RES Library Media Center News

RES second graders began presenting their book recommendation centers today. Each scholar has chosen a topic for his or her center: books by a favorite author, books on a favorite topic, or books in a favorite format such as comic books. Today five presenters per class shared their books with their classmates and explained what the books were about and why they like to read them. The "audience members" visited each book center in turn, and many of these scholars decided to check out the books the presenters had recommended. We even had some teachers and parents stop by to visit...thank you for coming to our book centers! The library was humming with excited talk about plots, settings, characters, animals, fairies, military history, Percy Jackson, comic books, gemstones, and much more. Every second grader will be presenting a book center in the next few weeks. We hope you enjoy the video from our first day!

Both fourth graders and second graders worked on interest driven learning activities this week in the library. Fourth graders began planning their Capstone presentations to share what they have learned about the topics they chose for themselves back in January. The scholars are going to be creating videos, posters, animations, and much more to share the answers to their research questions. A couple of examples from this week: Designing a comic strip to answer the research question " How do you train to become an athlete on American Ninja Warrior?" Creating an animation with the Tellagami iPad app to answer the research question  "How does the Nexus 7 compare to the iPad mini?" Second graders began designing "Book Centers" around nonfiction topics, authors and series they like, and book formats they enjoy. Starting next week, they will be presenting their book centers to their classmates. The scholars will be explaining what typ...

RES second graders love to share books and recommend them to their friends. Over the next few weeks, the second graders will have a chance to teach their classmates more about their own favorite books during student-led, hands-on "Book Centers." They will be planning their centers around interesting topics, authors or series they like, formats they enjoy, and other themes they may come up with. I can't wait to hear the conversations these scholars will be having with each other about what books they should read next! Stay tuned to this blog and the RES Library Twitter feed https://twitter.com/RESVTlibrary for updates on second grade Book Centers. - Mrs. Redford

"How does smoking affect the brain?" source: iPad app RES fourth graders are collecting information to help them answer their research questions for their independent Capstone Projects. This morning Ms. Senning's class was using a variety of research sources as they gathered information. In the year 2014, information doesn't just come from books...or from the Internet! The scholars had excellent, thoughtful discussions with each other about how to tell if their sources were reliable. These projects are an opportunity for our scholars to practice their research and critical thinking skills as well as to learn more about topics they are passionate about. "What did ninja and samurai use for weapons and armor and why did they choose them?" and " Who is King Tutankhamen and what did he do for Egypt?" sources: websites "How is primate behavior like human behavior?" sources: websites "Who invented basketball ...