📚The Library Lowdown

Library Services Eugene School District 4J January, 2024

4J Students Receive Eugene Public Library Cards!

Eugene Public Library and Eugene School District have partnered to ensure all 4J students receive a library card, whether they live within or outside city limits! Schools will be distributing cards to students over the next month. These new student cards will provide immediate access to Eugene Public Library's online resources and the ability to borrow five physical items simultaneously. Online resources include e-books, audiobooks, research information, live homework help by professional tutors, streaming movies including documentaries and instructional videos, music, and more. Physical items include books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, art and technology tools, games, puppets, and more.

Students are excited to receive their cards and open a world to even more books and resources.

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Students Love Learning to Code

Students around the district and across the world participated in an Hour of Code during Computer Science Week in December. The Hour of Code website makes introducing coding easy as it provides easy-to-follow instructions, videos, and lessons for teachers.

During class visits to the library, Howard Elementary's teacher librarian, Debbie Pfeiffer, got students from Ms. Kerri's third-grade class to experiment with game coding and artificial intelligence, and third graders from Mrs. Kreider's class worked as a team to develop their own coding games on Minecraft and Dance Party from Code.org.

Students learn perseverance and teamwork as they work to solve puzzles together.

Code.org has lessons, activities, and full courses students can work through at their own pace to learn coding throughout the year.

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American Library Association Youth Media Awards

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Each Year, the ALA honors books, videos, and other outstanding materials for children and teens. Recognized worldwide for the high quality they represent, the ALA Youth Media Awards, including the prestigious Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Pura Belpré, and Coretta Scott King book awards, guide parents, educators, librarians, and others in selecting the best materials for youth!

Check out a list of the 2023 winners here!

2024 YMAs will take place Monday, January 22nd, find out more here. They will also include the Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature, the Sydney Taylor Book Award, and the American Indian Youth Literature Award.

Learn About New Year's

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New Feature in Book Creator!

Book Creator's new Assign a Book feature makes it easier for students to access books the teacher shares. From their site:

Here's an update to make your day easier. In Book Creator, you can now assign a book, and each student will get their own editable copy when they sign in. This means you can easily distribute a template book to your class with whatever content and scaffolds are needed, and all your students have to do is open Book Creator to get started!

In the past, students would have to manually copy a teacher's book to start working on their own version. Now, this step is removed and a teacher can easily send a template to all of their students at once!

If you need help getting started, contact Amy Page (page_a@4j.lane.edu), and she'll help get teachers and students started.

Sora Has Books for Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Check out the Martin Luther King Jr. titles available in Sora! There are multiple copies of some titles. Keep checking back as more and more titles are being added to Sora. If you need assistance accessing Sora, contact Amy Page.

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New York Times Best Children's Books of 2023

School Library Journal's Best Middle Grade Books of 2023

New York Library Best Teen Books of 2023

School Library Journals Best Books of 2023 (multiple lists!)

Need Help or Want to Collaborate with Your Librarian?

Research and Databases

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Globally competent digital citizens know how to access reliable and credible information as they explore the world around them. All 4J students have access to the databases below. If teachers need assistance accessing or teaching students how to use these resources and cite sources, schedule a time for Amy Page to visit your class here.

Don't forget the Eugene Public Library has even more databases and resources kicking off research.

OBOB 2024

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The Oregon Battle of the Books committee announced the OBOB state tournament is scheduled for Saturday, April 13th, 2024, at Chemeketa Community College in Salem! The Regional Middle School Tournament will be held in Florence on March 9th. The window for the Regional tournaments is March 2nd-23rd. Elementary and high school Regional tournaments have yet to be announced.

January Choice Boards

In this month's choice board you'll find choice boards for New Year's Day (a little late), Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Chinese New Year, along with January's You've Been Virtually Book'd choice board and the usual fun.