Category Archives: School Media Specialist

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Annie Allen Extended Mini Grant Report

This is a guest post from Annie Allen, Media Specialist at Rogers Middle School. Read more about our Extended Mini Grant Program or fill out one of our applications. This program is only available during the FY21 school year.

I was awarded an $800 CMLE Extended Mini Grant to purchase ebooks for our middle school students. Getting books into the hands of our students has been a challenge during Distance Learning. Students and parents are not able to easily pick up print books at the school, so expanding our ebook collection was a priority. With a limited budget, ebooks have not been something I’ve really been able to expand access to. This mini grant allowed me to purchase 108 new ebooks for our students!

Of these, 81 of the titles ordered were able to be shared across our secondary schools through MackinVIA, the platform we use for our digital content. This means that not only are these books impacting access for my 700 students here at Rogers Middle School, but thousands of students across our district! All of the titles purchased are perpetual ownership, which means our students will be able to enjoy access forever!

Historically, ebook circulation has been low at my middle school. Our students really prefer print books, but with Distance Learning ebooks became some of the only books easily accessible for students. With most of our access being those from the EbooksMN collection, I wanted to purchase some additional titles with strong middle school appeal, specifically fiction novels.

I purchased the new ebooks in late December, and they were ready and available for students when they returned from winter break. I heavily promoted the new books the first two weeks back to school, posting on Schoology, creating featured book content in MackinVIA, and sending out a video for our ELA teachers to show to students. These efforts paid off!

Last year during the same time frame (Jan 1-Jan 31, 2020) there were only 38 total logins to MackinVIA and 0 views and 0 checkouts of ebooks. This year between January 1 and January 31, 2021 there were 1,972 logins to MackinVIA, 1,080 ebook views and 12 ebook checkouts! January 2021 ebook usage exceeded TOTAL usage of ebooks from March 2020-June 2020 when we moved to Distance Learning for the first time (109 ebook views, 2 checkouts)! February has seen continued usage due to I Love to Read Month promotional activities (again featuring the new ebooks) and a virtual book tasting with 6th grade ELA classes. Through February 23rd, there have been 555 views of ebooks and 12 checkouts. This is encouraging since more than 90% of our students are now back in-person 4 days per week. 

Having the additional ebooks for our students will be a game changer for the rest of this school year and into the future. Our students who have remained in Distance Learning will continue to have easy access to our expanded ebook collection in addition to those attending school in-person. The titles purchased are newly published, old favorites, or titles in our book club collection which means they will have broad appeal for a while. I am excited to use our ebook collection for a summer reading promotion since our students will have continued access over the summer months!

Resources, School Media Specialist

FREE Digital Citizenship Lessons for Grades 3-5

CMLE understands the importance of learning good digital citizenship and literacy! One of our fantastic school library members shared that the FREE digital citizenship curriculum provided by Common Sense Education has been very well-received at her school. So we wanted to make sure you know about this resource in case it may be useful to you!

Today we’re looking at the curriculum for grades 3-5. In case you missed it, we covered the lessons for K-2 in last week’s post. For these older grade levels, more topics and lessons are available. Most lessons include slides or videos and tackle topics like privacy, cyberbulling, media literacy, and more. All lessons also come with family activities and tips.

Third graders get to practice their media balance and well-being through an interactive Rings of Responsibility activity. They learn about the meaning of the word “password” and practice creating a strong one. There’s also an important news literacy lesson about how fake photos and videos are created and contribute to the spread of untrue information.

Fourth graders learn about the definition of “digital footprint” and how their online activity contributes to the creation of their online identity. This information is delivered through a footprint game and quiz. There’s also a lesson about social interaction when playing video games, with a video and discussion time to analyze communication and behavior.

Fifth graders get acquainted with the concept of clickbait and learn strategies to avoid it. There are handouts and a quiz to go along with the lesson. There’s also a lesson that shows ways gender stereotypes can lead to unfair treatment online. A poem and avatar activity go along with the lesson. Cyberbullying is covered again, with a discussion about the similarities and differences between real-life bullying, being mean, and strategies to use if you encounter someone being bullied online.

Check it Out:, School Media Specialist, Tech

From Common Sense Education: FREE Digital Citizenship Curriculum for Grades K-2 (and up!)

CMLE and many of our member school libraries are big fans of the site Common Sense Education. And we also recognize the importance of learning good digital citizenship and literacy! One of our fantastic school library members shared that the FREE digital citizenship curriculum provided by Common Sense Education has been very well-received at her school. So we wanted to make sure you know about this resource in case it may be useful to you!

Today we’ll focus on the lessons available for grades K-2. Our world is increasingly online so it’s important for young kids to have digital citizenship skills, too! We love that each of these grade levels includes an introductory song, and also lets educators know up front the time length of each lesson.

Kindergarteners get to learn about balancing media activities with their real-life surroundings. Students learn about the importance of taking breaks when using devices. (This can be a challenge even for grown-ups!) There is also a lesson about transitions from an online activity to one that is offline, as students learn self-regulation and how to be respectful to those around them. And finally, through a virtual field trip, students learn about staying safe while traveling online, just like we stay safe while traveling in the real world.
All of these lessons include slides, a video, handout or coloring sheet, and a take-home family activity.

First-graders get a lesson in learning to pause and think before acting online, another essential skill! Just like in real life, students get to learn to be responsible and respectful when interacting online. There is also a lesson on learning to recognize the way technology makes you feel. Students get to play a game that develops strategies for managing feelings while online. Finally, through a traffic light activity, students get to learn about safety and privacy online, and when to ask for help when they are unsure about a website.

Second-graders start to get more in-depth with a variety of lesson topics. Students learn what information is ok to share online and what is not safe to share, and they also research and compare digital footprints while considering their own online identity. There are also lessons about the importance of enjoying time without devices, behavior when encountering cyberbullying, and learning to credit online sources.

We’ll look at more grades in the weeks ahead. Happy learning!

Check it Out:, School Media Specialist

Mark Your Calendar: Zoom Q&A for CMLE’s Extended Mini Grants

logo for CMLE extended minigrants

CMLE has been so pleased by the wonderful applications we’ve received for our Extended Mini Grant Program! In case you missed it:

“For this school year only, through May, 2021, we will be soliciting minigrant applications from member libraries for funds up to $1,000. This is our Extended Minigrant program, as brought to you by the CMLE Board of Trustees.” Read more and apply on our page.

We understand that if you’re new to writing grant applications, this process can seem a bit intimidating. So we’re holding a special Q&A Zoom session on Tuesday, January 12th at 10am! Join us to ask any questions you may have about the grant program or application. (RSVP below)

This year has been hard on everyone. So we really encourage our members to apply for this grant! You can read more information about our special extended mini grant program on our page. Otherwise, please RSVP below for the Zoom session at 10am on January 12th. We’re looking forward to talking with you!

Attending?(required)

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Best Digital Tools 2020: Zoom

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL)  has announced their top choices for “electronic resources that provide enhanced learning and curriculum development for school librarians and their educator collaborators.” These resources were formerly separated into the Best Apps and Best Websites for Teaching and Learning and are now combined into the Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning.

You can check out our archive of past recommended apps here.

“Zoom is an easy-to-use tool that provides video and/or voice meetings, conference rooms, webinars, and chats with file sharing abilities using desktops, mobile devices, and phones.”

Shared foundations: Collaborate

We’ve been using Zoom so much this year so there are tons of articles out there about how to make the app more useful for your students or for teaching! The University of Nevada Reno has this article about best practices when teaching with Zoom, and Hooked on Innovation shares this article full of ideas for engaging your students while teaching via Zoom. We Are Teachers shares the basics Zoom 101 to help you get started and Santa Rosa City Schools provides Zoom etiquette for students which is always a smart idea.

This ten minute video shows how Zoom can be used successfully for online learning: