Let It Snow!
It is remarkable to think back to the start of the 2nd quarter in early November: Fall was still in full swing and we had the excitement of the holidays before us. Now, 10 weeks later, we are halfway through our school year and Fall feels like a distant memory. But, oh how our students have grown!
Library Statistics at a Glance:
Year-to-date circulation: 6,844 materials
Items added: 96 materials
Most popular book: Drama by Raina Telgemeier (22 check-outs!)
Kindergarten Creates Collage
In homage to Lois Ehlert, Kindergarten wrapped up our Fall author study of her wonderful books by making their own beautiful snowman collages, just like the ones we saw in her book, Snowballs. We're now immersed in the delightful books of Jan Brett, where we're using the extra illustration panels on each page to make inferences and predictions!
Second grade Studies Citizenship Through the Lens of MLK
Second grade is learning to recognize important citizenship characteristics like courage, leadership, respect, responsibility, and tolerance while studying the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Each class we use a combination of text read-alouds and independent research on the database PebbleGo to make important connections that students then apply to their own lives.
Third Grade Compares and Contrasts Countries
In the 2nd quarter, to supplement work being done in Social Studies, 3rd grade wrapped up a unit where we used a combination of books and databases to learn about the United States, Kenya, and Australia. We focused on location, size, population, language, government, literacy, and life expectancy. We even dove deeper to explore differences within each country based on gender. Our summative activity was to complete a triple Venn Diagram where we organized the similarities and differences we uncovered.
Fourth Grade Begins NYS Research
In conjunction with the Social Studies work being done in the classroom, 4th grade spent the last 10 weeks in Library learning to use a variety of electronic resources to explore New York State. They used our Rosen eBook series Spotlight on NY, Britannica Online, Gale Middle School in Context, and the internet to learn about our state. We focused on using information responsibly by giving credit to our sources through MLA citations. We also discussed how to identify reliable information online by looking for clues such as the authority of a website and considering its domain. Now we are beginning our first Library research project where students have selected a NYS topic of their choice to explore.
Fifth Grade Focuses on Digital Citizenship
Fifth grade spent the 2nd Quarter focused on learning how to use digital resources skillfully, ethically, responsibly, and safely through a series of ESIFC-inspired lessons and hands-on activities. The concepts of copyright and plagiarism were woven throughout. As a culminating activity, students created their NoodleTools accounts and set up their first project that we will be using for instructional purposes and practice before embarking on our first major Library research project.
Sixth Grade Wraps Up Greek Mythology Unit
Sixth grade wrapped up their Create Your Own Demigod Greek Mythology research project with presentations in January. Students researched a Greek God or Goddess of their choice, using NoodleTools to organize their research questions and to-do list as well as to create their citations and notecards. The final product required students to transform their research into a creative story modeled after the popular Percy Jackson book series by Rick Riordan.
Seventh and Eighth Grade CTE
My CTE classes finished two units in the 2nd Quarter. First, they studied Building Healthy Relationships in Unit 2, where the focus was on identifying the characteristics of healthy versus unhealthy relationships. In this unit, they explored changes they can make in their own lives to improve their current and future relationships. This unit culminated in a role model project where students analyzed and presented on their own role models drawn from their families, friends, and celebrities. Next, we studied Effective Communication in Unit 3. In this unit, students explored the characteristics of effective verbal and nonverbal communication mostly through their participation in several engaging role-play and group activities where they could observe and practice these skills with each other. The culminating project for this unit was a 2-page research paper detailing how they feel technology has impacted the way we communicate today. They had to house their citations and notecards in NoodleTools and discuss what they feel are the pros and cons of the technological innovations they researched.
Eighth Grade Music Research
The students in Music Research wrapped up their Genres research in the 2nd quarter by interviewing an older person of their choice and researching that person's favorite music genre, artist, and song from when they were 13 or 14. Before the holiday break, they presented their projects to the class. We are now working on an Opposing Viewpoints research project where students have identified a current controversial topic related to music and are analyzing at least two viewpoints related to it. Once their research is complete, students will write an evidence-based claim paper where they present the viewpoints they researched before discussing their opinion on the topic, backing up their claims with evidence from their sources.
Professional Development
On January 11th, I attended the Questar School Library Services annual Showcase of Excellence at their regional headquarters in Schodack. There, school librarians from around the region presented on some of the projects and materials they are using in their school library programs. We also had presentations by Kathy Gundrum from the Capital District Library Council, Kristen Hein from our eBook service OverDrive/Sora, and Sheri Amsel from the database Exploring Nature. It was a very full and informative day! I was asked to present next year on my use of NoodleTools with grades 5+.
Linda A Fecura Bunk, MLS
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