2nd Quarter Library Report

Happy 2024! A new year is a time for fresh starts and new beginnings. It's a time for reflection and goal setting. When I reflect on our first 20 weeks of school, I am so proud of all we have accomplished. Our students are thriving and our staff is working hard to ensure our students receive the nurturing and positive environment they need to grow academically and emotionally. I know the next 20 weeks will be busy as we continue to develop enriching and engaging educational experiences for our students - but let's stop to enjoy this moment in time, midway through our school year, to celebrate the amazing work we have already accomplished!

Looking forward, in the coming weeks I will be working to schedule more community guest presenters for CTE and I am excited about the fun units I have coming up for all of our amazing kids - PreK through 8! What a gift to be able to watch our students transform from curious 4 year olds to self-confident 14 year olds! When I first meet them in PreK, they are often very excited and a little nervous about joining our learning community, and when I say farewell to them 9 years later, things come full circle as they are once again nervous and excited about moving on to their chosen high school. Life is a journey - and it is an honor to be a part of theirs.

Library Statistics at a Glance:

Year-to-date circulation: 5,755 materials

Items added: 129 materials

Most popular book: Dog Man by Dave Pilkey (16 check-outs!)

Our PreK students loved all of the fun fall and winter themed books we read together this quarter, ranging in topic from Veteran's Day early in the quarter to our current unit featuring gingerbread-themed stories. During these units, we engaged in great activities including designing "traps" after reading Do Not Open this Book and reflecting on what we are thankful for after reading Bear Says Thanks.

Kindergarten wrapped up our Fall author study of Lois Ehlert 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. Embedded in these units are specific text literacy lessons including story sequencing and letter sounds.

Our 1st graders have loved learning all about winter in the 2nd quarter! While using a combination of fiction and nonfiction books, students practiced the skills of listening for information and notetaking using custom-modified ESIFC graphic organizers. They have done an outstanding job and have learned so much. Do you know what the subnivean zone is? If not, ask one of our amazing 1st graders :-)

Second grade wrapped up our Fall unit on biography by interviewing a person of their choice over Thanksgiving, and then writing a biography about them. Students made rough drafts before creating final drafts that I compiled in a book that is now part of our circulating Library collection! Second grade is now 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.

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 has been working hard on our first Library research project! Students chose a NYS topic of their choice to explore, and they are now using the database, Britannica Online, as well as one trusted web source, to learn as much as they can about it! Students are organizing their resource citations and topic notes on a custom-made graphic organizer. Next, students will be creating a report on their topic to share-out with their classmates.

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 are now practicing making citations and notecards.

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.

For Music Appreciation, we read Kwame Alexander's novel in verse, Swing, during the 2nd quarter. This powerful novel is a coming of age story that chronicles two friends discovering where they fit in this imperfect but beautiful world - all told with a backdrop of mostly jazz references. We explored over 60 of these musical references, ranging from early pioneers like Miles Davis and Billie Holiday to more modern artists like Herbie Hancock, Bruno Mars, and Beyonce. We are now starting Sparrow by Sarah Moon about a 7th grader grappling with anxiety who discovers an outlet through music with the help of her off-beat therapist.

Seventh grade CTE 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 also wrapped up two units in the 2nd quarter: Choosing the Right Career and Personal Finance. In Choosing the Right Career, students researched their dream job, focusing on how to find the right training, how much the training would cost, what the job growth is, and what the average salary is for entry level jobs in that field. Students were then asked to do a cost analysis to determine how easy or hard it would be to pay off any associated school debt. Next, they learned how to make their first resume and how to write a cover letter. The unit culminated with a guest presentation by Will Potts from the Renesselaer Chick-Fil-A who discussed interview tips for getting a job in high school.

In our Personal Finance unit we learned about creating budgets using several different strategies. Then we covered credit reports and credit scores, how to build your credit, the pros and cons of credit cards, and the different types of financial institutions. Our guest presenter for this unit was Kevin Boomhower, who talked to us about his career in financial oversight at the State.

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 finishing an Opposing Viewpoints research project where students identified a current controversial topic related to music and analyzed at least two viewpoints related to it. They are now working on an evidence-based claim paper where they will present the viewpoints they researched before discussing their opinion on the topic, backing up their claims with evidence from their sources.

I was lucky to have several excellent PD opportunities in the 2nd quarter. On November 30th I met with Kimberly Murray to discuss the CTE curriculum product, Defined Careers. Karin Carmody and I have been collaborating throughout the year to brainstorm ideas for our own CTE program, and Kim gave us more ideas to explore.

Next, on December 5th, 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. I was honored to be one of the presenters this year. I talked about how I weave NoodleTools throughout my curriculum starting in 5th grade. I highlighted some of the research projects I have designed as well as how to use NoodleTools to foster greater collaboration both for students as well as for educators.

I also watched an AI webinar during one of our recent extended Wednesday, and I plan to watch the recording of the January 17th workshop: Innovate, Integrate, Lead: School Librarians at the Forefront of the AI Revolution during one of our next extended Wednesdays. I am very interested in learning about how we can use these amazing tools with our students.

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