📚The Library Lowdown

"Where are the dragon books?"

"I'd like a book about fairies."

"Are there any train books in this library?"

These questions and so many more are what elementary librarians spend their time answering during any given library checkout day. Students love reading books about their favorite things and characters but often can't find them alone. The librarian knows right where they are but can only help a handful of students in a given time period.

Holt teacher librarian, Robbie Cortez, decided to help students find the books they loved. He took on the large project of what we call in Library Land, genrefying. He reorganized the Fiction and Everybody, also known as picture books, sections of the library according to genres. In the fiction section, this is relatively straightforward. Books are organized by genres found at a bookstore, such as mystery, fantasy, adventure, humor, and so on. Organizing the Everybody section by genre is not as straightforward.

The main goal of gentrifying a library is to help patrons find the books they are looking for with ease and hopefully find great books they weren't looking for as well. In Holt's library, the Everybody section books are organized by topics of interest, such as favorite characters, play, animals, and transportation. Each section of the library has its own label with a corresponding sticker so students can easily identify the books and where they belong.

Though the year is just underway, Mr. Cortez has already reported that students love the newly organized library and are finding the books they love on their own. The newly organized library looks user-friendly, and Mr. Cortez is hopeful students will be able to use their library skills to help find the books they love.

Inspire students to be makers! Connect virtually and watch makers worldwide share different projects, learning spaces, creations, coding, 3D designs, art lessons, and more! There will be a session every half hour and they each will have a connected challenge. Sign your class up here or just watch and enjoy!

Check out the rad coding and robotics kits available for check out to 4J teachers! Choose from Edison robots, Ozobots, Bloxels, and more! Students have a blast as they work together to build, create, and problems solve with these fun tech tools. Click here to view all that is available and reserve for your class today! Have fun!

Libraries celebrate the freedom to read all year, especially from October 1st to 7th! Encourage kids to visit their school and public library and enjoy choosing books they love. Find resources and activities to participate in here. Check out Sora's great ebooks and audiobooks for our entire 4J community, and have fun reading!

On October 9th, we celebrate Indigenous People's Day.

We Are Teachers has great resources and provides information on why we acknowledge this day, "This is a day to learn, to observe, to reflect, to create, and to connect through story and creation. It’s also a day to move beyond recognition and toward action and accountability."

Check out these websites to learn more about Indigenous peoples.

• Native Knowledge 360° is run by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Check out featured resources for Unlearning Columbus Day Myths, plus hear from young Native activists and changemakers in special student webinars.
• PBS’s Native American Heritage Collection takes a look at Indigenous art, history, and culture as told by historians, artists, students, and scientists.
• The Zinn Education Project believes in taking a more engaging and more honest look at the past. Take a look at their resources on Native American topics.

We have an awesome Indigenous People's collection in Sora. Click the image below to check out the fantastic books available 24/7 in this collection.

What better time to learn about and support the bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska, than during Fat Bear Week? No joke! It's a thing! Check out their website and learn all about the contestants here. Vote on the biggest bear and watch for the winner at the end of the week. 4J students can enjoy the digital bear books available in Sora and activities found in the choice board below. Which bear will you vote for?

Have you seen CultureGrams? This amazing website is super-helpful for reports and other school projects or just to learn about how people live all over the world. CultureGrams goes beyond mere facts and figures to deliver a one-of-a-kind perspective on daily life and culture in all different countries, including the background, customs, and lifestyles of the world's people, including interviews. For younger students, the site includes a Kids Edition. Each section is written and reviewed by in-country experts and updated as new information becomes available. You can use CultureGrams online anytime with your Eugene Public Library card or at onsite library computers without a card. All for free!

Eugene Public LIbrary is hosting The Science of Reading film series in honor of Dyslexia and Dysgraphia Awareness Month. Free screenings of three acclaimed documentary films will be offered and an expert panel focused on the science of reading. Find out more here.

Device notifications
Students can now choose to receive a notification when a title they put on hold is available to borrow. Notifications are supported on Android and iOS—support for browser notifications is currently underway, so stay tuned for updates.

Shelf talkers
Shelf talkers provide a new way to share extra information about titles in our digital collection, like recommendations, trivia, favorite quotations, and other thoughts. Shelf talkers appear on a title’s details page in Sora. Teachers interested in using this cool tool reach out to Amy Page (page_a@4j.lane.edu). It's a great way to create authentic writing opportunities for students. Check out this one here.

New unlimited access Social Emotional Learning books are now available in Sora. Readers will find titles that deal with anxiety, kindness, bullying, friendship, and so much more. Check them out anytime, anywhere. We also have an incredible comic collection filled with popular comics like Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers, and more! All comics are always available, so readers will never have to wait!

Registration for Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) is now open! Participating schools can sign up here. OBOB provides a fun opportunity for students to work in teams as they read books together and compete in book trivia battles.

Join Roundabout Books for their second annual Fall Into OBOB series! Meet the authors, ask all your questions, and get the inside scoop on these incredible books! These FREE events are hosted virtually on Zoom, but space is limited. RSVP today to reserve your tickets.

You can register for all 13, or pick your favorites. All events are at 6 pm and dates are listed below. Don't forget to submit your questions to events@roundaboutbookshop.com

Grade 3-5 events:

10/10: Flor and Miranda Steal the Show, Jennifer Torres
Enjoy carnival rides and deep-fried pickles in this warm, funny middle-grade novel about family and friendship.

11/2: The Midnight Children, Dan Gemeinhart
This #1 New York Times and Indie bestseller! From the author of The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise recounts an extraordinary story about a family of runaway kids who move to a small town, and the outcast boy who finds his voice and his people—for fans of Katherine Applegate and Kate DiCamillo.

11/9: Allergic, Megan Wagner Lloyd & Michelle Mee Nutter
A coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel featuring a girl with severe allergies who just wants to find the perfect pet!

11/9: Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom, Joan Holub
After pulling a magical thunderbolt from a stone, ten-year-old Zeus goes on the adventure of a lifetime in this thrilling start to a brand-new series!

11/21: The List of Things That Will Not Change, Rebecca Stead
At a time when everything is changing for Bea and her family, the important things will always stay the same. A soon-to-be classic by the Newbery Award-winning author of When You Reach Me.

Grade 6-8 events:

1 0/12: The Blackbird Girls, Anne Blankman
Like Ruta Sepetys for middle grade, Anne Blankman pens a poignant and timeless story of friendship that twines together moments in underexplored history.

10/17: Yusuf Azeem is Not a Hero, Saadia Faruqi
A powerful and relevant story from the author of A Thousand Questions, about friendship, grief, and standing up for what is right. The ideal next read for fans of Hena Khan, Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Varian Johnson—or for any young reader grappling with recent US history and current events.

10/19: Invisible, Christina Diaz Gonzalez
For fans of New Kid and Allergic, a must-have graphic novel about five very different students who are forced together by their school to complete community service... and may just have more in common than they thought.

11/7: Stowaway, John David Anderson
The beloved author of Posted returns with the acclaimed first book in a coming-of-age sci-fi duology about Leo, a kid trying to navigate the galaxy in order to save his family—and, possibly, the planet Earth.

11/14: Wink, Rob Harrell
A hilarious and heartwrenching story about surviving middle school--and an unthinkable diagnosis--while embracing life's weirdness.

11/16: The Boys in the Back Row, Mike Jung
The Boys in the Back Row is an unabashed ode to friendship with hilariously flawed hijinks and geekiness galore!

11/18: Barefoot Dream of Petra Luna, Alda P. Dobbs
This Indies Introduce and Indie Next Pick is a tale of one family’s perilous journey to cross the U.S. border during the Mexican Revolution that is every bit as relevant and heartbreaking today...now in paperback!

Grade 9-12 event:

10/24: The Fountains of Silence, Ruta Sepetys
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray comes a gripping, extraordinary portrait of love, silence, and secrets under a Spanish dictatorship.

Resources to assist teams in practicing for battles will continue to be shared as they become available over the next few months via this Wakelet. Bookmark it to keep it handy.

Check out the totally awesome OBOB virtual classroom Megan Murphy, Adams' Reading Specialist, created below! She shared the link to make a copy so teacher/OBOB leaders can add their own personal touch! Thank you, Megan!

Celebrate Digital Citizenship Week, October, 16th-20th, with some of these easy-to-utilize resources below.

Common Sense Media has K-12 lessons that engage students in conversations and activities relevant to their age level. K-5 teachers can find Digital Citizenship lessons adapted for Seesaw here. Join Common Sense Media (it's free) to get access to all their lessons. These lessons are easy to implement with little planning.

Be Internet Awesome is Google's digital citizenship curriculum. Kids love the games that keep them thinking while learning about being good digital citizens.

Digital citizenship lessons are available at the Achievery. The Achievery is a cool resource for teachers that uses video clips to engage students. From the homepage of The Achievery website, select "Digital Literacy," then select the grade level. Digital Literacy lessons are available for grades 3, 4, 6-12.

It's already October! We continue to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month in the month of October as well as Fire Safety Month, Halloween, and more! Have fun!

Email: page_a@4j.lane.edu
Website: https://wakelet.com/@AmyPage5788
Location: 200 North Monroe Street, Eugene, OR, USA
Phone: 541-790-7765
Facebook: facebook.com/4jlibrarymediaservices
Twitter: @AmyPageTL