2nd Quarter Library Report

Library Statistics at a Glance:

Year-to-date circulation: 5,767 materials

Items added: 241 materials

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

I'd by lying if I didn't admit that I was more than a little nervous about taking on a 3rd grade level of CTE this year - but can I just say how FUN this group is?! We were bustling in the 2nd quarter with units on Mindfulness and Budgeting! A big shoutout to Dr. Yodis and Ms. Audi for supplying delicious clementines for our mindful eating activity :-) Other lessons from our Mindfulness unit included mindful breathing, mindful listening, mindful observation, and positive thoughts.

Our budgeting unit has been a huge hit with the kids as they have been engaged in fun hands-on activities designed to simulate the real world. In the Budgeting Project, students explored what it is like to have income and pay bills in a choose-your-own-adventure style activity. They are now immersed in the Million Dollar Project where they learned important life skills like cursive signatures, computing expense balance sheets, and check writing.

Finally, a big shoutout to Julia Cronin who volunteers to check in Kindergarten's books when she finishes her work early ~ woo hoo!

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.

On January 15th, 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. It was wonderful learning from my colleagues!

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