Media Center Monthly Report Lavonia Elementary School

To: Mr. Brad Roberts, Principal

February 8, 2012

As we wrap up the month of January, we realized that although January was a short month for the media center, there was much activity. We began the New Year with classes coming in for research, students returning to check out books, and the media/technology committee meeting to discuss the upcoming book fair. This report includes a quantitative and qualitative analysis for the media center for the dates 1/9/12 1/31/12. Laurie Bryant School Library Media Specialist Candidate Quantitative: Student circulation 3918 Class visits for circulation - 27 Class visits for research 18 Class visits for media lessons & read alouds -17

Qualitative: y y The Kindergarten and 1st grade classes have received new reading logs and are continuing those for all students. The Kindergarten classes have been coming to the media center to learn about reading strategies such as reading for detail, making predictions, and sequencing, They drew pictures of snowmen while listening to There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow . Pictures were displayed in the media center along with a graphic organizer using pictures and words to focus on sequence and descriptions.

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Kindergarten classes also had lessons on comparing and contrasting fiction vs. nonfiction texts using pigeons as the topic one week and penguins as the topic the next week. They have been introduced to the encyclopedia, both print and online. Mrs. Foster s gifted students have been busy researching their favorite things. Groups of 4 or 5 students are researching daily, using encyclopedias, books, and online sources after having a basic overview of research tools and techniques with Mrs. Carter. Mrs. Carter attended and collaborated with teachers during grade level meetings on January 17. Some topics discussed were the book fair and some possible fundraisers for the teachers and students to participate in before the book fair. The fundraisers will help to give free books to those students who meet their Q3 AR goals. Mrs. Carter and Mrs. Gibson anticipate a busy spring book fair, which begins on February 27. The theme will be Book Fair Luau . We will have another Grandparent s Day during the book fair since this seems to be the biggest day for generating library funds. Plans and preparations have begun, including publicity, volunteer contacts, and scheduling. The media/technology committee met to discuss the possible fundraisers for the upcoming book fair. The Jeans for Books and Loose Change promotions were agreed upon by all those grade level chairs who attended. Books are Fun continues to be a hit with teachers. The representative from the company always brings fun and fascinating books for the teachers to look at and purchase. Grades 1, 2, and 3 have been visiting the media center to read Dewey books and get experience with the Dewey sections. Media lessons focused on the parts of non-fiction books, such as Table of Contents, chapters, index, and glossary. Encyclopedias, guide words, alphabetical order, volumes, and other standards-related terms were lesson focuses. The 3rd grade classes have been learning about rocks and fossils. Mrs. Carter located several Smart Board lessons on fossils and a video on World Book Online and suggested these links to the teachers. One class used the resource and scheduled a lesson in the media center; the other two used her suggested sources in their classrooms. She also helped teachers and students locate non-fiction books about these topics. Mrs. Carter offers a 3 group rotation between the computers, encyclopedias, and Dewey books in order for students to apply and develop research skills. This month, all fourth grade students, all gifted classes, and two second grade classes had a basic lesson with Mrs. Carter then a research topic and scheduled whole class research with the teacher guiding an encyclopedia group, Mrs. Gibson or another adult guiding the nonfiction book research group, and Mrs. Carter guiding the computer group who used World Book Online or sources located by Mrs. Carter included on the media center website links section.

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Students continue to check out books and take AR tests. Students were able to collect their AR awards for meeting the Q2 goals when they returned from their holiday break. Those students who met their reading goals received a sticker on their AR folder and a picture with a panda. The AR theme this year has been PAWS to Read . The Dashboard and AR reports show that for the month of January we had 5 Millionaire Readers, 2749 tests were taken with 2649 passed, and the average percent correct was 87.4% with a goal of 85%. The Internet was down on January 12, so this resulted in lower circulation and a lower amount of AR tests taken this day. The Good News Club continued their work with students this month. There has been good attendance, and they still are meeting on Mondays from 3:30-5:00. The 4th grade students had guest speakers visit to discuss the Revolutionary War. The guest speakers were dressed in authentic Revolutionary War clothing and talked to the students about the duties of soldiers during that era and about some of the skills people may have had during that time period. The 5th grade Library Pages continue to perform their duties, which include, the book store, shelving books, adopting and maintaining a book shelf, and helping with the book fair. They count money, use alphabetical order in shelving, assist younger students, and have opportunities to use Kindles, computers, and other library materials after completing their duties and responsibilities. Mrs. Carter met with PTO at their request; researched laminating machines again and offered pros and cons; made a survey at Survey Monkey and reported the findings to the PTO. The PTO was $156.25 short of money for laminator purchase. Students and parents arrive at the media center before and after school to checkout books and take AR tests. Parents also continue to request access to AR Home Connect and to become a Parent Library Patron to checkout additional books for their children and grandchildren. Daily, 7:30-8:30 a.m., there are many visitors to the media center, many who are regulars for checkout and use of computers. Resources were pulled to supplement the Revolutionary War study in 4th grade, Georgia resources pulled for 2nd grade, and biographies were pulled across grade levels. Daily duties include: Fulfilling teacher requests to add new students, adjusting class rolls in LibraryPro and RenPlace, assisting with use of AR and Star, collecting and delivering resources, assisting in book searches and searches for teaching resources, both print, online, Smart Board, and World Book; and pulling magazines to supplement topics and standards.