A free library card from the Allen County Public Library (ACPL) is a ticket to a wealth of learning opportunities for students, parents and teachers in the Allen County School District.
During opening day activities on Tuesday, August 5, ACPL director Sheila Stovall and children’s librarian Amanda McReynolds visited each district school to explain what resources are available through the local library. The options include a tutoring opportunity, a digital magazine service, an audio recorded book option, on-line classes, and teacher resource kits.
For students who need additional help on school subjects, the local library subscribes to Tutor.com—an on-demand one-on-one academic and career Tutoring program.
“Tutor.com will provide live on-line academic assistance through their online platform connecting students with expert tutors in grade level from kindergarten through college,” Stovall explained. “Students can obtain personalized help in English, math, science, social studies, writing, and AP (Advanced Placement) subjects. Tutoring for math, science, and social studies is also available in Spanish.”
Tutor.com uses more than 3,100 highly-qualified screened professional tutors who work with students in an interactive, collaborative, one-on-one live session. The tutors are subject-matter experts. Students may choose to also take assessment quizzes to help determine concepts on which additional work is needed. The students can also submit essays for a review—a review that is returned within 24 hours with feedback.
Tutor.com also can offer live session through mobile IOS and Android devices. The service is available from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. every day of the year except New Year’s Day, July 4, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The only requirement is a library card from ACPL which is used to sign-in to the online service.
Another service teachers learned about---free to patrons with a library card---is Zinio Digital Magazine. The library subscribes to 39 digital magazines which can be reviewed and shared. A teacher could use the service in her classroom by pulling up the magazine on her computer and then displaying on her classroom projection system---a way to share the content to an entire class as a supplement to the content being discussed.
A similar service to which the public library subscribes and is available to library card holders is recorded books through the One Click Digital. This service features access to 3,300 audio recorded books including 1,200 children’s recorded books with new titles added each quarter. ACPL also can connect patrons with Overdrive/Kentucky Libraries Unlimited, a source for over 72,000 eBooks and 32,000 music and video audio books.
The library also subscribes to Universal Class---a connection to over 500 free on-line classes. The classes cover multiple topics offering anyone the ability to continue as life-long learners in an inexpensive matter.
Stovall and McReynolds also talked with teachers about resources kits available to help supplement their lesson planning.
“The teacher resource kits are lesson plans and extension activities based on specific titles,” Stovall explained. “The binders include a literature unit guide with pre-reading, during reading, and post reading lesson plans and activities. Other binders will have novel studies, question-and-answer discussion guides. Other resource kits have an abundance of templates for teachers to use in their classrooms. Each kit is different but all will have core content curriculum standards attached to the lesson plans to make sure that they are meeting the standards provided by the Kentucky Department of Education.”
To obtain a library card or for more information on the educational services offered by the local library, contact the Allen County Public Library at 270-237-3861 or visit their website at http://www.allencountylibrary.com/.