Resources for homeschooling

As the South Dakota mid-summer heat swelters to an almost unbearable intensity, thoughts begin to drift towards fall and cooler temperatures. Like the rest of 2020, this fall may be an unusual one. Due to COVID-19, parents are currently deciding whether to send their children back to public school or provide alternate instruction at home. For first timers, the world of homeschooling can be confusing.

So, what can librarians do to help patrons with school age children? Easy! They can share resources that guide them through the homeschooling process. Librarians can suggest patrons visit the SD Department of Education (DOE) Homeschooling Page to learn what steps to take in order to homeschool:

https://doe.sd.gov/oatq/homeschooling.aspx

The South Dakota State Library remains dedicated to providing high quality resources for all South Dakota residents. Here are just a few of our online databases that will help supplement your patron's curriculum whether they attend public school OR receive instruction at home:

Learning Express Library : For ages 9-90, Learning Express Library is for anyone wishing to build skills or take a standardized test.

Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia : A student encyclopedia that provides over 25,000 entries on a wide variety of topics.

Miss Humblebee's Acadamy : Interactive learning program for ages 2-6; in math, science, social studies, language and literacy, art, and music.

TrueFlix : Dozens of social studies and science units. Primary sources, fiction, videos, audio clips, images, and related websites.

Visit the South Dakota State Library's Database Page to discover more on:

Student Research for Elementary School

Student Research for Middle School

Student Research for High School

Supporting Multiple Literacies in our Schools

Textual literacy is foundational to other literacies.

Those other literacies? Well, those are called multiple literacies.

The first step to thriving in a multi-literate world is to be able to read fluently for purpose and pleasure. Never doubt the importance of traditional textual literacy and the work that libraries are doing to support this ever-important skill.

In the 2019 School Library Standards, the very first strand is titled Textual Literacy. Its standard reads: “Students read and engage for academic and personal growth.”

To support students ability to read and engage for academic and personal growth, the State Library offers an outstanding selection of databases for preschoolers all the way up to post-secondary. They are sorted into elementary, middle school, and high school.

While each database is excellent in its own right, my general favorites for supporting textual literacy and multiple literacies include:

• for early elementary: Book Flix, World Book Early World of Learning, World Book Kids
• for upper elementary: True Flix, Culture Grams, World Book Student
• for middle school: SIRS Discoverer, True Flix, Culture Grams, World Book Student
• for high school: World Book Advanced, SIRS Researcher, EBSCO, Learning Express

School librarians love to work with other types of librarians to support literacy! One way to stay in the school library loop is to subscribe to the SD School Library Listserv and the second is via Collect+Connect, SDSL’s blog for school libraries.

Alissa Adams, School Library Technology Coordinator