Library Media Center
Ms. Baranyay scaring up some good books at the Eric Carle Museum, Feb. 2020.
Welcome!
Hardwick and Woodbury Elementary Schools' Library Media Centers are here to serve our students, faculty, staff, and community members. Staffed by Library Media Specialist, Lisa Baranyay, and a handful of fantastic student volunteers, we strive to provide the tools for all your information and literary needs. Come on in and check out a book!
Library Hours
The Hardwick Elementary School Library is open Monday through Thursday from 7:45-3:15, often later.
The Woodbury Elementary Library is open on Fridays during school hours.
Check back often!
Ms. Baranyay updates these pages regularly. If you find a broken link, have questions, concerns, or suggestions, please email Ms. Baranyay.
Our libraries are committed to upholding the Vermont School Library Association's Statement on Intellectual Freedom for all of its patrons.
Need a good book? Start in the Library!
Visit your public library
The Jeudevine Memorial Library in downtown Hardwick or the Woodbury Community Library next to the Elementary School in Woodbury, are great community resources!
Ebooks and Audiobooks
SORA is here!
The Vermont Schools Shared Digital Collection is an online collection of ebooks and audiobooks built just for schools. It is accessed through the Sora website or app.
To login to Sora, click on the icon (left) or click here. All OSUESD students choose "Hardwick Elementary School" in the "Select your school" drop-down menu, then click on the green sign-in button. Login using your school email account. Use the "Explore" button (binoculars icon) at the bottom of the page. Click here for printable login directions or watch the Sora Login video on the left.
There's more! In addition to our Sora school collection, the Green Mountain Library Consortium also offers FREE access to ebooks and audiobooks using your public library card number. Once logged in to Sora, open your settings by clicking on the three lines in the top right corner of the page ("hamburger"). You can "add another library" by typing in Green Mountain Library Consortium or the name of your public library. You will then be able to toggle between the two collections at the top of the page. The first time you try to borrow a book from the GMLC collection, you will be prompted to enter your public library card number. Contact your local library if you don't remember it.
Need some help or want to learn more about all of the great features Sora has to offer? Sora has a very user-friendly Help Page & YouTube Channel.
Comics Plus is your one-stop-shop for everything comics! With Comics Plus you have access to thousands of digital comics, graphic novels, and manga—including popular fiction series, like Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Big Nate, Bone, Disney Princesses, Geronimo Stilton, Stranger Things, Locke & Key, and American Gods, as well as nonfiction, like They Called Us Enemy.
You have access at school and at home. Every title is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for offline reading, AND you and your friends can all read the same book at the same time! You could even start a book club!
Login here with your ossu gmail address, then check out the videos below to learn how to use this great new tool!
Epic! includes ebooks, read-to-me books, and audiobooks by grade level. It's free for students to use with their class code during school hours, 7am-4pm, Mon.-Fri. You will need to be invited to sign up with a special code from your teacher (email them to get it), then you can access class collections, assigned books, and books you've chosen for free-reading.
Epic! also offers Free and Unlimited (paid) versions for after school reading (after 4pm Mon.-Fri. and on weekends). Learn more here.
Storyline Online is a children’s literacy resource featuring the world’s best storytellers (actors) reading books aloud. Each video includes an activity guide with lessons for K-5 students to do at home.
VOOKS - a kid-safe online streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks.
Right now they are offering parents a one-month free subscription. Read more here.
Teachers may use Vooks for FREE (still seems to be free as of September 2022) and have the option to screen share with virtual students. There are lots of great accompanying resources for many of their books.
Unite for Literacy provides free early reader ebooks, including a read-to-me narration feature.
KidLit TV has created a virtual library of free read-alouds, drawing and writing tutorials, podcasts, art activities, and reading resources for kids and teachers! Check them out! (11/22/21)
Publisher Harper Collins created this YouTube playlist of some of their most popular picture books being read aloud.
100+ Free Video Read Alouds, a collection of read aloud videos compiled by the Indianapolis Public Library.
MackinVIA, named 2019 Product of the Year, is a multi-award-winning, digital content management system, providing easy access to eBooks, read-alongs, audiobooks, databases, videos and more. With just one login, users can view, utilize, and manage all of their digital resources. Further, MackinVIA allows simultaneous, unlimited access to multiple users on all platforms, and is mobile friendly. It is incredibly generous of them to continue to offer a sampling of their amazing resource to us for FREE, so I hope you enjoy using it. I think you'll find it pretty great! (04/11/22)
Everyone logs in here with user name: OSUESD and password: Learn
Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. "Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks for you to enjoy." This is a great resource for discovering the classics! (11/22/21)
Audible has released Book 1 of the Harry Potter series for free listening! Check it out!
Written By: J.K. Rowling. Narrated by: Stephen Fry
And check out Wizarding World - the place to go for anything and everything Harry Potter! Listen to your favorite characters read each chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for you. Daniel Radcliffe (the actor who played Harry Potter) reads chapter 1, and other actors read the rest. Fun!
Not sure what you want to read? Try these tools!
Common Sense Media has a fantastic collection of lists of recommended books for kids. They also have lots of other amazing lists of movies, apps, and games for families. I highly recommend checking them out!
Literature-Map is a very cool tool to help you find an author who might be similar to one you already love. Just type in the name of your favorite author and it will suggest others for you to try.
Reading Rockets has themed book lists selected for kids up to 9 years old, focuses on new titles, and emphasizes quality.
Books & Authors database by Gale Cengage Learning - a great resource for older students.
YALSA's Teen Book Finder is a free online database and app with nearly 4,000 titles.
Find a great read-alike here,
or at the flashlight chronicles.
Or browse hundreds of read-alike lists at Goodreads.
Other Stuff:
News Websites
Online Newspapers
Free Online Newspapers for Research available through the Vermont Department of Libraries
- stories from and for the land
News/Current Events
Magazines
Northern Woodlands Read the most current issue in the library.
Great Websites for Kids!
Great Websites for Kids is a collection of excellent kid-safe websites compiled by the American Library Association. Easy to navigate using the links below. (If you get any sort of error message, just X out of it and keep going.)
Animal Cams!
Other Fun Animal Stuff
Get Creative!
RhymeZone's Rhyming Dictionary
Just Cool Sites!
Educational Games
Ranger Rick, part of the National Wildlife Federation, is offering free access to their digital magazines and to their online resources.
Breakout EDU uses online games to bring the fun and mental challenge of escape rooms to learning across the elementary curriculum.
They’ve put together a list of free online games kids can play at home. Click here to see them.
Crabtree Plus is a new web-based resource that combines Crabtree Publishing's educational book series with open access dynamic digital content. Intended to build student understanding on core series concepts, this awesome online learning resource allows students to broaden their learning and have fun while they do it. Students can watch animated videos that help make concepts easier to understand and play interactive games and activities that help them put what they’ve learned to work.
Financial Literacy Games
