digital Objects:
Land Mammals https://goo.gl/oD3aUa
Animal Habitats https://goo.gl/WtqK5I

To visit the collection, http://www.bl.uk/listentonature/main.html.

Website Review: The Roaring Twenties

THE ROARING TWENTIES is an interactive exploration of the historical soundscape of New York City through primary source documents.

This engaging multimedia project immerses users in the sounds of New York City in the 1920s through three themes: sound, space, and time.

The Introduction discusses the the time period and the primary source materials used as the basis for the website. These include the text of noise complaints, news reel footage, maps, and other historical materials.

The Sound section features sources of city noise including traffic, transportation, building operation, homes, streets, harbor/river, collection deliveries, and miscellaneous. Each category includes specific text and video examples of noises and complaints.

The Space section provides a clickable map of New York City. Users can explore primary source documents and watch video footage related to city noise.

The Time section contains a clickable timeline that can be used to explore noise complaints, videos, news, and other information.

The Info section provides access to background information about the three themes along with links to additional resources.
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Librarians will find this website to be an fascinating way for youth to immerse themselves in this time period while learning about the usefulness of primary sources in research. Partner with both English and History teachers to immerse young adults in this time period.

To visit the website, go to http://vectorsdev.usc.edu/NYCsound/777b.html.

Book & App Review: Noisy Sing-along Collection

The NOISY SING-ALONG collection by John Himmelman is a wonderful way to connect children with science and nature. Available as both print books, e-books, and apps, you’ll want to get all three for your library.

Designed for pre-K through grade 3, NOISY BIRD SING-ALONG is the latest addition in this nature awareness series. The print book and e-book includes large, colorful illustrations of robins, sparrows, owls, mallards, and more. Colorful text is used to introduce the sound of each bird. In addition to information about the bird and sound, the habits and habitat of each bird is described.

This easy concept book would be an effective way to introduce young children to informational reading. In addition, the text is easy enough for primary grade readers to enjoy independently. The Fun Facts and Things to Do pages are useful for older children, teachers, and parents.

In addition to the print version, an app version is available for NOISY BUG SING-ALONG and NOISY FROG SING-ALONG. One advantage to the app is that children can hear the sounds. App designer Malachi Bazan successfully adapted the print books to the app environment. Users have two easy-to-use options for reading: Read to Me and Read to Myself. The Read to Me option highlights each word as it’s read by an engaging narrator. Clicking on the illustrations generates simple animation. A matching game builds in the facts found at the end of the print version of the book and actively involves readers with the sounds.

Active listening is an important skill. Getting children involved with identifying creature sounds is an excellent way to develop observational skills using the auditory channel. This book series would be an outstanding addition to an elementary school library collection.

To learn more about bird sounds, explore Songs & Calls athttp://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=1059. Their free bird guide contains hundreds of sounds to explore. Go tohttp://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search.aspx.

The Noisy Sing-Along collection is published by Dawn Publications