Tag Archives: Talahi

Guest Blogger

CMLE Mini Grant Report: Talahi Community School WeDoLego 2.0

This is a guest post from Jenny McNew, School Media Specialist at Talahi Community School. Read more reports from CMLE Mini Grants on our page.

Students at Talahi Community School love building with Legos and after a year of not being able to use a great product because of old technology we are once again able to have a great experience working with our Lego WeDo kits.

We have 30 of the old WeDo kits but they require a usb connection with a computer program downloaded to run the software. We no longer have computers that would run the program but with a mini-grant from CMLE we were able to purchase the Lego WeDo 2.0 hubs, motors and sensors.

Students are once again able to build with the Legos and make their creations move using the Lego WeDo 2.0 app on our iPads. This app uses a bluetooth connection to drive the sensors and turn the motors.

It was so much fun to watch the students’ eyes light up as they made their creations move. Through this process, students were able to see that sometimes we need to think outside the box and with some creative thinking we can take something that may no longer work and make it work in a different way.

Thank you CMLE for bringing the fun back to our Legos!

General, Public, School Media Specialist

Hour of Code Recap

Hour of CodeThis year’s Hour of Code was another successful one!  Talahi Community School is one of the many schools that participated in the worldwide event, and they were featured in the Saint Cloud Times.  Mark Sommerhauser writes, “supporters say Hour of Code gives a much-needed injection of computer skills training into elementary-school curricula.”  Students from kindergarten to senior high participated in the event throughout Minnesota as well as the nation.  According to the Hour of Code’s page of Minnesota events, these schools from the CMLE region also participated:

  • Big Lake High School – Big Lake
  • Delano Public School – Delano
  • Eagle Valley Public Schools – Clarissa
  • East Central Elementary School – Finlayson
  • Hershey Middle School – Hinckley
  • Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead Public Schools – Howard Lake
  • Kaleidoscope Charter School – Albertville
  • Kennedy School – St. Joseph
  • Linwood Elementary – Wyoming
  • Madison Elementary – St. Cloud
  • Milaca High School – Mille Lacs
  • Northwinds Elementary School – Buffalo
  • Osakis Public School – Osakis
  • Parkside Elementary School – Buffalo
  • Pierz High School – Pierz
  • PRIDE Transitions – Buffalo
  • St. Michael-Albertville High School – St. Michael
  • Stride Academy – St. Cloud
  • Tatanka Elementary – Buffalo

Did you participate?  Let us know!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Congratulations Talahi Community School!

TalahiBooksThe Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) recently awarded the 2014 Bookapalooza Program to three libraries, one of them being our own  Talahi Community School in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

“The award includes a variety of materials from books to DVDs and audiobooks. These materials have been received at the ALSC office from publishers for selection committees to evaluate for awards and notables consideration. To make room for the next year’s publications, Bookapalooza was created to infuse three collections with new materials for children age birth through age 14.

The Talahi Community School has plans to use the Bookapalooza collection for many innovative programs that include a reading outreach project with a nearby retirement community, the STEM program for the St. Cloud School District and the newly created reading garden where the children will have an alternative place to read when the weather is nice. The school serves a diverse PreK-5 population of 518 students with much collaboration from the St. Cloud community.  The children who attend Talahi are at the 93-percent factor in free and reduced meals and more than 30 percent of the children come from single parent homes.”

CMLE staff contacted Talahi school media specialist Sara Martini to find out more…

“… the thanks go to Talahi’s foster grandpa, John Bowden, who wrote the grant application. The books came in 27 huge boxes and contained over 1,350 items, worth around $24,000. How exciting!” All of the books are hardcover and were published in 2013 or 2014 and will be available for students to check out.

Excerpts from this post came directly from the ALA press release at http://tinyurl.com/mf6vnq7

If you are part of a library/school media organization in Central Minnesota,  you may have a “feel good” story you too would like to share. These regional stories always have great appeal. Please send your ideas or stories to cmle@stcloudstate.edu and thank you!