Friday

Greetings everyone! I hope you are hanging in there and taking care of your students, teachers, and yourself during this bizarre time. I don’t want to overwhelm anyone, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite finds from the listserv and Twitter in the last few days. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or need to talk through a project.

This crazy time we are faced with is also an opportunity for us to embed ourselves as resources in our schools’ mindsets and our teachers’ classes. Regardless of the content area and format, consider asking your teachers to add you to their online classes if you aren’t already. We will be better able to help teachers and students, and get a feeling for what needs are out there.

If you aren’t using an online platform, just make sure you are offering your information expertise in the communication channels your school is using.

#KyLChat

First… We will have #KyLChat on this coming Tuesday, March 24, at 8:00 PM Eastern time. I thought it might be nice to have a more low key chat without a strict topic, and with a live link, so we can all chat with our own voices. We will still check on Tweets, but feel free to join this Microsoft Teams meeting: Link to #KyLChat Meeting

KYVL

HUGE News. KYVL has decided to offer access to their databases for the rest of the school year. Here is a blog post on this topic. For everyone… if you do not know your district username or password, click on the padlock and enter your information. You will quickly get an email with off-campus login information.

Learning Tools

Next… Our KDE, Office of Education Technology, Digital Learning Team put together a Wakelet full of resources that may be of use to you, your teachers, parents, and students. Check it out.

Digital Meeting Basics

Understandably, during the last few days, online meetings are quickly taking the place of face-to-face interaction. Here is a quick, one-page, list of tips that may be helpful to you, your students, staff, and parents.

KET & PBS Learningmedia

KET, and subsequently, PBS Learning Media, are an important partner for Kentucky schools, KDE, and KASL alike. Be sure to check out their awesome and free resources as you provide help to your students and teachers.

Image Resources and MORE!

Here are two media resources that would be awesome at any time. Check them out. The first is the Digital Collections of the New York Public Library. The other is the Open Access from the Smithsonian. I love that they have also shared so many 3D objects that you can interact with on the screen.  

EPIC Books

Epic Books for Kids are offering “outside-of-school access” for free. I’m not trying to sell their product at all and would suggest the reading of all agreements, but this is a great supplemental collection your students and parents should know about.

Audible Discover

Audible, the audiobook platform, is offering a similar service. They are providing access to hundreds of audiobooks during this time.

#KyGoDigital

Teachers need opportunities to learn and grow too! Regardless of the virus issues, #KyGoDigital is a great resource to learn from educators all across the Commonwealth. I believe they already have a daily schedule of learning opportunities for next week.

OverDrive

If you an OverDrive/Sora customer, do check out this collection of simultaneous reads which are now available to your students.

Again… If you have questions or just want to talk through strategies you are considering, please contact me.

Be safe and have a great weekend!

Image Sources

“Audible Stories | Audible.com.” Audible.com, stories.audible.com/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.

Kentucky Digital Distance Learning Resources – Wakelet. wakelet.com/wake/d14efe19-3904-4ee2-a04c-38b925bfff47. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.

KYVL News Updates – KYVL at Kentucky Virtual Library. kyvl.org/blog/KYVL-for-all-Access-extended-to-all-Kentucky-schools-and-public-libraries. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.

“NYPL Digital Collections.” NYPL Digital Collections, digitalcollections.nypl.org/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.

“PreK-12 Resources for Emergency Closings | PBS LearningMedia.” PBS LearningMedia, www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/emergency-closings-collection/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.

“School Closed? Epic Can Help. – Learn – Epic!” Learn – Epic!, www.getepic.com/learn/freeremotestudentaccess/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.

“Smithsonian Open Access.” Smithsonian Institution, www.si.edu/openaccess. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.

“Sora Reading App Extends No Cost Ebooks and Audiobooks to Remote Learners – Rakuten OverDrive.” Rakuten OverDrive, company.overdrive.com/2020/03/17/sora-reading-app-extends-no-cost-ebooks-and-audiobooks-to-remote-learners/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2020.