Final Week Feature

Well, as the song goes..."what a long, strange trip it's been." Right?! I had no idea when I last posted in early March that we wouldn't be returning to school at all for the remainder of the year. But now that our school year is coming to an "official" end, it's time to start thinking about summertime blog posts. We've had 1-Thing Wednesdays, the ABCs of DCGMS Library, Harry Potter Hump Days, and Tuesday Title Talks to continue our summer reading enthusiasm. This summer each month will include two posts: Final Week Feature and First Week Flashback.

So to kick off our first Final Week Feature, we're taking a look at the Summer Reading Program from our local public libraries. Yes! The summer reading program will continue online this summer! Here's a sneak peek video:

https://safeYouTube.net/w/1XPH

The video includes information and directions relating to how to create or access your account on Beanstack to chart your June and July reading. You can also learn about prizes offered half-way through the summer and final prizes. The video even includes how you can access things to read during this time when the library may not be as accessible to you. Want to learn more? You can access the library's summer reading page HERE. 

Throughout June and July, the summer reading program includes completely online weekly events. You can read more about it HERE:

A few of the virtual activities are aimed specifically at teen students:

With our Literacy Studies book trailer work and breakout activities, you might want to check out their offerings! 

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!

Podcasting, Part II

Once Literacy Studies students had a basic understanding of podcasting elements--specifically related to fictional, storytelling podcasts like The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel--we provided students with options, opportunity, and time to explore a wide variety of both fiction and nonfiction podcasts.

Students had class time to listen to all/most/part of a podcast, and in preparation for a sharing out activity, they completed a Google Slide that included podcast information, a recommendation, and a visual retelling using emojis. 

With their recommendation and visual retell Slides, students shared their podcast reactions with one another in a variety of ways, including rotating partner groups, small groups, and with the full class. 

Examples of students' work appears below:

Finally, students also completed a Google Form that generated a full-class list of recommended podcasts to be shared on our library main page later. With one click from our library page, students will have access to student-recommended podcasts arranged by genre, all for their browsing and listening pleasure.

Podcasting, Part I

New for Literacy Studies students this year is a unit related to podcasts. Collaborating with Cathy Hines from Heartland Area Education Association allowed for several lessons relating to understanding what podcasts are and how they are different than other "reading" and listening students might already do, podcasts themselves, and retelling.

Photo by israel palacio on Unsplash

First, students discussed what podcasts are and if they already listen to podcasts. Many indicated that they were "forced" to listen as they rode in cars with their parents, :) but some already subscribed or listened to podcasts of their choosing. We also talked about how podcasts aren't like the YouTubers or audiobooks.

To kick off our podcast listening, we focused on the award-winning and engaging podcast The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel. 

As students listened, they worked on a digital notebook where they kept track of story elements like character, plot, and setting, along with podcast elements like sound effects and music. Using a "turn and talk to your table-mates" activity, students discussed the podcast and added information to their digital notebooks. Engagement was high, and students were eager to continue listening; in fact, many asked if they could continue to listen to Mars Patel outside of class!

Students would continue to listen to Mars Patel and work on notebooks for another class before moving on to other activities--stay tuned!

Harnessing STEAM Power

With the new school year comes new STEAM activities! After receiving a State of Iowa Scale-Up STEM grant last spring, we are now able to expand the STEAM offerings to students. Still popular among students were things like Spheros and 3D pens and Cubelets, but students were also able to explore using 3Dux Design activities, dry felting, and Strawbees.


With task and challenge cards available to students both in the activities themselves and in Google Classroom, students explored making, creating, designing, and imagining all sorts of things!

With additional new items still waiting in the wings, students will have additional STEAM days to explore again!

Digital Breakout, Round 2

After a successful digital breakout last fall (you can read about it HERE), it was time to design another breakout for Literacy Studies students. And thanks to Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook and guest contributor Mandi Tolen, tips and hints were available to help shape a new breakout for students. (You can read the blog post HERE.)

Photo by John Sting on Unsplash

With students more than one quarter into the school year, some find themselves in a bit of a reading slump. One of the goals of the breakout was to share book ideas with students, along with more traditional breakout goals like problem solving, team work, critical thinking, and communication.

The title of the breakout was "Let's Talk About Reading," and students merely scrolled the Home page of the Google Site to find two photographs of our own library. 

Clicking on the "obvious" elements in the photos, students accessed a variety of clues to help them determine the combinations to four different locks. (One of the elements was a dummy clue that took students to a humorous video related to books.) A Google Form embedded in the Site on a second page allowed students to enter a response, and they immediately received feedback from the Form to know if their response was correct.

So what kind of clues did the students access? One was a Google Slides presentation that included six of the most popular series in the library; another was a Google Doc that included the YALSA Top 10 titles from 2019. Students read a blog post related to five historical fiction titles, as well as a poem related to books. Working in small groups, students worked to determine as many lock combinations as they were able.

Later in the year, Literacy Studies students will work through a combination breakout--one that incorporates the physical locks and box that they used for an earlier breakout *and* the digital components they used for this breakout. Stay tuned for more problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking!