August 2024
Contents:
Welcome back from summer break!
School librarians are always busy as the library is the learning hub of the school. Since a new school year is beginning, I have collected information and resources to make your job easier. From a personalized EBSCO experience to book lists, digital tools, and legislation, this newsletter will help you get the school year started on the right foot.
If you ever have any questions or need support, feel free to email me. Also, check with your fellow librarians to see if they receive this newsletter. Let them know they can sign up if they would like to receive it.
Sincerely,
Jason Stephenson
Project Manger of Library Media
 The Oklahoma Department of Libraries (ODL) provides a package of EBSCO resources to libraries, schools, and academic institutions across the state through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. There are several school districts throughout the state that link to the EBSCO resources from ODL’s website which has recently been updated.
ODL would like to provide school districts with links to the EBSCO resources that are specific to their school district. Additionally, ODL will set up an administrator account in the EBSCOadmin portal in order for school districts to manage the search settings and edit the branding on the user interface of a resource, run reports, and more.
If you would like to receive links to the EBSCO resources that are specific to your school district or have any additional questions, please reach out to Rachel Walker at rachel.walker@libraries.ok.gov or 405-522-5591.
With this award, Oklahoma honors the Native American leader Sequoyah for his unique achievement in creating the Cherokee syllabary. Sequoyah chose eighty-five symbols to represent all spoken sounds of the Cherokee language. In so doing, he created a way to preserve his people's language and culture.
Voting for the current Sequoyah Masterlist opens February 1 and closes March 15. The winner of the current Sequoyah Masterlist is revealed on or before March 31.
The 2025 masterlists are available:
PLEASE NOTE: The books on the Sequoyah Masterlists are not intended to be an automatic recommendation of the books. Since selection policies vary, one should apply the specific guidelines to each title and purchase those titles that meet individual selection policies.
Reading Teams
A Reading Team for each book award selects the masterlist for that award. The Sequoyah Reading Teams are made up of Oklahoma Library Association members who agree to serve a three-year term. At the time of appointment, prospective members of the team must be public librarians or school librarians actively involved in the selection and or purchase of materials appropriate to the age requirements of the respective committees.
For more information about serving on a Sequoyah Reading Team, please email sequoyah@oklibs.org.
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The Teens' Top Ten is a "teen choice" list where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year!
Nominators are members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country. Nominations are posted on the Thursday of National Library Week, and teens across the country vote on their favorite titles each year.
Readers ages twelve to eighteen will vote online between August 15 - October 15 on the Teens' Top Ten site.
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On May 11, 2024, authors, poets, illustrators, designers, publishers, and avid readers came together for a night to celebrate some of Oklahoma’s most talented literary standouts.
Books are recognized each year for outstanding work in fiction, non-fiction, children and young adult, poetry, and the design, illustration, and photography combined category.
To be eligible for consideration, books must be written by an Oklahoman, about the state, or have an Oklahoma theme. This year, the Oklahoma Center for the Book received 179 entries with 28 chosen as finalists.
The 2024 winner of the children's category is Benita and the Night Creatures by Mariana Llanos. The 2024 winner of the young adult category is Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell.
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The OLA Conference Planning Committee is looking for program proposals for the 2025 OLA Annual Conference, which will be held March 12-14, 2025, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Norman Hotel & Conference Center in Norman.
The conference theme is “standing together . . . moving forward.”
Deadline for submissions is September 30, 2024.
Submit a Proposal Now
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The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has released its annual list of Best Digital Tools for Teaching & Learning. AASL’s Best Digital Tools are recognized for fostering qualities of:
- Innovation/Creativity
- Active Participation
- Collaboration
- User-Friendly
- Encourages Exploration
- Information/Reference
In 2024, eighteen tools were added or re-featured on the cumulative list.
Book Creator (Grades K-12)
Book Creator the simplest, most inclusive way to create content in the classroom. Our mission is to empower students of all ages and abilities to actively engage in the joy of learning. Privacy Policy.
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ClassHook (Grades K-12)
ClassHook is a discussion platform with a curated library of over 7,400 educational videos from relatable media that students will recognize. Our videos are short (1 - 5 minutes) and organized by standards, grade level, and topic. ClassHook is a time saver for busy teachers and librarians who want to better engage students, pique their curiosity, and rekindle their passion for learning. ClassHook exposes students to realistic scenarios that are difficult to showcase with traditional curriculum, helping them apply their learning to real-world situations. Privacy Policy.
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Copyright & Creativity for Ethical Digital Citizens (Grades K-12)
Copyright & Creativity aims to provide accessible and practical information about copyright – its protections, its limitations, and its role in encouraging creativity. Rather than just emphasizing what copyright prohibits, the goal here is to offer useful and positive information about what copyright allows and how students can successfully navigate and rely on copyright in their own roles as creators. Privacy Policy.
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Diffit for Teachers (Grades 2-12)
Diffit helps teachers save time by getting "just right" instructional materials in seconds - for any topic, lesson, or student. Whether they are adapting existing content to better meet their classroom's needs, or looking for student-ready activities to fill gaps in the curriculum, Diffit offers a user-friendly platform to get high-quality, differentiated resources in seconds. Privacy Policy.
EarSketch (Grades 6-12)
EarSketch introduces coding and music technology to students in a highly engaging, creative manner that has been shown to engage diverse student populations. Privacy Policy.
Khan Academy Kids (Grades PreK-2)
Khan Academy Kids is a free educational app for children ages 2-8. The Khan Kids library includes thousands of kids books, reading games, math activities and more. Best of all, Khan Kids is 100% free with no ads or subscriptions. Privacy Policy.
 KidLitTV (Grades K-8)
KidLit TV, a free resource for parents and educators, offers kid-focused author and illustrator interviews, storytime videos, drawing tutorials, and other literacy-related crafts and activities. KLTV is available in over 700,000 schools worldwide via our website and video distribution partners. We’re a team of parents, educators, librarians, authors, illustrators, and filmmakers creating fun ways to inspire a love of reading. Privacy Policy.
Masters of Tradition: A Cultural Journey Across America (Grades 5-12)
Masters of Tradition is an interactive story map that allows students to explore the great diversity of cultures, communities, and artistic traditions that enrich the United States. Through abundant photographs, audio, video, short text, and first-person quotes, the story map addresses a variety of key themes, including immigration, migration, identity, heritage, and community. Privacy Policy.
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MusiQuest (Grades 1-8)
MusiQuest's mission is to give every kid in the world access to music. By combining hands-on music making, dynamic instruction, and rich stories, MusiQuest's lessons feel fully "alive" to students. Privacy Policy.
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New American History (Grades 4-12)
New American History helps educators and learners preparing to do research (including their National History Day projects!), develop cross-curricular Project-Based Learning opportunities, develop station based learning experiences, teach students skills to evaluate print and digital resources, and recommend high-quality tools and resources for inquiry-based learning. Privacy Policy.
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Parlay Ideas (Grades 3-12)
Parlay is an AI-powered instructional platform that helps teachers facilitate meaningful, measurable, and inclusive class discussions. Privacy Policy.
PebbleGo (Grades K-5)
PebbleGo is a curricular content hub specifically designed for K-2 students. Packed with informational articles, ready-made activities, and literacy supports for students of all abilities, it boosts engagement and fosters independent learning in core subject areas. Privacy Policy.
 Pixton Grades 1-12)
We believe that storytelling is the world’s most powerful force for communication and change. Pixton is a comic creation platform that enables people of all ages and abilities to develop storytelling skills, enhance writing and visual communication, demonstrate learning, and celebrate identity and culture through personalized avatars. Privacy Policy.
Seesaw (Grades K-6)
Seesaw offers a suite of award-winning tools, resources, and curriculum with interactive lessons, digital portfolios, and two-way communication features that provide continuous visibility into the student’s learning journey to support and celebrate their learning. Privacy Policy.
Sora (Grades PreK-12)
Sora provides every student digital access to the right books on any device using their school credentials. As the leading student reading platform for schools, Sora offers the industry’s largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, read-alongs, magazines and more for curriculum and choice reading. Privacy Policy.
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TeachingBooks (Grades PreK-12)
TeachingBooks brings books to life for all readers. Discover an expansive collection of engaging video, audio, and printable content to excite students about reading and enrich literacy instruction in your school. Privacy Policy.
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Wild Classroom (Grades K-12)
Connecting educators and guardians with the tools and resources they need to help kids explore and understand the world around them. Together we can inspire the next generation to build a future where people and nature thrive! Privacy Policy.
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Write the World (Grades 7-12)
A free online global community where teens write, review, and share. A non-profit dedicated to developing teens’ writing and critical thinking skills and equipping them with the confidence and competence to change the world, one word at a time. Privacy Policy.
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Share Your Story
Which of these tools have you used with your students? Share your story, and I will highlight the tool and how you use it in upcoming newsletters. Email me at Jason.Stephenson@sde.ok.gov.
Legislation that governs school libraries is available on the Library Media webpage in the blue menu.
Standards of Accreditation
This document outlines guidelines regarding the collection, staff responsibilities, evaluation, staffing, seating, collection, and expenditures.
"There shall be a written policy, approved by the local board, concerning the criteria to be used in the evaluation and selection of materials for the media program. The written policies should contain criteria for selection, responsibility for selection, and guidelines for reconsideration."
When was your selection and reconsideration policy last updated? In recent years, many school libraries have updated their guidelines.
House Bill 3092
This bill requires school library media programs to be reflective of the community standards for the population served.
House Bill 3702
This bill requires public schools, universities, state agencies and public libraries to have technology protection measures for their digital or online library databases that prevent students from viewing or receiving obscene materials or content.
Senate Bill 933
This bill provides relief from spending expectations when school funding is reduced, but requires spending per pupil when funding is stable for two years or more.
The library of the month is Wilson Elementary from Bartlesville Public Schools. The school's library media specialist is Laurie Marshall.
In her nomination email, principal Staci Bankston wrote: “Outstanding things are happening in our library. She repainted the entire library with soothing colors, added all alternative seating, has books of the week, promotes literacy daily and during assemblies, has brought in authors to see our students, attends PD to gain more insight to student learning, and hosts EXTRA book fairs to assist in getting books into our students’ hands. She … helps organize our very own neighborhood book box outside our building, completely re-organized our library to be kid friendly.”
Laurie was kind enough to answer some of my questions about her library and its programing.
How many students visit your library on a weekly or monthly basis?
I am in the specials rotation. On Monday-Thursday, all 27 classes, Pre-K thru 5th grade, visit the library. Most Fridays, every grade level visits the library for 35 minutes.
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 What do you believe are important components of an effective library program?
I want teachers and students alike to find the library welcoming, and I want to get the right book in their hands! I believe it is important for the library to be an inviting and safe place that all students want to visit. I have tried to create an atmosphere for students to feel comfortable in.
Once the students feel comfortable, they can find a good book to read, and my ultimate goal is to get students reading. The library needs to have quality books for students to want to read. It needs to be organized in a way that they can easily find their perfect book. I am constantly working toward that goal, but it is certainly a work in progress!
Another way to get students reading is through incentive programs. The past 2 years, I have encouraged students to participate in the Sequoyah challenge using incentive programs. Students have had the opportunity to earn a field trip or an evening lock in when goals are met.
 What advice would you give to yourself the first year you were a librarian?
Take it one day at a time. Focus on being inviting, listening to the kids, and getting good books in their hands. Remember, reading is reading, regardless of genre or difficulty!
What is an accomplishment in your library you would like to brag about?
I have “Game Day Friday” with all students in the school. I teach each grade level age appropriate games. These games range from Candyland and Memory to chess and backgammon.
On Fridays, students get to choose what game they want to play. We work on social skills during this time. I speak with students, both whole group and individually, about how to win and lose, how to ask a friend to play, what to do when they are upset, etc.
Students also begin to figure out strategies to help them win. The upper grade students will often choose to play against the same opponent over and over to refine their strategy against that person. It is really neat to see them grow to be strategic thinkers.
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 What else would you like to share?
It is so exciting to me to watch younger students sustain reading for longer periods of time. These pictures were taken towards the end of the year of kindergarten students who were reading (some reading words, some telling stories from the pictures) at the end of class. These kids grew so much in their reading last year, and it was a really neat moment!
Nominations Now Open
Would you like to have your library featured in an upcoming newsletter? Or would you like to nominate a colleague's library?
Please email me if you would like to share a success story about programming, circulation numbers, a book display, or something exciting in the library. In your message, please describe the reasons the library should be featured and attach at least one photograph.
Every effort is made to feature school libraries from around the state that serve elementary, middle, and high school students.
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