Tag Archives: CMLE Scholarship

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!

Conference, Guest Blogger

Impact Education 2019 Conference Scholarship: Amy Moe

This is a guest post written by Amy Moe, Instructional Technology Specialist at Pine Meadow Elementary. Do you need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in professional development?  Apply today!

I was able to attend the Impact Education Conference with support from CMLE. This was beneficial for me as an instructional technology specialist. The sessions available covered a wide variety of programs, implementation and tools. There are three programs and/or tools that will be beneficial to try within my district. 

Keyboarding-This is a hot button topic in my district due to consistency among grade levels and continuity between buildings as well as the ability to track student progress. New ELA standards that are forthcoming will also play a role in the tools or programs needed. I attended a session from Keyboarding.com to compare it to the program we currently use (Typing Club). It will be interesting to pilot with a classroom or two to see how it teaches kids to use home row keys and not to “peck”. They gave out cute little bobble head chickens as a reminder. 

Applied Digital Skills via Google-I think this would be good to integrate with keyboarding. These project-based activities could be put in after certain levels of keyboarding are met that introduce students to Google Docs, Google Slides, and so on. These activities practice real-life skills such as researching and creating presentations and complement digital skills taught such as coding and digital citizenship. I feel our staff would benefit from a few of the courses as well! 

Seesaw-I LOVE Seesaw and have been using in my school for the last 5 years or so. I am a Seesaw Ambassador but learn something new each time I attend a session at this conference. This time was no different. We learned how to “FLIP” the lesson for a small group situation such as math stations. Teachers can record video directions with modeling and print a QR code for students to scan. AMAZING! There were also great networking opportunities to see how other classroom teachers and specialty areas use Seesaw.

A great big thank you to the gals at CMLE for seeing the importance of allowing individuals to attend this conference. 

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Impact Education 2019 Conference Scholarship: Ryan Hiltner

This is a guest post written by Ryan Hiltner, ITS at Sartell High School. Do you need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in professional development?  Apply today!

The Impact Education Conference is a great opportunity to not only learn new things but to network with other professionals at a variety of different levels.

This year I tried to focus on that networking part. I spent time talking with other Technology Integrationist from different districts throughout the state. I also had the chance to talk with teachers and principals from different schools to get a variety of perspectives on how technology is being used in their schools. I really enjoy this network piece as it helps with questions that I have at the time but also gives me a network to fall back on later in the year.

This year I went to some sessions by leaders from different parts of the country. These people are well known in education and have a large presence on social media and have produced books.

One of the sessions dealt with creating an entrepreneurial course in school. We are starting to look at producing and creating items for people in the general public in a few areas in Sartell and this session was great to get more background knowledge.

The conference also gave out books from different educators this year and I am excited to dig into mine soon.

I am grateful for the opportunity to attend this conference! Thanks to CMLE for allowing me to go and connect with other passionate educators and better my practice!


Conference, Guest Blogger

TIES Conference 2018 and Game Changer: Amy Moe

This is a guest post written by Amy Moe, Instructional Technology Specialist at Pine Meadow Elementary. Do you need a scholarship to attend a conference?  Apply today! 

TIES 2018 & GAME CHANGER: Book Access for All Kids by Donalyn Miller by Amy Moe

With the assistance of CMLE, I was able to attend TIES this year.  It was my goal to find sessions that would allow me to enhance the initiatives and tech tools we currently use at our school.  For example, our district tech team is reading BOLD School: Blended Learning that Works.  I attended a session called “Blending and Techifying Instruction”.  The presenter shared ways to offer a mixture of face-to-face instruction and digital tools through station rotation, the flipped classroom, and/or individualized instruction.  Each option had a similar format that gave students direct instruction, practice, application of higher order thinking skills, and extension opportunities. These are viable options for our upper elementary classrooms.  

I also attended a session on utilizing formative assessments.  Formative assessments help teachers see into students thinking and gauge their learning.  It guides instruction and offers feedback. Attending this session reaffirmed my efforts in introducing staff to the advantages of using platforms such as Seesaw, Nearpod, and the Google Suite.  Student engagement increases throughout the lessons with interactive slides at the beginning, middle and end of a lesson.

After my two days at TIES, I traveled to Custom Ed Solutions in Champlin to hear renowned author, Donalyn Miller, speak about her latest book: Game Changer: Book Access for All Kids.  Donalyn focused on three key areas: time, access, and book choice.  

TIME: Students should have at least 20 minutes of independent reading time a day.  She claims this is vital because it provides an authentic opportunity to synthesize.  

ACCESS: Students need access to current and diverse book collections through their school and classroom libraries.  This is easy to achieve during the school year, but summer months are a challenge. We need to be creative in finding funding to get books in the hands of our most at-risk, struggling readers.  

CHOICE: Students should be given ownership in finding books that interest them.  This task can be difficult so students need to be taught how to find books.  This can be accomplished through book talks, preview stacks, book trailers, and read alouds.







Conference, Guest Blogger

TIES Conference 2018 Scholarship: Amanda Holstrom

This is a guest post written by Amanda Holstrom, Instructional Technology Specialist and Apple Teacher at Sartell Middle School. Do you need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in professional developme?  Apply today! 

This year at TIES, I really enjoyed hearing about the path of change that Kimberly Bryant is creating for girls in coding all over the nation. She is currently leading the charge of Black Girls CODE based in California. Her inspirational and supportive methods are encouraging girls to get involved in the tech world.  She shared her own path through technology and how that has impacted her daughter and now the nation with the creation of Black Girls CODE. These groups of girls create innovative tech solutions for real world problems and share their creations with others. Starting the conference with a message of inspiration allowed me to look for ideas that will inspire those I teach with.


I looked for sessions this year that focused on leveraging the technology we already have in our schools in a way that deepens student learning.

I learned about using Schoology to create opportunities for students to have choice and voice in their learning as well as providing a method for teachers to organize and assign tasks digitally.

I am looking forward to implementing grading rubrics, folders for organization, calendar management and using Google slides for running agendas. All of these tools will help students and teachers work together to create a learning environment that provides more learning opportunities.