Minecraft Competition? Let’s do it!!

Spread the word about some fun!

Do you have patrons who like to play Minecraft? Let them know about a competition they might enjoy!

Welcome to the 2016 Learning Zone Minecraft Oceans Competition!

The goal is to build the best model of the Sentinel-3 or Jason-3 ocean-monitoring satellites, or get creative and design your own satellite and/or ocean monitoring system with buoys, automatic robots etc.

For the first category, we will provide you with 3D views of the Sentinel-3 and Jason-3 satellites, for you to recreate in Minecraft. Build one, two or both, the choice is yours!

For the second category, the sky is literally the limit! Go crazy thinking up an interesting design for your ocean monitoring satellite.

Show us what it can do and why and you can even design your own ocean monitoring system using the image of the Global Ocean Observing System as your inspiration.

Get glasses for the Great American Eclipse!

watch safely: get some solar glasses!

Contact: Anne Holland, 720-974-5876
Community Engagement Manager
aholland@spacescience.org
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Provides Public Libraries 1.26 Million Solar Viewing Glasses for the 2017 Solar Eclipse

BOULDER, Colo.–December 16, 2016– The Space Science Institute (SSI) was awarded a grant from the Moore Foundation that will provide 1.26 million solar viewing glasses and other resources for 1,500 public libraries across the nation. They will serve as centers for eclipse education and viewing for their communities. The libraries will be selected through a registration process managed by the STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net) and its NASA@ My Library project. The project team includes staff at SSI’s National Center for Interactive Learning. The Project Director is Dr. Paul Dusenbery (Director of NCIL). Andrew Fraknoi (Chair of the Astronomy Department, Foothill College), Dennis Schatz (Senior Advisor, Pacific Science Center), and Douglas Duncan (Director of the University of Colorado’s Fiske Planetarium) are co-directors.

Orville’s Adventure: a slumber party at the library!

Are you looking for a fun library activity to engage youngsters at your library or media center? Last week, CMLE’s own Office Bear Orville was able to participate in a fantastic event at the St. Cloud Public Library – the Stuffed Animal Sleepover!

There is Orville, surrounded by furry friends! (They are wearing superhero capes, just one of the event’s activities!)

Mary was able to represent CMLE at the event, and accompanied Orville as he got to meet the other stuffed friends and their chaperones, heard a story, then had some fun with crafting superhero capes and necklaces. Then it was time to say goodnight to the stuffed animals and leave them for the night, with instructions to “be good!” Library staff then got to work documenting all the mischief the stuffed animals created in the library!

Orville enjoyed playing with legos!

While we have several fun pictures to share with you here, we also have some exciting printed ones at CMLE HQ. Some of these include Orville riding Wally, the huge book sorting machine that is behind the scenes at the library, and also a picture of Orville and assorted friends working together to break into the Executive Director’s office! The printed photos of library shenanigans were distributed to each child when they arrived the next morning to pick up their stuffed friend. The kids got to enjoy a snack while they heard all about the adventures of the previous night, while admiring the picture display set up in the Children’s Department of all the stuffed animals and their troublemaking!

Orville had fun exploring!

 

He got to make new friends, too!

For the past four years, Dezra Rittmann has brought this awesome event to life, and works very hard to make sure kids and stuffed animals enjoy themselves! She describes it as a very popular program, and it’s easy to see why. In fact, it is so popular that registration is required!

CMLE had so much fun taking part in this event, and we think that it could be a great program for your library, too! Especially with school libraries or media centers – kids would love to see what mischief their stuffed animals get into after the school is closed! Let us know if you need more information, and we can connect you with the right people!

A huge thank-you to Dezra and everyone at the St. Cloud Public Library for letting us participate in your program!

Library therapy dogs help kids with reading

Good listeners!

The stereotypical animal that is often associated with libraries (and librarians!) is the cat. And here at CMLE, we definitely love cats. But dogs can be even more helpful when it comes to libraries, and reading in general, especially when it comes to teaching literacy to kids.

This adorable Tweet sparked our curiosity. Just how much do dogs help kids with their reading skills? We also wondered where else in our area might dogs be interacting with kids, students, books, and libraries?

First, we discovered just how helpful dogs can be when it comes to assisting kids with their reading skills. This article from Public Libraries Online shares research done that states, “Children who read to dogs improved their own reading skills in comparison to children who did not read to dogs, based on the results of the Oral Text Reading for Comprehension Test” and even “reported a greater enjoyment of reading than children who did not read to dogs.” When kids are able to practice their reading skills out loud to a patient, non-judgmental listener (like a dog!) their reading improves, and just as importantly, their love of reading grows!

The organization Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ) Minnesota works with “registered therapy animals who volunteer with their handler as a team, going to schools, libraries, and many other settings as reading companions for children” in order to help kids with their literacy and communication skills. Their site explains ways you can help the organization, and even how to become a READ team with your dog!

For real-life inspiration, we found a few instances of dogs and kids enjoying reading together. This article from MN Women’s Press tells the story of Lesa Hobright-Turner and her READ dog, Murphy, and their impact on a little girl with ADHD. The Hibbing Daily Tribune featured this article about kids reading with dogs at Keewatin Elementary school. The Rochester Public Library has the program “Sit, Stay, Read” that takes place the fourth Monday of the month from September – November. Finally, the Two Harbor’s Public Library has a program “Read to a Dog” that takes place on Fridays, featuring Lucy the dog: 

We’re sure there are more programs out there, and would love to hear about them! Do you know of, or participate in, any activity that features animals helping kids with their reading? Let us know!

 

 

 

 

 

Books in the spotlight

 

Discover new books

 

Each month CMLE will highlight three books that have some factor in common. We hope they will give you ideas for your collection, or influence an activity, lesson plan, or display. 

This month, we share three different books that focus on people’s different abilities and skills. They can be used in your library or media center to teach about the importance of diversity and creativity.

The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin (Author), Rosana Faria (Illustrator), Elisa Amado (Translator)
This unique book is created with all-black pages and cover, yet is about the many colors of the world. There are braille words above the text, and the accompanying pictures are raised for texture. In this post from Kids’ Books Review explains “It is the story of a blind boy, who describes colours as he hears, smells, tastes and feels them. Each turn of the page uncovers a beautiful description of a colour; for example, “Thomas says that yellow tastes like mustard, but is as soft as a baby chick’s feathers”.

• Take a look at this article that features The Black Book of Colors along with nine other multicultural books from The Positive Classroom
• Enjoy this reading of the The Black Book of Colors in the video below:

 

The Noisy Paintbox by Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpre
Goodreads gives the book this positive review: “In this exuberant celebration of creativity, Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpre tell the fascinating story of Vasily Kandinsky, one of the very first painters of abstract art. Throughout his life, Kandinsky experienced colors as sounds, and sounds as colors–and bold, groundbreaking works burst forth from his noisy paint box.”

• Here’s a review from School Library Journal’s Classroom Bookshelf that includes classroom ideas and many related links.
• Click here for a lesson plan for the book (for first grade instruction, but has instructions to find plans for other grades) that meets Common Core standards.
• Check out popular Twitter and blog personality John Schu’s interview with author Barb Rosenstock. The interview includes two great videos that investigate synesthesia.

 

Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
The author’s website contains this summary of the novel: Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.

• Check out this page which contains many different ways Fish in a Tree has been used in a classroom, and impacted students!
• The International Literacy Association has this great article that suggests activities inspired by Fish in a Tree, as well as many links to other resources about dyslexia.