Library Media Services
San Diego County Office of Education
January 2014 Newsletter
Mock Newbery @ SDCOE
Our Mock Newbery happens on Saturday, January 11th. We announced this event with relatively little notice, considering that it requires some reading to fully participate. We hope to make this an annual event, so look for our shortlist a little bit earlier next year. In the meantime, you may want to watch the live webcast of the Youth Media Awards when the Newbery, Caldecott, and other awards are announced on Monday, January 27th. It's a must for all children's literature junkies!
Professional Growth Day
This annual event is scheduled for Tuesday, February 25th. We're putting together an impressive line-up that promises to be both entertaining and informative. Our featured speakers include Walter Mayes, Shelley Moore Thomas, and Virginia Loh-Hagan. I'm currently finalizing our break-out sessions, and will have the complete schedule in the February newsletter. However, space is limited and since we already have a number of registrants, you'll want to sign up sooner rather than later.
Everyone A Reader
Do you have struggling primary grade readers at your site? Are you interested in another intervention tool? Since 1995, the EAR program has involved parents and community volunteers as tutors to work one-to-one with struggling readers. Each year, over 150 San Diego County schools, 2,000 tutors, and 3,000 students participate in this successful program. The next site coordinator training is on Wednesday, January 29th. More details are here.
Best Books
As the budget situation improves in the state of California, we should start to see more money flowing into library collections so ask your principal, site council, or PTA for funds to purchase new books. There are six review journals that we rely on for book evaluation, and they have all released their lists of best books for 2013: Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. Of course, if you're super nerdy like me or Jen, then you like to manipulate this data in various ways.
Best Websites and Apps
The American Association of School Librarians is one of the three youth divisions of the American Library Association, and it has some great information literacy resources, not the least of which are annual lists of the best websites and apps. Check out The Best Websites for Teaching & Learning and The Best Apps for Teaching & Learning while we wait for the 2014 editions of these invaluable lists.
Alphabet Soup
DCP is Digital Content Portal which is a collection of digital resources that includes databases, streaming video, e-books, and audiobooks. At $6.25 per student, it's an excellent value, but don't take our word for it. Ask us for a free trial and/or demonstration.
IMRA is Instructional Media Resource Assistant, and it's what we call our professional development class for classified library media staff. For $149, this 8 week course will bring you up to speed on everything you need to know. It's so popular we'll be offering a follow-up course in the near future.
Contact Information
Email: jonathan.hunt@sdcoe.net
Website: http://www.sdcoe.net/ITS/solutions/Pages/Library-Media-Services.aspx
Location: 5304 Metro Street, San Diego, CA, United States
Phone: (619) 291-5995