Kevin McGrath

Resources for Deciding How to Manage Non-Native Plants

March 30, 2025 by Kevin McGrath Leave a Comment

Massachusetts Sandplain Heathland Guide (Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife)
This document provides detailed descriptions of sandplain heathland vegetation, including dominant native species like black huckleberry, bearberry, and broom crowberry. It highlights the ecological importance of these communities and their maintenance through practices like controlled burning and frost management.

The Nature Conservancy’s Bamford Preserve Restoration
The Bamford Preserve on Martha’s Vineyard serves as a case study for restoring sandplain grasslands. Efforts include planting native species such as little bluestem and butterflyweed, supported by research on effective restoration techniques like mowing, prescribed fire, and seeding.

Conversion from Agricultural Grassland (Sandplain Grassland Network)
Restoring Imperiled Grasslands on Martha’s Vineyard (The Nature Conservancy)

WeVideo

January 22, 2025 by Kevin McGrath

WeVideo allows you and your students to create and edit videos on their Chromebooks. They can also collaborate on group video projects.

We have a school subscription to WeVideo.

It is a relatively easy-to-use online software service that allows students to create and edit videos in across platforms. Since it is cloud-based, it can be accessed and used on Macs, PCs, Chromebooks, iOS, Android, and more.

As their teacher, you can assign and manage video projects. If you haven’t used it before, and you’d like to use it this year, please let me know. I’ll set you up with a teacher account and help get you started. I’m glad to come to your class and introduce it to your students.

Import a Google Calendar with the MVRHS block schedule

August 26, 2024 by Kevin McGrath

Some have found it helpful for planning purposes to have the individual blocks in their Google calendar. I know I couldn’t live without it in scheduling the library. If you want to import a calendar with individual blocks for 2024-25, here’s how:

1. Download the file linked below by clicking on it. It will save a file to your computer (probably in the Downloads folder).

2024-25 Block Schedule

2. Open Google Calendar. (Note: You can only import from a computer, not a phone or tablet.)

3. In the top right, click the Settings button, (it looks like a gear in the top right of the window) and then click Settings.

4. Find and click on the link to “Import & Export” in the menu on the left side of the screen.

5. Click Import, and then click on the link to “Select File from Your Computer”.

6. Click Choose File and select the file you exported.

7. Choose a calendar. You could either create a new calendar (go back and click on “create new calendar” next to the “Import calendars” link), or use an existing calendar (be careful: see note below) to add these events to. Be careful here to choose the right calendar as there’s not way to undo this process once you do it!

8. Click Import. It may take a few seconds to a minute to import all of the events.

Important notes:

If the school calendar changes during the school year, these changes won’t automatically change this calendar. You’ll have to manually make the changes on your calendar when changes are announced.
Keep in mind that once you import events, THERE IS NO UNDO. If you’re worried about how they might appear, you could test it out by creating and importing the schedule to a “test calendar” which you can then delete.

Sora (and Other eBooks and Audiobooks)

March 25, 2024 by Kevin McGrath

We now have access to Sora, a new reading app from Overdrive for students that offers free ebooks and audiobooks for students to borrow.

Sora includes many popular authors, graphic novels, manga, and hundreds of books in Portuguese.

To access Sora, go to the Apple Store or Google Play store and download the Sora app. Or, you can read/listen from https://soraapp.com.

Students: login using your school email and password.

Staff logins: please contact Kevin McGrath for login info.

Other Providers of eBooks and Audiobooks

Libby by OverDrive (Boston Public Library)
Access thousands of books, including graphic novels. Libby is also an app that you can add to your phone. You’ll need to get a free BPL ecard (but you can easily get one here).

ComicsPlus (Boston Public Library)
Unlimited access to thousands of digital comics, graphic novels and manga. Use your free BPL eCard to access (get one here).

Hoopla (Boston Public Library)
The Boston Public Library offers an ebook and digital streaming service called Hoopla that is free for all. It includes ebooks, as well as movies, tv shows, comics, and music. You’ll need to get a free BPL ecard first (which you can do here).

BookShare
Bookshare is an online library of accessible ebooks for students with print disabilities, offering a wide range of titles in various formats. Students can request books to be added to their accounts through Mr. McGrath or their Special Ed teacher.

Internet Archive
The Internet Archive (archive.org) is “a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more”. By creating a free account you can actually borrow material (ebooks, audio, video) that’s under copyright.

LibriVox
Free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers.

Lit2Go
Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in audiobook format.

Abdo Digital Bookshelf
Abdo is a publisher of non-fiction books including biographies, history, current events, science and more.