Are you working with first year students in academic libraries? We are passing on a survey a group from ACRL. Share your ideas with them, and make everyone’s experience stronger!
Dear Colleagues,
We want to learn about your pedagogical approach to first-year student library instruction. We are currently interviewing students, but want to learn from you as well. Our hope is to find a set of themes that can serve as a foundation for planning information literacy instruction that emphasizes students’ existing strengths in using information. Continue reading Looking for first year academic library instruction info!→
A recent library discussion asked about policies libraries have established for truants (or potential truants) in the library. There were a lot of responses, some of them copied below; and it led us to wonder about your library policies. Do you have a policy on truant students? After looking at these ideas, do you need one? If so, CMLE Headquarters is available to help you write one!
The stereotypical animal that is often associated with libraries (and librarians!) is the cat. And here at CMLE, we definitely love cats. But dogs can be even more helpful when it comes to libraries, and reading in general, especially when it comes to teaching literacy to kids.
This adorable Tweet sparked our curiosity. Just how much do dogs help kids with their reading skills? We also wondered where else in our area might dogs be interacting with kids, students, books, and libraries?
First, we discovered just how helpful dogs can be when it comes to assisting kids with their reading skills. This article from Public Libraries Online shares research done that states, “Children who read to dogs improved their own reading skills in comparison to children who did not read to dogs, based on the results of the Oral Text Reading for Comprehension Test” and even “reported a greater enjoyment of reading than children who did not read to dogs.” When kids are able to practice their reading skills out loud to a patient, non-judgmental listener (like a dog!) their reading improves, and just as importantly, their love of reading grows!
For real-life inspiration, we found a few instances of dogs and kids enjoying reading together. This article from MN Women’s Press tells the story of Lesa Hobright-Turner and her READ dog, Murphy, and their impact on a little girl with ADHD. The Hibbing Daily Tribunefeatured this article about kids reading with dogs at Keewatin Elementary school. The Rochester Public Library has the program “Sit, Stay, Read” that takes place the fourth Monday of the month from September – November. Finally, the Two Harbor’s Public Library has a program “Read to a Dog” that takes place on Fridays, featuring Lucy the dog:
We’re sure there are more programs out there, and would love to hear about them! Do you know of, or participate in, any activity that features animals helping kids with their reading? Let us know!
Phineas and Ferb may have had 104 days of summer vacation, but Boeing is presenting teachers and kids with 100 days of STEM learning!
Working with their partners for education, Boeing has assembled 100 days of projects to encourage K-12 kids and their teachers to explore and have fun with all kinds of STEM projects. “With 100 years of innovation experience behind us, Boeing is looking ahead to the next century of possibilities with 100 Days of Learning. These days are meant to spark young people’s natural sense of curiosity and show them just how astronomical their impact on the world can be.”
The lessons are broken into several categories, including:
As you click on each challenge, which could be Deploy a Satellite, CubeSats, Build a Lightweight Airplane Wing, or 97 other ideas, you go to the Curiosity Machine website. The Boeing-inspired lessons are here, and there are many more topics and lessons available. Most of them have a suggested grade level for students to work through it, though everything is open to all so students and teachers can explore any project.
You need to sign up for a free account to get access to all the materials, and these are broken into categories of Student, Mentor, Educator, and Parent. Everyone can see the materials required for each project, and an inspiration video to get you started. Educators can post their own notes and photos, to be viewed by their students.
With 100 Boeing-inspired projects to try here, and dozens more available through the Curiosity Machine, there will be tons of material available to explore for everyone!
Were you scrambling for primary sources for history day projects or other curriculum needs this year? Scramble no more…next year could be different!
Minitex has announced a new resource for Minnesota Reflections users (MN Reflections is a digital collection of more than 257,000 images, maps, and documents). These primary source sets will be an online resource for students and teachers. Each focus on a historical topic and highlight the related resources available in MN Reflections. Some of the topics include American Indian boarding schools in MN, iron mining, and Fort Snelling.
These sets are intended to help develop critical thinking skills and allow students to be introduced to using and learning from primary source materials. Read the whole article here.
