EC Library Services
Explore, Engage, Enrich
February 2020
National Library Lovers' Month
Can you imagine, an entire month to love your library! But what does that mean? Libraries don't need roses and chocolates or even a fancy dinner out. What they need is people! People to take advantage of all the resources libraries have to offer.
Our school libraries and even the public libraries that make up our surrounding communities have so much to offer. From Read with Me events for our Pre-K students and their parents, to shelves and shelves of books for students to come in and check-out, to MakerSpaces filled with opportunities to learn and innovate, there is much for our students to do. For our staff, this newsletter, Lunch and Learn opportunities, collaboration time as well as innovative technology can be found in the library.
Show your campus library a little love this month! Check out a book, bring your students in for a visit and check out all of the engagement opportunities available. If you are still stuck on getting some chocolate, the library staff won't mind!
~Lisa Merrifield, East Central High School
Digital Citizenship
Essential Elements of Digital Citizenship
Did you know that according to ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education) there are 9 essential elements of digital citizenship that fall into 3 main purposes - respect, educate and protect? As educators in a global society it is our shared responsibility to teach our students to be productive citizens in both the physical and digital world. Teaching these 9 essential elements can help us accomplish this.
Respect
Digital access
Digital etiquette
Digital law
Educate
Digital communication.
Digital literacy
Digital commerce
Protect
Digital rights and responsibilities
Digital safety and security
Digital health and wellness
To learn more about these 9 elements and how to teach them to our students, take a look at the following 3 resources:
~Denise Hunt, Oak Crest Elementary
Digital Resources
Animoto
Animoto is a great video creation site. The best part is that it is free for teachers and students. It is very easy to use since all you have to do is choose a background and drop your pictures in. Additional features include being able to add text and music to your video. The music will be automatically selected or you can personalize it by picking something from the music library provided. This is a great feature because you don’t have to worry about copyright issues. Once the video is put together, it looks like a professional made the video. I use Animoto all the time for different events at school and love it.
~Kandi Housholder, Sinclair Elementary
Book Reviews For All
Emergent Reads
Flip-Side Rhymes by Christopher Harbo and illustrated by Colin Jack
These nursery rhymes books are so cute. One side of the book gives you the rhyme and then you flip the book over and you have the other side of the story. For example the spider just wanted to play with Miss Muffet but she screamed and threw her food.
These books are great for compare and contrast. The kids love them. They are sure to put a smile on your face.
~Kandi Housholder, Sinclair Elementary
Preteen Reads
This adventure story shows the inner struggles of culture identity from the mind of a young adopted Korean girl growing up in a family who looks nothing like her. The racial identity dynamics is crucial to character development and helps the reader understand the character’s actions and decisions.
Twelve-year old adopted Mia does not know quite what to think about the vacation she is taking with her father and brother. North Korea does not exactly ooze vacation vibes; however, she is somewhat excited to see more people like her, Korean. But then, the family vacation turns into survival as her father is arrested for spying. Mia will need all her courage to get help for her family. She and her brother have no money, no food, and no friends. How will they not only save their father but also survive on the run in a restrictive police enforced country?
~Angie Cooper, Heritage Middle School
YA Reads
Lovely War by Julie Berry
Love, War, Greek Gods - Lovely War has it all.
The Greek God Hephaestus is fed up with his wife Aphrodite’s cheating ways and puts her on trial. To defend herself, Aphrodite shares the story of 4 people who fall in love (with a little godly help) during World War I. Along the way, Ares, Apollo, and Hades show up to add to the narrative.
Lovely War is a beautiful romance, a harsh look at war and racism, and an overall great read.
~Jennifer Smith, Legacy Middle School
Collaboration
Collaborate with Collections
Collections by Destiny provides the ability to curate resources related to a specific topic. Curating resources means to gather and organize content and Collections allows educators to present them online in a user friendly format. Collections can be used for research. For grades K-12 the new ELAR standards in Strand 7 are: Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes.
School librarians or Library Media teachers can work with classroom teachers to create a Collection. For example, I collaborated with Mrs. Bonaccorsi, 2nd grade teacher, and we created a Natural Resource Collection with six resources for students to start their research. We included a print resource we own and links to TexQuest Databases. Last year, I worked with Mrs. Stokes, 4th grade teacher, and after meeting with her I created a Collection all about Gardening, the topic students researched. I included any print resources we have in our school library, links to database articles, and links to useful websites. Both teachers were able to add the Collection link to their Google Classroom to share with their students.
With Destiny Collection users can curate digital resources, we can build and embed the research process and skills for our students, and educators and students can utilize the digital resources we have access to - Destiny Collection, ebooks, LightBox books, TexQuest Databases.
Are you starting a new unit? Are you interested in learning more, see your School Librarian or Library Media Teacher.
~Anna Silva, Salado Elementary
Innovative Tool
ReadWriteThink is an interactive website specifically designed to help support Reading and Language Arts instruction. There are lesson plans, activities, professional development resources, and apps for students K–12. The highest quality practices are offered for educators, parents and afterschool care providers. ReadWriteThink partners with the International LIteracy Association and NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) and the Verizon Foundation to provides these resources free of charge. The authors and advisors to this site are a group of educators and literacy experts who have a passion for literacy and know what works. Classroom Resources include Lesson Plans, Student interactives, Mobile Apps, Calendar Activities and Printouts. Professional Development Resources include Strategy Guides, a Professional Library, Meetings and Events and Online Professional Development opportunities. There are so many resources write at your fingertips! Please take a few minutes to browse this site! You’ll be glad you did.
~Diane Howes, Pecan Valley
Tech Tips and Tricks
Keyboard Shortcut
A great feature of Windows 10 is the ability to snap windows next to each other. In other words, you can split the screen evenly between two to four applications.
In order to perform this snap feature, hit Windows + Left Arrow to snap window to the left side of the screen or Windows + Right Arrow to snap it to the right. If you want your application to take up a quarter of the screen, hit Windows + Up Arrow or Windows + Down Arrow after you snap it to the left or right and it will move into the corner.
~Susie Havard, Harmony Elementary
Try it Out!
Waze
Free Mapping and Navigation App. Recently acquired by Google, the app gives real time traffic information and road alerts. The app does not require the user to set up an account. Users can actively input road incidents that they come across during their travels as well to help fellow drivers on the same path. Waze users count on each other to update the map and traffic data.
~Malia Stanush, Tradition Elementary
Win a Gift Card!
The drawing will take place on the Monday on or after the 10th of each month there is a newsletter.
ECISD Library Services
Carolyn Ellison-- Library Services Secretarial Support
Jennifer Smith -- Systems Librarian
Lisa Merrifield -- Lead Librarian
Email: Carolyn.Ellison@ecisd.net
Website: https://www.ecisd.net/Domain/34
Location: 7173 Farm to Market Road 1628, San Antonio, TX, USA
Phone: 210-634-6142
Twitter: @ECISDreads