LRC Weekly Update
August 24th 2025
Get ready to bring some November spirit into your classrooms! The library has a wonderful collection display set up that's perfect for connecting with your lessons on Thanksgiving and Veteran's Day.
The curated selection features:
Veteran's Day Resources: Books celebrating the service of our military, exploring themes of honor, bravery, and community. These are great for discussing the meaning of the holiday and what it means to be a hero.
Thanksgiving Stories: A mix of traditional and modern picture books and non-fiction about gratitude, family, and the history of the holiday. Fantastic for sparking discussions about things we're thankful for!
Please feel free to stop and check out any books that might supplement your curriculum this month!
A big shout-out and thank you to our amazing LRC Assistant, Sarah Perkins!
Sarah has been hard at work creating fantastic new, colorful signs to display throughout the library collection. These signs feature her personal book recommendations and highlight some truly wonderful titles.
Her goal is simple: to make it easier for our students to discover their next favorite book!
What you'll see: A cool bitmoji of Mrs. Perkins recommending great books based on popular themes, genres or "just because."
How you can help: Encourage your students to look for Sarah's special signs when they visit the LRC. It's a fun way to motivate them to explore new books!
We're thrilled with how these signs are helping students connect with books, and we appreciate Sarah's dedication to fostering a love of reading!
Get ready for some Thanksgiving fun! The library is excited to host a special, interactive event for all elementary classes centered around the popular book, "How to Catch a Turkey" by Adam Wallace and Andy Elkerton.
The Plan:
Live Stream Read-Aloud: We will be live-streaming the reading of the book during the school day on Thursday, November 6th. Please tune in with your class for a fun and engaging reading or use the link provided on Thursday and watch it at a time that works best for your class.
Class Coloring Craft: We're providing a printable turkey template for your students in your mailbox on Monday (today). Please have your class color and cut out their individual turkeys before the live-stream on Thursday as a way to get them excited for the live-stream read-aloud event.
The Great Turkey Hunt: Once your students' colorful turkeys are ready and they have watched the live-stream read-aloud, please send the turkeys to the LRC! We will hide all the decorated turkeys around the school after the read-aloud on Thursday. Students who find a hidden turkey and bring it back to the LRC all throughout the month of November will win a free, festive bookmark! Also, you can only win once, but you can always help your friends find them too!
We're turning reading into a super-fun, hands-on adventure this Thanksgiving season!
Did you know the St. Charles Public Library has a dedicated Youth Services Accessibility Collection? This is a wonderful resource for our elementary staff! The collection features thoughtfully curated materials designed to support students with various needs, including:
Sensory Supports: Items like sensory kits, noise-dampening headphones, and fidget tools.
Assistive Aids: Materials that can help with motor, visual, and auditory processing differences.
The Best Part for Educators!
You can check out these accommodations using your Educator Library Card! This provides a fantastic opportunity for you to:
Try a New Intervention: Check out a specific tool or device to pilot in your classroom before recommending a family purchase it or moving forward with a full evaluation.
Supplement IEP/504 Goals: Find materials that directly support a student's current learning plan.
Please take a moment to explore this invaluable collection at the St. Charles Public Library's Youth Services desk. It's an excellent way to ensure we are providing accessible and supportive learning environments for all our students!
Balance Stepping Stones
Howdahug 1
Chair Fidget and Other Items
Tech Tidbits and Information
Chromebook Troubleshooting Tips
Here's a how-to slideshow with some basic troubleshooting tips for chromebooks. It includes information on how to fix a sideways screen, clearing your cache and turning off accessibility mode.
Vivi Updates - Extended Screen
For those who wanted to extend their desktops instead of mirror your screen you now can! Using the desktop vivi app you can set up multiple screens. Here's a quick how-to from microsoft or please reach out to Kristine to help!
YouTube Update
Elementary students cannot access YouTube as of June 2025. While this has its good points it may create a wrinkle in your teaching if you want students to utilize secondary video sources. But fear not! there is a workaround.
If you want to continue to use YouTube videos and have students access them you can embed them in google slides. If you have any questions about how to embed videos in your slides please reach out to Kristine. :)
Daily Sub Tech Capabilities
New this year, daily subs will use a chromebook issued from the LRC. These devices can connect to Vivi using classlink, however, daily subs do not have the ability to print.
They also do not have access to many Classlink and instructional apps. Please keep this in mind when you are planning an absence.
Below is a snapshot of what you're daily substitute will see in classlink.
