Online Reading Resources

 With so many options for students' learning--on-site, at home, and online--it's not always possible for students to check out library books in person. Or maybe you've finished your library book and you're looking for another book to read. We can help! In your Google Classroom for Literacy Studies class, you'll find the document for Online Reading Resources.

Remember that our AEA databases offer electronic resources for ebooks and audio books, and many of the options include related websites and other content for books. Need a quick reminder? Here are the options available to you:

Head over to the library main page for the AEA databases link, or you can check your bookmarks--and don't forget to refer to the document for our school username and password. Happy reading!

Using Google Slides to Build an "App"

Recently seventh grade Literacy Studies students completed a long-term assignment that combined fiction books with nonfiction reading in our AEA databases. My colleagues Lacey Sedrel and Melissa White recommended that students use Google Slides to create what appears to be an app so students could show what they learned in an unusual way. Thanks to Gina Rodgers and and Amber Bridge, digital learning consultants from Grant Wood AEA, who shared their presentation "Google Slides: The Swiss Army Knife of Google Tools" at a fall technology conference session that Lacey and Melissa attended. It was the inspiration for students' work for this unit.

First, students used our Destiny catalog and Destiny Discover to identify nonfiction topics associated with a fiction book of their choice. Students also talked with one another about common books read to get feedback on nonfiction topics not listed as subject headings in the catalog. We also used our class read aloud Solo by Kwame Alexander as an example:

What we noticed was that several nonfiction topics we identified with the story weren't listed as subject headings, such as adoption, Ghana, guitars, and music. Ultimately, students would choose two nonfiction topics from their reading to become the basis of their research in our AEA databases.

Once fiction books and nonfiction topics were solidified, students worked in Slides to create their "apps." Along the way, students learned a few new tricks in Slides--namely, how to orient their Slides vertically and how to link Slides within the presentation to one another. The template from which they worked included five Slides:

1. Front page
2. Home screen
3. Fiction book
4. Nonfiction topic #1
5. Nonfiction topic #2

Students' nonfiction topics became the focus of their work in our AEA databases. Students briefly worked with SUPERSearch, which allowed us to discuss how to narrow a search and search particular types of resources.

Students also returned to familiar databases like Britannica and CultureGrams to complete some of their work. 

Students turned in their work through Google Classroom, but we also shared our links with one another using Padlet. This allowed different classes to see their classmates' work and read about a variety of topics. 

Accessing one another's projects and viewing the work in presentation mode allowed students to move through Slides as though they really were using an app based on the fiction book. Below are some Slides from students' work:

Finally, students responded in a Google Form in a ticket out after looking at one another's projects and reading about several books and nonfiction topics.

Showing Some Love to Nonfiction Reading

Recently both sixth grade and seventh grade Literacy Studies students completed work that relied on them using our online databases to do a little nonfiction reading to gather information related to topics of their choice. Sixth graders completed the AEA online databases tic tac toe project (you can read about it HERE in an earlier post), and seventh graders created an "app" using Google Slides. (More to come in a future post!)

Both projects included accessing our AEA databases and doing some nonfiction reading. To reinforce this, a recent library display showed students that the realities of nonfiction topics often are reflected in the fiction books they more often gravitate toward. Take a look at some of the more popular nonfiction topics and their fiction counterparts.

Topics for the display included:

• bullying 
• natural disasters
• disease
• war spies
• paranormal activity
• immigration
• Holocaust
• Vietnam War
• extreme sports
• autism
• mental health
• animals

 Throughout the year, students watch book trailers in Literacy Studies class as part of our routine, and often nonfiction titles are included. Recently students watched these trailers:





Stay tuned! More books--including nonfiction reading--will be featured in an upcoming post. Happy reading!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: D is for Database Tic-Tac-Toe

Today's post is brought to you by the letter D as we take a look back at our databases tic-tac-toe work.

Earlier in the school year, Literacy Studies students had the chance to work in the newly genrified biography section to choose a person of interest. Once they'd selected a person, students worked to complete a tic-tac-toe based on our AEA databases.

Throughout the year, students worked at different times in a variety of databases both in Literacy Studies class along with their language arts and social studies classes. Our tic-tac-toe activity was designed to encourage students to explore and become familiar with databases they maybe weren't as apt to use when first given a task. 

You can read about the full database tic-tac-toe work in an earlier blog post, and stay tuned--our next ABCs of DCGMS Library post will include the follow-up to the students' work!

Biographies & Databases Tic-Tac-Toe

With the newly genrified biography section (see earlier blog post), it was time to get students into the shelves. . . but for what purpose? Knowing that research and database work was part of the Literacy Studies class, why not combine the two? Thus, Biography/Database Tic-Tac-Toe was born!

Before students actually began work on their tic-tac-toe page, we spent class time talking about how biographies are shelved and how we've modified that with our biography categories. One class period was arranged around a sorting activity where students identified into what category a book should be placed and why.

Intentionally, I chose books about people who could easily fit into more than one of our new biography categories. Does Anne Frank belong in World War II/Holocaust? Authors? Perseverance? Famous Women? What about Sally Ride? Astronaut or American History? The most surprising revelation to come out of the activity was related to a biography of Louis Braille. Only 3 of the 18 student groups placed him in the Perseverance category where the book was shelved. Instead, groups overwhelmingly put him in the Scientists/Inventors groups. Since the point of genrifying the biographies was to make them more accessible to students, I made the switch. If students believe Braille is more recognized as an inventor, then the biography should be relocated.

Next, it was time to introduce the actual assignment. Students first took a look at what was expected of them:

As a check for understanding, students completed a 3-2-1 think-pair-share activity. After reading through the handout, they wrote 3 things: 

• 3 main ideas about the tic-tac-toe assignment,
• 2 kinds of things they’ll need to find about the person they’ll be using for this project,
• 1 question they have.

Next, it was time to explore the biography bookshelves and the databases themselves. This gave students some time to browse the new arrangement of the biography collection, in addition to some time in databases they may not have used previously. Classes broke into two groups, and students had directions to follow as they worked in both groups. 

Finally, it was time to work. Students recorded their work on a handout in Google Classroom, and over the course of several days visited a variety of databases, becoming familiar with its search results and how to find and use provided citations help.

As students finish their work later this month, we'll have a day where they share their learning with a classmate and reflect on their database work. More learning to come!

Revisiting Our AEA Databases & Online Resources

Our Heartland AEA offers many databases and online resources for student research and projects. You can access all of the AEA's resources by CLICKING HERE. If you've forgotten how to log in, please talk with your librarian. Below are just a few of the examples students have used, along with two newer resources now available to us.

MackinVIA offers fiction and nonfiction eBooks and audiobooks you can access right from our school catalog. Also, you can go to MackinVIA.com to see their collection of thousands of online books. You can read and listen to all of these books with your smart devices.

CLICK HERE to access the site.

CLICK HERE to access the site.

In the past, students have used SIRS to find research to use in pro/con assignments. Now, Points of View is another database that students can use for these debating-type assignments. You can access both of these databases by clicking on the captions under the pictures.

CLICK HERE to access the site.

New to the FLIX family of resources is FreedomFLIX. Like BookFLIX and TrueFLIX, this resource includes books, videos, related websites, and more! They offer books on a variety of social studies topics.

These are just a few of the many databases and online resources that are available to students. Need help using them? Stop by the library; we'd love to help you!

1-Thing Wednesday: Using our AEA Databases

We are so fortunate to have access to a wide variety of databases from our area AEA, Heartland. Throughout the year, teachers and students alike use them for everything from pleasure reading to research to project creation support.

One database that students browse when looking for next books to read is NoveList K-8 Plus. When accessing our online catalog and library main page, students often use NoveList K-8 Plus, along with other book recommendation sites and tools, to guide their book selections. Students especially like that they can search author or series read-alikes.

Often, these available databases become part of our library lessons. Supporting students' many general research needs were databases such as Britannica Online, MackinVia, and Culture Grams. More specifically, however, students accessed NetTrekker to access information related to pro/con or persuasive writing and speaking presentations.

Students access AEA databases for research purposes.

As databases are updated and revised, we look forward to their continued use! Many projects await!

A SIRS Collaboration

Recently seventh grader language arts students visited the library for a refresher lesson using one of our AEA databases, SIRS. Students accessed the site from the DCG Middle School Library Symbaloo:

You can access the Symbaloo HERE.

This is a pro/con site that features hundreds of topics in a variety of user-friendly ways. Students can browse an A-Z list or conduct a visual browse of topics; they can see essential questions that feature articles in support and against the topic; and, they can access multiple viewpoints for one topic.

One of the site's component--but something students will see often when conducting online searches--was Boolean searching. To demonstrate how Boolean searching works, students participated in a "search" that used them as the "search terms." If students satisfied the "search term," they stood. This was one example: "boys OR athletes AND wearing a hoodie." Another example, shown below, was "students AND boys NOT in band."

Students also had time to work on the site and determine if topics of interest were included on SIRS. While browsing, some students were able to narrow their topics, while others revised topics as needed. Students eventually will be writing pro or con essay that includes at least two sources. Topics that students searched included:

• cell phone use in school
• beauty pageants
• distracted driving
• overmedicating children
• cheerleading as a sport
• keeping soccer players safe
• compensating college athletes

Resilience Literature Part II

With resilience literature as a main topic, both 6th and 7th grade language arts classes came into the library for discussion and related work. After talking about features of resilience literature, 6th grade students generated their own list of possible titles, including titles like these below:

Then it was time to work. Using a shared Google doc, students were to select an example of resilience literature, then support their choice with 3 examples from the book that show a character's resilience. Students also had the option to use corresponding images from iClipArt to go along with their text.

CLICK HERE to access the document.

Students had nearly the full period to work on their triangles and talk about books.

Here are a few examples of the work the students created: