The New York State Regents Advisory Council is sponsoring the The Joseph F. Shubert Library Excellence Award, which is given annually to recognize the achievements of small, medium and large libraries and library consortia in New York State. This $1000 award honors libraries or library consortia that have improved the quality of library service to users within the past two years.
Applications must be sent in by August 1, 2019.
Click here for details and application.
Calling all Teen Film-makers!
The deadline for the Rochester Teen Film Festival is coming up on June 10th!
WXXI Public Broadcasting Council and the Little Theatre are proud to sponsor the 2019 Rochester Teen Film Festival, a collaborative, juried media competition for youth in the Rochester region.
The festival is set for Thursday, August 8, 2019 at 5:30 p.m., when the finalists’ films will be shown at the Little Theatre in downtown Rochester.
GUIDELINES:
The purpose of the festival is to honor the work of urban, suburban and rural teen filmmakers and give young people an authentic opportunity to participate in a real film festival. All submissions are judged by a jury and finalists have been elected to have their films shown at the Little Theatre.
This year, young filmmakers will again have a chance to earn the Philip Seymour Hoffman Award, which honors the life and legacy of the late Academy Award-winning actor and Fairport, N.Y. native. The annual award is given to the teen whose film is chosen by the judges as “Best of Fest” and was established in association with the Hoffman family.
To find the online entry form, and to see some films of past finalists, check out the website: www.wxxi.org/teenfilmfestival
This year, on July 20th, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing. WXXI is celebrating with a series of programs all about space.
Wednesday, June 5th and Friday, June 7th: “Chasing the Moon” (Watch the preview)
Tuesday, July 9th: American Experience “Space Men”
Tuesday, July 16th: NOVA “Apollo’s Daring Mission”
Wednesday, July 17th: NOVA “First Man on the Moon”
Tuesday, July 23rd: “A Year in Space”
Tuesday, July 30th: “Beyond a Year in Space”
Wednesday, July 31st: “The Farthest–Voyager in Space”
If you don’t get the AL Direct email from American Libraries, and if you don’t regularly check the Knowledge Quest blog, then you may not have seen this great article about Makerspace Made Easy. The author, an elementary librarian in Chesterfield County, VA, Colleen R. Lee, explains how she started small, with different kinds of building blocks and other easily acquired materials.
Not only does she talks about keeping it simple, she also explains how she ties her design challenges to literature. It’s a short and easy read that is sure to give you some great ideas.
Today is a perfect time to send this article around to the teachers in your building. Perhaps similar to what they say in the Kevin Costner movie, Field of Dreams, “If they [read] it, they will come.”
From edutopia: Collaborating With Your School Librarian by Jamie Gregory (July 30, 2018).
Thank you for all you do. The work you do is essential to our future.
I don’t know who came up with it, but I have heard that today, May 6th, is No Homework Day. Sounds pretty fishy right? Trying to research this “holiday” I found the following sites that confirm it: Days of the Year, Checkiday, Happy Days 365, and What National Day Is It?.
While students everywhere are celebrating no homework today, teachers prefer tomorrow’s holiday, National No Grading Day.
Did you know that the first Saturday in May is always “Free Comic Book Day”? If you’re into comics, you probably already know this.
But if you’re not into comics, this is a great opportunity to check them out! Maybe you’ll find something you’ll truly love. When Gene Luen Yang was named the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature in 2016, he issued a challenge to readers everywhere called The Reading Without Walls Challenge. Which calls for readers to pick up a book that they normally wouldn’t. Choose something that fits one of the three criteria for this challenge:
Let’s keep this challenge going and pick up your free comic book tomorrow.
In its quest to make information equally available to everyone, the Library of Congress has digitized books that were published over 100 years ago and made the collection available to the public online. The site explains, “This special collection presents children’s books selected from the General and Rare Book Collections at the Library of Congress.”
However rare, many of the books are still widely read today, such as The Secret Garden, and The Arabian Nights. These books are now in the public domain, and you can use them as freely as you like.
Access the entire collection here: https://www.loc.gov/collections/childrens-book-selections/
Did you know that the AASL offers free webinars to further your professional learning? There are two coming up in May. Click the links to register:
Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 6:00 pm: Collaborate with Content Areas for Deeper Learning
This webinar will focus on creating collaborations between the school library and content teachers in an effort to create lessons and units that foster critical thinking. Layering standards from content areas with national standards from AASL, ISTE and Future Ready librarianship creates in depth and substantial lessons for critical thinking and growth. Utilizing resources such as the AASL app and the AASL Crosswalk sets, this webinar will identify ways that school librarians can work with subject area teachers on lessons that prepare students for 21st century learning.
Computational thinking is a systematic problem solving process applicable to multiple arenas, including various curricular areas and real life. In this session, learn about the basics of computational thinking, how it applies to school library programs and curriculum, and how it benefits our future ready learners in academia and real life.
You do not need to be an ALA member to participate in these webinars.