RES Library Media Center News

Nonfiction reading will be a big focus in the RES library this year. The ability to read and interpret information from nonfiction (true) books, magazines, and websites is an important skill for our 21st century scholars. In the library we are working with nonfiction in many ways: Second graders reading nonfiction for pleasure... Fourth graders searching nonfiction books for interesting facts, then creating "quote posters" and citations to share their learning with others... and first graders exploring true books about butterflies in connection with the monarch caterpillars currently growing and changing in their classrooms.

We spent the week exploring and creating in the library. Third and fourth graders learned how to use call numbers to find books on the library shelves. Teams of students found books using just the call numbers... and collected clues to spell out a class message. Fourth graders in enrichment library classes also created word clouds (see example below) based on their personal interests. This lesson was designed to get the scholars thinking about topics they might want to research later in the class, and they also created some beautiful artwork. Wednesday and Thursdays nights were Open House at RES. Lots of families visited the library. It was a great chance for me to meet younger brothers and sisters...my future RES scholars! Older scholars showed their families some of what they've been learning including PebbleGo online nonfiction books.... and the video tours of the library they created in enrichment library classes. ...

It was a busy week in the RES Library! Third graders continued learning skills that will help them find books and other materials independently in the library. This week they had a chance to practice alphabetical order, because the fiction books in the library are in alphabetical order by the authors' last names. Each scholar had a chance to be a "letter," and other scholars helped put them in alphabetical order. They practiced putting words in alphabetical order, and finally call numbers. The "call numbers" below were about to get organized! Kindergartners explored a new section of the library: the "pink dot" or early reader books. Our Elephant and Piggie  books by Mo Willems live in the pink dot section, and our youngest scholars were happy to find them. Second graders had a chance to try out the library's Playaways. These are audiobooks on MP3 players that scholars can borrow and listen to in their classrooms or at home. They sp...

I rearranged the books in the RES library over the summer to make them more accessible for our scholars. But now everything is in a different place! Classes spent this week in the library finding the new locations for their favorite books. First graders took a tour, then did some guided discovery especially in the nonfiction section. Second and third graders went on self-guided "museum walks" (hands behind your back, noticing everything!) and then reported what they had found. Fourth graders went on a scavenger hunt to find the different library collections, then videotaped each other to create their own library tours. The group below had just found the biography section. And of course everything is new for our kindergartners, who have just started visiting the library for the first time! So far they have learned where to find the picture books and the early readers. It's been a great week of learning at the RES library. We're looking forward to ...