RES Library Media Center News

First and second grade students at Richmond Elementary School in Richmond, Vermont have selected Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions as our schoolwide Red Clover (Children's Choice Award) book for 2017-2018!  During their library classes, the students all read or listened to 10 of the best illustrated books from the 2016 publishing year. The selection included fiction and nonfiction, poetry, and a folktale. Then each student voted for his or her favorite. Whoosh! received twice as many votes as the second place choice, Frankencrayon by Michael Hall. Whoosh! is the biography of engineer and inventor Lonnie Johnson, whose best known creation is the Super Soaker toy water gun. Johnson is an amazing role model for his curiosity and persistence, and students loved reading about his work for NASA and his model rockets. The book was created by author Chris Barton and  illustrator Don Tate. One student asked the librarian, "Where are the res...

Third graders researching pioneer schools and home crafts, Northern Paiute activist Sarah Winnemucca, and more November 2017 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  1425 --  that's 84 per day  in our four weeks of school this month Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 727 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 700  (14 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of times scholars used the PebbleGo nonfiction research database: 237 Number of third graders who researched topics about explorers, settlers, and the Westward Expansion movement in the United States: 50  (see related blog post )

Which resources will help me answer my questions? Third graders visited the library this week to do research about how Americans moved westward across the country. The scholars selected from print and digital resources to learn more about topics ranging from pioneer homes to the the importance of Crazy Horse. They will be using the information they learned to complete projects in their classrooms and their enrichment time with Mrs. Rankin. We are very proud of all of our history researchers! photo credit: Mrs. Girouard at  @RESgrade3

Book shopping in a quiet patch of sunlight October 2017 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  1574 --  that's 7 9 per day  in our four weeks of school this month Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 398 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 1,000  (14 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of third graders served by librarian visits to their classroom: 16 (read more about it here )

First kindergarten library class -- so many great books to choose from! September 2017 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  1787 --  that's  89 per day  in our four weeks of school this month Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 304 Number of scholar visits to the library:  over 1,000  (14 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of kindergartners who checked out their first ever RES library books:  49! Hooray!

Mrs. Redford working with third graders in their classroom photo credit Shaun Langevin Sometimes RES scholars come to the library for literacy lessons and book selection. And sometimes, the librarian goes to them! Mrs. Redford worked in a third grade classroom last week with scholars who were creating online comic books about their reading lives. The lessons were created by their classroom teacher Mrs. Girouard, and both Mrs. Girouard and Mrs. Redford helped the students with the technology tool (Book Creator). This kind of co-teaching in classrooms is part of the library program at several grade levels at RES.

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. This week and next week we will we be sharing Whoosh!: Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions by Chris Barton, illustrated by Don Tate. Students have loved this true story about how NASA engineer/inventor Lonnie Johnson overcame many setbacks to develop the world's most powerful, most popular water gun! More information about Mr. Johnson is available online at Visit to Mr. Johnson’s Workshop video from CBS News Il...

Thank you all very much to the students and families who stopped by the library during our two Open House nights! It was wonderful to see everyone, and especially to meet the families of our new preschoolers and kindergartners for the first time. Several family members signed up for library accounts so they could check out extra books for their children -- stop by the library any time if you are interested in getting a family account.

Sharing picture books with friends Kindergartners have spent the first month of school exploring different kinds of books in the library, and checking out books to share in their classrooms. So far they have explored picture books and nonfiction "true" books. They have also explored the early reader or "pink dot" collection, which includes books like  The Cat in the Hat. The early reader collection has lots of high interest books such as nonfiction "true books" about animals, space, and vehicles; Star Wars, LEGO, and  Fancy Nancy  stories; and comic book-style stories for new readers. Last week they also visited the collection of books that connect to Señora Harris' Spanish curriculum. They are looking forward to taking two books home every week, starting in October. They are very excited to share their library books with their families! Lots of excellent shark books in nonfiction! Exploring the Spanish section Hmmm...so man...

Students at all grade levels have been discovering new books and new strategies in the library! Kindergartners explored the Spanish books. These include the wonderful stories Señora Harris shares in Spanish class. Second graders learned to use the self checkout station.  Now they can get new books every day! And third graders learned to search for books  in OPALS, the library's catalog system.  Hmm...do you look for the title, the author, or the subject?

Welcome back to the RES Library! We are off to a great start to the new year. Recommending books to a classmate in second grade library class Here is some information and Frequently Asked Questions about library services in the 2017-2018 school year. You can also find this information at the 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 bo...

Books about firetrucks? Books about kangaroos? We have those! Number of summer library books returned today by awesome RES summer readers: 661 Number of summer library books checked in and put back on the shelves by 4  amazing volunteers (and 1  extremely grateful librarian): 661 Number of students who checked out their first library books of the year: 33 Number of welcome-back smiles, high-fives, and hugs: we lost track but there were a lot Thank you everyone for a fabulous first day of school in the RES Library. We are looking forward to a great school year!

Third graders with their summer library books. Happy reading everyone! 2016-2017 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff : 15,388 Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to: 2,049 Number of uses of PebbleGo science and social studies electronic databases: 2,206 Number of uses of  Culturegrams social studies database: 688 since we subscribed to the database in March Number of scholar visits to the library: over 8,000 Number of scholars served by librarian visits to classroom: over 2,000 Number of summer library books in staff members' and students' hands for the summer: 1,860 Happy reading!  Thanks for a fabulous school year of reading and creating! - Beth Redford, RES School Library Media Specialist

Fourth graders gathered on Wednesday, June 14 to share their Capstone Projects and celebrate their learning at our Capstone Celebration. These fourth graders 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 selected a topic and designed a Capstone Project to share his or her interests and knowledge. We are so proud of all our scholars! Thank you very much to our District's Director of Curriculum, Communication and Innovation, Mike Berry for visiting our Capstone Celebration to capture our scholars' learning and pride in the video below.

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 selected a topic and designed a Capstone Project to share his or her interests and knowledge. Fourth graders teaching parents and peers about rabbits, video game design,  ballet, computer hardware and more at our Capstone Celebration Fourth graders gathered on Wednesday, June 14 to share their Capstone Projects and celebrate their learning at our Capstone Celebration 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

Here a few samples of the Capstone Presentations created in Enrichment Library class by RES fourth graders. The scholars developed their own research questions, which are shown above the presentations that answer them. We are very proud of all our fourth grade scholars! We will be posting all the projects for all three classes on the Enrichment Library class blog, ThinkCreateCollaborate , in the upcoming week. Why are things named the way they are? Why would someone make an instrument? (trifold poster plus handmade instruments) What was it like in England on the home front during World War II?

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 Thursday, June 15, 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 library media specialist Beth Redford at 434-2461 or beth.redford@cesuvt.org .

"Volcano," a two-word concrete (shape) poem by an RES second grader Second graders writing concrete poems May 2017 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff:  1708   --  that's 78  items per day in our 22 days of school this month Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to : 132 Number of times scholars used the PebbleGo nonfiction research database:  219 Number of times scholars used our new CultureGrams database to learn about geography and cultures:  128 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 librarian visits to  classrooms:  over 150 Number of second graders who wrote concrete (shape) poems in connection with their classroom poetry unit:  48  

 One-word concrete poem: "Flying" Can you see the "L" flying? In collaboration with their classroom unit on poetry, RES second graders have been learning about and writing concrete poems in their library classes. Concrete poems, also known as shape poems, are poems where the arrangement of words or letters on the page add to the meaning of the poem. Students shared several books of concrete poetry, then they wrote their own. We are so impressed with their creativity!

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! - Darcie Rankin, enrichment teacher and Beth Redford, library media specialist. Video of computer components How do computers work? Model of treehouse with labels How do you build a treehouse? video game, programmed with Bloxels How do you code a video game? Trifold poster and iMovie How do volcanoes erupt? How did Harry Houdini do his magic tricks? Time-lapse video of LEGO model being constructed How and why was the Taj Mahal built?