Beecher Feature

1. School Library MC Activity Highlights
2. Resource Reminders
3. Did You Know....?
4. A Candid Look at Your School Library
5. Book & Bake highlights

Curl up with a coffee and read on!

Mrs. Blue-Trepton facilitates discussion with her students during our Book Club in a Bag Activity. One of the intended outcomes is that students discover how crossover will occur from group to group. Novels are a great way for students (and adults!) to explore different ways to problem solve, overcome adversity, and respond to anxiety. Books about the realities of war can (and do) have commonalities with books about, magic, or romance, or resilience, or music....you get the idea, right? Readers can see themselves in the characters and how the lessons learned by the characters impacted their lives.

The themes chosen, along with the books tucked away in their own bags, are listed below. Students got a kick out of finding the bag and discovering the adventures inside!

We can accommodate for a variety of activities, and often, teachers enjoy bringing their students to the library for a change of scenery when it is presentation time. The small group table top presentations by Mrs. Blue-Trepton's ELA students certainly inspired many to branch out and read something new.

The students in Mr. Hiller's Integrated Chemistry/Physics class were able to apply concepts from class to a baking activity. That's right - baking is science! Magical things happen once heat hits specific ingredients and the results can be quite tasty and educational!

Innovation teacher, Mr. Hiller, engaged his ICP students in the DC library by utilizing our new makerspace items. Grant funding allowed for the purchase of makerspace items that would typically be found in a home kitchen. These items enable us to create activities to enhance learning in a variety of ways.

Cooking/baking requires basic hard and soft skills that most will use throughout their lifetime. Here is a list of examples....

• Math - fractions, ratios, measuring/converting, etc.
• Science - chemistry, agriculture, etc.
• Reading Comprehension - reading and understanding recipe directions
• Creativity - Once technique is mastered - how can I adjust flavor to my liking?
• Problem Solving - Why didn't it work? How can I improve?
• Organization - planning and preparing

Mr. Hiller certainly knocked this out of the park - and so did his students! It was great fun to see them in action, creating delicious treats and applying chemistry concepts! #LibraryLife

Your DCHS library media center continues to encourage engaging students with a BreakoutEDU activity. Grant funding allowed for more kits to be added to our collection so we can take on even more!

The new updated platform has lots of games/activities ready to implement. If you prefer activities that are completely digital, just use the handy filter to weed out games that require kits. Currently, only 17 of the 35 licenses are being utilized and we would love to see all of the licenses in use. Reach out to your library media center team if you would like a site license to use with your classes.

The Breakout EDU Expansion Pack (Gen. 2) includes a custom cipher disc, interchangeable cipher wheels, and custom dice that work with a collection of both Kit-based and Digital Breakout EDU games.

The BreakoutEDU platform link is housed on the DCHS Library Media Center website. Would you like to give it a try? Great - the media center team is ready to support!

School libraries work to create engaging, welcoming, academic spaces for students and adults. Creativity is key because students are finding that their iPad and phone provide plenty of "stimulation". When students and teachers enter the DCHS library media center, they will find a variety of seating options, plenty of reading (and listening) materials (digital and print), desktop computers, 3D printers, board games, solitaire games, and maker-spaces that includes supplies for origami, knitting, crocheting, calligraphy/lettering, coloring, crafts, circuits, and kitchen supplies! This list of "shiny things" is not the most important part of the school library, however. The people within the library, the DCHS Library Media Center team, should be considered the wind beneath the wings of the school library. The goal of our school library team is to ensure that all learners will grow to become independent, ethical users of information and resources. More and more resources are online and require frequent updates, training, planning, and financial support. But don't worry....we have your back. Teachers and students should rely on the library team at DCHS to support in any way we possibly can. The bonus? We get to do that in a really cool, engaging space!

We do not have the same day twice!

Middle school and high school aged youth are invited to join Indiana Authors Award honoree Januarie York for an afternoon of poetry inspired by Marvel and DC Comics. The event will be Jan. 31st at 4:30 p.m. Sign up here for more information.

During the workshop, participants will discuss some of the Marvel/DC characters and explore how they positively impact their communities and use their superpowers for good. Two short pre-poetry writing exercises help participants create the language for their individual poems by exploring descriptions, senses, and ways to look at their own superpowers and strengths. After exploring and imagining types of superheroes, names, and special powers, participants get to write an "I AM" poem using their superhero image and describing their powers.

The workshop with the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award honoree Januarie York is part of the Indiana Authors Awards Speaker Program, powered by Indiana Humanities and made possible through the generosity of Glick Philanthropies, along with community partners Midtown Indy, Inc., Catch the Stars Foundation, Tea's Me Community Café, and the MLK Center.

Be sure your students who would love this are aware! Spread the word!

The DCHS Book & Bake Club continues to take shape. Our membership has remained relatively steady throughout the fall semester as we navigate unfamiliar territory. We have learned about each other (which is great!), shared our passion for reading (book recommendations!), and learned some tasty recipes and methods in our makerspace kitchen. It has been especially insightful to make connections between the books/themes and our baking.

Our first session of the 2022-23 school year focused upon what book "hooked" us on reading. Everyone has their own reading journey. Some have had a parent or guardian read to them since the womb while others may have made their first real connection in middle school or beyond. Whatever the path, we asked our participants to share the book that got them hooked on stories. Our connection? Comfort - pleasure reading can bring comfort. An excerpt from the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert inspired us to make a very popular comfort food - pasta! Our members learned how to make pasta from scratch, roll it out, boil it, and then - eat! It was a fun (and comforting!) learning experience!

When someone asks, "What is your favorite book?" I often cringe - that's impossible to answer! But, that very question was the focus for another session. Books are personal. When you learn someone's favorite (or perhaps their top 5), you gain insight into their world. Perhaps the same may be said about their choice in cookies. Are you a chocolate chip person, or oatmeal raisin? Nuts or no nuts? Keep it simple or add everything but the kitchen sink to your cookie (think cowboy cookie)? It is a personal thing! So, when we talked about our favorite books, we decided it was fitting for everyone to learn how to make their own, personal cookie - from scratch of course!

Another session took us to Russia! Well, metaphorically - we read Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick which was partially set in Russia. This lead us to recipes such as Russian Tea Cakes (a.k.a. Snowball cookies) and Russian Sharlotka, which is the Russian version of an apple cake. The novel was new to all of us, and gave us insight into how powerful brotherly love can be - even across oceans.

As the holidays approached we tuned into cookbooks. We talked about how we can each make contributions to the holiday table in our own worlds. Our focus read came from Maya Angelou's cookbook, Hallelujah! the Welcome Table. Angelou shares her own family recipes coupled with a story behind each recipe. This seemed the perfect book choice for Book & Bake club!

Second semester we look forward to reading in small groups. Our books will highlight food as a key part of the story. Grant funding through Early Learning Indiana (Closing the Achievement Gap grant) has enabled us to purchase multiple digital copies of novels for our club. We look forward to taking a deeper dive into young adult fiction with a food focus in the months ahead!