AKRON — At Tippecanoe Valley, our vision to provide an outstanding learning environment is not only found in our classrooms, but other places throughout our school buildings.  Each of the libraries in our corporation has taken steps to go above and beyond for our students. Our goal is to be more than just a physical location. We are striving to provide an environment that promotes active collaboration, knowledge construction and life-long learning habits.  Literacy is the foundation for all other learning skills and our libraries are ready to play an active role in supporting our teachers and students.

Mentone and Akron Elementary students are excited about the makerspace opportunities being offered. A makerspace, as found in our libraries, refers to a space where knowledge can be made – 21st Century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication, collaboration, leadership, persistence and curiosity are being developed at these hands on stations. Activities such as Snap Circuit Jr., Zoob, Tangrams, Legos, 3D magnetic creations, marble run building, Sudoku and chess can be chosen – along with a working cash register center complete with menus and realistic play money. Options such as loom knitting, origami folding, drawing, puppet theatre, felt story boards and stencils tap into the creative side of brain development. Science observation skills are needed in stations with hermit crabs, a dwarf hamster, plants rooting in water and a microscope with specimen slides. Our students have expressed joy with this active learning and we are thankful to the DEKKO Foundation for helping us make the purchases needed for these stations.  Both schools have also added digital science and social studies resources with ScienceFlix at Akron and TrueFlix at Mentone. Breakout Edu, a new game of problem solving, is in the beginning stages and is also available.  Learning is fun here!

TVMS and TVHS libraries are working on expanding the digital resources offered to students and staff. Working in collaboration with Akron Carnegie Public Library, all Valley students can apply for and use student public library cards (or member cards, if they live inside Henry township) to access Overdrive digital ebooks and audiobooks. This is a wonderful resource, if students are looking for books not found in our school collections or if titles students would like to read are all checked out from the school library. These books are accessible on most devices; including laptops, iPads and desktop computers.

We are grateful to our public library for this joint effort and their willingness to make the most of the resources found in our community. Students can also get usernames and passwords for OPEN eBOOKS, a digital eBook app on cell phones. This access is free to all Title One schools. When it comes to research, our students can now find information on the online databases of The New Book of Knowledge, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Americana and the New Book of Popular Science. New resources are on board for staff as well. They can now tap into the online media resources found in Learn360, enriching their instruction with over 150,000 multimedia resources.  A new social media page has also been started on Facebook called “Vikingsread.” You can learn about some of the exciting things happening with reading at TVSC by visiting this page. Are you reading a great book others might benefit from or enjoy? You are encouraged to find us, like us and join us in sharing your love of books as we try to spread a community-wide awareness of reading.

Our mission at Valley to be committed to student success through the development of character, leadership and literacy is more than just words. This mission is supported and encouraged by our administration. It is carried out by our staff. It will benefit our students. We are family at Valley. Our libraries are thankful to be a part of that family.