Educator Services
If you are a teacher, homeschooling parent or childcare provider, you are eligible for a teacher card. You must provide proof that you are a teacher (ID badge) or a homeschool parent in order to receive a teacher card. Like a standard card, this card will expire every two years and you’ll be required to show proof of your educator status again. If you retire or leave a district school or child care center, you must update your account.
Benefits of having a teacher card include:
- Increased borrowing power by having two cards; one for classroom materials and one for personal use
- Extended four-week loan period on materials used in the classroom
- No fines on materials used in the classroom
- Teacher Collections; a new request feature for teachers. Request curated selections on topics ahead of time via our online form.
Please note:
- All equipment checkouts are subject to standard fines and due dates
- All interlibrary loan items must be checked out on personal cards
- All items for personal use must be checked out on personal cards
Teacher Collections
Youth Services staff will prepare a subject collection for anyone who holds a teacher card, with five working days’ notice.
Guidelines:
- Teachers may request up to 10 items on a particular subject. Every attempt will be made to provide the desired number of items, however, quantities may be limited due to high demand or lack of availability.
- Unavailable titles may be put on hold or sourced through inter-library loan. Those items, when available, must be picked up separately on the Holds shelf near the Main Desk.
- DVDS and Inter-library loan items cannot be checked out on teacher cards. These items must be placed on hold and checked out on a personal card.
- Materials may be picked up at the Main Library or at FDLPL Express branch near Festival Foods.
- Collections must be picked up within seven days of notification. If a teacher repeatedly fails to pick up collections, that person no longer will be provided this service.
Cindy Casetta Barden Teachers’ Resource Center
Located inside the Children’s Room, the resource center includes a growing collection of materials for teachers, homeschoolers and parents with materials to check out, such as books, book club kits, musical instrument kits, classroom kits, big books for storytelling and equipment to use on site. The center was made possible through an endowment fund with Fond du Lac Area Foundation, which was set up in Barden’s name by her family. Barden, a Fond du Lac native, wrote nearly 200 educational books for children, used nationally, and wrote short stories, poetry and news articles. Locally, her best-known work is the beloved red-jacketed, Foot of the Lake: An Early History of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, published in 1998. Barden died in 2014.
Schedule a visit
Youth Services staff love hosting group visits to the library. We also are happy to make visits. Please submit your request at least two weeks before your requested visit date. We will get in touch with you as soon as possible. To schedule a visit, please fill out this form.
Homeschooling
Visit these sites for information on homeschooling and local advocacy groups.
Fond du Lac Area Christian Homeschoolers Association
Contact Dawn Poss, facha-homeschool@sbcglobal.net, for more information.
Fond du Lac Homeschool Association
Contact Jean Titel, fdlhomeschool@gmail.com
- Our Cindy Casetta Barden Teachers’ Resource Center has lots of educational materials which can be checked out by anyone. Our staff favorites include the activity and STEM-focused kits, book club kits (great for teaching multiple kids at once or start your own family book club!), and subject kits.
- Our staff! Staff is always happy to help find titles to supplement curriculum from our nonfiction collection or suggest titles for free reading.
- Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers: good for older students doing Wisconsin-related research projects.
- Book Connections and TeachingBooks: can’t get enough books in your life? Explore these resources (from the same company) full of readalong audio performances, exclusive videos and recordings of authors, book trailers, and more. There are slight differences in what’s available on either site, so we encourage you to explore both!
- Britannica resources: these are great because they are broken down into Elementary, Middle, and High School specific resources. Britannica Fundamentals features interactive learning games and the “Read” tab will read a book aloud while highlighting the text as it’s read.
- Explora Educator’s Edition: geared toward teachers, this can help you understand curriculum standards and help with lesson planning if you’re choosing to homeschool.
- Explora for Elementary Schools: browse by subject from animals to geography to health and limit search results by Lexile level if needed.
- History Reference Center: for general historical research or you can browse subjects in both U.S. and world history.
- Learning Express Library: get virtual college admissions test prep and visit the School Center for skill practicing in a variety of subjects from elementary through high school.
- Novelist: this can help you find your next book for pleasure reading by choosing what you’re looking for. Bonus: once you find something you like, there’s a link to search the library catalog for it!
- PBS Wisconsin Education: tons of wonderful Wisconsin-specific educational information, including Wisconsin First Nations, music of Wisconsin, and more. We also recommend their at-home learning site and PBS Kids for educational games for younger kiddos.
- America’s Test Kitchen: learn STEAM principles and create delicious treats with America’s Test Kitchen Classroom.
- Beestar.org: find free, printable math worksheets here and, if you sign up for an account, access free weekly math exercises.
- Encantos: educational games in English and Spanish.
- Khan Academy: start with their distance learning guide, which can help you plan an at-home or homeschooling learning schedule, and then explore their extensive collection of lessons and educational materials.
- Math Antics: fun, math learning videos. NOTE: to access their printable materials, there is a fee.
- National Geographic Kids: from silly (check out their “Party Animals” videos) to serious (“Kids vs. Plastic” provides tips on fighting environmental pollution), National Geographic Kids has something for all your needs.
- Scholastic Bookshelf: also accessible via the Instagram app, check out their collection of curated topics, from allergies to death to pets, that feature book selections and discussion questions.
- Unite for Literacy: This site provides access to free original picture books with audio narration. Narration is available in a variety of languages as well.
- Wide Open School: gathers free learning resources from a variety of sites and platforms from preschool through high school. Also includes ideas for screen-free activities – we all need a break sometimes!