4th Quarter Library Report

It is always a bittersweet time of year as I pack up the Library displays for the summer. On the one hand, it is an opportunity to reflect on the many successes of the previous school year. The Library once again was a bustling epicenter for our school where students were challenged to think critically and strive for personal and academic growth. We have come so far in the last 26 months, and it is really nice seeing so many things heading back towards a sense of "normal". On the other hand, it is always challenging to wrap up all those necessary loose ends - final report card grades & comments, endless overdue notices, collection inventory - and it is always difficult to say farewell to our departing 8th grade class - students I have taught in most cases for 9 years!

To summarize this year in a few simple numbers: we added 197 new items, removed 108 old items, and circulated over 13,700 items - WOW! Our most circulated title this year was Raina Telgemeier's beloved graphic novel, Sisters.

In the 4th quarter PreK learned all about important May & June holidays including Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Juneteenth. We used both PebbleGo and books to explore the history of each and discussed how we celebrate them in different ways.

To wrap up our year in Kindergarten, we studied Eric Carle, and compared his art and books to those we read at the beginning of the year by Lois Ehlert. During this unit, we made our own collages, we created a book to take home, and we sequenced a story ~ fun!

Our 1st graders loved learning about the prestigious Caldecott Award, and especially loved examining the richly illustrated books by the 6-time winner, David Wiesner! Also as part of this final unit, we learned how to create and alphabetize picture book call numbers. The students loved being called up front to act as "books" that the class then organized alphabetically!

There's no better way to teach author's purpose than through the hands-on exploration of Fables! We spent the 4th Quarter reading Aesop's Fables and figuring out the morals and human characteristics of the animal characters. Once students had a feel for the genre, they were asked to create a fable of their own for another class book that has been added to our collection. They did a great job!

Third grade finished their long exploration of Folklore by learning about Tall Tales. We studied the classic American heroes Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill, and also a new heroine, Swamp Angel. Afterward, the students created their own Tall Tale featuring a hero who had a job relevant to the Westward Expansion of the 1800's. They enjoyed filling their stories with plenty of imaginative exaggerations and explanations, too.

Fourth grade loved exploring handy online reference resources like dictionaries, thesaurus, encyclopedias, and maps! Afterward, we ended the year by delving deeper into literary genres.

Fifth grade completed their first official research project for Library using NoodleTools to house their citations and notecards online. They chose elements of modern American Culture and researched which groups of immigrants were responsible for introducing them. After they completed their research, they wrote reports complete with sourced historic images and a bibliography to share with the class.

Sixth grade spent the 4th quarter creating a collaborative Book Talk presentation with their summer reading book suggestions. Each student created a slide for a book they read that they thought their peers would enjoy that included 6 "enticing hints" that could not be a plot summary. They also included images related to their chosen book. All work was ethically sourced and housed in NoodleTools. I'm hoping this valuable resource inspires them to keep reading over the summer! Check it out here :-)

To end the year, our Music Research students chose to investigate a music-related topic of their choice. They had to create an annotated bibliography of at least 4 sources as well as a minimum of 15 research notecards organized into thematic piles in NoodleTools. Next, they wrote 3-page reports with in-text citations sharing their findings. After that, they created slideshow presentations so they could teach the class about their topic. Finally, they made a quiz to assess how well they taught their content. I am beyond confident that our students are ready to tackle any research task they may encounter next year!

Our students in the ASPIRE room enjoyed using e-Books and print books to learn all about life cycles in the 4th quarter. We focused on the life cycle of butterflies, frogs, and chickens.

This quarter I hosted another librarian from the Lansingburg School District, Christine Martinelli. Christine shadowed me for a morning in May to see how we run our elementary library program. She had lots of great questions and seemed impressed with our ESIFC-inspired Library curriculum.

I also attended the final Questar Communications Coordinators meeting in May where we discussed, "Selection, Collection, & Objection" with 3 incredible speakers: Barbara Stripling on intellectual freedom, TC Ferrito on library policies, and attorney Stephanie Cole Adams on legal considerations. It was another valuable way to help me stay current on the latest library issues while providing an opportunity to network with my colleagues from all across the state.

I was also able to spend some more time with Karen Kohler in May to discuss how the Book Clubs I run integrate into our new ELA program. Reading with students is by far my favorite part of my day, and I am so happy to be able to provide this critical enrichment opportunity.

I also had the opportunity to collaborate with several teachers this quarter. Most notably, I helped John Lantz with his Character Conflict ELA unit, and I was able to find many inspiring mentor texts that worked well with it. I also helped Dan DiSotto with his immigrant research project which tied in nicely with my American Melting Pot Library research project. I created a shared spreadsheet where we collaborated on print and electronic resources that students could use. Similarly, I helped Bethany Wallace with 1st grade's animal research project with both print resources as well as PebbleGo resources. Finally, I worked with Martha Ryan on her 8th grade Build-A-Dog research project - SO much great research happening in these final weeks ~ woo hoo!

Here's a link to my complete collaboration log.

This summer I am excited to be taking a NYSCATE NYS Online Course for 15 hours of PD credit. The topic is Creating a Culture of Digital Citizens which aligns perfectly with my ESIFC Priority Skills curriculum. I look forward to reflecting on ways I will be able to incorporate what I learn into what I do here with our amazing students.

Have a wonderful summer - and KEEP READING :-)

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