During my time as the Library’s youth services school liaison, August has always been my favorite time of year. It means planning school visits where I get to see the familiar faces of students from all over Morton Grove as they take the next step in their education and lives.
But both life and school look a lot different this year for students, their families, and us at the Library in how we hope to serve our student population. I’m excited to share some of our upcoming programs and always-available resources to help students and families of all grades and schooling types throughout this school year.
Helpful Programs
Visit our Events Calendar to register for these upcoming programs.
As much as we love our community schools, we know that the traditional system might not be best for every family, especially in these changing and challenging times. If you are interested in an alternative approach to learning, our Curious About Homeschooling? panel on Wednesday, August 19 at 7pm is for you! This program will feature parents of local homeschooling families in a live question and answer session covering the ins and outs of homeschooling, including how to get started, the legalities, where to go for support, and more.
What about families who decide the brick-and-mortar school systems—even as some of them move to remote learning—are their best choice? We’ve got you covered too! And because we know starting a new grade will look and feel different than it would have in the past, we’ve adapted our traditional Kindergarten Rocks! programs on Thursday, August 13 at either 4:30pm or 6:30pm to reflect that new reality, while still properly celebrating the huge milestone of starting Kindergarten under any circumstances.
Always-Available Resources
No matter what your learning looks like, the Library has physical and digital resources to help make this a great school year for everyone.
In the building
You can browse or put a hold on physical materials in the Youth Services department’s Homework Help Parenting Section, which include grade-leveled workbooks and activities in various subjects from a variety of trusted educational resources (like Kumon, Spectrum, and Barron’s).
Online
Or you can visit our digital resources anytime, anywhere, including our kid-friendly databases:
- Help Now by Brainfuse, which offers real-time help from certified tutors in a number of topics during typical after school hours.
- Scholastic Teachables, where you can find hundreds of teacher-approved, printable resources for every grade level.
- World Book (yes, the encyclopedia) Early Learning, Kids, or Student to support your student’s lessons and assignments in an age-appropriate way.
And as much as we love our various e-book platforms like Hoopla, OverDrive, Tumblebooks, and Axis360, we want to remind you that even the digital library is home to more than just books! We hope some of our other Download & Stream services will help enhance your school year:
- Biblioboard is not only full of even more books (with some in Spanish!), but educational materials from the Chicago Children’s Museum.
- Medici.TV, where you can stream classical music concerts, operas, ballets, and documentaries right at home.
- PressReader gives you access to both the latest and historical newspapers from around the world or right here in Chicagoland.
Library staff are always happy to help you find and access the resources that best fit your students’ individual needs, and we are only a visit, phone call, or email away. As we all navigate this new normal together, we hope you have a safe and fulfilling school year!
Brittany Drehobl is the School Services Liaison at Morton Grove Public Library.