4th Quarter Library Report

It was a busy quarter as I wrapped up my own units, collaborated with my colleagues, and worked on several important projects in the Library. First, I weeded out 150 antiquated, damaged, and underused resources, mostly from our fiction collection, and mostly in the form of paperbacks. This is a necessary chore each year to ensure there is room on our shelves for our new acquisitions. This year we were able to add 307 new items, many of which were additions to our fastest growing and most popular collection: graphic novels. To make additional room for those, I weeded out more of our obsolete reference collection and wrapped our graphic novels around to the back side of the shelving unit. I also removed all of our general fiction collection from the shelves and reorganized them to integrate paperbacks and hardcovers. That was a project on my to-do list for the past 15 years so you can imagine how thrilled I am that it is finally done!

• Number of class visits = 1,108
• Items Circulated = 11,657
• New Items Added = 307
• Items Withdrawn = 150
• Most popular book = Sisters by Raina Telgemeier with 23 check-outs!

This quarter our Prek students enjoyed an author study of local author and Russell Sage professor, Matthew McElligott. During that unit, they got to design their own "Galactic Pudding" after reading Even Aliens Need Snacks, and then they came up with their own clever book ideas based on Even Monsters Need Haircuts. A popular choice was Even Dinosaurs Need Toys! We concluded the quarter by using the database PebbleGo in conjunction with books to learn about Memorial Day, Flag Day, and Juneteenth!

Kindergarten wrapped up their year in Library by exploring the wonderful books of Laura Numeroff and award-winning author & illustrator, Eric Carle. We practiced story sequencing and inferencing, as well as comparing and contrasting.

First grade spent the 4th quarter studying Caldecott award-winning picture books. We learned the history of the award and examined a variety of Caldecott winners spanning the decades, including Where the Wild Things Are, Kitten's First Full Moon, The House in the Night, Officer Buckle & Gloria, and this year's winner: Big. We spent three classes studying David Wiesner's award-winning books: Tuesdays, The Three Pigs, and Flotsom. As part of this unit, students learned how picture book call numbers are made, and then they practiced making and alphabetizing call numbers of their own.

In the 4th quarter, 2nd graders practiced identifying the author's purpose by studying Aesop's Fables. After reading and analyzing about a dozen of his fables, students worked on creating their own fables. Using a graphic organizer planning sheet, they first chose a moral and animal characters, before mapping out the problem and resolution of their plot. I just finished collating their amazing work into yet another bound book has become part of our circulating library collection!

Third grade was also busy writing in the Library this quarter! To conclude our long unit on Folklore, we studied Tall Tales, including The Bunyans, Pecos Bill, and Swamp Angel. Drawing inspiration from the stories we read, students then planned a Tall Tale of their own featuring lots of imaginative exaggerations and creative explanations! Their stories were set in the western USA in the 1800s, and their characters each had a job or occupation that would have been important as the first settlers were taming the wild lands.

Fourth grade did an amazing job as we studied Online Reference Resources and Literary Genres in the 4th quarter! During these units, we explored online dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, and atlases. For each resource, students learned important uses and real-world applications while they practiced navigating within them through guided activities. What better way to learn how a thesaurus can improve your writing than by doing a Mad-Lib-like activity? And how cool is it to use Google Maps to look at the different photos Google has taken of our own houses since 2007, and then explore how to use the directions tool to map routes and calculate distances and times using various modes of travel? The students loved this unit and definitely learned a lot! To conclude the year, students spent our final three classes learning about Literary Genres including their favorites: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, and Horror!

After practicing how to create citations and notecards ethically using the online research organizer, NoodleTools, 5th grade spent the 4th quarter researching how America is a great "Melting Pot" blended from cultural ideas brought here by generations of immigrants from across the globe. Each student chose a topic that in some way represents American culture, and then they researched where that idea originally came from, what group of immigrants brought it here and when, and what is the modern impact of that topic on America now. All research was housed in NoodleTools and students created reports complete with an ethically soured historic image and bibliography that they shared with the class through presentations.

In an annual tradition I have come to love, 6th grade created Book Talks of their suggested reading for their classmates. First, they researched a little about their chosen authors, housing their citations and notecards in NoodleTools. Then they created six "hint" notecards to entice their classmates to read their chosen book. "Hints" could be anything except a plot summary - so think genre, setting, mood, problem, etc. Finally, students carefully selected 2-4 images that represented their books and created citations and notecards for those as well. Once their research was complete, they put it all together into one infographic-style slide. I then took all their slides and created one large slideshow they can access all summer whenever they need an idea or inspiration for what to read in their time away from school. Awesome work, 6th grade!!

CTE 7 wrapped up an eventful year with two final units. Unit 7 introduced our students to career opportunities in Architecture, Construction, & Manufacturing, and Unit 8 focused on careers in Public Security, Law, and Corrections. In each unit, students independently explored Questar's related CTE programs that they can take in high school. They also explored specific careers in each career cluster, creating presentations that they shared with the class. Best of all, each unit featured a variety of volunteer community career presenters. For unit 7, we had Doug Belokopitsky who talked about his career in HVAC, and Joe Bott who discussed his career as an electrician and as a local politician. We ended Unit 7 by learning specifically about careers in Engineering, and we were visited by Lisa Williams (Chemical Engineer) and her son and former GD alum, Andy Williams (aspiring mechanical engineer).In unit 8, we had two more career presenters. Nichole Hurbanek talked to our students about her fascinating career in Forensic Science followed by our very own SRO Officer, John Yeery, who shared his stories of Police Academy (we even saw a video of him being tazed as a trainee!) and life as an active duty patrol officer. I think our students learned a lot about themselves and about possible career pathways during our time together this year.

The 4th quarter included 2 units in CTE 8: Artificial Intelligence & Sustainability. In our AI unit, students "played" with fun AI tools like Animated Drawings which made the students' custom creations come to life! Students also challenged their vocabulary with Semantris and used a student friendly ChatBot called Code Breaker. My favorite AI activity required the students to create an original writing sample, that they then had ChatGPT try to replicate. Once they had both pieces of text, they first tried to trick each other, and then they had to see if they could fool me. Of 30 students, only 2 succeeded! In our final unit, students studied Sustainability. They calculated their own Carbon Footprints, researched product life cycles, and explored the question of whether supposedly sustainable energy alternatives like solar, wind, and EVs are in fact good or bad for the environment. Finally, on May 2nd Dr. Yodis and I had the pleasure of bringing 6 of our budding future educators to the 3rd annual Celebration of Teaching & Learning hosted at SUNY Albany.

The 8th graders in Music Research spent the 4th quarter researching a music-related topic of their choice in our Build Your Own Inquiry (BYOI) unit. As part of this project, students created research questions followed by annotated citations and notecards for the information they discovered. Topics included "The History of Music in Movies", "Bob Marley's Impact on Jamaica", "The Relationship of Music & Fashion", and "The Evolution of Underground Music". Once their research was complete, students created an outline for a 3-page research paper. That paper had to include appropriate in-text citations and a bibliography. Next, students designed a lesson about their topic that they had to teach to the class. Each lesson was required to conclude with a 5-question quiz to indicate how effective the lesson was. The students did a great job!

In my ongoing role as our district Communication Coordinator for Questar's Library group, I attend the 4 required annual meetings which are a great opportunity to network and grow professionally. This year’s topics included:

• September: implementing restorative circles with Dr. Jennifer Bashant.
• December: regional project share-outs. It should be noted that I was a presenter at this event, showcasing the work I do with NoodleTools.
• February: incorporating SEL into our libraries with Jodi Sullivan.
• June: a day with Amanda Jones, discussing book challenges and censorship.

This year I also participated in an asynchronous workshop titled Introduction to Artificial Intelligence in Education. In January I was unable to attend the Innovate, Integrate, and Lead: School Librarians at the Forefront of the AI Revolution full day workshop in person, so instead I was able to watch segments of the session recording during our extended Wednesdays, which I supplemented with discussions with Anthony Vescio, who was able to attend in person.

In March I participated in the regional PD day by attending 3 virtual workshops: Check Your Shelf - New and Recently Published Books Kids Will Love, Classroom Management Strategies for Elementary School Settings, and Empowering Educators - Integrating AI Tools in the Classroom.

I have not yet chosen my summer PD, but I am confident I will find lots of great offerings through all 3 of our area BOCES.

Email: lfecura@Wynantskillufsd.ord
Website: https://sites.google.com/wynantskillufsd.org/lfecura/home
Location: 25 East Avenue, Troy, NY, USA
Phone: (518)283-4600 238