The Y4Y Insider - August 2022 |
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New Content on Y4Y
Y4Y’s newest microlearning opportunity will equip your program with the tools to develop an effective makerspace by understanding your learners, evaluating existing program offerings and school-day curricula, considering global trends and best practices, developing a theme, and gathering your resources. View Click & Go.
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Books: Our Past, Present, and Future? |
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Written language makes all things possible, even language that comes in the form of numbers. In an era of increasing use of screens for everything from shopping to communicating to entertainment, gaming, and learning, is it important to preserve paper books, embrace technology 100%, or find that balance of in-between? To help answer this question, check out this month’s blogs on:
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Webinars
LIVE With Y4Y! Quarterly Webinar
Thursday, Sept. 8, 1-2:30 p.m. ET
With another academic year underway, now’s the perfect time to revisit your program budget and make adjustments. Join this session, and we’ll take you through the major budget considerations for project directors and troubleshoot common budget problems. This fun and interactive session is a great refresher for experienced program leaders, as well as a strong foundation for new or prospective 21st CCLC leaders. Register today!
Webinars
Aug. 30, 1-2:30 p.m. ET
What makes a partnership effective? How do you enrich or build on existing partnerships to strengthen your program? This session will review Y4Y tools and resources designed to help out-of-school time programs develop and improve relationships with schools, community- and faith-based organizations, and other partners. Register Now!
Aug. 31, 1-2:30 p.m. ET
What do you think of when you hear “health and wellness?” In this session, we’ll help you develop your own sense of health and wellness along with an awareness of its place in out-of-school time programs. Register Now!
Sept. 1, 1-2:30 p.m. ET
High school students have a lot of options on how to spend their time outside of the school day. Join us as we share tips and strategies for making your out-of-school time program an attractive option for older students. Register Now!
Building Positive Staff Culture and Enriching Environments for Students (Two-Part Series)
Sept. 13 and 15, 1-3 p.m. ET daily
What is the culture and climate of your 21st CCLC program? Is your program a positive place where all students have the opportunity to learn and grow? This two-part series is a great learning opportunity for all 21st CCLC staff, and we will highlight many free Y4Y resources that you can leverage to build a positive learning environment for your entire program community.
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Archived Webinars
Please note: A certificate of participation is available only to those who participate in the live events. Certificates will not be issued to those who view the recordings.
Miss a Session at the Summer Symposium?
Be sure to check out these Y4Y sessions:
Learn how to help students find information online while remaining safe — and learn about tools that help students create and communicate content online effectively.
Learn about the career pathways approach and ways you can use it to help youth develop fundamental skills for success, no matter what career path they choose!
Get strategies for gathering student input, designing activity plans in response to that input, and responding to student feedback. Then harness that knowledge to keep students engaged and to make your program even better!
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Gathering STEAM
Powering Your STEM/STEAM Initiatives
NASA Virtual Classroom Connections
Are you looking for an opportunity to connect your middle school students with a NASA scientist or engineer? Apply for an upcoming Virtual Classroom Connections in NASA CONNECTS today.
Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. ET (register by Aug. 31)
NASA CONNECTS offers users a chance to connect and collaborate with educators and NASA scientists, engineers, and other experts nationwide. Sign up today to access NASA resources, join groups focused on your interests, and gain access to exclusive events.
North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)
Catch up on environmental education professional development with the NAAEE’s monthly webinar series (live or archived). Upcoming topics include increasing civic engagement through education and service learning, becoming a natural and effective storyteller, citizen science in education, building a diverse and inclusive field, and more.
National Air and Space Museum
You and your students can catch the John H. Glenn Lecture in space history, Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with JWST. Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist John C. Mather will discuss how NASA and its partners built the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and share some of the telescope’s first discoveries.
Looking for a Meaningful STEM Activity for Your High School STEM Club?
NASA and the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR) are challenging teams of students in grades 8-12 to design and build simple devices that will float in water in normal gravity but will submerge in water as far as possible when exposed to microgravity. After students’ proposals for Diving into Experimental Research (DIVER) are evaluated, objects from selected teams will be tested in the 2.2 Second Drop Tower at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The winning DIVER teams will have the opportunity to present their results in a student poster session at ASGSR’s 2023 conference. Proposals are due Nov. 13. See the 2023 Drop Tower Challenges site for competition details and eligibility requirements.
PocketLab (a grantee in the Department’s Small Business Innovation Research Program) hosted an unconference dedicated to free and low-cost curricula, lessons, tools, and resources earlier this month. If you missed the live event, check out archived resources at the PocketLab website video library.
What is NEST-R?
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Educational STEM Resource Registry, NEST-R, is an online tool that allows educators, students, parents, and others to easily discover a variety of educational resources published by NIST staff across many program offices and websites. To take NEST-R for a test drive, visit https://nestr.nist.gov/. NEST-R is a great starting point for both formal and informal (out-of-school) educators, especially measurement science ambassadors, seeking to communicate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts and encouraging career pursuits through education outreach activities. Users search the registry using keywords and customizable filters to pinpoint resources for specific learners — for example, short videos, real-world applications, and internships.
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Tech Tip
Why do you get a pop-up to sign in every time you click on a course? Because Y4Y wants to be sure your progress is saved! You don’t have to sit and stare at your screen for 10 hours straight to complete even the most comprehensive Y4Y courses. Your progress is saved as long as you sign in, so even if it takes a year to complete the course — you’ll earn that certificate by signing in!
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State Coordinators Corner
Post of the Month
Are you looking to share new Y4Y content with your state’s grantees? Feel free to share the below Post of the Month on your social media accounts:
Thinking about creating a formal makerspace in your program this fall? Y4Y can help! Check out their new Click & Go with tools, tips, and tricks for making it an effective program addition.
Training of the Month
Connections, connections, connections. At this moment in time, connections between educators and students are of the utmost importance. You can urge grantees to use Y4Y’s Training to Go, Understanding Development and Connecting With Children, so they’re ready to connect with new students this fall the minute they walk, skip, or run through the door!
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Voices From the Field
Seeking Equity in Literature for Children
Amy Franks is the associate director of learning partnerships at Book Harvest, a North Carolina-based children’s literacy nonprofit organization devoted to providing an abundance of books and literacy supports to children during the first decade of their lives. Ms. Franks administers the summer Books on Break program, a network of school partnerships with school district leaders that provides pre-K through grade 5 students with the opportunity to select their own books to take home and keep forever. Y4Y spoke with her to gain a better understanding of supplying students with “books that fit.”
Y4Y: Ms. Franks, Y4Y appreciates that books are all-important in the lives of children, but you and Book Harvest advocate for book ownership in every household. Can you share with us why that is?
AF: Certainly! At Book Harvest, we firmly believe that owning books is a right rather than a privilege. The research on book ownership shows a startling gap between children who live in book-rich environments as opposed to those who do not. One study revealed that children growing up in homes with at least 20 books get three years more schooling than children from bookless homes. This gap can be seen academically and socially. We aim to decrease that gap — and really hope to close it completely. This work means ensuring children in Durham — and as we start our expansion work, children across North Carolina and the country — have books of their own, books that are reflective of them and their lived experiences as well as those that give them a chance to know about the lives and experiences of others.
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A former English/language arts teacher, Ms. Amy Franks is a National Afterschool Matters fellow (2019 cohort) and an Education Policy Fellowship Program fellow (2021-2022 cohort). She administers the Books on Break program, a network of school partnerships with school district leaders that provides pre‑K through grade 5 students with the opportunity to select their own books to take home and keep forever every summer. She leads the organization’s equity-focused approach to book acquisition and provision. She also develops literacy-focused programs and workshops within and outside of school settings, ensuring connections among families, students, schools, and communities. |
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Sept. 2 marks 270 years since Great Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar over the Julian calendar to align with the rest of Europe. Historians dispute the extent of unrest, but it’s widely acknowledged that many citizens were worried about their “lost” 11 days when Wednesday, Sept. 2, was immediately followed by Thursday, Sept. 14. This is a great chance to study calendars and their histories.
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Sept. 17 marks 160 years since the greatest loss of American lives at war in a single day, during the Civil War Battle of Antietam. An age-appropriate discussion about the cost of war — in this case 3,650 lives in one day — and the reminder that more Americans were lost when we fought ourselves than any outside foe are important lessons in preserving our democracy and its principles.
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Sept. 27 is Ancestor Appreciation Day. Explore family trees with your students and have each contribute something they know about their ancestors that makes them especially proud or grateful.
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Singer Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is now legendary, having donated nearly 185 million books to families who might not afford the luxury of purchasing books. Super Bowl champion Malcolm Mitchell is running a fast play in Dolly’s shadow to advocate for literacy. But everyday people outside of education also advocate for reading, like a barbershop in Michigan that has instituted an inspired (and inspiring) “Read to the Barber” program, offering kids $2 to read while they get a haircut.
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Topical Tool Kit
Multimodal Literacy
This tool kit cuts across courses to offer quick-use tools for reinforcing all modes of written language in out-of-school time.
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Multimodal Literacy Tool Kit (Download zip folder)
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Book clubs gained traction during virtual learning. Download Y4Y’s tool, Literacy Book Clubs, today to keep them alive in your program!
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Disclaimer: This newsletter may contain links to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for the user’s convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to particular items is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, donation solicitations or products or services offered, on these outside sites, nor any organizations sponsoring the sites, whether financially or by website hosting.
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