Tag Archives: cmle mini grant

Check it Out:, CMLE, Guest Blogger, Resources, School Media Specialist

Anna Hazzard Extended Mini Grant Report

December 14, 2021 Angie

This is a guest post from Anna Hazzard at Liberty Elementary in Big Lake. Find out more about our Extended Mini Grant Program.

First of all, I want to give a huge thank you to the CMLE for accepting my mini grant submission! I am beyond excited and thankful!

Here at Liberty we are a K-2 elementary school with over 700 students. Each one of our students has a weekly library time to check out books with their class. My vision as the media assistant at Liberty is to create excitement around books, reading, and the library experience. Why can’t the library be lively, fun, a little loud (sometimes), AND educational?

Every couple of months the Liberty library transforms into a newly decorated, interactive theme! This has been so successful and such an amazing way to create excitement around the different books we have in the library! The students have absolutely loved these various themes and always look forward to what’s next! Some of our past themes have been Rev Up with a Good Book, Camp Out, Once Upon a Time, Back to School with the Characters We Love, and Snowmen At Night.

With this mini grant we were able to purchase decorations, books, and activities to create our latest themed experience…Ms. Anna’s Gingerbread Land (as named by one of my students)! Not only will we enjoy these items now but they will also be reused for future events!!!

When students visit the library every week to check out books they also get to enjoy this interactive gingerbread theme! They are having a blast with the larger than life decorations to take pictures by, themed special events/activities, and of course BOOKS!!!

The joy that this grant has brought to the students of Liberty is one for the books! It’s really something you have to see on the faces of the students as they walk into the library!

It is truly magical!!! Thank you again CMLE!!!!

CMLE, Guest Blogger, School Media Specialist

Scott Eskro Extended CMLE Mini Grant Report

September 9, 2021 cmleguestblogger

This is a guest post from Scott Eskro, Media Specialist at Elk River High School. Read more about our Extended Mini Grant Program. This program was only available during the FY21 school year.

In the 2020 – 2021 school year, Elk River High School had a student population of around 1500. Like all schools, that number fluctuated in terms of students in school and students in distant learning situations.

But no matter where the students were, everyone was dealing with the stress and strain of living in a pandemic. Some believe we are on the verge of a social emotional crisis which further impacts the mental health of teens. The pandemic has exacerbated this issue and every school in the country has seen a huge impact on the mental health of their student population.

So we were looking to add contemporary fiction and memoirs that deal with the topic of mental health.

In the classrooms, English teachers have projects where students read contemporary fiction and memoirs. Students examine what the author is trying to address and/or affirm about a problem or issue in society. What issues, concerns or struggles do the characters face? How does the author address the issue and are the characters successful at tackling the issue?

We already had some books on a variety of contemporary issues. However, we were lacking books on the issue of mental illness and were hoping to add books in that area.

Mental health is an extensive field. We were trying to improve our collection in two areas in particular.

We were looking to add books that look at the role gender plays in mental illness – examining the role that gender identity has on mental health. We were also hoping to buy memoirs and books on the topic of PTSD. Students are very interested in that topic and we have a significant portion of our student population that join the military.

With this grant from CMLE, we were able to buy over 80 books dealing with a variety of mental health issues. Thank you CMLE for helping our students learn and tackle these issues through literature.

We will use three sets of data to examine success. First, we will look at checkout data on the books. Second, we will be giving the students a Google Form to fill out, gathering their thoughts about the book, and their understanding of the mental health issue. Third, the teacher will be examining the papers the students write.

Thank you once again, CMLE for helping us support our students and community through this grant.

CMLE, Guest Blogger

Michelle Buettner Extended Mini Grant Report

February 23, 2021 cmleguestblogger 1 Comment

This is a guest post from Michelle Buettner, librarian at St. John’s Area School in Foley, MN. 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.

St. John’s Area School is a small rural school community in Foley, MN. The school has 74 students in Kindergarten through Grade 6, along with 14 faculty and staff.

St. John’s Area School is very thankful to the CMLE Minigrant Program. Without the Minigrant, I would not have been able to replace more than 150 books that were damaged in our school library.

In the middle of October 2020, a second floor pump valve broke on our school’s boiler system. This breakage caused gallons and gallons of a water/oil mixture to leak through the ceiling down into the library, soaking and damaging several shelves of books, and worst of all, closing down the school library for about three weeks to clean up the mess. The students were very disappointed to have the library closed for that long.

Once the library was opened back up, they were sad that many of their favorite books were no longer available because they were damaged. I talked to the students about which books and series they would like to see replaced and added in our library.

Thanks to the CMLE Minigrant Program, and generous donations by several families and individuals in our school and community, I was able to replace every book that was damaged. I was also able fulfill many of the students’ requests and purchase books to complete several series. Many of the new books that were ordered came in just before Christmas and during Christmas break. The students were not able to see the new books until the middle of January due to Christmas break and two weeks of distance learning (due to COVID-19 health concerns).

Once the children returned, each class came to the library that first week back and the students were very excited when they saw all the new books waiting for them to check out!

Thank you CMLE!

Michelle Buettner
Librarian
St. John’s Area School

Check it Out:, CMLE, Programs

CMLE Extended Mini Grant Zoom Meeting: You’re Invited!

January 5, 2021 Angie

Join us at 10am on Tuesday, January 12th to learn about our extended mini grant program! There will be time for you to ask questions and share ideas about grant projects. RSVP below!

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

December 23, 2020 Angie

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

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!

Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange