Library Services Newsletter
April 2016 Para Librarian Edition
ANNOUNCEMENTS
One Book 4 Colorado
DEPLA is June 16th & 17th
DEPLA (DPS’ Digital Educator and Personalized Learning Academy) is in the midst of planning for 2 days of professional learning in June. A call for presenters will go out soon. DPS Digital Educator Academy is an opportunity for all DPS educators to join together in ongoing choice-based professional learning about the digital tools and teaching practices that increase student engagement, empower students through meaningful and authentic learning, and increase collaboration and communication among teachers and leaders. All professional learning within the Digital Educator and Personalized Learning Academy is in direct support of Joyful, Rigorous, and Personalized classrooms.
Open ebooks
REFORMA Mini-Conference
Choose Privacy Week is May 1st-7th:
GED Test Options for Colorado
If your library offers online or print test prep resources for the GED, be aware that the Colorado Department of Education announced Friday http://www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/hse two other options will be added in the next three to six months. The two tests joining the current GED http://www.cde.state.co.us/postsecondary/gedresources
are listed below, with details about each in the links.
- HiSET (High School Equivalency Test http://hiset.ets.org/
- TASC (Test Assessing Secondary Completion http://www.tasctest.com/test-takers.html
A chart comparing all three tests can be found here http://www.boarddocs.com/co/cde/Board.nsf/files/A4TNSZ607E61/$file/HSE%20Examination%20Comparison%20Table_11%2030%2015.pdf
and article about the selection process can be viewed here http://co.chalkbeat.org/2016/04/01/move-over-ged-coloradans-will-have-three-choices-for-high-school-equivalency-exams/#.VwRiXBMrL-Z
The new contracts do not necessarily mean all three tests will be available at each of the state's 85 testing centers. Colleges and universities can still decide which credential to accept, and testing centers can pick which exams to offer. If additional information about prep resources becomes available, it will be shared through the usual library-related e-lists.
RESOURCES
Makerspace Kits from Library Services
Library Services’ Makerspace Kits are available for check-out for you or any of your teachers! Of course you don’t need expensive technology to start a makerspace, but we purchased items that are hot in the maker community so that you can try them out or see what you might like to purchase. They support hands-on learning, inquiry, challenges, centers in classrooms, independent student projects, and more. Most of them involve critical thinking and encourage students to create and test hypotheses, learn coding and work collaboratively. Many of the kits include books that relate to kit concepts. The kits currently include: Makey Makeys, Keva Planks, Dot & Dash robots, Cubelets, and Snap Circuits. Spheros coming soon! Go to LION and search for "makerspace kit". Call the Classroom Library to schedule a time to check out items 720.423.1841.
Makerspace Kit: Keva Planks
Makerspace Kit: Dash and Dot
Makerspace Kit: Makey Makey
Celebrate School Library Month
EnetLearning and Colorado BOCES Resources
These organizations have collected sample units, lesson ideas, digital resources and tools, all aligned to state standards. Check out the grade level links in each section.
High School Live BindersEl día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children's Day/Book Day)
Commonly known as Día, it is an every day celebration of children, families, and reading that culminates yearly on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Check out ALA’s page full of book lists, program ideas, marketing materials and more http://dia.ala.org/
Día is a nationally recognized initiative that emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children from all backgrounds. It is a daily commitment to linking children and their families to diverse books, languages and cultures. The common goals of all Día programming are to:
Celebrate children and connect them to the world of learning through books, stories and libraries.
Nurture cognitive and literacy development in ways that honor and embrace a child’s home language and culture.
Introduce families to community resources that provide opportunities for learning through multiple literacies.
- Recognize and respect culture, heritage and language as powerful tools for strengthening families and communities.
Día Del Niño Celebrations April 23rd and 24th
Celebrate children and world cultures with the Denver Public Library, Denver Art Museum, History Colorado Center, Clyfford Still Museum, and Byers-Evans House Museum. Fun activities for children and adults: international dance and music performances, artmaking, storytelling, costumes, tours, and more. There will be a children’s craft in the Central Library’s Schlessman Hall. http://denverartmuseum.org/calendar/dia-del-nino-2016
IDEAS & BEST PRACTICES
Tween Read Alouds
What is Dialogic Reading?
(Brought to you by our DPL Early Learning partners.) Dialogic Reading is a powerful way to build vocabulary, productive language and critical thinking. In Dialogic Reading you are having a conversation with the child around a book that you are reading together. You are reading and sharing with the purpose of helping the child develop oral language skills. The objectives of dialogic reading are to have the child become the storyteller while the adult becomes the listener that facilitates, expands, and responds to the child's utterances. Central to Dialogic Reading is a shift in roles: the child learns to become the storyteller and the adult assumes the role of an active listener.
How to be a Dialogic Reader:
Ask questions: Ask your class to complete the sentence or the thought; ask your class to recall information from earlier in the story; ask a Who What When Where or Why question; help your class relate the book to their own lives.
Add information: Think about what the child says. Is it correct? What information can you add to the child’s response? For example, “Hmmmm this could be a lion, but this animal has stripes. Do lions have stripes? What kind of animal does have stripes? Tigers! This is a big, striped tiger!”
Encourage responses from the child through the use of praise and repetition. Try to validate and encourage responses as much as possible.
- Encourages sophisticated responses by expanding on the child’s utterances and by posing questions that challenge the child’s thinking: Use what the child said as an opportunity to introduce even more vocabulary: “You’re right, that is a lion! A lion with a big mane of hair around his face!”