Tag Archives: School media center

Books, CMLE

Onamia Elementary School CMLE Extended Mini Grant Report

This is a guest post from Kim Colvin, Media Specialist at Onamia Elementary School.

The grant that Onamia Elementary School received from Central Minnesota Library Exchange helped the library in many ways. The books that we purchased were books that students and teachers requested to help grow the library. 

Thank you so much for helping me get new books into my students’ hands. They are so excited to read all these great books and want to read more books because of it, and are becoming more open to different types of books.

This is really helping the students become better readers because they want to read these books and explore all the new books we received. Some new skills the students are learning with these books are their ability to read and to enjoy reading. It’s not just something they have to do in school.

Students are learning about different genres of books and what types of books they enjoy. Many students developed a spark for different books that they never would have read if it weren’t for this grant.

We did speed dating with the new books so they could see what they were about and get them interested in other books. This opened many students’ eyes to different types of books and got them hooked. Many students were begging to read the book beyond the 10 minutes, or not to go to the next book.

I personally ordered a couple more copies of some books because so many students wanted to read them. The books that many students related to had characters struggling with tough issues. It was an instant connection to their life. 

Students are enjoying these new books! The ones that are really enjoying them are the ones that don’t want to read the traditional type of books or the ones that don’t think reading is fun and interesting. These books are reaching the students that are struggling to read or that don’t really like to read.

Hopefully, the books from the grant will help students see there’s such a variety of great books out there! We appreciate the books that we could get through this grant and the students are loving the different types of books and the new desire to read that it sparked!

This grant expanded the library with books and got many students at Onamia Elementary School excited to read! Thanks so much from everyone at Onamia Elementary School!

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Northwinds Elementary CMLE Extended Mini Grant Report

This is a Guest Post from Carmen Tubbs, Principal at Northwinds Elementary.

The grant the Northwinds Elementary School received from Central Minnesota Library Exchange was beneficial to our school community in several ways.

The books purchased through the grant were based on feedback from our students and educators. The grant gave financial support in order for us to provide materials and increased learning opportunities for both students and educators as well as expand our connections to families. 

The books support teachers in making connections to their lessons and the real world. Teachers use the books in the library, including the new ones purchased, to supplement their lessons, add to their classroom libraries and supplement instruction.

Many teachers use the books to read aloud to students as well as lead literature circles or small reading groups as sometimes we are able to provide more than one copy of a specific book. 

The grant also supports students in offering more choices for them, increasing their reading abilities as well as nurturing excitement and enjoyment in reading. We know that research shows that reading not only increases academic achievement overall but also helps students enjoyment of school and learning.

Students use books to learn about the world and gain a greater sense of self. We have observed students being highly engaged during library time, excited to check out books, sharing what books they enjoy and have read or want to read with library staff as well. 

Finally, the grant allowed for increased connections between home and school. Our Kindergarten through 5th grade students check out their library books at school. They can then read them at school but also bring them home.

When students can share their learning with their families at home, this strengthens the collaboration and connection between the home and school and adds value to a child’s education. 

This grant expanded our library with additional books but it also added positive value to the learning environment at Northwinds in many ways that will continue to grow in the future. Thank you for this gift to the Northwinds library, our students and our educators.

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Brian Krause at Melrose Public Schools Extended Mini Grant Report

This is a guest post from Brian Krause, Media/Technology Integrationist at Melrose Area Public Schools.

The Melrose Area Public Schools would like to thank the Central Minnesota Library Exchange for its generosity in granting us a Mini Grant for this school year!

This is my first year working in this school district so it took me a while to realize what books we had and where there might be some areas to improve.

One day I decided to read a Choose Your Own Adventure book to several groups of students and the kids really enjoyed it. Many were asking if we had more, but unfortunately once we checked we found out that we did not. Through this grant we were able to purchase several different series of Choose Your Own Adventure books and they have been flying off the shelves!

The students really enjoy the chance to make decisions to see where the story goes and to see the different outcomes that might happen. We now have an entire section of shelves filled with Choose Your Own Adventure books; or they would be filled if so many weren’t checked out!

Besides purchasing Choose Your Own Adventure books, this grant also allowed us to improve two other sections of our library – Graphic Novels and several brand new series we didn’t have.

Graphic Novels are very popular among students here like I’m sure they are everywhere, but there were several incomplete series that now we were able to fill out, and there were several other book series on student’s wishlists that we were now able to purchase.

For our youngest readers we were able to purchase many books from three popular series that we didn’t have – Otis, Splat the Cat, and There Was An Old Lady.

Thanks again for your generosity! Our students have really enjoyed the new books. It’s always fun to see how so many student faces light up when they find out there are new books on the shelves.

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Cheryl Sorensen at McGregor High School Extended Mini Grant Report

This is a guest post from Cheryl Sorensen, Media Specialist at McGregor High School. Read more about our Extended Mini Grant Program.

A HUGE thank you to the CMLE for choosing the McGregor High School Library as a recipient for the Extended Mini-Grant Program which allowed me to purchase many books for our library. 

I chose classic stories along with books on Presidents, First Ladies, and important people in the United States.  These books will have an impact on our students through their expanded imagination, growth in knowledge of the leaders of our country, and hopefully, a joy of reading.

Every child deserves the opportunity to learn and grow and books offer that.  
– Cheryl Sorensen, McGregor High School Library

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Amy Cox Extended CMLE Mini Grant Report

This is a guest post from Amy Cox, Technology and Media Specialist at Meadowvale Elementary School in Elk River. Read more about our Extended Mini Grant Program. This program is only available during the FY21 school year.

Meadowvale Elementary School in Elk River, Minnesota was so excited to receive grant money from CMLE.  We used the funds to purchase $950 worth of new library-bound books, focusing our purchase on recent award-winners. 

Many of these are books that we are unable to purchase through our book fair program, which has also been less profitable than in past years.  With budgets being practically non-existent this year, these funds allowed us to put high-quality, new, and exciting books into the hands of our students, and they were SO excited to preview and check out these new books. 

We feel so fortunate that in this trying year, we were still able to purchase quality literature for our students, thanks to CMLE. 

Fifth graders showing off some of the new books: