First Quarter Library Report

In just these first few weeks of school, we have already added 308 new titles to our collection! Please visit this link to check them out!

Fifth grader, Alina Murtagh, asked to complete her community service requirement for Taekwando here in our very own Library! Alina worked hard through September & October with odd jobs and inventory clean up! Thanks, Alina!

Both PreK and Kindergarten are very excited about borrowing books from our Library! Beginning in early October, Mrs. Chelsea and I started a weekly Pre-K library visit on Thursdays. Each week we share a story and the kids do book exchange.

On November 1st, both first grade classes came to the Library to work on their Veterans Day projects. Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. Kelleher, myself, and a few parent volunteers enjoyed helping the students create the work that will hang in the hallway for our upcoming community assembly next week.

Sixth graders are learning about the 8 characteristics of civilization through the lens of Wynantskill by exploring primary sources. Thanks to work I did with North Greenbush historian, Jim Greenfield, and the former SS curriculum coordinator for Questar, Tasha Anderson, I was able to piece together a comprehensive project that challenges students to explore a variety of sources ranging from historical maps to Library of Congress digital photographs to pages from actual 19th century census records. Check out this link to the pathfinder in OPALS to learn more!

Fifth grade teachers, Dan DiSotto & Laura Horacek, have collaborated with me to create 5th grade book clubs to provide enrichment reading experiences for students that go beyond leveled instructional texts! I meet with each book club group twice per week to discuss and analyze the student-chosen texts. 5-D's group is reading Karen Hesse's, Witness, while 5-H is currently reading Rebecca Stead's, When You reach Me.

We kicked off our 2018-19 Arts in Education program with a visit from living historian, Glenn Bentz, who met with 4th & 7th grades to discuss Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) History.

Martha Ryan and I provided a PD workshop for interested faculty members on October 29th to teach them how to access digital primary source materials through Library of Cogress and Digital Public Library.

Here's a link to the information we shared. In addition, we analyzed several primary sources together using the LOC analysis tool to demonstrate how they can be easily used in the classroom setting with students of any age and/or ability.

Primary sources empower students to think deeply about topics and to take control of their learning experience.

Email: lfecura@wynantskillufsd.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/wynantskillufsd.org/lfecura/home
Location: 25 East Avenue, Troy, NY, USA