My plan for the CMLE mini grant was to increase the number of nonfiction books that are specifically related to the History Day topics students are interested in and to increase the number of nonfiction books that address and teach current political and social issues, as we have had multiple students requesting these types of materials.

We’ve seen an increase in the number of students asking for books dealing with specific topics including LGBTQ+ issues, Black Lives Matter and Civil Rights. It also became apparent in the last three years that our current collection of history books, specifically the 1950s to the present, are severely lacking or outdated in our nonfiction collection.

When I learned about the CMLE mini grant program, I immediately put in an application in the hopes that we could improve this selection of books in our media center. I was very hopeful that the funding that we would receive from the CMLE mini grant would allow our students to find engaging materials that related to the topics that they had shown high interest in.

Once I received word that I had been approved for the mini grant I consulted with our history teachers, as well as students to determine what books would be of interest and would circulate well. We created a wishlist on Mackin and spent a lot of time creating a list of books that were not only age-appropriate, but highly engaging for our students to learn from.

Once I had the list from Mackin, I started making edits. I also showed the list to our English and Science staff as we often have cross curricular activities and assignments. Another source that we consulted was the Minnesota Historical Society to ensure that we were getting materials that were useful for our Minnesota studies class.

After consulting multiple content areas and students, we were able to find 67 books that met the criteria for this grant and would benefit our students.

The titles we were able to purchase with this grant will have long-term benefits for our school, from research for Science Fair projects to the History Day project and individual interest and learning.

Now that the materials have arrived in our Media Center we are excited to promote these materials for  students to check out and use even before the end of this school year. We are also hoping to be able to highlight and cross-promote these new books with our History Day projects and mini-History Day projects that are completed in 6th grade Minnesota Studies Class.

One of the highlights of being a magnet program is that we have the highest rate of diversity in our school district. This makes it a top priority for us to ensure that we have materials and books in our media center that show windows and mirrors to students of all cultures.

We are proud of the collection that we were able to create using this mini grant. We have already had students show their excitement after seeing these materials in our media center. They were glad to see more books that deal with social and political issues that are relevant in today’s society.