AASL released its list of Best Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning 2021! This year’s list took into special consideration how well these tools work for remote/distance students. The resources enhance learning and encourage the following qualities:
Innovation/Creativity
Active Participation
Collaboration
User-Friendly
Encourages Exploration
Information/Reference
We share these resources every year and you can explore our archive of past recommendations here.
If you love using Overdrive to check out ebooks and audiobooks from your library, Sora is the version for students!
“The Sora app allows learners to access popular and educational ebooks and audiobooks on any device from any location. Sora allows school librarians to curate their own collections and change the titles during the school year to align with their school’s curriculum and students’ needs. Sora also enables school librarians to support all kinds of readers by providing access to graphic novels and audiobooks paired with text. Sora also enhances reading with a dyslexic font as well as highlights and notes features students can use to complete their tasks.”
Even when life is (relatively) more normal, helping keep your students and/or kids current with their reading skills over summer break can be a challenge! We’ll share some ideas here and link to articles with helpful suggestions. When all else fails, maybe suggest a reading picnic, with treats involved! 😊📚🌳
Some favorite ideas:
Of course, your local library probably usually has a great summer reading program. Check with them to see if they have made alternative plans for this year.
Write a letter to your child, student, or young reader in your life and send it in the mail! Getting mail is exciting!
Family reading time (can do this over Zoom, too!) Everyone grab a book or magazine and spend 10-30 minutes reading together. Or, if you have very small readers, let them see you reading. They will probably want to “borrow” the book you are finding so interesting.
Build a book nook! Use pillows, blankets, a real tent, whatever you can find, to create a cozy fort just for reading!
Links to helpful articles:
This one from Reading Rockets about encouraging summer reading
This is a guest post from Karen Miller, school librarian at Bertha-Hewitt School. Want to read more about the exciting materials our members have purchased with their mini grants? Read past mini grant reports here.
I first would like to say thank you for accepting my grant submission! I purchased 5 book series for our school library.
I had a 6th grader read the first book from each series and give an “advertisement” for their book during Character Building which is a program for K-6 that happens every Friday morning. They presented their advertisement and they all were very happy with the book series they chose.
The most exciting thing to me was all my library classes on Friday as the kids came in they asked to check these books out! I actually have a waiting list on a couple of the series that have to be read in order.
I think it made a difference to have students present to their peers with their book reviews. That is exactly what I was hoping would happen after doing this!
Now I am hoping to do book “advertisements” monthly with different books in our library. Sometimes that is all it takes to get students interested in different genres that they might not normally read.
Some of the students who volunteered to do the advertisements were not ones I thought would be interested in it. So it also was a huge learning experience for me!
Once again I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity!
This week we look at strategies you can use to connect technology with literacy skills!
Check our show notes page, to get links to all the resources and links to the books we discussed.
Welcome to our Guest Host Jason Menth, Technology Integrationist at Talahi Community School in St Cloud, MN!
Schools are all about building good literacy skills for students, and the library is an important part of that work! Sure, there are probably a bunch of good books to read – and that’s important. And then, what else can we provide to help kids build their literacy skills?
A few tech tools can go a long way toward encouraging kids to connect with reading, to find some books they enjoy, and to improve performance in school and beyond!
This article from Education Week Teacher delves into several ways school librarians can collaborate with teachers to enhance student learning. It also tackles the question of classroom libraries replacing school libraries, and the problems this can create.
The article also links to this research article explaining how having a school librarian leads to higher-achieving students and a better school community. It’s impressive research and really reinforces just how much school librarians have a positive impact on their schools.
“Making Connections: Our school librarian helped students connect to reading and digital literacies in a variety of ways. She found out what students were learning about in history and science class and found interesting reading materials to connect to those topics. She helped us bring local authors to visit to talk to students about their work. She helped students and teachers access periodicals and other helpful programs online.
There is a cumulative benefit to students and teachers, both academic and cultural, when a school librarian becomes a literacy leader.”
