Alabama LM Update September 2025
📅First Fridays Return September 5th! We’re excited to kick off another year of First Fridays, our monthly professional learning sessions designed just for librarians! This year, many sessions will spotlight the Alabama Virtual Library and how it can support your work. We’re starting strong with two sessions on September 5—check out the details and register below!
📚 AM Session (9:30–10:30): PebbleGo and the AVL (539710)
📖 PM Session (1:30–2:30): Tome Student Literacy Society (539713)
All registration details are available on the First Fridays website, and you’ll also find a graphic showing all of the First Fridays sessions. If the direct link doesn't work, you can search by the session number. Let’s keep growing together through collaboration and shared learning!
Important Reminders:
✅ Register in PSPL before attending to receive credit
✅ If joining with a group, enter your name in the chat
✅ If your display name differs from your PSPL registration, enter your name in the chat
✅ Otherwise, no need to enter your name to avoid duplicate entries
✅ Platform login information is available in the “Notes” section of PSPL when you register
Please join us at one of our locations across Alabama for a hands-on workshop series focused on developing instructional resources aligned with the Learner Outcomes published in the Alabama Guidelines for Exemplary School Libraries.
During the morning session, participants will learn how to use the ALEX protocol to create effective, standards-based lesson plans. Whether you're bringing existing lessons to refine or starting fresh, this session will guide you through the process of aligning your work with the Alabama Course of Study (ACOS) and the Learner Outcomes.
In the afternoon, attendees can choose between two tracks:
- Track 1: Lesson Development – Collaborate with peers to build and refine lesson plans using the ALEX framework.
- Track 2: New Librarian Institute – A dedicated space for early-career librarians to learn from experienced professionals, ask questions, and build confidence in their roles.
Completed lessons will be shared in our Schoology Group and later transitioned to the ALEX website, making them accessible to educators statewide.
📌 Registration is available in PSPL.
Please refer to the provided handout to select the date, time, and location that works best for you.
Let’s work together to strengthen library instruction and share resources that benefit students across Alabama!
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Christina Thurman, EL Education Specialist for Region 8, is offering valuable resources and strategies to help educators better support multilingual learners in their classrooms. Her insights are timely and practical, especially as we approach Hispanic Heritage Month.
Each year, from September 15 to October 15, the United States celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month—a time to honor the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central, and South America.
You may wonder why the observance doesn’t follow a typical calendar month. The dates are significant:
September 15 marks the independence anniversaries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
September 16 and 18 follow with independence days for Mexico and Chile, respectively.
The month also includes Día de la Raza (Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day) on October 12, which is recognized in many Latin American countries.
By spanning mid-September through mid-October, Hispanic Heritage Month allows these important historic events to be honored together, creating a 30-day celebration that reflects the unity and diversity of Hispanic and Latino communities. Explore more resources at Colorín Colorado's Hispanic Heritage collection, which offers curated booklists, bilingual stories, activity ideas, and more for educators, families, and students.
Add a Local Gem to Your Library: Meet Po the Penguin
Looking for a fresh and thoughtful read-aloud to share with your students? Po the Penguin: Po Finds Out She's Different is a delightful new book written by Scott Parks, a special education teacher at Saraland Elementary School. This story is perfect for sparking meaningful conversations with young readers.
Scott has long been involved in Project Outreach service clubs and wanted to find a way to share important life lessons with children beyond his classroom. His solution? A book series featuring Po, a curious penguin who learns about herself and others through gentle, honest questions and heartwarming adventures.
In this first installment, Po meets a group of birds and realizes she’s not quite like them. Her journey helps children understand that being different can be a source of strength and wonder.
Enjoy this book review from Leslie Hughes, K-5 AMSTI Math Administrator
Zero Zebras: A Counting Book about What’s Not There
By Bruce Goldstone, Illustrated by Julien Chung
Reading age: 4-8 years
Grade level: PreK-3
From the author:
Can you count what isn’t there? Can you count to zero? Travel from the wild safari to the deep ocean and count all the different animals around … but absolutely ZERO zebras! A combination of imagination, creativity, and math shows us that there are infinite possibilities awaiting when we begin to count what we can’t see.
This counting book (0-12) features engaging illustrations, rhyming lines of silly text, an introduction to less common animals like wallabies, newts, and thrushes, and an invitation to consider the quantity zero. What a fun way to explore an abstract concept! Students will embrace the opportunities to “notice” zero in the world around them. The book includes information for adults in the section “Some Thoughts about Zero.” The possibilities of noticing and counting what’s not there are limitless!
Student Voices: What Does America Mean to Me? is a statewide student storytelling initiative from Alabama Public Television, launched alongside PBS’s The American Revolution, a new Ken Burns documentary premiering in Fall 2025. Students in all grade levels across Alabama are invited to explore themes of identity, freedom, and democracy through creative submissions like video essays, podcasts, poetry, artwork, and written reflections.
Selected works will be featured at a statewide premiere event in October 2025 and may also appear on APT’s platforms. This project is part of APT’s broader efforts to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary and support civic learning through student voice, historical thinking, and media creation. Alabama Public Television - What American Means to me: Student Voices
