RES Library Media Center News

Third graders have been visiting the library to find library books about animals as part of their current Writing Workshop unit: Information Writing. These scholars will be writing informational books about hedgehogs, bearded dragons, mountain goats...and that's just the beginning of the list! They are using these library books to learn about the habitats, physical features, and life cycles of their animals so they have plenty of information to include in their own books. In upcoming weeks Mrs. Redford will be going to third grade classrooms to work with scholars during their writing times. Here are just a few of the books our scholars will be using:

First graders are sharing fairy tales in their library classes and learning about the story elements many fairy tales have in common. They are especially enjoying their conversations about good and bad characters in these famous old stories. Have you ever noticed that sometimes the wild animals are bad and the people are good ( Red Riding Hood ) but sometimes the wild animals are good and the person is bad ( Goldilock s)? Over the next few weeks we will be reading several of James Marshall's retellings of fairy tales. All images from barnesandnoble.com

Learning to quote, paraphrase, and cite information on Crazy Hair Day Fourth graders at RES visit the library once a week for a combined enrichment and library class. More information about the class is available at our class blog, ThinkCreateCollaborate . Mrs. Rankin, our enrichment teacher, and Mrs. Redford co-teach this class in which students learn to use information and technology resources. Throughout the year, the scholars complete several research projects based on topics they choose themselves. They also learn different creative uses of technology, such as building wordclouds like those shown in the photo below. wordclouds based on students' research interests Internet use - green, yellow, and red sites Fourth graders also use their enrichment library time to select and enjoy books and audiobooks. reading mysteries listening to a DCF audiobook

Second grade library classes have been sharing folk tales from around the world. We have been connecting the retellers' storytelling styles to the scholars' own storytelling in their classroom Writing Workshops. We have enjoyed folk tales from the countries of India ( One Grain of Rice , shown above), Liberia, Japan, Wales, and Benin (Dahomey). all cover images from Amazon.com

September 2014 at the RES library, by the numbers Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  2056 --  that's 102 per day Number of scholar visits to the library: over 1,000  (15 classes per week plus individual visits) Number of families signing up for free family accounts at the library: 10 Number of families visiting the library during Open House nights : over 50 It's been the busiest September on record at the RES library. That's quite an accomplishment for our community of readers! -Mrs. Redford