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Guest post by Antioch Public Library Assistant Director/Adult Services Librarian Amy Blue.
As Antioch community members, you have access to a wealth of resources through the Antioch Public Library District. While the library provides physical materials such as books and DVDs, they also have extensive online research tools and downloadable content that can be accessed 24/7.
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Illinois students from kindergarten through high school can help celebrate the state’s bicentennial by using their imaginations and artistic skills in a contest sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The contest theme is “Happy Birthday, Illinois.” Students can explore that theme by drawing or painting anything they want, from famous moments in Illinois history to Lincoln eating birthday cake. Artwork may be submitted until December 15, 2017. The winning pieces will be displayed at the Lincoln Presidential Library throughout the bicentennial year of 2018. Click here for details.
Are you an aspiring writer? If so, challenge yourself by participating in the National Novel Writing Month's program. NaNoWriMo values "enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel." Starting November 1, participants have one month to write a 50,000 word novel.
Pageapalooza is underway at Lakes, and the ACHS challenge begins on October 2. Both students and staff are welcome to participate in the reading contest. The goal: To read as many pages as you can for the fun of it, either with the support of a team or as an individual, over the course of four weeks.  Lakes and ACHS subscribe to NoodleTools to support students through the research process. Though most commonly used for its simple citation generator (similar to EasyBib), NoodleTools also offers research planners, to-do lists, e-notecards, and collaborative features for students working on group projects. Additionally, NoodleTools syncs with Google, which means that students and teachers can use their District 117 Google username and password to access the program.
 Change up your usual class routine and give BreakoutEDU a try. Your students will beg you for more. Really.
Here’s how it works: There is a box. There are some locks. There’s some other stuff, too. You give your students a scenario, and their job is to work together to find a way to crack the combos on the locks to get into the box. Depending on the scenario you choose, students are required to use their content knowledge to solve clues. They also need to problem solve, collaborate, think critically — all of those great 21st Century / Transfer Skills. A few teachers / staff members already have implemented BreakoutEDU with success, including social studies teachers Tiffany Nix and Nick Aguina, school psychologist Eric Born, and CTE teacher Marcia Zboril. I used BreakoutEDU for an ILC Do Something Cool last semester, and the students left the room asking, “When can we do that again?” Here is what Tiffany had to say about her experience using BreakoutEDU along with co-teacher Nick:
 Take a moment to think back to your childhood. What is your earliest memory of reading or being read to by someone? That moment in time was when you started to develop language skills that would serve as the foundation for your learning. Early literacy is so important for developing those critical early reading skills. In support of early literacy community efforts, Donna Corcoran, Kellie Piekutowski, Nicki Sutherland, Marcia Zboril and I have collaborated with the Lake County Health Department’s Reach Out and Read program. Since 2008, we have conducted book drives and have donated 12,173 new or gently used books for Lake County children ages 6 months to 5 years old!!! Impressive work. And we’re not done yet! Donna Corcoran and Kellie Piekutowski recently attended the Midwest Educational Technology Committee conference in St. Charles, Missouri, and wanted to share some takeaways. Feel free to follow-up with us if you have questions or ideas. Also, visit this Google folder, where we copied some of the presentations from the sessions we attended. You can view most of the presentations for all of the sessions on the METC website.
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AuthorsBarbara Mason AboutThe ILC blog keeps Antioch students and staff up to date with news and events related to reading, research, technology, and more.
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Ideas?Contact me at [email protected] with topic suggestions or to contribute your own post to the ILC blog.
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