Category Archives: Guest Blogger

Guest Blogger, School Media Specialist

CMLE Scholarship Report: What’s New in Children’s Literature Workshop

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This is a guest post from Gara Goldenstein, Media Specialist at Jacobson Elementary in Rush City, MN. Read more CMLE scholarship reports here.

 I attended the What’s New in Children’s Literature workshop through BER. This workshop highlighted books published in 2019.

Jonathon Hunt was the presenter and he did a fantastic job!  It was a little different as we attended through Zoom.  I was worried about how effective it would be attending using Zoom.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went!

A website I was introduced to is the ALA Best Websites for Teaching & Learning.  There is also the Best Apps for Teaching & Learning website.  These are great resources to find technology to enhance your teaching.

One app I highly recommend is Novel Effect. It is free and it will play sound effects as you read a picture book.  The really cool thing for students is the app listens for key words so it will work no matter what speed the book is read. 

One discussion that I found interesting was the benefits of having large print books.  They especially recommend this for struggling readers.  It is easier for them to physically track the words and leads to large gains in comprehension.  I haven’t seen many children’s books offered in large print, but it’s something I will be looking for!

Here’s my list of top 10 book recommendations.  It was super hard to narrow this down!!

  1. Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds (gr 4-7) Short stories of students walking home from school.
  2. Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt (gr 4-7) His family inherits a snooty British butler!  Humorous!
  3. Fly by Mark Teague (K-3) A baby bird wants to use a variety of methods of transportation, except it’s wings!
  4. Beneath the Bed and Other Scary Stories by Max Brailler (K-3) Acorn Scholastic book – beginning chapter book
  5. Monstrous: The Lore, The Gore, And Science Behind Your Favorite Monsters (Gr 5-8) Great infographics!
  6. Monkey and Cake series by Drew Daywalt (K-3) Great for those beginning readers! Very humorous!
  7. Five Minutes by Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick ( K-3) How 5 minutes sometimes seems long, sometimes short.
  8. Torpedoed by Deborah Heiligman ( Gr 5-8) WWII setting. A ship leaves London bringing children to Canada.  It is torpedoed by a German submarine.
  9. How to Two by David Soman (K-3) Focuses on how to play on a playground.  Also a counting book.
  10. Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy (Gr 4-7) A girl’s parents get divorced but her dad moves in just down the street!

Thank you so much for the scholarship that provided me the opportunity to attend this workshop!  This workshop is offered every year and I highly recommend it!

Guest Blogger

CMLE Mini Grant Report: Talahi Community School WeDoLego 2.0

This is a guest post from Jenny McNew, School Media Specialist at Talahi Community School. Read more reports from CMLE Mini Grants on our page.

Students at Talahi Community School love building with Legos and after a year of not being able to use a great product because of old technology we are once again able to have a great experience working with our Lego WeDo kits.

We have 30 of the old WeDo kits but they require a usb connection with a computer program downloaded to run the software. We no longer have computers that would run the program but with a mini-grant from CMLE we were able to purchase the Lego WeDo 2.0 hubs, motors and sensors.

Students are once again able to build with the Legos and make their creations move using the Lego WeDo 2.0 app on our iPads. This app uses a bluetooth connection to drive the sensors and turn the motors.

It was so much fun to watch the students’ eyes light up as they made their creations move. Through this process, students were able to see that sometimes we need to think outside the box and with some creative thinking we can take something that may no longer work and make it work in a different way.

Thank you CMLE for bringing the fun back to our Legos!

Guest Blogger

Holdingford High School Library Mini Grant Report

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This is a guest blog post from Debbie Binsfeld, library assistant at Holdingford High School. Read more mini grant reports on our page.

First, I want to thank you for allowing us at Holdingford High School library the opportunity to receive this CMLE Mini Grant.  We are finding that most of our monies are spent on fiction materials for our reading students in our Junior/Senior High School leaving a void in our nonficton materials for updating.  Especially materials, involving more current topics and biographies, which we have a need to provide as well.

This Mini Grant allowed me to purchase biographies of Prince, Adam Thielen, Judy Garland and Johnny Cash.  We were also able to purchase some current nonfiction items regarding Electric Cars, Education, Health Care, Economics, Art Animation, Graphic Arts, Racial Profiling, Vaping and more.  

Many of these topic materials purchased were a result of student interest in research topics as well as just wanting up-to-date information.  The need for current information in this ever-changing time has been an important goal in the high school library. Although older historical information is important, it needs to be balanced with current research information as well.  Thanks to this mini-grant, I was able to address a few of those topics.

Our biographies are also a highly used section of our library.   It was great to add a few new biographies, especially Minnesota related ones to our resources.  

This CMLE Mini-Grant was a welcome resource to us here at Holdingford High School.   So thank you again for making this available to our school communities. 

Guest Blogger

MidMinEDU Student-Powered Conference Mini Grant Report

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This is a guest post from Audrey Thornborrow, Tech Integrationist at Mississippi Heights Elementary School. Read more mini grant reports on our page.

In February of 2020, when the world was still spinning normally, MidMN Edu put on their 3rd annual Student Powered Conference. Nearly 200 students from area districts (Albany, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Sartell, St. Cloud). The conference was open to 4th-12th-grade students and consisted of a keynote address and breakout sessions. 

The keynote speaker this year was Sauk Rapids-Rice’s very own senior Maddie Bittman. She spoke about opportunities for everyone to get involved in STEM activities. She shared her experiences and inspired others–especially other young girls–to get involved in STEM related learning in and outside school. 

The breakout sessions were created by students. They took their passions and created a presentation sharing their passion with their peers. We saw sessions on how to play the guitar, how to make jewelry and start your own business, how to do experiments with dry ice, and global warming. These kids were so excited to share their passions and all participants enjoyed seeing their enthusiasm as they presented. 

One thing that was new this year was the addition of selfie-stations. The purpose of the selfie station was to have the kids collaboratively help make a piece of art that could be shared with all the schools in attendance. We had the kids take pictures of themselves or their groups and are putting them together in a collage that creates the Student Powered Conference logo. 

As with each year MidMN EDU has helped put on this conference, the kids MADE the conference. This conference wouldn’t exist without the students, their hard work, or their willingness to share their passions. We are so thankful to be able to provide this day to students and are so grateful to CMLE for providing us with the funds to host this conference. 

Below is an account of the day as told by a middle school student: 

This year, I was able to present at the Student Powered Conference instead of just attending it. I taught others how we code and drive Spheros at school. We created a dance to music that the Spheros followed and changed colors with. I learned a lot about coding and working as a group while we got our presentation ready. When we showed others how to use the Spheros it made me feel proud.

I learned a lot at the conference too. The Breakout Room looked like fun but I was unable to go. I really liked learning about the Care Closet that Little Falls created in their school. I think it was great to see students helping others. I liked visiting all the stations in the gym and learning about all the things students were sharing. I was bummed because I couldn’t see it all. I can’t wait to go again next year!

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CMLE Mini Grant: Nonfiction Books for LPGE Elementary Media Center

This is a guest post written by Lisa Schurmann, Elementary Librarian at LPGE Elementary School. Read more reports from past mini grant recipients on our page.

Our elementary library has purchased the ‘How is it Made’ books from ABDO and ‘Awesome Dogs’ from Bellwether.

I’ve been amazed how these new easy reader non-fiction books have attracted our students. With our students being curious, enthusiastic and eager to learn new information, these books have been a hit. The pictures are colorful, the pages inviting, and all around amazing books for young readers. I even have fifth and sixth grade students checking out the ‘How it is Made’ books.  

Having non-fiction books that are in their reading level and that they are able to use for AR testing is a plus. I find many students gravitating to the non-fiction area of our library as they enter the doors. It is fun to watch the interest in these series increase as others learn about the new books. 

The great part is they don’t realize they are challenging themselves and improving their reading skills! It is a joy to see the reading levels improve as they pick out their books. 

 I had a mother stop in and tell me her son checked out the new books and it was the first time he did not ‘buck’ about reading before bed. 

Thank you for helping us update our library with books that interest the students.