Summer is upon us. Even if your little ones aren't in the classroom, they can develop and strengthen their minds before the next school year begins. SDPB is equipped with a strong and willing team of specialists who are constantly working on resources that can be utilized by parents, guardians, teachers, daycare providers, and more. Two of our Education Specialists, Steven Rokusek and Amelia Meyer, gave us some insight on current resources that you can jump into along with upcoming tools they are eager to roll out.
Steven Rokusek focuses on developing materials and providing in-service training at schools and education conferences. Our weekly education e-newsletters and updated content on our website are all thanks to Steven's dedication to bringing education to people around the state. The slowdown of outreach during the summer gives our team extra time to focus on the particulars. This summer brings updates to our pages like Native American Studies, South Dakota History (Dakota Pathways, Images of the Past), and Sanford Promise.
"We have created a new video series called How To Draw Using Perspective: By Dick Termes," says Steven. "South Dakota Public Broadcasting produced this online drawing series in partnership with Asio Studio of Rapid City. The twelve-part video series covers one-point to six-point perspective and will include a comprehensive educational website with perspective grids, activities ideas, and lesson plans. The new website will launch in the fall for the new school year."
Amelia Meyer, another education team member, specializes in Early Learning. She creates resources used by parents, early learner educators, and caregivers. She is the co-creator of our weekly ELI (Early Learning Initiate) Links newsletter and is responsible for posting content on our ELI webpage. She is currently working on making plenty of resources readily available and easily accessible.
Amelia says, "I love doing this work because people often don't know the huge variety of activities we provide, and it's so fun to see their reaction when we share all the hands-on lessons available." She continues, "SDPB got to partner with Headlights Theater in Sioux Falls to produce a series called, Create Your Own Dance Studio. It has been fun to work on because each of the five videos shows the steps to construct a place to dance and a way to create a dance for children aged 5-10. It makes dancing accessible right in your own home!"
Many things are in motion in our education department, and many things are immediately available. Steven and Amelia share their personal favorite resource.
"My favorite resource to work on is our Dissection 101 series," says Steven. "Dissection 101 is an ongoing series in partnership with Dakota State University and is by far our most popular series. There are 19 videos and accompanying resources, including lesson plans, quizzes, photos, and other materials for many dissections. We developed the resources for many reasons, including reducing the number of specimens used by a class, increasing the dissection quality, and enhancing students' learning experience."
Amelia continues by saying, "I love our weekly Links Newsletter! It's designed to share one quality resource under four content areas (from the SD Early Learning Guidelines): Communication Development, Cognitive Development, Social and Emotional Development, Health, and Physical Development. It gives you just a little dose of what you can find on our website. Links come to your email inbox. You can take a quick peek at it and have a better understanding of your child's development and activities that would be appropriate for them."
School might not be in session, but learning and information always are. We hope these resources will come in handy through the season and onward.
Sign up for our education newsletter and visit the mentioned by clicking the links below!
Resource Links:
- Education Newsletter Sign-Up
- Links Newsletter Sign Up
- Amelia’s Dance Videos: Headlights Theater
- Links for Steven’s Future Updates: Native American Studies, Dakota Pathways, Images of the Past
- How To Draw Using Perspective - By Dick Termes Preview
- Dissection Series: Dissection 101