Thank you and Happy New Year!

The SERC Library Staff would like to THANK everyone who participated in Food for Fines!  We were able to donate 146 pounds of food to the Amazing Grace Food Pantry.  Special thanks to Barbara and Tim who packed up the donations and Barbara and Alex for dropping the donations off!

The SERC Library Staff would also like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

The SERC Library Staff would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season! 

It's AVAILABLE!

We are excited to announce that SERC's Equity in Education:  A transformation approach document is available to be read or downloaded from the SERC website.  Click on http://equity.ctserc.com/ for the document.

New document coming soon - Equity in Education - A transformational approach

Free Webinar - Student Motivation and Classroom Management

On December 13th at 4:30 pm ET, you can view a free webinar from Eye on Education featuring Larry Ferlazzo on Student Motivation and Classroom Management.  In this live webinar, Larry Ferlazzo will share his strategies for cultivating independent learners through engaging lessons that respect your students' interests.  For more information and to register follow this link, http://www.eyeoneducation.com/ and see the online resources box to register.

Free Webinar on Long-term memory strategies!

ASCD is offering a webinar --- Ask Dr. Judy webinar:  Long-term memory strategies  ---- Join educator and neurologist Judy Willis on Wednesday, December 7th at 3 p.m. EST for a free webinar that will cover how to help students remember what you teach this year.  In this upcoming episode, Dr. Willis will connect the latest memory research with classroom strategies that promote accurate, retrievable long-term memory.  Sign up now and catch up on previous installments of the "ask Dr. Judy" series in the ASCD webinar archive.

Introducing Halo!

Okay, I know some of you are just saying ----- oh sure, introduce us to "Halo" close to December ---- I mean after all she is SIX MONTHS OLD already!  Really, this is all about ---- we have only had the bulletin board up for the last month or so and with everything else going on ----- you know ---- hurricanes, snowstorms, holidays.  Okay just excuses you're right ---- Now back to Halo!

Halo is a new member of the SERC family.  Some of you may know that SERC has participated in the Fidelco Guide Dog Walk since 1998 (not to brag or anything like that, but, --- SERC's team this year was the 4th largest donation team --- GO TEAM SERC!). 

This past year when SERC staff attended Fidelco's Open House, SERC staff member Greta decided to stay and learn more about hosting a guide dog puppy, well back in July Greta received Halo ---- quite frankly we at SERC feel, the best, most happy-go-lucky, brightest puppy in this training group!!!  Who's bragging?

Please check out the Library Bulletin Board, which features Halo from 9 weeks to six months and counting!  If you would like to know more about Halo and Greta, check out Greta's blog at http://www.gretasfidelcopup.blogspot.com/.  

Stay tuned for more about Halo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The SERC Library staff would like to wish a HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all!  

Free Common Core Webinars!

Okay, I will be the first to admit it ---- opps ---- I dropped the ball about getting out this message about these webinars!

The good news, you can still check out this one being held today at 3 pm eastern time, The common core of a whole child approach with Molly McCloskey, (http://www.ascd.org/professional-development/webinars.aspx) and see  the archived John Kendall:  Common Core 101 webinar from 11-8-11 at http://www.ascd.org/professional-development/webinars/john-kendall-webinar.aspx and David Griffith and Efrain Mercado:  Common Core Policy and Implementation from 11-15-11 at http://www.ascd.org/professiona-development/webinars/griffith-mercado-webinar.aspx. 

Well,  better late than never --- right?  Well, now you can watch them over the holiday weekend!

FOOD for FINES!

In the spirit of the holidays and in light of the fact that food pantries have such a great need after the two recent storms, we are offering FOOD FOR FINES!  The Library will waive overdue fines if you bring a non-perishable food item in with your overdue resources.  FOOD FOR FINES will begin on Monday, November 21, 20ll.  Thank you for your support!

YouTube Offers Pilot Program To Access Educational Content

YouTube is offering a pilot program to help schools access educational videos without subjecting students to inappropriate content.  Even if your school blocks the site at the domain level those who sign up to particpate in the program  will be directed to educational content from such groups as BBC Earth, the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian to name a few.  In addition the sites will block access to comment fields or videos that are not considered educational.  Up until recently the program's content was more focused to higher education (sure you can check out the lectures from MIT, UCLA, U.C. Berkeley etc) and the only exception was the Khan Academy videos which are aimed at K-12, however, the program is adding lots more content focused on the K-12 curriculum.  Check out the program by going to YouTube.com/education. 

International Education Week

November 14-18 is International Education Week!  During this week there is opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.  This is a joint initiative of the U.S. Departments of State and Education and part of their efforts to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States.

They encourage the participation of all individuals and institutions interested in international education and exchange activities which include schools, colleges and universities, embassies, international organizations, businesses, associations, and community organizations.

For more information, visit http://iew.state.gov/index.cfm/

The SERC Library is closed Saturday, November 5, 2011

Our server crashed this afternoon leaving us without any working computers; therefore we have decided to close the SERC Library this Saturday, November 5, 2011.  We are working very hard to rectify this situation.  We suggest that you give us a call before visiting us on Monday to make sure that our computers are up and running.


Be safe and warm.

Sincerely,
The staff at the SERC Library

Let's Move in School

Okay, so with Winter Storm Alfred (I really thought it was October this past weekend, you know, that season called FALL ) --- Halloween has been postponed for most towns, however, eventually some towns will do Halloween, so to work off that candy or the candy everyone has been eating because you have no power and nothing to eat ----- check out the webinar on November 9th "Physical Activity Before and After School" at www.LetsMoveinSchool.org.  Learn about what some schools are doing to promote the nationally recommended 60+ minutes of daily moderate to vigorous physical activity --- not sure where shoveling and playing in what some described as "white water" given the water content of the snow we had falls under physical activity

October is Bullying Awareness Month

Okay, I did state in a few blog posts before, that there are many things going on this month and I would probably forget something ---- well I did!  October is Bullying Awareness Month.  Okay, you're right a "biggie" to have forgotten --- I agree, so I am here to offer a peace offering - yes a little late but an offering anyway.

I am not going to try and define bullying, I will leave it up to you to check out the sites that I have listed below, suffice it to say that it is a growing issue and one everyone needs to be aware of bullying in all its forms, the bully and the victim.

I encourage you to take the time to at least look at one of the sites below, and while I have offered only a few, a Google search will lead you to many more.

Stomp Out Bullying:  http://www.stompoutbullying.org/index.php
StopBullying.gov:  http://www.stopbullying.gov/
TeensHealth.org:  http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_mind/problems/bullies.html
Beat Bullying:  http://www.beatbullying.org/?gclid=CMigkta9i6wCFcLt7QodWVWzlg
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network:  http://www.nctsn.org/resources/public-awareness/bullying-prevention-awareness-month
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullying

Thank you for taking the time to check out these sites and learn more about this issue.

Real Art Ways is presenting the documentary film, AMERICAN TEACHER

Starting this Friday, October 28th Real Art Ways will be presenting American Teacher, a film that chronicles the stories of four teachers living and working in a disparate urban and rural areas of the country.  Their stories are told through a mixture of footage and interviews with students, families, and colleagues, as well as the teachers themselves.  By following these teachers as they reach different milestones in their careers, the film tells the deeper story of the teaching profession in American today.  Real Art Ways will be hosting a post-film panel discussion on Friday, October 28th after the 7 pm screening.  The film is based on the New York Times bestselling book Teachers have it easy by journalist and teacher Daniel Moulthrop, co-founder of the 826 National writing programs Ninive Calegari, and writer Dave Eggers.  American Teacher is produced by Eggers and Calegari, produced and directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth, and narrated by Matt Damon.

Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street in Hartford.

For more information on Real Art Ways and their showings:  http://www.realartways.org/cinema.htm#american-teacher

To RSVP on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=231362310253355

To watch a trailer on the movie, go to the Teacher Salary Project who produced the documentary film:   http://www.theteachersalaryproject.org/index.php

Governor's Coalition for Youth with Disabilities Scholarship Program

The Governor’s Coalition for Youth with Disabilities (GCYD) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 with the mission of recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of Connecticut high school students with disabilities and promoting educational opportunities to help students achieve their career goals.  The GCYD has awarded over 200 scholarships totaling more than $650,000 to students with disabilities that has helped offset the cost of their first year of college tuition or other post-secondary training expenses. 

To learn more about the scholarships, to apply, and what types of scholarships are available, check out the web site at www.gcyd.org and click on Scholarship.

October is .....

Okay, here goes, there are so many awareness month activities that (and yes, I may have missed a few - Sorry!) ----- I am going to have to list several here at one time, I am just running out of time and I have so many other posts I want to share, so here we go ----

International AAC Awareness - October is the month that the AAC promotes the awareness of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and to inform the public about the many ways in which people may communicate using communication devices.  For more information, check out http://www.aac.org/

World Blindness Awareness Month is also celebrated in October.  Check out Eye Care America's website from the Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology for more information at http://www.aao.org/

In October we also celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month.  Congress designated each October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) to increase the public's awareness of the contributions and skills of American workers with disabilities.  Check out the Office of Disability Employment Policy at  http://www.dol.gov/odep/about/

National Physical Therapy Month is celebrated in October.  Check out http://www.apta.org/ for more information on the unique benefits of treatment by a physical therapist.  

Celebrating the Joy of Shared Reading --- October is National Reading Group Month - this is the month we salute reading groups!  For more information, visit http://www.nationalreadinggroupmonth.org/

and last but not least ------

Celebrate National Book Month!!! --- Book a trip this October, embark on a journey of a lifetime, go to exotic places, mythical lands and enjoy and experience an adventure beyond imagination!  Or, escape to another era in time ---- with no luggage, no packing, no tickets -- or -- and this can be good or bad --- never leaving home!  What do you  need ----- an open mind and an open book!  For more information go to http://www.nationalbook.org/

Whew --- I apologize if I missed something ----- too many things to celebrate this month! 

October is Head Start Awareness Month

Okay, are you  ready ---- here is another month long celebration for October ----- Head Start Awareness Month! 

Created in 1965, Head Start is the most successful, longest-running, national school readiness program in the United States.  The program provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families.  More than 25 million pre-school aged children have benefited from Head Start.

President Ronald Reagan on October 22, 1982 proclaimed October as Head Start Awareness Month.  In his speech stated that "Perhaps the most significant factor in the success of Head Start has been the involvement of parents, volunteers, and the community.  Their commitment and the services provided by dedicated Head Start staff have been instrumental in creating a quality program that truly provides young children with a "head start" in life."

Wow ---- have to say that his words are still relevant today!  Happy Head Start Awareness Month!

For more information on Head Start visit:  http://www.nhsa.org/

Down Syndrome Awareness Month

This October marks the 30th year of Down Syndrome Awareness Month!  This is the time to celebrate the achievements and abilities of people with Down Syndrome!  Visit http://www.ndss.org/ to learn more.

In addition, check out the Time Square video which aired on Saturday, September 24th, in Times Square on the morning of the New York City Buddy Walk.  People from all over the world gathered to watch the video presentation.  The version posted here includes music composed especially for the 2011 Times Square Video.  Follow this link:  http://ndss.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=275:ndss-times-square-video-2011&catid=74:video&Itemid=120

October is Celebrating the Bilingual Child Month

During the month of October join in the Celebrating the Bilingual Child Month!  This month is to recognize the many children who speak two or more languages and understand multiple cultures.  These children connect our communities and can play a big part in improving global communications.  Check out the SERC Library's catalog for bilingual books at http://serc-verso.auto-graphics.com/iluminar/home.asp?lid=serc#Iluminar or check out your local Library.

Men Make A Difference Day, October 10th

On October 10, 2011, SERC is joining in on urging all fathers and significant male roles across the country to participate in Men Make a Difference Day (MMDD).  Research indicates when fathers and significant male role models are involved students:  (a) make better grades; (b) have greater motivation to succeed in school; (c) have higher self-esteem; (d) have less health and emotional problems; (e) more confidence; (f) are less likely to use drugs; (g) girls are less likely to engage in pre-marital sex; and (h) are less likely to become teenage parents.


Men Make A Difference Day is a great day for fathers to rediscover their place in the academic lives of their children.  The concept of Men Make A Difference Day began three years ago in Prince George's County, Maryland when Dr. Michael A. Robinson called on fathers to escort their children to school.  This remarkable one day event resulted in over 10,000 dads and significant male role models engaging their children's schools.  Many of the dads escorted their children to school, while others observed classrooms, met teachers, committed to volunteering more at the school and yes there was an increase in the number of men who joined school PTAs.  The outcomes of the first Men Make A Difference Day continued  throughout that academic school year as well as subsequent years.  Data indicated more fathers participated in teacher parent conferences, assisted with homework and volunteered in the past three years than every before.  There was even an increase in the number of men who attended school sponsored parent workshops.

On October 10, 2011 fathers, uncles, brothers, sons, nephews and significant male role models in the lives of children are encouraged to participate in Men Make A Difference Day, by visiting their child's or family member's classroom and spending quality time with the student.  Dads and significant male role models in the lives of children all over America are asked to observe the student's daily routine, participate as allowed in the interactive classroom instruction, and get involved in the excitement of teaching and learning.

For more information, please visit, http://menmakeadifferenceday.weebly.com/.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK - September 24 - October 1, 2011

 

From ALA:

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Book Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom--the freedom to access informationand express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular--provides the foundation for Banned Book Week.  BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to rad and access them.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings.  Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.  Imagine how many more books might be challenged--and possibly banned or restricted--if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Book Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

For more information, visit http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/ or http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm?gclid=CP3ztcn3uqsCFQXe4AodEHU2hw.

It is about playing!!!!

Do you know what is special about Saturday, September 24th?  It is Nickelodeon's "WORLDWIDE DAY OF PLAY"!!!!  Let's Move in School will be part of this day and yes, I know, the real action with Nickelodeon will be in Washington, DC ---- but ----- that does not mean we can't play right here!.   So, lets PLAY!

Check out Let's Move in Schools for activities and check out NASPE's Teacher Toolbox for activities every month for elementary, middle, and high schools plus employee wellness and family fun activities!

We want to see lots of playing going on out there!

TwHistory

Okay, I know that those who know me have heard me say at least a hundred times, I will not "do" Twitter!  But ----- that does not mean that I will not let everyone else know about a FREE tool for those who do Twitter!!!  It really is all about the FREE!  Now, on to the tool ----

TwHistory is a new FREE tool (okay, actually it really started around 2009 ---- I just saw it mentioned in ASCD Smartbrief in August) that encourages students and teachers to use Twitter as a part of their study of history.  Students and teachers can sign up for free and created their own historical "reenactments".  Choose an historical event, create Twitter accounts for the characters, research primary source documents and think about the times, dates and durations of events to create hundreds of Tweets as they might have been sent out had Twitter existed before the 21st century!  Projects are submitted to the engineers at TwHistory, projects specify a start date for their event, and then it unfolds, over a day, week, month or more.

Check out Get Answers:  Frequently Asked Questions at http://blog.twhistory.org/faq/ for more information!  What a way to make history sooooo "21st century" and it is FREE!

September 11, 2011

Smithsonian Museum Day Ticket, September 24th

Free admission at participating venues with a Smithsonian Museum day ticket!  Saturday, September 24th is the day!!!!!

In the spirit of Smithsonian Museums, who offer free admission every day, Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian Magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket for FREE. 

TWENTY-THREE museums in CONNECTICUT are participating in this event. Tickets must be ordered in advance and mailed to you.  Remember Saturday, September 24th is the only day and you need an OFFICIAL "Museum Day" ticket to get into the participating museums!   SO, GET GOING AND ORDER YOUR TICKETS!!!!  Tickets are good for one person and a guest so make sure you order enough for the whole family!

Oh, so you need to know how to order ------  for more information, view a list of participating museums and learn more about the day, go to http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/
 
You know how we like this "free" stuff ----- enjoy the museums!

Check out these sites for sharing curriculum materials!

Vanessa Vega, a Edutopia research analyst ---- and if you have not yet checked out Edutopia -- http://www.edutopia.org/ -- make sure you do ---- suggests several websites where educators can collaborate and share curriculum resources.  Check out Curriki.org and Digital Is (website affiliated with the National Writing Project) are sites that allow teachers to network and share materials with peers, while other sites like The Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, & Reading and the Ohio Social Studies Resource Center offer free resources that are aligned with state and national curriculum standards.

Yes, and you guessed it if your follow our blog ---- free resources to check out! 

Happy back to school!

The SERC Library is OPEN!

I know, you were beginning to think we would never be open ------ the landlord let us know that as of 8:15 pm on Tuesday evening the power had been restored to our building!!!!  Whew, good -bye IRENE!  Please remember we are still on our summer hours for this week.  We will be open 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  We will be closed on Saturday, Sunday and Monrday.  We will resume our fall hours on Tuesday, September 6th ----- which means Mondays and Fridays, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm (except for Monday, September 5th when we will - yes, be CLOSED for Labor Day) and on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 8:30 am to 6:30 pm and Saturdays 9am to 1 pm. 

Hope to see you on Wednesday!

SERC Library will be closed on Tuesday, August 30th!

Yes, again we have to blog that we are closed.  Still no power!!!!!  I guess Hurricane Irene did not like us!  We hope to be back to the Library on Wednesday, however, we still do not have an idea as to when our power will be restored.  If you owe resources to the Library, do not worry ------ we will be waiving fines!  We understand that you are still getting emails from the Library ----- our Library system is handled out of California and the hurricane did not affect them.  Please check back here to see if we have blogged that we are open before you come to the Library.  I promise to blog when we are open!!! 

Thank you, SERC Library Staff

SERC Library is CLOSED MONDAY AUGUST 29th

The SERC Library will be closed on Monday, August 29th.  Hurricane Irene knocked out the power to the Library and it has yet to be restored.  Please check back to see if we have re-posted additional closing information before coming to the SERC Library.

Thank you, SERC Library Staff

Library of Congress Traveling Exhibit Rolls into East Hartford CT

Okay, get ready this press release is about as long as the eighteen wheel truck-----

A special Library of Congress traveling exhibition-mounted in a customized 18-wheel truck-will visit East Hartford, CT.  The visit is hosted by the East Hartford Public Library of East Hartford.

The exhibit will be in East Hartford, Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10 and parked at 840 Main Street, East Hartford, CT.

The exhibit is free and will be open to the public from 10 am to 6 pm both days.

The "Gateway to Knowledge" exhibition will bring high-quality facsimiles of many of the Library's top treasures and information about the millions of resources in the Library's unparalleled collections to small towns and rural communities across American-areas that may not be aware of their access to the wealth of information in this publicly funded institution.  Ultimately, the "Gateway to Knowledge" will visit 90 sites in the states across the Midwest, South and East coast through September 2011.

The exhibit and its national tour are made possible by the generous support of the Rapoport family.  Bernie and Audre Rapoport are founding members of the James Madison, Council, the Library's private-sector advisory group.

"As both a storehouse of world knowledge and primary resource for the U.S. Congress, the Library is energized by the prospects of the exhibition playing an important role in sharing the national collection with the people to whom it belongs," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

The exhibit will include programming especially for teachers and students and provide relevant and engaging learning experiences for lifelong learners.  The truck, which will be staffed and driven by two docents well-versed in the Library and its collections, will be parked at various schools, libraries, community centers and other public venues.

The trailer expands to three times its road width, and visitors will enter from a central staircase to find several areas of museum-style exhibits including a welcoming multimedia display and computer terminals displaying the Library of Congress websites.  The websites will include the main site, http://www.loc.gov/, the Center for the Book/Literacy Programs site, http://www.read.gov/, and sites pertaining to U.S. collections, exhibitions and a special site for use by teachers.

The exhibition will outline the history of the Library, including Thomas Jefferson's role in re-establishing the Library, when he provided his personal book collection to the nation after the burning of the U.S. Capitol in 1814. Jefferson's organization of his books by categories of "Memory, Reason and Imagination" will inform the organization of the exhibition.

The exhibition will feature facsimiles of such treasures as the 1507 Waldseemüller Map (the first document to use the word "America"); the 1455 Gutenberg Bible; the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson's hand with edits by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams; the 1962 drawings for the comic book that introduced Spider-Man to the world; the handwritten manuscript to jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton's "Frog-i-More Rag"; and Walt Whitman's poem "Leaves of Grass."

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution.  The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions.

Thank you Donna Urschel from the Library of Congress for the above press release.

Whew ---- okay, I am exciting and am definitely going to check out this exhibit!  Hope to see you there!

Come see the SERC Library at Unity Day!

The 3rd Annual Unity Day is Saturday, August 20th from 11 am to 6 pm at the South Green-Union Park, 14 Old Church Street, Middletown, CT and is sponsored by HealthyHome HealthyChild.

Unity Day is a time of celebration for every member of the community, with fun filled family festivities, reflective moments of empowerment, performances that focus on themes of unity & peace, and renewing our community's passion to work together.

All activities are FREE and open to the public.

Look for the SERC Library's booth at the celebration --- we hope to see you there!