1st Quarter Library Report

GD began the 2023-24 school year with a variety of new faces and fresh ideas! Shannon Toomey has come on board as our new building principal bringing with her a renewed dedication to fostering a climate of positivity and student-centered initiatives that are already having a palpable impact on the culture of our school community. Welcome, Shannon - and all of our other wonderful new faculty and staff!

Library Statistics at a Glance:

Year-to-date circulation: 2,816 materials

Items added: 51 materials

Most popular book: Dog Man by Dav Pilkey (11 check-outs!)

Our PreK students loved learning all about author and illustrator Mo Willems in the 1st Quarter! After reading several of his award-winning books including Elephant & Piggie, Knuffle Bunny, and Pigeon Has to Go to School, we are now reading books about Fall including Fletcher and the Falling Leaves and Bear Says Thanks.

In homage to Lois Ehlert, Kindergarten has been reading her wonderful books and working on fun extension activities, like making their own Fall books and Leaf Man collages! Check out some of their awesome creations!

After we learned about the differences between Fiction & Nonfiction, our 1st graders jumped into a nonfiction unit on Fall where we're learning all kinds of fascinating facts about apples, pumpkins, leaves, and animals! Students are practicing the skills of listening for information and notetaking using custom-modified ESIFC graphic organizers.

Second grade spent the 1st quarter learning all about biographies! Students conducted independent research using the database PebbleGo to learn about important authors, athletes, and political leaders of their choice. Next, they will be interviewing a person of their choice over the Thanksgiving Recess so they can write a biography of their own for a class book that I will add to our circulating Library collection!

In the 1st quarter, third grade learned how to use our online catalog OPALS to look for books and materials in our collection, and how to use our consortium eBook collection, Sora, to look for eBooks and audiobooks. Next, we'll be exploring the database Britannica Online!

In conjunction with the Social Studies work being done in the classroom, 4th grade spent the first 10 weeks in Library learning to use a variety of electronic resources to explore New York State. They first used OPALS to explore the resources that we have here in our own Library. Then they used our Rosen eBook series Spotlight on NY to explore topics in NY history. Now they are using Britannica Online to learn more about our state. We are focusing on using information responsibly by giving credit to our sources through MLA citations. We will soon be starting our first Library research project where students will select a NYS topic of their choice to explore.

Fifth grade spent the 1st Quarter learning how to use Pathfinders and Advanced Search in OPALS. Pathfinders are curated lists of resources that I can create for research projects. Advanced search allows students an opportunity to craft very specific searches using the Boolean terms AND, OR, and NOT. We are now discussing the vocabulary and key concepts necessary to embark on our next unit: Digital Citizenship.

Sixth grade began this quarter using our Rosen eBook series, Spotlight on Ancient Greece, to learn about different aspects of Ancient Greek culture and life. Topics ranged from the Ancient Greek economy to government to geography. Once we had that historical foundation, we zeroed in on Ancient Greek Mythology. Students are now working on their Create Your Own Demigod Greek Mythology research project where they are studying a Greek God or Goddess of their choice before tapping into their imaginations to construct a demigod story in the style of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series. Students are using NoodleTools to organize their research questions and to-do list as well as to create their citations and notecards. The project will culminate in late December when students share out their research and story.

Seventh grade CTE studied Self Awareness and Building Healthy Relationships in the 1st quarter. In our self-awareness unit, students explored what makes them unique including their individual strengths, weaknesses, interests, and talents. Next, we focused on identifying the characteristics of healthy versus unhealthy relationships. In this unit, students explored changes they can make in their own lives to improve their current and future relationships. This unit is culminating in a role model project where students are analyzing and presenting on their own role models drawn from their families, friends, and celebrities.

Eighth grade CTE is off to a great start this year! We began the year by working on a significant research project where pairs of students researched 5 of our 6 high school options together in a shared NoodleTools project. Each group divided the 5 schools and researched 9 metrics that included total number of students, average class size, racial diversity, graduation rate, and sports and clubs. Once they had their 46-50 notecards, groups then made charts and graphs to visually represent the data they researched. Finally, each student wrote their own concluding report where they discussed what they learned about each high school option, and then they discussed their choice with an evidence-based rationale.

In October, Dr. Yodis facilitated a field trip for our 8th graders to Hudson Valley where we participated in Career Jam. Our students joined 4 other school districts in visiting 85 different exhibitors representing all 16 career clusters, learning more about local companies and opportunities while engaging in valuable hands-on activities. A great time was had by all!

We are now exploring specific career options in class and will be learning about NYS labor laws and working papers before students create resumes and cover letters. I am in the process of collaborating with our local Wynantskill Hannaford to set up "mock interviews" in December.

The students in Music Research have been studying different genres of music in the 1st quarter. They began by studying a random genre assigned to them as we practiced new skills, including how to create an annotated citation. Now students are studying their favorite genre and artist, and we are working on how to include in-text citations in their reports. They are doing a great job so far!

On September 27th, I attended the Questar School Library Services Library Communication Coordinator general membership meeting at their regional headquarters in Schodack. We spent the morning participating in a restorative circle and discussing active wellness strategies with Dr. Jennifer Bashant. Our afternoon was spent discussing and working collaboratively on the School Library Rubric, which is the NYSED approved program evaluation that Questar school libraries use as their required annual member plan.

Our next meeting with be on December 5th, where I will be a featured presenter in the annual "Showcase of Excellence". This is a valuable opportunity for school librarians from around the region to present on some of the projects and materials they are using in their school library programs. I will be showcasing my important work with NoodleTools in grades 5-8.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments you may have!

Email: lfecura@wynantskillufsd.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/wynantskillufsd.org/lfecura/home?pli=1
Location: 25 East Avenue, Troy, NY, USA
Phone: (518)283-4600 238