ABCs of DCGMS Library: Z is for Zest

We made it! Today's post is the final ABCs of DCGMS Library post, and it's brought to you by the letter Z for zest!

Photo by Val Vesa on Unsplash

That's right--today's final post celebrates the enthusiasm and enjoyment many students displayed throughout the year in the library. While we can certainly celebrate checking out over 3,800 books during the school year, let's instead celebrate all the learning and good times we shared!

 

And we're not done yet! Tomorrow marks the start of a new school year--we can't wait to share new experiences and make new memories! See you soon! 

ABCs of DCGMS Library: Y is for YouTube

It's the penultimate post for the ABCs of the DCGMS Library, and today's post is brought to you by the letter Y for YouTube.

Source

While students use YouTube in class often to find book trailers, author interviews, or other related content for Literacy Studies projects related to books and reading, YouTube is also a great place to find clever or interesting or funny videos related to libraries and librarians in general.

For instance, several students have watched this video about book care:

And even more were perhaps reminded of their younger childhood days watching the Sesame Street martians made a discovery:


Librarians even get into the fun, including this clip from Phineas & Ferb from Disney:


Others have even noticed that librarians seem to have a secretly (?) excellent sense of humor, including the website Electric Lit. On their webpage "Librarians are Secretly the Funniest People Alive," you can find spoof magazine covers and several musical parodies posted to YouTube, including spoofs of songs by Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, and Queen. Which is *your* favorite?

ABCs of DCGMS Library: X is for "EX"plore

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter X...which means a little "hedging." Today's letter X is for "EX"plore.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Throughout the year in Literacy Studies class, students had the opportunity to literally explore the physical book collection as well as the library space itself, along with virtually exploring our online databases as they worked together to solve breakouts and complete different projects.

Students also explored different STEAM activities throughout the year--you can read about their work on these earlier blog posts. Additionally, students explored how to present their learning in new ways using tools like Screencastify, Thinglink, and Hyperdocs.

Late in the school year, students also explored Destiny Collections as sixth graders worked to complete a Biography in Action project and seventh graders finalized their World Peace Day projects. All students searched public Collections to add items to their own private resources and explored new avenues of learning.

Stay tuned--students' exploration continues in the new year!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: W is for Writing

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter W for writing.

Photo by Angelina Litvin on Unsplash

While the primary purpose of the Literacy Studies class is to promote reading and literacy, of course that cannot happen in a vacuum. So that means students are writing and sharing their writing with one another.

Much of students' writing was tied to a book or literacy-related project. Examples included:

• Book reviews for our online catalog
• Genre explanations with evidence
• Literary terms examples with explanations
• Book talk planning
• Author study pieces related to theme, along with personal narratives
• Database research
• HyperDocs collaboration

Each of these is previously shared in an earlier ABCs of DCGMS Library post, so why not scroll back through to see how students were writing to make meaning?

ABCs of DCGMS Library: V is for Visiting Authors

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library is brought to you by the letter V for visiting authors.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Over the course of several months, four popular MG/YA authors visited the Des Moines metro area and surrounding parts of the state. First, Akata Witch author Nnedi Okorafor spoke at the inaugural Des Moines Book Festival in late March.

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Okorafor, known for her fantasy and science fiction books for young adults and older readers, spoke about the political themes she sees in her stories, the characters who "speak" to her as she writes, her work with Marvel and writing graphic novels vs. prose/chapter books, and her work with the Black Panther series.

About a month later, author Laurie Halse Anderson spoke in West Des Moines about her newest book Shout and the 20th anniversary of the release of the ground-breaking book Speak, now also presented as a graphic novel. She continues to visit high schools across the country to talk with both girls and boys about how to treat one another, especially in close relationships.

In May, author Jason Reynolds was in Dubuque, IA, and while it's a few hours from the Des Moines area, it's Jason Reynolds! The drive there and back was certainly worth it!

Reynolds spoke of his journey as a writer, and several questions from audience members were related to his work with the Track series. He indicated that many of his characters and stories are based on people and stories he knows and has lived.

Finally, in June, author Kwame Alexander was a keynote speaker at a state-wide reading and librarian conference in Ames, IA, where he challenged teachers and librarians to continue to promote reading with all students and to listen to students and their stories. He encouraged writing and poetry, and at the end of his presentation shared his new work with illustrator Kadir Nelson, The Undefeated.

With each visit, I returned to the library and to my students with renewed excitement. I'm eager to see who may be visiting the Des Moines metro in the future!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: U is for Unsplash

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter U: U is for Unsplash.

https://unsplash.com/

You may have noticed that many of the introductory photos for our ABCs posts have been from Unsplash, and students used Unsplash often throughout the year in their projects for Literacy Studies class. According to their website, Unsplash is "the Internet's source of freely usable images powered by creators everywhere."

What does this mean for students? Great photography and images to use with user-friend citations, for one. An easy Google Slides add-on for another!

If you're looking for great photography for your students to use with easy and manageable citations, Unsplash is a wonderful option. Below are a few images students used as part of their projects.

ABCs of DCGMS Library: T is for Technology

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library is brought to you by the letter T for technology.

Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash

While it may seem a bit obvious to use technology as our "go to" for the letter T, we do spend quite a bit of time away from our devices in Literacy Studies class. Because we are fortunate to have a Chromebook cart to use, we do take advantage of our opportunities, however.

Students used technology for a variety of reasons: 

• accessing Destiny Quest to write reviews, make recommendations, and add books to virtual bookshelves.
• collaborating with one another and sharing their learning using Screencastify and Flipgrid
• making and coding and creating during our STEAM activity days
• communicating and thinking critically to solve digital Breakouts

The pictures below depict just a few moments throughout our year as students used technology to accomplish so many things!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: S is for STEAM Activities

We're on the downhill slide for our ABCs posts, and today's post looks back at some of the students' favorite days in the library. Today's post is brought to you by the letter S for STEAM activities.

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Each semester students completed an interest inventory survey that allowed them to choose their top four choices of STEAM activities, and throughout the semester, students explored those four choices in small groups with others with similar interests.

What kinds of things did they use and try out? Take a look:

From top left-hand corner: Snap Circuits, Cubelets, Bloxels, Sphero, 3D pen, K'Nex, little Bits, Stik Bot, Do Ink green screen app, IO Blocks minis

Students had nearly a full class period to try out their activities of choice and to create, build, code, fail, and try again with some rethinking. Like our Breakout work, students were also developing their communication and problem solving skills, as many of these activities were new to them. You can see some of their work below:

More STEAM activities and making in the library in the coming school year as we were awarded a State of Iowa Scale-Up STEM grant that includes numerous materials to add to our learning and creating.