RES Library Media Center News

What kind of books do RES students want to read?  4th graders worked on a project this winter to select books that match our readers.   They were given the responsibility to select books for a portion of the library budget.                                 Students from all three 4th grade classrooms gathered information about RES student reading habits and preferences.  They interviewed each student and collected the data in a Google Form.  They analyzed this data to identify some priorities including Elephant & Piggie read-a-likes, graphic novels, Minecraft, & Fantasy books.  Tod, from Phoenix Bookstore, came in to give us a book talk about some new, fun, and informational books for them to consider.  Students then voted for the ones they wanted to get the most following the criteria identified by their research.   The re...

"There's a package here for you!" These are some of the best words a librarian can hear.  They signify new books arriving and now I can hardly contain my giddiness.  All other work is put to the side as I dive into the box of new books.  The excitement isn't just based on my own book desires, but for my students' as well.  I immediately starting thinking about matching the new books up with the perfect student. Well, I have an even better experience because our school was lucky to receive 50 amazing books from a couple of amazing kids.  A brother and sister team have started a campaign to close the literacy gap and help spread diverse books across the nation.  Their campaign is called 50 States 50 Books.  More info about their service project can be found here .  Children need to see themselves in the books that they read.  They also need to read about experiences different from their own. With this donation from 50 States 50 Books, o...

On Feb 4th and 6th, Richmond Elementary School was visited by some special guests:  author John Churchman and his dogs!  John is the co-author of the Sweet Pea and Friends picture books.  These books are beautifully told stories of farm animals.   They have wonderful messages of friendship, bravery, community, and belonging.  If you haven't read one yet, do yourself a favor and read one of his books today!  (The library has multiple copies!) John met with each class and read one of his stories.  He talked to students about inspirations for stories and the value of their imaginations.  We even got a sneak peak of his next book:  The Easter Surprise.  And of course his dogs, Laddie and Maisie, were a real hit with the students. A huge thank you to the RES PTO for sponsoring this event!  Seeing storybook characters come to life before your eyes is truly priceless.

The library is a great space to come find a good book to read or to help answer some of your burning questions.  But the library also extends beyond the border of its walls to help with these quests by offering a variety of digital resources.  I'm excited to tell you about two new ones and to give a shout out to the ones we already know and love. New to our school: JLG Digital  is a book streaming service provided by Junior Library Guild.  Each month a new set of books expertly selected for elementary students will arrive on our platform.  The collection fits a diverse range of needs and interests.   It's like Netflix, but for books!   Students and teachers can click on the link from our  library website  to start reading.  If students want to continue reading a book at another time, they just need to login with their username and password (firstname.lastname, books123).  But other than that, no password is required...

Here is a snapshot sampling of students enjoying choice time.  Students can choose an activity after they have completed their book shopping.  Students can choose to color, do puzzles, play games, listen to audiobooks, or snuggle with a reading buddy while looking at their books.  It's great to see students interact with each other and reading in such a engaging way.

Hello Richmond Elementary School Community!  I'm excited to start the school year as your new school librarian.  I've created a short video to introduce myself.  Thank you so much for the warm welcome to start my year! :) Link to video:  https://spark.adobe.com/video/1zmmm2tzsXHdx

February 2018 at the RES library, by the numbers: Number of library books and other materials checked out by RES scholars, families, and staff: 1233 -- that's 77 per day in our three weeks of school this month Number of TumbleBooks electronic books read and listened to: 146 Number of scholar visits to the library: over 600 (14 classes per week plus additional class visits plus individual visits) Number of times scholars used the PebbleGo nonfiction research database: 130