Library Services Newsletter
November, 2018 Teacher Librarian Edition
DPS Reads: Cookies & Cocoa
The DPS Review Crew invites you to an evening of connecting with your book-loving colleagues across the district and learning about highly recommended, recently published books. Enjoy the hot chocolate bar and homemade cookies while book speed dating and listening to DPS Review Crew members book talk our favorite new books for DPS students.
All attendees select a new book for your school library and can enter to win one of three book lover's gift baskets. And we encourage to invite a colleague from your building to share the fun! Have a wonderful holiday season, and we hope to see you soon!
DPS Reads: Cookies and Cocoa
Thursday, December 6th from 4:30-6:30 pm
George Washington High School Library
Please RSVP here: http://evite.me/5yjS8Fk1B2
Indigenous Reads by Indigenous Writers
"Only 1% of the children’s books published in the U.S. in 2016 featured Indigenous characters, and even fewer (1/4 of the 1% = 8 books total) were written by Indigenous authors" according to #IndigenousReads by Indigenous Writers.
Library Services is committed to making our digital collections as diverse, reflective and responsive as possible. We always love to hear about resources that help us do this and in this spirit, pass along resources we have found helpful. Below are some links to the article cited above, and additional bibliographies that do the critical work of finding Indigenous stories by Indigenous authors/artists.
#IndigenousReads by Indigenous Writers
Native Writers
Best Books
https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/p/best-books.html
Makerspace Hub...new kits!
littleBits Gizmos & Gadgets
Unleash your students' inner inventor and provide an opportunity for the 4 Cs (creativity and critical thinking.) littleBits makes a platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks for you to create inventions large and small. It turns screen time into hands-on learning. Create DIY games, remote-controlled cars, crazy contraptions, and silly pranks. It comes with everything you need to build fun inventions, then use your smart device to control them wirelessly! Step-by-step instructions for 16 inventions. Gizmos & Gadgets recommended for Grades 3+
littleBits Synth - The Synth kit is a modular synthesizer, developed with world-renowned musical instrument maker KORG. Explore the science of sound while making music and creating instruments. Includes step-by-step instructions for 10 inventions and inspiration for tons more on the littleBits Invent app. Synth Kit recommended for Grades 9+.
littleBits Droid inventor kit - Kids can create their own Droid and bring it to life using littleBits electronic blocks! With the Droid Inventor app, they can control their Droid, give it new abilities with easy block-based coding, and take it on 22+ missions. Recommended Grade 3+
littleBits Gizmos & Gadgets
littleBits Synth
littleBits Droid Inventor
Library Spotlight
This month we are turning the spotlight on Dawn Lewallen at Skinner Middle School.
Dawn has been an educator for 24 years – 5 years in DPS. As the teacher librarian at Skinner for the past 4 years, she has been engaged in creating a dynamic library program that not only supports learning but also captures the interests of her middle school students. She designs activities that are challenging and entertaining for teens and tweens. She incorporates teacher needs and feedback into all of her projects. Dawn is effective at igniting curiosity in her students, supporting their growth and making the love of reading fun, fun, fun!
Dawn loves the fact that Skinner supports a full time librarian – the library is always open! She has the flexibility to collaborate with and support all content areas. Dawn believes in continually “putting yourself out there” by letting staff know that you are there for them. She strongly believes in being willing to adapt to their needs. Her credo is “Be flexible. It’s about what teachers and their students need – not what I need but how I can best support them.” Dawn is a collaborative leader who cares about building strong relationships with teachers and students. This year Dawn applied for a library boost grant and was excited to inform her school community that the Skinner library will be receiving funds to increase their collection. Congratulations Dawn! She plans to support student learning by enhancing the social science and history sections of the library. She maintains a beautiful, bright, and welcoming library. A very unique and colorful piece of “cultural art” created by a local artist is prominently displayed at the front of the library – see photo below. This piece of artwork also includes a few artistic flourishes contributed by Skinner students.
An accomplishment that she is most proud of is the establishment of Skinner BEYOND Days which are fun, challenging, and entertaining activities held 6 times throughout the school year. Students are invited to spend time after school participating in various events that in the past have included themes such as Steampunk, Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, and Harry Potter Days. This year the lineup for BEYOND Days includes some very intriguing themes such as Stranger Things, Fantastic Beasts, Gnomes & Fairies, Minute to Win it, Super Heroes vs Villains, and Escape Room.
Dawn formed the “Library Squad” 3 years ago and participating students plan activities, discuss books they have read and enjoyed, recommend books for the Skinner collection, assist with planning and running book fairs, and write and record Vodcast book reviews. We applaud Dawn for establishing a way for students to learn leadership skills and at the same time contribute to their school community. Kudos to the Library Squad for making a difference at Skinner Middle School! This year the Library Squad is hosting the first ever DPS Middle School Poetry Slam and all middle schools are invited. Finalists from participating schools will meet at Skinner in April. All poems must be original and created by the poets. What a great way to encourage expression and creativity among middle school students across our district. Congratulations to Dawn and the Library Squad for taking the initiative to host this innovative inter-campus venture!
For the past several years, Dawn has collaborated with 6th grade Social Studies and assisted them with the study of primary and secondary sources supporting a Native American concept. Students construct a physical primary source using their creativity and imagination. Dawn loves how the research and hands-on learning contributes to students truly assimilating information and integrating deep learning across culture and geography. Every year this project turns out different and gets more interesting as teachers and students build upon it, with Dawn excited to contribute and be a part of the team.
The Skinner library promotes and sponsors a variety of contests. The current contest is Literacy Pumpkins where students decorate pumpkins (no carving allowed) to resemble book characters. The completed pumpkins are displayed in the library and students vote via a Google form for their favorites. Photos of all the literacy pumpkins submitted in the contest are shared to the school community through an Animoto video and posted on the library homepage. Another fun contest is for all learning families (homerooms) to create a Read Poster without using technology to assist them. This year’s winners created the word “READ” by positioning their bodies into letters. In addition, every year Skinner has a science fair that includes all students in all grades and Dawn is happily involved and busy helping students with library resources and research.
The Skinner library also hosts book clubs - there is an after school parent/student book club called the Scorpion Guild and an 8th grade companion book club that is currently reading Dracula by Bram Stoker and iDrakula by Bekka Black. (These are in addition to the Library Squad book discussions.)
Dawn has developed a unique and entertaining video presentation format for giving book talks and sharing out titles. Enter the Skinner library mascot – Sven – a tiny scorpion who is fully engaged in all aspects of the library. Dawn has created “Fireside Chats with Sven” where she and Sven choose a theme and present book talks around titles they feel would be most appealing to students. Check out the fireside chats on Dawn’s awesome and informative Skinner Library Homepage under the “more” tab and then choose Book Trailers and Recommendations (especially the spooky October fireside chat...did someone say zombies?) Sven is a very busy mascot and has been known to be the star of several Instagram contests. Just this past summer he went to Ireland and photos of his visits to different cities were posted on Instagram. The names of the cities were not revealed but there were clues given so students who were following him on Instagram could make their best guesses. Those who guessed the correct cities had their names placed into a drawing for a prize that was awarded at the beginning of the school year. Dawn also informed us that Sven was spotted at a Rockies game where he quizzed the current score at a specific inning on Instagram and the first five students who came into the library with the correct answer received a prize.
Sven has two library buddies that he hangs out with - Library Troll and a gnome named Hem (short for Hemingway) – see photo below. Anything that goes wrong in the library is conveniently blamed on Library Troll. Hem is still trying to find his way and figure out what his talents are, but that doesn’t stop him from popping up on a regular basis to entertain the Skinner students. On her circulation desk counter, Dawn keeps a “Twitter Board” which is an actual physical board with a bird attached to it - see photo below. She types up clever and entertaining tweets about Sven and his buddies and formats the document so it appears to be a real tweet. She then posts the fabricated tweets on the Twitter Board where students can view and enjoy the latest updates. It’s another fun way to engage students in connecting with their library.
Dawn hosts one reading challenge per semester. This semester the title of the challenge is “School is in Session at Skinner University!” Students can review six different course offerings, read a book that corresponds to the topic of the course, complete the “final” in the form of a book chat or a bookmark, and then submit their final project to Dawn. They must earn 12 credits to receive a graduation announcement and invitation to the coveted Sugar Fest - an event where students can gather to eat yummy treats and celebrate their achievements.
Dawn feels that her job lets her be a kid…it lets her enjoy all the parts of teaching that she loves! She also loves the fact that she gets to learn new things all the time because she is working with all content areas. A suggestion to her colleagues would be to go beyond numbers and statistics and take time to have fun and be silly at any grade level. She also feels that a library should not be quiet. “If you are not hearing noise then things aren’t happening. A library should be engaging, fun, and interactive.” Dawn feels that Skinner is amazing in all that it offers, and she loves that she has the flexibility to do all she can to help build a successful school community. Her enthusiasm in teaching critical thinking skills in a fun way - but still adding challenge to build capacity - is certainly an inspiration to us all. It is evident that she dedicates her best and most creative self to help empower students and support staff.
We celebrate Dawn Lewallen for PUTTING KIDS FIRST in the Skinner Middle School Library!
Advocacy Tip of the Month
Go to minute/second 9:35, to see her get a shout out for successfully advocating for more books for students through the boost grant program.
Please share with us how you are advocating for your library program. Your colleagues would love to know!
Free, copyright compliant digital video??!
Looking for educational videos but your school doesn’t purchase a movie license? Or videos for indoor recess? Denver Public Library is pleased to offer Denver residents Kanopy, a diverse streaming video catalog. Customers are entitled to eight free streams per month.
Engage your classrooms with Kanopy Kids, highlighting films and TV series that inspire and inform through entertaining and educational videos. Educators logging in with their Denver Public Library card must be Denver residents to use Kanopy Kids. And regardless of who is logging in, make sure you don’t charge a fee for after school events (that always violates copyright even though you are an educational, nonprofit entity.)
Go to Kanopy https://denverlibrary.kanopy.com/
(limited to Denver residents) and create an account and then link it to your library card. For more information, visit the Kanopy Help Page https://help.kanopy.com/hc/en-us/categories/200923998-For-Viewers
Thank you Denver Public Library!
Denver Public Library Recommends Youtube Channel!
Go to https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQPHvdgvOBPPOPyYhkAFfgxmhBrTMH_p0&disable_polymer=true
Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
1. Visit http://www.coloradobluespruceaward.org/
2. Make sure you have the 2018 nominated books.
3. Download and print posters and/or bookmark ballots from the website.
4. Create a Blue Spruce display and/or booktalk the nominees.
5. Submit votes by December 31.
Its that time of year again...
Library Services
Email: libraryhelpdesk@dpsk12.org
Website: http://etls.dpsk12.org/library_services
Location: 1617 S Acoma St, Denver, CO, United States
Phone: 720-423-1842