Website: International Fact Checking Day

INTERNATIONAL FACT CHECKING DAY draws attention to the importance of accurate information world-wide.

Although April 2 is the day for global conversation about fact-checking, the website contains useful information that librarians, classroom teachers, and students can use everyday.

The resource includes dozens of articles exploring tips, myths, and resources associated with fact finding activities. The Educheckmap shows projects, resources, investigations, activities, and organizations world-wide that are examining topics such as critical thinking and media, data, and misinformation literacy.

Educators can download a role-playing card game and lesson plan that stimulates critical thinking, fact-based dialogue and analytical skills.

A Fake News Trivia Quiz is a great way to jumpstart discussions about misinformation and fake news.

Librarians will find this website weaves seamlessly into the information literacy curriculum.

Go to https://factcheckingday.com/.

Website Review: National Ice Cream Month

NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH is celebrated each July with National Ice Cream Day celebrated on the third Sunday in July.

The International Dairy Foods Association website provides a media kit with information about this special month as well as individual pages focusing on different aspects of ice cream. These pages would be useful for informational reading activities. Go to https://www.idfa.org/news-views/media-kits/ice-cream.

Go to Ben & Jerry’s How We Make Ice Cream page for a series of videos showing how ice cream moves from the farm and factory to the store. Go to http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/how-we-make-ice-cream.

To learn more about how ice cream is made, go to the How Ice Cream Works page from How Stuff Works at http://science.howstuffworks.com/…/edible-inn…/ice-cream.htm.

Explore the Ice Cream page at the Library of Congress for lots of photos and historical resources related to ice cream. Weave these into a history of ice cream project. Go to http://www.loc.gov/…/scitech/selected-internet/icecream.html.

Website Review: Morse Code Day

MORSE CODE DAY is April 27th in commemoration of the birth of inventor Samuel Morse in 1791.

For a simple Morse Code Translator, go tohttp://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html.

Learn a little about the history of Morse Code at the White River Valley Museum. Also, try their translator athttp://www.wrvmuseum.org/morsecodehistory.htm.

Boys’ Life provides a Morse Code Machine that contains both the visual and auditory elements of morse code. Go tohttp://boyslife.org/games/online-games/…/morse-code-machine/. It also has built-in practice.

Connect Morse Code to science. Involve students in building their own Hila Code Key device. Hold a contest in your library to see who can decipher a message first! Go to http://hila.webcentre.ca/projects/morse_code/.

Do you want to get serious? Download the 99 cent app called Morse-It by Francis Bonnin. This app allows users to translate, interpret, type, and convert Morse code. It also provides lessons to learn Morse code. Go tohttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/morse-it/id284942940.

For a great April Fool’s Joke featuring Morse Code, go to Gmail Tap athttps://www.gmail.com/mail/help/promos/tap/.