T HE ORC AND P UBLIC L IBRARY S TAFF : A P ARTNERSHIP FOR SUCCESS Whitemud Crossing Public Library September 9 & 10, 2014 Jamie Davis, ORC Coordinator

W HAT IS THE ORC? A $1.7 million collection of curricular-aligned, authoritative digital resources licensed on behalf of all Alberta: K-12 students and their parents School staff Pre-service teachers Public library staff * Funded by a yearly Grant-In-Aid from Alberta Education to The Alberta Library (TAL) Return on Investment (ROI) calculation of 3:1 for Alberta Schools *for the purposes of supporting K-12 patrons

W HY S HOULD STUDENTS ACCESS THE ORC? ORC Resources: Provide authoritative, age appropriate, engaging, curricular-aligned content Allow students to become familiar and comfortable with the kinds of resources and searching practises that an integral part of 21 st century learning Are time savers once you are familiar with using them Include embedded supports for diverse learners like listen, text translation, citation tools, vetted websites, copyright friendly pictures and videos Provide anytime, from anywhere access

W HY S HOULD SCHOOL STAFF ACCESS THE ORC? ORC Resources Provide: Access to ready-to-use or customizable lesson plans, teaching materials and direct curricular correlations Support for ESL and foreign language learners Access to journals like Walrus, National Geographic, National Geographic Kids, Men’s Health, and Maclean’s just to name a few (RSS feeds available) Consistent and explicit update schedules Access to vetted websites Ability to create permalinks that can be posted on a website or in an blast

A CCESSING THE ORC Go to LearnAlberta.caLearnAlberta.ca Select English Click on “Online Reference Centre” in the tab along the top of the screen In school automatic authentication Access outside of school requires a remote username/password Share your district username/password using low tech methods for your remote

W HAT T HIS M EANS FOR Y OU While working with K-12 patrons, their parents, school staff (teachers, educational assistants, student teachers) public library staff can inform patrons about their free access to the ORC collection If the patron is not aware of their remote ORC access information staff can share the applicable district username/password with them after confirming their school district with the patron Edmonton Public Schools U: LA13 P: 9418 Edmonton Catholic Schools U: LA12 P: 2953 Homeschoolers have an organization they are affiliated with. Username/Password on the spreadsheet. Patrons can write this information down, put it in their phone, whatever they need to do to remember it

A VAILABLE S UPPORT Library staff can use a username/password combination from their local school district to access the ORC so they can familiarize themselves with the collection to better support K-12 patrons Public Library Staff can access training materials on the ORC Support Site ( Public library staff are invited to join any ORC PD opportunities at no cost Sessions for whole library staff can be arranged upon request at no cost

A NY Q UESTIONS ?

R ESOURCES TO S UPPORT L ITERACY AND L ANGUAGE L EARNING S KILLS

B OOK FLIX Recommended for K fiction and non-fiction book pairs organized into themes Search titles by guided reading level, author, grade level, theme, etc. Lesson plans for each pair provided Real voice audio support embedded throughout resources Follow up “puzzlers” for each pair

T RUE FLIX Newly created sister resource to BookFLIX designed for grades 3-6, alignments to the grade 2-6 Science curriculum Nonfiction content divided into 2 broad themes with 3- 6 subthemes Each ebook includes an introductory video to help support comprehension by building background knowledge Human voice read along feature Interactive table of contents for each ebook Essential inquiry questions and project ideas for every ebook

T EACHING B OOKS. NET Bring an author into your classroom any time you need Search for Meet-the-Author Movies or Book Readings, Author Audio Name Pronunciation, book guides and lesson plans Access Alberta specific booklists: Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Readers Choice Award (YRCA) ELA Authorized Novel and Nonfiction Reading Lists grades 4-12 Meet-the-author book readings in French Canadian Book Award Winners/Canadian Book and Author Resources Personalized Book Lists upon request

M UZZY O NLINE Recommended for grades K-6 Learning languages through the context of a story Hundreds of words and phrases embedded in stories Six movies in each language level with subtitles that can be turned on/off 101 thematic video lessons with embedded language learning games divided into level I & II All new 3D animation Recording studio and 4 new languages coming in 2014

V ISUAL T HESAURUS Recommended for grades languages including English, French, Spanish and German Correct word pronunciation in human voice for every word Images related to words with right click (images are google images and not vetted) Word of the day/week/month Personalized word lists and spelling bees* Vocabgrabber* * With personal accoun t

S TEPS FOR SETTING UP A PERSONAL V ISUAL T HESAURUS ACCOUNT

R ESOURCES TO S UPPORT THE S CIENCE C URRICULUM

A MAZING A NIMALS OF THE W ORLD Recommended for K-6 Lists animal classes, orders and species Read Aloud available Provides quick access to the “animal stats” at the top and a brief article below Links to information about animal habitat, and order Vetted weblinks that open within the database

P OWER K NOWLEDGE S UITE Recommended for grades 1-6 Content divided into 3 databases: Earth Space, Life Science and Physical Science Includes a customizable read aloud feature Short, segmented articles with introductory videos to build background knowledge Embedded science experiments and educational games Aligns with 95% of the grade 3-6 science curriculum and 87% of grade 1-6 science curriculum

P OWER K NOWLEDGE : E ARTH S PACE Curriculum areas covered: Grade 1 Seasonal Changes Grade 2 Exploring Liquids Grade 3 Rocks and Minerals Grade 4 Light and Shadows, and Waste and Our World Grade 5 Weather Watch, and Wetland Ecosystems Grade 6 Sky Science Social Studies mapping skills

P OWER K NOWLEDGE : L IFE S CIENCE Curriculum areas covered: Grade 1 Needs of Animals and Plants Grade 2 Small Flying and Crawling Animals Grade 3 Animal Life Cycles and Hearing and Sound Grade 4 Plant Growth and Changes, Wetland Ecosystems and Waste and Our World Grade 6 Trees and Forests

P OWER K NOWLEDGE : P HYSICAL S CIENCE Curriculum areas covered: Grade 1 Needs of Animals and Plants Grade 2 Hot and Cold Temperatures and Magnetism Grade 4 Wheels and Levers Grade 5 Electricity and Magnetism and Classroom Chemistry Grade 6 Trees and Forests

S CIENCE I N C ONTEXT Recommended for grades 6-12 Featured news and videos on homepage Content organized into Featured, Reference, News, Statistics, Videos, Images, etc. on topic pages Customizable listen feature Download articles to MP3 Text translation into 13 languages Resources section includes resources for students, teachers, and librarians “Curriculum Standards” for Alberta

R ESOURCES TO S UPPORT THE S OCIAL S TUDIES C URRICULUM

C ULTUREGRAMS Recommended for grades 3-12 Very strong alignment to grade 3 Social Studies curriculum Also supports grade 2 and 10 Social Studies curriculum Updated every 6 months by in country consultants Includes a World, Kids Edition and Provinces Edition Articles are written and reviewed by in-country consultants Cultural recipes included for each country and province Create customizes graphs and tables – Great for Mathematics using current data! Tools include world time, distance calculator, and currency converter

T HE C ANADIAN E NCYCLOPEDIA Recommended for grades 5-12 New updated interface very aesthetic and functional Multiple pathways to accessing information Personal accounts, videos, articles, images, etc. Wealth of Canadian content to support: Grade 4 - Geography, Geology, Natural Resources, Provincial & National Parks, Hoodoos, Dinosaurs in Alberta, Foothills, Rocky Mountains, etc. Grade 5 - WWI, WWII, John A. Macdonald & George Etienne Cartier, Confederation, Canada’s National Railway, Great Depression, Famous Five, Lester B. Pearson, Statute of Westminster, Potlatch, etc. Grade 6 - Local Government, Lieutenant Governor Grade 7 - Pre-Confederation/Confederation, Immigration/Migration Grade 9 - Canadian citizenship, Government, Charter of Rights & Freedoms

C ANADA I N C ONTEXT Recommended for grades 6-12 Includes Canadian content! Customizable listen feature Articles downloadable to MP3 Text translation to 13 languages Share or permalink capabilities Featured videos, news, and stories on homepage Jump to related articles within the article Advanced search allows for Boolean, and content selection (basic/intermediate/advanced)

C ANADIAN R EFERENCE C ENTRE Canadian Reference Centre Customizable listen feature (where HTML format available) Text translation into 32 languages (where HTML format available) SMARTTEXT searching capabilities Create notes within article and save to an account Create article permalinks Recommended for grades 7-12

O THER E NGAGING R ESOURCES TO C HECK O UT

W ORLD B OOK K IDS Recommended for K-3 New text to speech feature Easy online database for young users Use the compare option to find similarities and differences between animals, countries and places Available on iPads Online Training Available

W ORLD B OOK S TUDENT & A DVANCED Recommended for grades 4-9 (Student) and 8-12 (Advanced) Text to speech feature General encyclopedia that includes atlas, dictionary (with voice pronunciations), images, web links, and charts "My Research" option for students to track and save their research online Timeline feature embedded & Embedded eBooks (Advanced) Available on iPads Online Training Available

ORC S UPPORT S ITE Resource training materials - podcasts, videos, archived webinars, and guides Information about upcoming free ORC PD opportunities Information about province-wide resource trials and surveys Online booking system for ORC sessions Calendar of ORC Events Links to ORC Twitter and Facebook accounts

ORC L ISTSERV Weekly updates organized by E/J/S: O New resources and features O Province-wide trials O Surveys O Free PD opportunities No s during school breaks Membership has its benefits – joining incentive or visit the ORC Support Site to join

C ONTACT For more information or to schedule a school presentation please contact Jamie Davis, ORC Coordinator Call ext.229 OR

L INKS TO C HECK OUT ORC Support Site ORC ListServ ORC Facebook