S UPPORTING K-3 S TUDENTS WITH THE O NLINE R EFERENCE C ENTRE North Central Teachers’ Convention February 5, 2015 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 SHOULD Y OUNG 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 are an integral part of 21 st century learning Google & Wikipedia are the tip of the searching and information literacy “iceberg” 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 with Internet access

W HY SHOULD 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, School Library Journal, Canadian Libraries, 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 or French 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 district username and password combination Share your district username/password using low tech methods for your remote

Q UICK TIP FOR WORKING WITH YOUNG L EARNERS Create a direct link to the ORC from school/teacher webpage or in the school bookmarks Have an enlarged icon for the database(s) you will be using Preload on iPads, SMART Board or computers for quicker access to a learning centre activity Model for whole group – Move to pair work – Finally individual work Number each child – that is the computer they will use Recipe card with access information for every student – laminate and put on a ring In class tech helpers Expect age appropriate citations – icons, premade sheets, etc.

Questions?

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

B OOK FLIX Recommended for K fiction and non-fiction book pairs organized into themes Pairing fiction with a related non-fiction increases student comprehension when reading both formats Search titles by guided reading level, author, grade level, theme, etc. Lesson plans for each pair provided Real voice audio support embedded throughout resources to allow emergent readers to navigate the resource independently Between 1-3 follow up “puzzlers” for each pair

T RUE FLIX Newly created sister resource to BookFLIX designed for grades 3-6 Nonfiction content divided into 2 broad themes with 3-5 subthemes Each ebook includes an introductory video to help build background knowledge of topic and improve student comprehension Human voice read along feature to support emergent/struggling readers Interactive table of contents for each ebook, in addition to a glossary and index Essential inquiry questions and project ideas for every ebook

T EACHING B OOKS. NET Recommended for K-12 Includes a wealth of support material to teach and promote books in your school and classroom (book trailers, author interviews and readings, author audio name pronunciation, book guides and lesson plans, etc.) Share pages using share, , or permalink Create a flyers or shelf cards with a QR code Access Alberta specific booklists: Canadian Book Award Winners/Canadian Book and Author Resources Personalized Book Lists upon request

M UZZY O NLINE Recommended for students in K-6 Immersion language learning program Languages taught in the context of a story Hundreds of words and phrases embedded in the learning stories Six movies in each language level with a subtitle option for all of the languages offered 101 thematic video lessons with embedded language learning games divided into level I & II All new 3D animation All new recording studio and 4 new languages coming in 2015

R ESOURCES TO S UPPORT THE S CIENCE C URRICULUM

A MAZING A NIMALS OF THE W ORLD Recommended for K-6 Click-friendly navigation 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 *Curricular mapping available for the K-6 Science curriculum on the ORC Support Site ( )

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, projects and educational games related to the content of the database 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 Science Units supported: Grade 1 Seasonal Changes Grade 2 Exploring Liquids Grade 3 Rocks and Minerals *Curricular mapping available for the K-6 Science curriculum on the ORC Support Site ( ) Grade 4 Light and Shadows, and Waste and Our World Grade 5 Weather Watch, and Wetland Ecosystems Social Studies mapping skills Grade 6 Sky Science

P OWER K NOWLEDGE : L IFE S CIENCE Science Units Supported: Grade 1 Needs of Animals and Plants Grade 2 Small Flying and Crawling Animals Grade 3 Animal Life Cycles and Hearing and Sound *Curricular mapping available for the K-6 Science curriculum on the ORC Support Site ( ) 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 Science Units Supported: Grade 1 Needs of Animals and Plants Grade 2 Hot and Cold Temperatures and Magnetism *Curricular mapping available for the K-6 Science curriculum on the ORC Support Site ( ) Grade 4 Wheels and Levers Grade 5 Electricity and Magnetism and Classroom Chemistry Grade 6 Trees and Forests

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

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

A NOTHER E NGAGING M ULTIDISCIPLINARY R ESOURCE TO C HECK O UT

W ORLD B OOK K IDS Recommended for students in K-3 Beginner multidisciplinary database designed for young users Text to speech feature Use the compare option to find similarities and differences between animals, countries and places Available on iPads Online Training Available

S UPPORT FOR S CHOOL S TAFF M EMBERS

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

C URRICULAR M APPING FOR D IVISION I S CIENCE Along with training materials provided by the vendors, the ORC Support Site also includes curricular mapping documents for the division I Science Curriculum at: curricular-mapping-for-division-i- science.html curricular-mapping-for-division-i- science.html Social Studies will be coming soon….

ORC L ISTSERV Weekly updates organized by E/J/S: New resources and features Province-wide trials Surveys Free PD opportunities How to guides and tips 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 free 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