Literacy Tools

I work in an elementary school in Surrey. The Surrey School District supports all of its schools with digital
resources. The Teacher-Librarians of the Surrey School District have a website called SurreySchoolsONE
where students, parents and teachers can access these resources. They can also be accessed through the district
webpage, SD36 Digital Resources, but I think the librarian’s site is much more user friendly.

There are numerous literacy resources that the district provides access to. Some of the ones that are readily
used in my elementary school are: Epic, Literacy Place: Shared Reading, Scholastic Literacy Pro, Scholastic
Go, Surrey eBooks, Tumble Books, and Vooks.

All Surrey teacher-librarians have the framework for a website provided to them. From there, librarians can
link their own site with additional information. My school librarian has added additional information to the
district framework. She has added information on: links to evaluate websites with pre and post quizzes,
homework help, links to other libraries, library skills and games, reading motivators – websites with
suggestions, and shelving books quizzes.

Surrey has provided all staff and students Microsoft’s Office365 accounts. Much like the account provided to
us as Queen’s students, with Office365, students and staff have access to: OneDrive, OneNote, Word, Outlook,
Sway, Teams and much more. Teams is one of the apps that is used a great deal for audio and video
conferencing, classroom and social chats, and for uploading instructions, lessons and assignments.

Surrey also provides every teacher with access to a FreshGrade account if they choose to use it. FreshGrade is
an online portfolio for students. Teachers or students can post the student’s work and then students and parents
are encouraged to reflect on the work and post comments meant to inspire further learning.

At this time having all of the digital resources that the district provides has been a lifesaver! When we were all
sent home in March due to Covid-19, all my students knew how to access FreshGrade and Teams. My students
were able to access all online digital resources through these platforms, which enabled them to continue their
studies. Right now, I’m busy getting my new class online using Office365 and Teams so if we do go out again,
my students will know how to access information. The only problems we experienced back in March with
regards to resources were with access to technology (computers, tablets, and iPads) and properly functioning w-
fi.

Having access to good online platforms is huge. As a parent and a teacher, having students use the same
platforms from year to year makes the learning run smoother. Not having to juggle from one platform to another
with different children eases student and parent frustrations. Furthermore, since the platforms are district
provided, they can support teachers and parents when difficulties are encountered.

I recently read that now might just be the tipping point for moving forward with the Virtual School Library
Learning Commons (Brooks Kirkland, 2020)

References

Brooks Kirkland, A. (2020, June 2). The Virtual Library Learning Commons: Leveraging the Pandemic
Tipping Point for Lasting Change – Canadian School Libraries Journal.
Https://Journal.Canadianschoollibraries.Ca/. https://journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca/the-virtual-library-
learning-commons-leveraging-the-pandemic-tipping-point-for-lasting-change/