Author: Deborah

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Celebrating November

I am currently working on the kick-off for a year-long project of mine in 2021.

It is currently called Let’s Celebrate. I may change that but what won’t change is the Celebrate. What does it mean to celebrate?

verb

  1. Acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gathering or enjoyable activity.

After 2020–we NEED more joy, happiness and fun. Each month I will be focusing on some National Celebration Month or Days and suggest some program ideas. If you have a favorite book, activity or program for a particular month or day you would like to share with me–I thank you!

Here is a picture I saw and have permission to share that came from my friend Kimberly Usselman from the Cumberland Public Library in Rhode Island. They are celebrating Dinovember at CPL and some Dinosaurs came in for a library card. Are you celebrating Dinovember at your library?

November is often known as the month of Gratitude. Check out the 30 Days of Gratitude Toolkit from the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Moment

Perhaps this would be a great time to hold a De-stressing Program. Who can you partner with in your community to offer a meditation, yoga or mindfulness program? Can you raise awareness to services available to help people in your community to de-stress? How about flyers to resources at your library that promote well-being? Maybe some aromatherapy bookmarks or stress-ball take & make kits might be helpful right now? I don’t need to tell you how many DIY stress ball & mindfulness jar ideas there are on Pinterest.

Colleges are great inspiration for de-stressing programs. I saw one college advertise Donuts & Dogs to de-stress at finals. While this idea might have to wait to a time when we can gather once again, you can easily transfer Spa Day DIYs and Coloring Clubs to online and make and takes.

One thing this year has taught us is how important outreach and collaboration is–libraries can and should be much more than just a place. Even if your patrons are unable to come into your library in the same way they have in the past, your library can still share resources and host programs that will leave them saying, “That was Just What I Needed”.

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Family Engagement – Family Learning -STEAM – Community Dialog

Thinking ahead to next year, continuing to engage with the families in your community virtually, creating take and make programs and perhaps opening up to in-person programs–here are some resources to inspire you no matter what stage in the game you are at (including thinking about applying for a Summer Learning Grant next year).

Responding to COVID-19: Seven Practices to Guide Funding and Programming ~ Global Family Research Project.

Family Creative Learning Facilitators Guide ~ Family Creative Learning

How do you know what will engage your families? What do they need? Through Community Dialog. Ask yourself:

1) What audiences in my community are not making full use of library resources?
2) How does my library provide equitable and relevant programming for diverse audience segments? (Latinx, LGBTQ, Homeless populations, etc.)
3) Who in my community has the ear of the groups we wish to serve better?
4) Who are my go-to partners who could help plan and implement a Community Dialogue?

StarNet webinar Community Dialogues to Support Equitable Programming, Access, and Action in YOUR Library Presentation Slides | YouTube Recording | Link Bank

STEM in Libraries – Collaboration Opportunities ~ StarNet

Are you a Guide on the Side or a Sage on the Stage. For more on being the Guide on the Side another great webinar from StarNet STEAM Learning in Public Libraries: A “Guide on the Side” Approach for Inclusive Learning Presentation Slides | YouTube Recording | Link Bank

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30 Days of Gratitude

From the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement:

The Choose Love Movement presents the 2nd Annual 30 Days of Gratitude Campaign starting on November 1. Check Choose Love’s social media accounts every day of the month for daily posts that will focus on how you can live a more fulfilling life through gratitude. Action items and resources will be revealed.

You and your community (schools, community groups, clubs, business owners, first responders, politicians, and more) can partake in this campaign by accessing our free 30 Days of Gratitude Toolkit and share daily messages of gratitude. By sharing these daily reminders with your community, you and your network will reap the benefit associated with gratitude and be part of the solution in creating a more connected and loving world.

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U.S. Department of Education Releases Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide

WASHINGTON – On October 23, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education released a new Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide, a resource to help parents and guardians understand how digital tools can provide tailored learning opportunities, engage students with course materials, encourage creative expression, and enrich the educational experience.                          

“As technology continues to iterate and benefit every part of our lives, all students need more opportunities to leverage the potential of technology in education,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. “We hope families can use the information we release today as many of them are relying on technology more so than ever before and are navigating learning from home.”

Digital learning can help families and educators meet the specific needs of individual students, understand a child’s progress, and connect families and students with resources in their school community and beyond. As an increasing number of school systems implement digital learning both inside and outside of the traditional classroom, this guide demystifies digital learning for parents and empowers them to be effective advocates for high-quality digital learning.

The Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide includes guidance and best practices for caregivers around topics including:

  1. How to leverage flexibilities and innovations technology and digital tools provide, such as accessibility options, to meet the unique needs of every learner — including students with disabilities and English language learners.
  2. Simple steps parents can take to keep their children safe online and foster safe online behavior, such as accessing security features on a child’s device, keeping track of log-in information, and keeping children safe while videoconferencing. The guide also discusses the importance of digital citizenship and offers parents resources to help their child navigate online bullying or encounters with troubling content.
  3. How a competency-based learning approach, which measures a student’s knowledge of a subject rather than time spent on the subject, can harness technology for the benefit of students. Digital resources like online assessments, periodic check-ins, and more can update parents on their child’s learning progress, and they can provide instructional flexibility in the event of a school disruption.
  4. Easy-to-understand primers on major federal laws governing student privacy and safety, such as FERPA, IDEA, and COPPA.

The Parent and Family Digital Learning Guide was informed by the feedback and contributions of digital learning experts representing researchers, parents, educators, and school leaders, as well as Digital Promise and Learning Heroes. This publication is the first in a series that will ultimately provide digital learning knowledge and resources to educators and school leaders in addition to parents and students.

The guide can be viewed here.

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Bitmoji Library – You can build one!

Librarians are joining the online learning environment and using a Bitmoji Library to share their online content in a fun visual way. Read more about it in SLJ: https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=virtual-libraries-bitmoji-classrooms-bring-new-kind-book-browsing-covid-19-coronavirus

My Bitmoji office (located at the top of my blog https://nhlibraries.org/youthservices) was fun and quick to create. I will be adding more to it in the near future. If you just need a quick stress reliever and are into cats, click on the orange cat for a video of some funny felines.

The Facebook page Bitmoji Craze for Educators was highly recommended

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National Runaway Prevention Month – November

I wanted to share some resources for you to help support the youth in your community during National Runaway Prevention Month.

The National Runaway Safeline has some great resources, including:

-Free Educational and Outreach Materials:

https://www.1800runaway.org/free-promotional-materials/

-Presentations about the National Runaway Prevention Month for the community, social media posts and more. https://www.1800runaway.org/nrpm/

-Runaway Prevention Curriculum. “a free, evidence-based, interactive, 14 module curriculum intended to educate young people about alternatives to running away as well as to build life skills so that youth can resolve problems without resorting to running away or unsafe behavior.”

https://www.1800runaway.org/runaway-prevention-curriculum-sign-up/

-They also have prevention specialists that will lead a virtual youth group discussion:

https://www.1800runaway.org/providers-educators/kids-call/

Also there is an excellent article on Webjunction: https://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/serving-homeless-youth.html This is a great opportunity to network with social service agencies and homeless prevention programs.  

Remember:

1 in 10 young adults (age 18 to 25) and 1 in 30 minors (age 13-17) experienced unaccompanied homelessness in a one-year period. This translates to approximately 3.5 million young adults and 700,000 minors (Morton et al, 2017) 

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Family Storytime Kits

For some inspiration in developing your own Family Storytime Kits–visit The Orland Park Public Library. They advertise them, “Missing Storytime at the Library? Now you can have Family Storytime from the comfort of your home with our new Family Storytime Kits. You can read, create, dance, and explore with these themed kits using links to ebooks, online music, crafts, and age-appropriate informational resources!”

Family Storytime Kits