Camellia Net: Alabama's Digital Library

Alabama readers, check this out! If you're looking for e-books Camellia Net is the place to go. Camellia Net (Get it?...our state flower) is Alabama's Digital Library which connects libraries all across the state. All you need is a library card to sign up and you can borrow books. I first heard about this service from a friend at a Christmas party last year, but didn't look at it right away. I then got busy and forgot about it until yesterday. My sister reminded me and even went through the site with me, so I decided to give it a try on my Kindle Fire HD. Here's what I found:

Go to the site, and choose your library. To sign in, type in your library card number.I had to do a little treasure hunting to actually find my card!

Search in the search box, or browse by genre.

You're allowed to borrow five books at a time. Each title has an icon in the upper right corner. If the icon is darkened, it is available for check out. If it is gray, you can place it on hold and an email will be sent to you when it is available. 

Tap the book you'd like to borrow and tap "Borrow." 

You'll be given two options: Download or Read in Browser. I chose to download my book and was sent to the Amazon store where I had to choose which device to have the book delivered to. You can also see in the bottom corner that it shows I have two books checked out. After you've finished reading, you can just return the book.

If you're like me, you've probably heard of this before and maybe got a little side-tracked and forgot about this awesome service. Well, here's your reminder! Go log in now before you forget :)

If you're still reading and from another state, congratulations!!! I didn't want to leave you out, so I will tell you that I did a quick Google search and found that most states have a similar system in place.

Kindle Fires on the Way!

I'm so excited! Yesterday morning I walked in to the office and was greeted with the news that my class will be receiving 18 Kindle Fire HDs! Since I'm fortunate to have a small class size this year, that means our classroom is now 1:1!  My mind's been going ninety to nothing since I got the news, planning how to implement them as much as possible and thinking of all the great things we can do now that each kiddo will have a tablet in his/her hands. It's also made me think of a LOT of questions:

• What are the best educational apps (free and paid)?
• How do you manage a class set of tablets? Are there unique issues when dealing with so many?
• Can I purchase ebooks from Scholastic, or only from Amazon? 
• How well do Google and Google docs work on them?

These are just a few questions I have. Please help! I'd love to hear any advice or tips you can offer.