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Showing posts with label newsletter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label newsletter. Show all posts

Thursday, March 3, 2016

March Newsletter

Connect Beyond BVSD!

“For so many of us, books opened our minds to a world of possibility...millions of children in America don’t have that chance because they don’t have adequate access to the books they need to learn and dream…”
First Lady Michelle Obama, introducing the new Open Ebooks Project


Open eBooks is an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free for children from in-need households. Children from in-need families can access these eBooks, which include some of the most popular works of the present and past, using the Open eBooks app and read as many as they like without incurring any costs. The goal of Open eBooks is to encourage a love of reading and serve as a gateway to children reading even more often, whether in school, at libraries, or through other eBook reading apps.
You can see how to get involved and if your school is eligible here.

Insignia Info


  • Insignia is converting their ILS platform from Silverlight to HTML5 this summer.  This means you can do all of your librarian work from a Chromebook--good to know as you talk with your schools about Tech Tools. Training on Insignia will be scheduled for late summer, before school starts next year.
  • Your Insignia Search page can be customized to act almost as a home page.  See the Insignia sample below. You can add online resources, projects, announcements, photos and videos of your students at your library. I have a great idea for a student driven mapping project for elementary level that can be linked with your catalog so students can find the exact shelf the book should be on! If you are interested in exploring with me, email Rae and let’s get something scheduled!

Learning for You!

  • As BVSD continues to explore what innovative spaces look like for our students, check out this article that provides insight on emerging trends in library design.


Comment on this blog post about the trends you are most excited for and how you see these impacting your current and future library space! Your name will be entered into a drawing at our end of year celebration to win some great prizes!


  • The 2016 Highly Effective School Library Program Rubric is posted and ready for use as you begin planning for next year and your work as a teacher librarian. More information will be available from the state and we will have a specialized blog post in the near future about this revised program!

Grant Opportunities!

Did you know that there is a grant website curated by the BVSD Ed Tech Team and geared towards teachers and teacher librarians? Check it out! Included in this is information about a Google Community Grant--read on to see all that is available to you!

What to Know @BVSD this Month!

  • Our March Teacher Librarian Meeting Tuesday, March 8th from 4:00-5:30pm @Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer Elementary
    • Host: David Smith
    • Snacks: Arlene Gregersen, David Smith, Becky Vancura *Remember to have your book talks ready for the group!
    • Workshops!
      • Secondary Research Roundtable facilitated by Jon Georgitis & Regina Hoskins: How are you embedding in research instruction in your school? What are activities, programs, lessons, etc, that you use as a secondary librarian? Come chat and share your ideas with fellow secondary teacher librarians.
      • An Evolution of Digital Citizenship Workshop with Kim Butler: Come learn about how the DigiCiti project continues to evolve and how to implement digital citizenship lessons and ideas in your own libraries



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Wednesday, February 3, 2016

February Newsletter








“Good ideas may not want to be free, but they do want to connect, fuse, recombine. They want to reinvent themselves by crossing conceptual borders. They want to complete each other as much as they want to compete”
― Steven Johnson
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation

Think:
“A classroom coach needs to assist students rather than working and thinking for them. Coaches remove obstacles to learning or help students overcome them. The purpose of this is not to make the process easy, but rather to shift the focus on the learning rather than the obstacles”

    • DSC00504.JPGMany teacher librarians see themselves as the coach/facilitator of students learning. This article focuses on the teacher as coach, and with that, provides concrete ideas for how to be a great classroom coach!
    • Leave a thought in the comments for this blog on how you see yourself as a coach in the library. When you leave a comment you will be entered to win a great prize at the May TL Celebration!

Celebrations:

Congratulations to Jon Georgitis who was awarded a $2,000.00 grant from NEA to begin a Makerspace in the Centennial Middle School Library. Read more about it on his blog!

Learning for You!

  • The Colorado State Library is pleased to announce that we are offering four (4) ISTE 2016 conference registration scholarships! Our goal is to develop leaders within the Colorado library community by helping library staff who might not otherwise be able to attend the ISTE Conference in Denver June 26 - 29, 2016. Deadline to apply is Monday, Feb 8th at 5:00pm! See Scholarship Application and Requirements
  • Did you know the Colorado Library maintains a Digital Literacy Resources site with information and resources for K-12 educators? Check it out!

What to Know @BVSD this Month!

  • Upcoming Libinar: What We Learned in the eBook Pilot @BVSD Monday, Feb 8th beginning at 3:00pm
  • Secondary PD Day is February 12th at Monarch K8 from 8:00am-11:30am. We will be learning about the BVSD Innovation Guidelines. We will also have Becky Russell, Digital Literacy Specialist @CDE, lead a workshop on “The Shift” in libraries. This is the same presentation that our elementary TL’s experienced in their January PD.

Connect Beyond BVSD!


  • Still want to know more about Makerspaces? The Boulder Public Library Makerspace Grand Opening is Thursday, February 18th from 5:00-7:30pm. What an amazing opportunity to see how a library can provide and dream through this kind of space!
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Thursday, September 3, 2015

September Announcements & Thoughts!


“Creativity is as important as literacy”

― Sir Ken Robinson, author & speaker, education reformer

Think!

“Libraries must iterate all the time. They no longer can innovate and then expect that to last five years.”
Why Read This?
This summer a group of librarians and other influencers met in at the Aspen Institute to discuss the future of libraries. Read what these leaders envision for the future of our profession.

Welcome Back Survey!

We’d like to take time to gather feedback from you to begin this school year! Please fill out the Welcome Back Survey!

Insignia Info

  • Check out the blog post on the Silverlight error in Chrome.
  • We will be moving to a new version of the OPAC this fall (probably November), which Insignia calls the Discovery Layer. This new interface should fix some bugs, including links to eBooks (currently not working), and add general search enhancements. More on this in the upcoming weeks.

What to know @BVSD this month

The new SharePoint templates look beautiful (thanks to amazing work by our web team). Here are some answers about the design that several of you have asked about:
  • The library landing page gives a high-level view of your library. The main audience is parents and community members. Use it for posting your library vision, hours, etc. You can add a webpart with a link to your other library content (i.e., student resources).
  • Add a link under the Student section of your school website for quicker access to the library’s online resources.
  • Your school’s webmaster can change “Media Center - Library” to “Library”. They should contact Maureen or Vijay if they need help doing that.

News from Beyond BVSD

Attention—the Highly Effective School Library Program is on temporary hiatus due to funding and employment constraints at CDE. We will share more information as it becomes available.
Why Read this?
As we continue to work towards developing future-ready libraries, expect changes to be made through CDE that reflect the shift in the profession.

Every Kid in a Park - All fourth grade students can receive a free national parks pass. How cool is that?
Why Read this?
Think about what ways you can connect with this in your libraries and with teachers in 4th grade. What books? Research? Etc!

Check out the Colorado State Library’s Colorado Book Club Resource
Why Read this?
Looking for copies of books for book clubs? Look no further! These titles are secondary/adult focus, however, there is an option for requesting titles. Don’t forget--your public library can also gather collections of books to send your way for book clubs, too!

Upcoming PD

Please take a moment to fill out this survey regarding upcoming PD opportunities. We will use this information to send more of you to these and other conferences!

CASL Year of the Student Workshop is Saturday, September 12 from 9-3:30
  • Cost is $50 for non-CAL members
  • Guest speaker Shannon Miller, @shannonmiller

  • October 10 & 11 at Monarch High
  • Contact Elene Medicraft for pricing

edcamp Longmont is Saturday, September 19 from 8-3 at Silver Creek High School

READ-ing Conference, Oct 1 & 2 from 8:00-4:00 in Adams 12
  • This conference is designed to support the implementation of the Colorado READ Act, specifically K-3 educators.
  • Registration is limited to 300 participants, so jump on this early.

This Month’s Meeting

  • Tuesday, September 8, 4:00-5:30 @Centennial Middle
  • Host: Jon Georgitis
  • Snacks and Book Talks: Amy, Nannette, & Rae
  • Sessions:
  • Book Talks: What are you buying for your library right now? Come prepared to discuss!
  • Innovative Spaces: A Design Conversation with Jon Georgitis & Sarah Kirby
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Friday, August 7, 2015

Welcome Back! August 2015 Newsletter


“The purpose of school should not be to prepare students for more school. We should be seeking to have fully engaged students now.”

― Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child


Think!

“librarians are determined to support “project creation”
Why Read This?
Thoughtful reflection on how school librarians are actively involved in the purchasing of technology in their schools and in demanding technology be used for creation, publication and meaningful experiences for kids.
Next Steps
How can you advocate for more access for your students? Is this a role you take on in your building?

Insignia Info

  • Please enter MARC Record requests on the “Current year” tab of the spreadsheet. Last year’s requests have been archived.
    • Make sure to pass along this info to your staff and helpers. The link is updated on the Library Homepage.
  • New TL (and library staff) orientation and training is on August 11 from 8 to 11:30 at IT. If you have a new support staff member who needs to attend this training, please let Amy know.

Learning for You!

What to Know @BVSD This Month

News from Beyond BVSD

Why read this report?
Learn about the results and impact of our recent ebook pilot, which was funded by the state library grant. Our story is included in the links below the featured story for this month.

New State Grants for Libraries will be available for BVSD soon! The LAC will create a vision for how to spend this money. Information on how the grant can be spent is on the State Grants website.
Why read this information?
Our ebook pilot is ending as planned, and we anticipate that Literacy will include digital materials in their adoption. We need to decide what to do with this year’s grant funding. Check out the School Library guidelines for how this funding can be allocated, then send your ideas to our LAC members (bvs.lac@bvsd.org)!
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