 On February 5th and 6th, CA BOCES’ Digital Star Lab visited Friendship Central School (FCS) providing students in pre-k through fifth grades a sampling of what the digital planetarium offers. David Yochum, the middle/high school science teacher, arranged for the visit and offered four of his 10th grade students an opportunity to instruct an eighth-grade class on pertinent topics using this technology.
During my two days at FCS I was able to introduce students to an outer space view of planet earth, moon phases, constellations, nebulas, the milky way, and the planets in our solar system. Each field trip ended with watching the sun rise from the surface of Mars. Students were awed by the experience and demonstrated an increased awareness of our solar system as the planetarium allows for on-demand instruction regardless of temperature and time. Collaboration with your school librarian is made easy when resources, like the following suggestions, are paired with lessons:
By: Cece Fuoco, CABOCES Learning Resources
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The American Association of School Librarians recently released its updated National School Library Standards. Concepts imbedded in the new standards include shared foundations, key commitments, domains, competencies, and alignments which strongly supports new standards in school curricula. Recently, district librarians came together to review the standards and participated in collaborative activities and developed activities for student engagement.
Collaboration occurs through different venues and a Zoom meeting was used to connect more than 50 librarians from CA BOCES and Eastern Suffolk BOCES. Shared ideas for student engagement using library books included: Snowflake Bentley and making snowflakes, reinforcing the concept of symmetry, and a STEM challenge involving falling snowflakes; and Bill Nye’s Germ book, growing germs, identifying bacteria, and a STEM challenge involving germ fighting products. The Extraordinaire Design Pro kit was introduced for Maker Space ideas with some participants enthusiastically embracing the design challenge. Also demonstrated was the use of Zome Tools for grades K-12 with ideas for ELA activities and STEM challenges. With Zoom’s increasing availability, participants were encouraged to consider its use in connecting students to learning beyond walls, buildings, and geographic locations. By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES Learning Resources Welcoming West Valley students into the school library this year is a new space designated for S.T.E.A.M. activities. Jody Thiel, SLMS, is offering students the opportunity to explore coding, collaboration, and creativity with $500 raised through Donors Choose. Mrs. Thiel purchased over ten interactive resources to engage student learning and encourage a growth mindset (See photo). A struggling middle school student recently demonstrated growth mindset as he was putting together circuits. When a bulb failed to light, he blamed it on dead batteries – several times. Mrs. Thiel did not offer correction on his design but simply told him the batteries were new and encouraged him to try again. The student figured it out and was so proud of himself! Taking risks in a safe environment allowed for experiencing success. For younger students, Mrs. Thiel purchased the FisherPrice Code-a-Pillar. This is a colorful robotic whose pre-coded segments are put together by the student. Once segments are connected the Code-a-Pillar crawls across the floor to find a predetermined target. Quick feedback allows for student correction. Additional segments can be purchased for increased challenges.
Elementary and middle school students enjoy the Code & Go Robot Mouse and no doubt high school students and adults will too. Similar to the design of a BeeBot, Robot Mouse can be programmed to find a block of 'cheese' within a maze. The maze offers a variety of design challenges to engage “steamers” of all ages. and provides small groups with collaborative opportunities to problem solve.
Displayed among the LittleBits, Magformers, and Snap Circuits was the Osmo. This product utilizes an iPad, stand, mirror, and apps to teach coding, letters, words, numbers, and drawings. I tried the drawing app which uses a mirror to project an image onto a piece of paper that can be traced. Lettering is also available to make attractive thank you notes or sayings. (See photo). The tools available to use with the Osmo clearly makes an interactive tool for students K-12. By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES Learning Resources All students in CA BOCES, but especially those in grades PreK – 8th will enjoy the premium version of Tumble Books. Offered in a French, Spanish, or Mobile interface, over 1400 eBooks are available with Wi-Fi connection.
By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES Learning Resources  Over 300 school librarians converged in Buffalo May 4-6, 2017 to attend the state’s annual school librarians conference. Thirty-nine vendors were available to discuss databases, continuing education programs, cataloging systems, and books that support learning standards as well as popular fiction. Co-chaired by Pioneer school librarians Maria Muhlbauer and Tina Pierce, this year’s theme Make. Learn. Inspire. was a hit!
Make. Learn. Inspire. offered professional development workshops specific to the needs of the school librarian. Keynote speaker Gene Luen Yang, a former high school teacher, has been a recipient of several national book awards. Yang’s engaging style, peppered with humor, brought attention to using comics in education and the importance of representing diversity through the comics medium. Yang’s message was fitting in that it supports the current initiative by CA BOCES’ Brendan Keiser and Cece Fuoco in building graphic novel kits for classroom use next school year. Thirty-six workshops were made available including“Fostering Civic Engagement Through Archival Research”, “The Differentiated Makerspace”, “Sensory Storytime”, “Game Design”, and “Genrefying Your Library”. One workshop held by Scio librarian, Mary Zdrojewski, had a packed room of 75 attendees who came to learn about using a Breakout Box to teach library skills. Bolivar-Richburg librarian, Karen Fox, (see photo) presented to over 50 attendees on “21st Century Toolbox for the School Librarian”. Fox capitalized on skills she learned as an employee of Apple and Starbucks to streamline the process for managing her library resources and tracking students. Librarians also enjoyed hearing CA BOCES’ S.T.E.M. coordinator, Clay Nolan discuss using common fiction stories to create S.T.E.M. activities to support ELA standards. After introducing the book Timing Races: Measuring Time by Dianne Irving, Nolan challenged participants with Zometools to create an object that could spin and outlast others (see photo). It was a fun activity and participants’ phones were busy capturing the learning and competition taking place. Returning to their schools across the state, librarians left inspired to make new learning opportunities for students. By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES Learning Resources Library makerspaces are becoming more popular in schools and using technology is often part of the experience. Some school librarians in CA BOCES are becoming familiar with coding, programming, and open source software. As a result, makerspaces are frequently the place where students can explore, create, and learn. eTextiling is one method of using technology to engage students with varied interests. eTextiles use circuitry to create interaction between the wearer and his or her environment. As a way to introduce fashion and technology to teachers, an eTextiling workshop was offered through the 510 Coser. Facilitated by S.T.E.M. Coordinator Clay Nolan, and School Library System Coordinator, Cece Fuoco, participants learned the basics of circuitry through the use of copper tape, a battery and an LED light.  Participants then used conductive thread to sew a circuit.
Open source technology allows for programming a component to make an LED light respond to sound or movement. The opportunity exists for students to work together, especially when a student’s interest is stronger than his or her ability.
An eTextiling workshop will be available again next year with the anticipation that this year’s participants will share what their students have created. If you would like more information about eTextiling, please contact Clay at Clay_Nolan@caboces.org or Cece at Cece_Fuoco@caboces.org. By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES School Library Coordinator 3,853 Overdrive eBooks checked out
1657 resources shared through interlibrary loan 22 workshops to support professional development for school librarians 405 Library System deliveries each month 229 databases purchased managed Filled 33 requests for 1 Foundation (American Museum of Natural History), 1 State Library (New Jersey), 2 major academic research libraries, 6 academic libraries, and 15 public libraries Requests from 16 states to borrow library resources 2,592 miles of postal service to lend 1 book Are you looking for resources and don’t know where to turn? Maybe you have some idea of what you are looking for and don’t have the time to cull through the myriad options available. At the CABOCES Learning Resources center in Allegany, we will have a training in January for the teachers in our two county area, highlighting all that our Staff Specialists here can do for you and your students. Learning Resources has recently had an increase in the amount of resources being used by our component schools, but there are still so many things being underutilized. So as part of this training, the Staff Specialists went through each branch of Learning Resources and how they can assist with curriculum and content, utilization of online and digital support, as well as providing tangible resources to use in the physical classroom. The teachers who have gone through the training before have been amazed at the hundreds of thousands of resources available and how each department can either assist with or provide instruction on the various aspects of digital resources and technology, STEM, Library services, and distance learning.  Both STEM and the Digital Media program provide kits that can be used in the classroom to aid instruction and provide hands-on activities. Online resources accompany those kits, as well as accessing the SNAP system to find additional support. The Distance Learning branch has many components, including Moodle and Mahara, credit recovery, virtual field trips, collaborative classrooms, online learning, and Adobe Connect. Additionally, our Library Resources offers support to all 22 school libraries in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, implementation of the inter-library loan system, and provides online usage of Britannica and World Book.
If you are not utilizing any of these resources, only using some of them, or need to know more, come join us on January 12 at our Learning Resources center in Allegany, NY. By: Alexandra L. Freer, CA BOCES  Local librarians were recently challenged to use Buncee to submit a photo story that showcased what his/her library program was doing. Mary Zdrojewski, K-12 librarian from Scio created "Beyond the Bookshelves".
Create your digital canvass with Buncee at www.edu.buncee.com .  Students benefit from an author visit in many ways. Not only does it bring a real person’s voice and face as the creator behind a story, but an author is able to share where ideas originate from, the research process, the writing process, and essentially let students know that they too can take part in the creative process of writing.
Wellsville’s seventhth grade ELA teacher, Amy Hunt, and school librarian, Shannon Whiteside, brought Newbery Award winning author Linda Sue Park to approximately 100 students via video conference on Friday, January 22nd. Through the Arts in Education COSER 403, author visits are affordable whether in person or online. Hunt’s seventh graders recently read Park’s A Long Walk to Water which is based on the true story of a Sudanese boy’s experience with war and a refugee camp who eventually found solace in the Rochester, NY area. Filled with adventure and hardship, A Long Walk to Water introduces readers to one boy’s personal struggle to survive and the reality that water is a precious commodity. Not only do readers experience empathy as they read this book but experience the main character’s success when he returns to Sudan as an adult to help establish water wells for remote villages. After Park shared her writing process, nine students were able to ask questions. One student asked, “What interested you in writing?” Park’s response was, “to see a white rectangle covered with black squiggly lines and realize how those squiggles can make someone laugh, cry, or be inspired is such power. What power to make people feel!” When asked how difficult it was to include the details in her book, Park shared that she had re-written the story seventeen times. With a giggle, she told students, “I like to play video games so I think of writing like leveling up”. Interested in bring an author to your school? Contact your school librarian or Mary Morris at Mary_Morris@caboces.org to learn more about Arts in Education. By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES School Library Coordinator Nicole Brandes at Friendship Central School really knows how to liven up the library! The start of the school year began with a Book Tasting with music of the 80s. A Book Tasting is an activity that encourages one to sample genres, devour words and sate the intellectual appetite.
Mrs. Giardini’s students had a great time exploring new books in the media center. Ms. Brandes said that “during this activity we were able to see, think, and wonder about the different genres and then blog our thoughts”. To make the book selections random, a rendition of musical chairs was used. By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES Learning Resources |
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