Beecher Feature

1. New Resource for Teachers
2. Book & Bake Club
3. Beanstack is here!
4. A Look Ahead

Gale In Context: For Educators is a lesson planning and instructional tool teachers can use to find and personalize digital learning content, plan remote or in-person learning activities, and provide equity for all of their students.

Gale In Context: For Educators merges quality, standards-aligned material with ready-to-use lesson plans across a variety of disciplines and offers instructional tools to help teachers achieve their professional goals.

You may be asking yourself, "Hey, I thought we already had the Gale in Context databases....what's the big deal?"

It's true - we already have access to the Gale in Context databases for student research. Access our Gale student databases (plus a few other gems) on our Library Media Center website, under "Research Needs" block #2.

Gale In Context student resources meet the needs of today’s learners with a user-friendly, mobile-responsive design. Eye-catching, engaging, topical databases seamlessly integrate trusted content with curriculum-aligned materials that span core subjects and provide educational resources for teachers. Gale student databases include the following: Biography, Environmental Studies, Global Issues, Opposing Viewpoints, Science, U.S. History, and World History. Gale In Context: For Educators is also powered by Gale In Context: Elementary, Gale In Context: Middle School and Gale In Context: High School resources.

Our contract will begin after spring break - for now - we have free trial access which means you can dive in and test the waters now (HIGH FIVE!).

NOW:

Instructions to log in:

Gale For Educators Two Week Trial - Contact Mrs. Beecher or Mrs. Turning for the link and password!!

From there it will ask you to sign in through Google or Microsoft. I CHOSE GOOGLE and used my @decaturproud account. I experienced no issues.

Once signed in, you will have full access to the Supplemental Instructional Tool. ENJOY!

LATER:

Are you ready for more good news?? Once our contract begins, access will be through CANVAS!

😄 YAAAAS!😄

Our past two sessions were packed with fun! We closed our February with a mystery theme. Our readers chose a YA mystery novel to read and then we made mystery food (a.k.a. stuffed stuff!) Our readers and bakers made their own personalized chocolate cups, filled with their favorite yummy things.

We kicked off March with novels in verse. Novels in verse are quite popular and we recommend them to students who feel intimidated by "regular" novels. When these readers finish, they come back for more! Some might call a novel in verse a poetry book but they are not quite the same. Novels in verse look like poetry in regard to format but they read just like a novel. There are not as many words on the page - so those words must pack a punch! How does that work with food? Recipes with very few ingredients that also pack a punch! Less is more, right!? During this session, we created two cakes with minimal (yet flavorful) ingredients. Check out a few pictures from our past two sessions below!

From Reading Recommendations....

We (Zoobean) started a book-of-the-month business focusing on non-traditional genres and interests, and quickly found many supportive and enthusiastic backers—including Mark Cuban after a “Shark Tank” appearance. Not long after, however, we realized we needed to reimagine our business model to be truly successful and reach more readers.

To Reading Challenges

At the time, our most trusted curators were children's and school librarians. Working together, we adapted our new technology, called Beanstack, to curate age appropriate books and deliver personalized recommendations to community members. Later, a partner library used Beanstack as a platform for an innovative summer reading challenge. Through these new ideas, our purpose became clear again—to empower libraries and schools to build a culture of reading through reading challenges and motivation tools for readers of all ages.

The product featured on “Shark Tank” is very different from what is offered today. But the mission, purpose, and goals remain the same. The Beanstack platform helps educators and librarians encourage reading by making it easy to create and promote reading challenges for their communities. It is designed motivate people to reach reading goals by tracking when, how much, and what they read.

Tools have been developed to help - ⬇️

Your library media center team at DCHS continues to try ways to boost a culture of reading in our school. Motivating teens (or anyone for that matter) to read is no easy task since social media and gaming are now in the driver's seat. Our hope is that the platform will encourage teachers and students to up their reading game. Customizable challenges (use your imagination!), badging, and rewards (ice cream party anyone?) will entice us all to embrace the book (or ebook/audio book)! Eventually, we will be hooked on the stories in addition to the badges and rewards!

Please take two minutes to view the video to get a taste of what is to come! Full training sessions will be available soon, so stay tuned!

If you didn't know, SB12 passed in the Senate and is heading for the House for a possible hearing.

You'll find all actions related to Senate Bill 12 on the General Assembly website. Note that you can also find out who voted for and against it in the Senate, and who sponsored it. Hint: You can click on their names to link to their phone numbers or send an email.

Don't wait for the bill to be scheduled to register your opinions! Visit this indiana.gov site (https://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/) to find out who your representative is. You'll also see a quick link so you can send an email outlining your stance on the proposed legislation.

• Are you planning your spring break read? Your library team can help. Stop by the library to browse, or get a recommendation!
• April is a big month for school libraries: National Poetry month and National School Library month. Celebrations to come!
• Information regarding staff training in Gale for Educators and Beanstack will be coming to you soon. We hope you embrace the possibilities!