RES Library Media Center News

Have a warm and wonderful holiday break, and don't forget to read!  - Beth Redford, RES Library Media Specialist Kindergartners excited about their books for holiday break And if you run out of things to read before school starts again on January 2,  you can visit the Richmond Free Library in Richmond village! Please check the Richmond Free Library website for their special holiday hours. Richmond Free Library

Fourth graders at RES are wrapping up a unit on media literacy. They learned about several strategies that advertisers use to get people's attention and convince them to buy products. Then they practiced finding those strategies in different kinds of advertisements. Finally, the scholars created video advertisements for books, also known as book trailers, to try to convince other scholars to read their favorite stories. Here's a great example, from a fourth grader who used the advertising strategies of including Humor and Warm and Fuzzy Feelings in his book trailer for Life of Ty: Penguin Problems by Lauren Myracle. These book trailers give scholars the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned about advertising: Do they know what some frequently used advertising strategies are? Do they understand how advertisers use these strategies to try to persuade people to do something?  At RES we share student-created book trailers on the Internet on the library...

  First grader digging in to this year's Red Clover books First and second graders are enjoying this year's Red Clover books in the RES library. Named after Vermont's state flower, the Red Clover Award is Vermont's children's choice award for picture books. Every year, a group of teachers and librarians puts together a list of 10 fiction and nonfiction Red Clover books. Students who read or listen to at least five titles from the list get to vote on their favorite books. Their votes, along with votes from students all over the state, help choose the Red Clover Award winner. Ask your first and second graders which Red Clover books are their favorites so far! More information about the Red Clover program and the rest of this year's reading list is available at the  Red Clover Website .  image from Amazon.com

Fourth graders choosing music to convey the advertising strategy of "Intensity: Questions from our fourth grade unit on media literacy: How many brands can you identify from just one letter? What are some types of media?  November 2016 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff: 1478--  that's 87   per day  in our three weeks of school this month Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 234 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 700  (13 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of fourth graders learning media literacy by studying advertising strategies: 49 .   They will be using what they learned to created video book commercials (book trailers) in December.

[ View the story "Field Trips and Wildlife: Week 7 of Connecting Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

[ View the story "Lanterns and Farming: Week 6 of Connecting Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

[ View the story "Gardens and Playhouses: Week 4 of Connecting Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

Kindergartners choosing books in our sunny library October 2016 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff: 1472--  that's  74 per day  in our four weeks of school this month Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 323 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 900  (14 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of scholars served by the librarian during lessons and visits in classrooms:  over 100 Number of kindergartners who took their first library books home to share with their families: 42! Hooray!

[ View the story "We all love books! Week 4 of comparing cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

As part of their "Comparing Cultures" Unit, RES second graders are connecting via the Internet with a classroom in Hong Kong. For the last two weeks we have been talking about Typhoon Haima, foods, farms, and sustainability! [ View the story "Storms and Sustainability: Weeks 2 and 3 of Connecting Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

For the past several weeks, fourth graders have been learning and practicing research and digital citizenship skills in their enrichment library classes. The scholars are working through a series of three interest-based projects for which they get to choose the topics themselves (see the examples below): Quote Posters, Google Documents with freely reusable images and citations, and Mini Research Projects In the process of creating these projects, the scholars are learning and practicing these important skills: how to find information in a book how to find images online that are free to reuse in school projects how to create citations for books and online images how to use Google Documents and the online tool Recite.com They are also learning more about topics they are interested in, from East Indian dance to Humvees to legendary monsters and much more! We are very proud of the fourth graders' hard work and perseverance on these projects. - Darcie Ran...

As part of their "Comparing Cultures" Unit, RES second graders have started connecting with a classroom in Hong Kong! They are looking forward to exchanging questions and answers about Chinese and American culture. So far they have shared class pictures and a little bit about our school and play areas. The class in Hong Kong is a Year Three class (the same age as second graders). They attend the Renaissance College school, an international school for students ages 5 to 19. Here's a link to their school website: http://www.rchk.edu.hk/ [ View the story "Week 1 - Connecting Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

RES kindergartners lost in their library books! September 2016 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  1868--  that's 89 per day  in our four weeks of school this month Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 192 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 900  (14 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of scholars served by the librarian during lessons and visits in classrooms:  over 100 Number of kindergartners who checked out their first ever RES library books: 42! Hooray!

cross-posted from the 3rd Grade @ RES blog Reading without Walls ~ a Challenge! In the month of October, third graders at RES will be participating in the "Reading Without Walls" Challenge by National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature  Gene Luen Yang! During the challenge, third graders are encouraged to expand their reading horizons by reading a book outside of their comfort zones! Read a book about a character who doesn't look or live like you.  Read a book about a topic you don't know much about. (STEM, history, sports)  Read a book in a format you don't normally read for fun. (picture book, comic book, book in verse)  Throughout the entire month, third graders will get to check out an extra book from the RES Library to help meet the goals of this challenge. We hope you have fun and enjoy finding new books to read with your family! For more information, check out the website here ! image from http://www.cbcbooks.org/reading-with...

Over the past week, RES fourth graders searched for clues, solved puzzles, and practiced their library skills while playing a Breakout immersive game in their enrichment library classes. Our fabulous enrichment teacher, Darcie Rankin, adapted the "Breakout from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" game that was originally created by Amy Williams. The game was particularly good for practicing how to look up books in the library's online catalog, and how to find nonfiction books on the shelves. More information about the original game and the Breakout model of gaming and education can be found at the Breakoutedu website  (scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page to see the original Breakout from Mr. Lemoncello's Library game). Mrs. Rankin put together the video below, of the fourth grade classes during their Breakout game days. Thank you Mrs. Rankin for always bringing so much creativity and engagement to the library!

Third graders are learning skills to help them find books independently in the library. First they learned how to use the library's online catalog, OPALS, to find the call numbers for books. Great teamwork searching for call numbers! Then they practiced putting things in alphabetical order, including letters, words, and finally call numbers on students posing as books . Are these "books" in alphabetical order yet? After the alphabetical order practice, the scholars were able to find fiction books on the library shelves, because those books are in alphabetical order by the authors' last names. The third graders are so proud of their skills in searching and finding books independently!  

Tie Dye Help Students are working hard at RES to follow expectations!  They are doing such a great job that we anticipate they will light the second set of lights, again!  This time our celebration is giving scholars a chance to tie dye their white shirts they brought in at the start of the year in RES colors ! Kim Aucter has graciously agreed to lead this activity during our art classes, but she still needs help.  We need extra hands to help with the tie dying of the shirts with students, rinsing out shirts, and also laundering all the new shirts.  Please look through and sign up for as many slots as you think you can help with. Thanks for all you do to help support your children and us! The RES Staff Please click the link below to find a volunteer time.  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090548afa62f4-tiedye

Fourth graders intent on their Dorothy Canfield Fisher books! Welcome RES fourth graders and families to the 2016-2017 Dorothy Canfield Fisher reading program! The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award is Vermont's Children's Choice award for books. The award has been in existence since 1957 and is open to Vermont students in grades 4-8. Grade 4 students at Richmond Elementary School are encouraged to participate in the program by reading or listening to the age appropriate DCF titles that are in the library's collection. Other titles from the list can found at the Richmond Free Library . Grade 4 students who read or listen to at least 5 of the selected books from the list by early April, 2017 are eligible to vote for their favorite in the state-wide program. They will also receive an invitation to our world-famous DCF Pizza Party! More information about the program is below, or please contact Mrs. Redford if you have any questions or would like more informat...

Welcome back to the RES Library! We are off to a great start to the new year. Fourth graders in Enrichment Library Class Here is some information and Frequently Asked Questions about library services in the 2016-2017 school year. You can also find this information at the new library web page at https://richmond.cesuvt.org/classrooms/library The page is also available as a link under the Students section on the RES web page. When are library books due back? Kindergartners are currently practicing borrowing library books and taking them to the classrooms; starting in October they will be taking them home! How many books do scholars check out? Scholars may have two books checked out at a time. When is the library open? 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Friday Can I check out items from the RES library? Yes! Family members can get accounts at the RES library. This is a great thing to do if your child goes through a lot of books, especially new readers ...

2015-2016 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff : 16,000 Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to: 3798 Number of uses of PebbleGo science and social studies electronic databases:  3627 Number of scholar visits to the library: over 8,000 Number of scholars served by librarian visits to classroom: over 2000 Number of summer library books in staff members' and students' hands for the summer: 1908 Happy reading!  Thanks for a fabulous school year of reading and creating! - Beth Redford, RES School Library Media Specialist

Children's librarian L.J. Kopf from the  Richmond Free Library  visited RES today to promote RFL's Summer Reading Program: On Your Mark, Get Set...Read!  This fabulous  FREE  program provides reading records, prizes, activities, and an end of summer party to encourage children to read and maintain their literacy skills over the summer. All students received a yellow booklet to take home that explains more about the program. The Richmond Free Library is located at 201 Bridge Street in downtown Richmond. Please  visit their website   for more information about their hours and services. Happy summer reading!

RES scholars checked out over 1,400 summer library books this week! Reading over the summer is a great way for students to maintain and improve their reading skills during school break. And when you get to choose the books yourself, it's fun too!

Sign up deadline extended to June 10! Cece Bell, the author of the 2016 Dorothy Canfield Fisher (DCF) award-winning book El Deafo , will be accepting her award on Wednesday, June 15 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Montpelier High School. Ms. Bell will be signing books and there will be special prizes for DCF voters. All RES fourth graders are invited to the ceremony, because all fourth graders participated in the Dorothy Canfield Fisher program by reading or listening to at least one DCF book! Space is limited at the award ceremony, so students and their families must sign up in advance by visiting this link . The sign up deadline has been extended to June 10 . The awards ceremony is free, but families will have to provide transportation to Montpelier. I will be going, and I would love to know who else from Richmond will be there! If you sign up to attend, please let me know so we can sit together. My email address is beth.redford@cesuvt.org. Looking forward to the evening! - Beth...

[ View the story "Summer is coming! Week 7 - Grade 2 comparing cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

Once again this summer the RES library media center will be holding summer book checkouts! Scholars in kindergarten and grades one, two, and three will be able to check out up to 10 books from the library media center and take them home for the summer. Starting on Tuesday, June 7, scholars will be bringing home “Carry Out a Good Book” bags with their summer library books. Each scholar will also get a note explaining the program and a list of books he or she has checked out for the summer. The books will be due back when school starts in the fall. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our  Mrs. Redford at 434-2461 or  beth.redford@cesuvt.org

Proud first grade authors of the newest books in the library's Early Reader collection May 2016 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff: 1390--  that's  66 per day  in our four weeks of school this month Number of times scholars used the PebbleGo nonfiction databases about animals, biographies,and more:  383 Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 512 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 800  (13 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of scholars served by the librarian during lessons and visits in classrooms:  over 350 Number of fourth graders who completed Capstone independent research projects in their enrichment library classes: 46 Number of first graders who wrote books for the library's Early Reader collection: 5! Thank you Mrs. Lister's scholars!

Fourth grade scholars at RES have been participating in a once a week class, co-taught by teacher-librarian Beth Redford and enrichment teacher Darcie Rankin. The class focuses on digital literacy, critical thinking, research skills, and interest driven projects. Scholars’ culminating activities were independent, interest driven research projects. Each scholar self selected a topic and designed a Capstone Project to share his or her interests and knowledge.   Fourth graders and their families and friends gathered on Wednesday, May 18 to share their Capstone Projects and celebrate their learning. Thank you to our principal Michael Berry for putting together this video about the Capstone Celebration along with our Art and Music evening! Digital versions of many of the projects are available at the links below: Mrs. Berliner's Class Capstone Presentations Mrs. LeFrancois' Class Capstone Presentations Ms. Senning's Class Capstone Presentations Thank you very much...

[ View the story "Rooftop Playgrounds: Week 6 - Grade 2 Comparing Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

[ View the story "Week 5 - Grade 2 Comparing Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

April 2016 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  1416  --  that's  89 per day  in our three weeks of school this month Number of times scholars used the PebbleGo nonfiction databases about animals, biographies,and more:  432 Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 246 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 600  (13 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of scholars served by the librarian during lessons and visits in classrooms:  over 250 Number of second graders who created collaborative eBooks about aspects of culture in China, Mexico, and America: 45 (see photos above) Number of pages read and listened to by fourth graders participating in the Dorothy Canfield Fisher reading program: thousands! We are very proud of all our fourth grade scholars, who all participated in ...

[ View the story "Week 4 - Grade 2 Comparing Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

RES Red Clover Winning Book: Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton All school year, RES scholars have been sharing the 10 excellent picture books on the 2015-2016 Red Clover Award reading list. Every year the Vermont Center for the Book puts together a new reading list of 10 fiction and nonfiction picture books for this award, which is named after our state flower. Vermont students in kindergarten through fourth grade read, listen to, discuss, and write about the books on the list. Then each student votes for his or her favorite. RES students voted for  Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton as their favorite Red Clover book this year! Other top vote-getters were Lindbergh: The Tale of a Flying Mouse by Torben Kuhlmann and Elizabeth: Queen of the Seas , written by Lynne Cox and illustrated by Brian Floca (shown above). All the votes from RES will go to the Vermont Department of Libraries. The Department of libraries will add our votes together with votes from ...

On April 15, RES fourth grade scholars completed their participation in the annual Dorothy Canfield Fisher (DCF) Award reading program. Every year, Vermont scholars in grades four through eight who participate in this program read titles from a list of new books. Each scholar who reads or listens to at least five titles on the list can vote on his or her favorite book. At RES, fourth graders who read at least five books on the current DCF list  also receive invitations to a lunchtime pizza party in the RES library. When RES fourth graders voted for their favorite DCF book, the winner was: Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald Other top choices were Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson and The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm. We are very proud of all of our fourth grade scholars who took part in the 2014-2015 DCF Book Award reading program! Between them they read and listened to many thousands of pages of fiction and nonfiction, improved their reading skills, a...

As part of their Comparing Cultures unit, second graders at RES collaborated to write eBooks to compare aspects of culture in China, Mexico, and the United States. The books written by Miss Darling's class and Mrs. Robinson's class are shown as videos below. Mrs. Riggs' class will be finishing their book soon and we will post it then!

[ View the story "Week 3 - Grade 2 Comparing Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

Fourth graders are creating presentations to share what they have learned over the course of their Capstone Projects in enrichment library class. Below are a few examples of the presentations-in-progress and the research questions they answer. We are incredibly proud of all of our fourth grade scholars for their thoughtfulness and hard work on these projects! We look forward to sharing them all at Art/Music/Capstone night on May 18. - Darcie Rankin, enrichment teacher and Beth Redford, library media specialist. Mood board and dress How do you design and make a dress? iMovie and student-grown crystals How do crystals form? Google Slides presentation How do service dogs do their jobs? puppet show -- script in progress Who were some of the best known Egyptian gods  and what were they known for? comic book Why are there so many different stories  of legendary creatures? LEGO model and poster with text How did the Allies win W...

RES second graders and the students of class 3LT  at the Renaissance College School in Hong Kong March 2016 at the RES library, by the numbers Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  1761  --  that's  84 per day  in our four weeks of school this month Number of times scholars used the PebbleGo nonfiction databases about animals, biographies,and more:  489 Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 145 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 800  (13 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of scholars served by the librarian during lessons and visits in classrooms:  over 300 Number of second graders who have been discussing culture via Twitter with a class in Hong Kong:  46 (all three classes) . It turns out we all love Roald Dahl books!

[ View the story "Week 2 - Grade 2 Comparing Cultures with Hong Kong" on Storify ]

As part of their "Comparing Cultures" Unit, RES second graders are connecting with classrooms in other countries. Today the scholars started connecting with a classroom in Hong Kong! They are looking forward to exchanging questions and answers about Chinese and American culture. You can read the first question from Mrs. Riggs' second graders in the Storify below. First the second graders worked as a group to decide how they would like to introduce themselves and what question they wanted to ask today. Then they posted their Tweets which you can read below. They can't wait to hear back from their new friends! [ View the story "Our New Friends in Hong Kong!" on Storify ]

The Making of Monkey King A legend from China Second graders are learning about aspects of culture in their classrooms as part of their Comparing Cultures unit. They are studying the cultures of Mexico and China. As part of this study of cultures, in the library we are sharing famous Chinese folk legends about Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. The students have been making connections with similar monkey characters in American culture, from Curious George to Master Monkey in the Kung Fu Panda movies. We can't wait to see what Monkey King will do next!

Second graders writing a biography of Frida Kahlo February 2016 at the RES library, by the numbers Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  1096  --  that's  77 per day  in our three weeks of school this month Number of times scholars used the PebbleGo nonfiction databases about animals, biographies,and more:  223 Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 208 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 700  (13 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of scholars served by the librarian during lessons and visits in classrooms:  over 250 Number of second graders who researched, wrote, and recorded biographies of historical figures using PebbleGo online database and VoiceThread online slideshow recorder (you can see their work in earlier posts on this blog): 46

Fourth graders are researching and taking notes for their Capstone independent research projects. Fourth grade research can look like reading websites or watching online videos (see photo above). It can also look like reading printed articles and books (see photo below). Sometimes our fourth grade scholars have the opportunity to do research by interviewing adult experts, either by email or in person. Two of our scholars will be interviewing Chef James for Capstone projects about cooking; another scholar has interviewed a veterinarian for a project about veterinary medicine. And one scholar doing research about how costumes, especially Star Wars costumes, are made was able to interview a local expert who has made his own Stormtrooper armor (see video below). Many thanks to 501st Legion member Andrew Liptak for visiting RES to help our scholar with his research, and to Principal Berry for filming the interview! Five minute condensed version of interview Full 30 ...

RES second graders have been researching famous people. They used their research to write short biographical speeches. Then they recorded their speeches with the VoiceThread online program. Click the play arrow below to hear the speeches from Miss Darling's class!

RES second graders have been researching famous people. They used their research to write short biographical speeches. Then they recorded their speeches with the VoiceThread online program. Click the play arrow below to hear the speeches from Mrs. Robinson's class. VoiceThread speeches from Miss Darling's class will be coming soon!

RES second graders have been researching famous people. They used their research to write short biographical speeches. Then they recorded their speeches with the VoiceThread online program. Click the play arrow below to hear the speeches from Mrs. Robinson's class. VoiceThread speeches from Mrs. Riggs' and Miss Darling's classes will be coming soon!

RES fourth graders were featured on Vermont Public Radio on February 8, during Vermont Edition at noon and 7 p.m.! They were interviewed in January for the VPR radio program Dorothy’s List , about the children’s books nominated for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award. Every month Dorothy’s List features a different title, and RES scholars were interviewed about El Deafo , an award-winning book written and illustrated by Cece Bell. VPR reporter Amy Noyes interviewed our scholars as they discussed El Deafo, and she also recorded the fourth graders’ questions for the author. You can listen to the recorded show any time online at the Dorothy's List podcast. (link below) Dorothy's List podcast: El Deafo by Cece Bell featuring RES fourth graders A full transcript of the podcast and some wonderful photos of our scholars are available on the Dorothy's List website (link below) Transcript and Photos Principal Berry also created a video about the day Ms. Noyes visited RE...

RES fourth graders will be featured on Vermont Public Radio today during Vermont Edition at noon and 7 p.m.! They were interviewed in January for the VPR radio program Dorothy’s List , about the children’s books nominated for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award. Every month Dorothy’s List features a different title, and RES scholars were interviewed about El Deafo , an award-winning book written and illustrated by Cece Bell. Ms. Noyes interviewed our scholars as they discussed El Deafo , and she also recorded the fourth graders’ questions for the author. Ths show will also be available on the Dorothy’s List podcast this afternoon. We are very grateful to VPR and Dorothy’s List for choosing RES to represent Vermont student readers! Read more about it at the Dorothy's List Storify website !