KASL

Introduction to Resource Sets

"Introduction to Resource Sets", a two day presentation by Kris Shaw and Suzy Oertel, Kansas State Department of Education, was hosted by the ESU School of Library & Information Management on the campus of Emporia State University. Resource Sets expand on the idea of developing text sets for curriculum units in the classroom. Resource Sets focus on the process of building a set of materials, texts, audio and video clips, art, science hypotheses, or social studies essential questions into a unit. The step-by-step process is clarified by the use of an easy-to-read game board.

Summer Institute for School Librarians June 11 & 12, 2014

Enthusiastic participation at the Summer Institute for School Librarians.
  

Emporia State University’s School of Library and Information Management offered a Summer Institute for School Librarians. Over seventy librarians and teachers from Kansas and Missouri attended this event. Information concerning the conference is available on the SLIM website.

Dive in! The 2014 Kansas Summer Institute for School Librarians took a summer “plunge” into teaching P-12 students exploring a topic using a variety of sources. Participants developed resources sets, a collection of sources from different genre, media, and levels of reading difficulty selected for readers with a range of experiences, interests, and abilities. The priority was on learning concepts, accessing available materials, and seeing examples by experienced school librarians and reading teachers how to move from instruction that focuses on a single, isolated text. Resources are available.

Lunch

The event featured authors Steven Sheinkin and Deborah Hopkinson. Steve Sheinkin was an energetic, interesting writer who emphasized history, the study the atomic bomb, and Lincoln's grave robbers. His blend of humor and insight into his research and writing process enlightened and entertained participants. 

Steve Sheinkin signs his books.

Deborah Hopkinson has written more than 45 books for young readers including picture books, short fiction, and nonfiction. Her historical fiction books often illuminate the lives of ordinary people or forgotten figures in history. Her books help bring history alive and encourage young readers to practice critical thinking and historical thinking skills. 

Deborah Hopkinson poses with her book, Sky Boys, and Marla Wigton.

The role of the school librarian infographic based on Mirah Dow's research is available.

Experts from the Kansas State Department of Education Text Complexity and Learning Resource Sets Team who presented include: Julie Aikins, English Language Arts Teacher; Barbara Bahm, Teacher and School Librarian; Beverley Buller, Author and retired Teacher and School Librarian; Jackie Lakin, KSDE Library, Media, and Technology Program Consultant; Deborah Matthews, KSDE Special Education Program Consultant; Bev Nye, Reading Teacher; Kris Shaw, KSDE Language Arts and Literacy Consultant; Suzanne Oertel, KSDE Education Program Consultant. The event was organized by Dr. Mirah Dow, Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management Associate Professor.

Story by Mira Dow; Adapted and Submitted by Carmaine Ternes; Photos provided by Marla Wigton

Betsy Lobmeyer receives inaugural Roald Dahl Miss Honey Social Justice Award

  

Plymell Elementary 3rd graders are happy to share the fleece and embroidered flannel blankets they stiched.

CHICAGO — Betsy Lobmeyer and her project “Charlie’s Ever Warming Blankets” Children in Poverty, is the inaugural recipient of the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Roald Dahl Miss Honey Social Justice Award. Sponsored by Penguin Random House, the Roald Dahl Award recognizes collaboration between school librarians and teachers in the instruction of social justice using school library resources.

“Charlie’s Ever Warming Blankets,” designed for 3rd-6th grade students at Plymell Elementary in Garden City, Kan., combined a four-week study on the concept of social justice in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” with a charitable project. Students read and discussed Dahl’s work and voted as a group to make blankets for children of jailed women in Ecuador. Children under the age of 2 years old remain with their mother while she serves her sentence and often go without simple comfort items such as blankets or toys.

The project inspired students to discuss what it would be like for children to spend their first years in jail, how life can be unfair and how a small gift can make a big difference.  Fifty students then spent two weeks making blankets out of fleece and flannel to send the children of inmates.  The words “paz,” “fe” and “amor” (“peace,” “faith” and “love”) were stitched into the corner of each flannel blanket. 

"Our project combined three student activities dear to my heart; reading good books, creative hand work and increasing awareness of the big world beyond our small community," said Lobmeyer. "We had a wonderful time studying 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' laughing and cringing and rooting for poor Charlie. The idea of the babies in prison in Ecuador captivated our hearts and imaginations, and students were enthusiastically engaged in creating the blankets. In the end, 50 students were introduced to the wonderful world of Roald Dahl, learned simple embroidery skills, and gave something of themselves to help someone across the world. What could be better?"

6th grade students at Plymell Elementary pose with the fleece blankets they created.

“The Miss Honey committee members were impressed with how the students attacked a social justice issue, accepted the challenge and made a difference in the world,” said award committee chair Terry Young.  “This project brought home clearly to the children in this school that even a child can play a part in reaching out into the world to bring comfort and compassion to those who need it most. Like Charlie, they learned that family is the most important thing.”

Lobmeyer will receive $2,000 and up to $1,000 in reimbursement towards travel and housing to attend the AASL awards presentation at the ALA Annual Conference. In addition, the Plymell Elementary school library will receive a $5,000 book donation from Penguin Random House.

"Thank you to Penguin Random House and especially the teachers and students of Plymell Elementary," said Lobmeyer. "Their enthusiastic participation made this project possible, and fun."

The Roald Dahl’s Miss Honey Social Justice Award recognizes AASL members who have collaboratively designed a lesson, event or course of study on social justice. The award is named for Miss Honey, a character in Dahl’s “Matilda,” honoring the way many of Roald Dahl’s books convey a child’s sense of social justice. In “Matilda,” Miss Honey is a nurturing educator who supports the title character, a gifted young girl in an unkind home.

All AASL award winners will be honored at AASL's Awards Ceremony during the 2014 ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas. The ceremony will be held from 9 – 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, and is open to all attendees.

The American Association of School Librarians, www.aasl.org, a division of the American Library Association (ALA), promotes the improvement and extension of library services in elementary and secondary schools as a means of strengthening the total education program. Its mission is to advocate excellence, facilitate change and develop leaders in the school library field.

"Betsy Lobmeyer receives inaugural Roald Dahl Miss Honey Social Justice Award", American Library Association, June 17, 2014.

http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2014/06/betsy-lobmeyer-receives-inaugural-roald-dahl-miss-honey-social-justice-award (Accessed June 19, 2014)

Document ID: 052cbf09-2c49-cb34-8110-912d94c64b76

Here is Stephanie Vance's website (Advocacy Guru cited in my report):  http://www.ala.org/advocacy/advleg/federallegislation/getinvolved/onlineadvocacy

Author Visit

Marissa Meyer and Marlene Meckenstock