Sope Creek Elementary Library Media Center

Grand Opening!

The Library is officially open for business to all students and teachers!  Today, Monday, December 5th will be the first day that students are able to check out books from the Library.  Teachers will be sigining up for a time to bring their students to visit the Library, receive some orientation and instruction and check out books. 

It is very important that all the children receive instruction during this first week.  While we all want the students to be able to get to the books and check them out, they need to be able to locate books and have a basic understanding of how the Library and its information is organized.  These orientation sessions are taking about 30 minutes and students are free to browse the Library shelves after that.

It has been been a successful and joyous day here at Sope Creek, and I expect the week to continue the same way!

Welcome back, everyone!

The Home Stretch (we hope!)

Well, we hope we're in the home stretch now.  We took down the wall today to see what the Library will look like once we're open for business.  Not bad, huh?  We have gotten about 2/3 of the Fiction books shelved, and everything but the 000--400s as far as Non-Fiction goes. 

The builder was out of wood for a bit, but now has one hundred shelves at the shop to work on over the Thanksgiving holiday.  This means that we should be able to complete the section of the Library that will house circulating books (not the Reference Section) in the next few weeks.

Even though the Library will not be ready for circulation yet, we will  begin Orientation sessions with individual classes when we get back from the Thanksgiving Break.  Each class, Kindergarten through 5th grade, will need to sign up for an introduction to the Library.  Otherwise, no one will know where anything is!  this shelf arrangement is new, and very different from what we had before.  As soon as all classes have had their Orientation, we should be ready to circulate books (cross your fingers!).

Mrs. Schultz-Suggs (Mrs. S) has drawn a map of the Library shelves, which you can find here.  A few small changes have been made, but for the most part it's accurate.  Once the changes have been finalized and the original map has been updated, a newly updated map will be posted here for all to see.

Mrs. S has been teaching the second grade about the Super 3 and the Big 6 using content from their Social Studies curriculum.  She has been teaching them to apply the steps of this research process (Plan, Do, Review) to any information problem, but specifically in order to create a timeline of the Early Settlers in Jamestown and Plymouth.  The classroom teachers have been providing the historyical knowledge, Mr. HIgman (the Technology teacher) has taught them how to use the computer program Timeliner, and Mrs. S has showed the stduents how to combine their skills and their knowledge (using the Super 3) in order to create their final product.  The rubric for this assignment was shared with the kids as well, so that they could plan (Step 1 in the Super 3) their work and shoot for becoming an "Expert Colonist."  They had a great time in the computer lab with Mrs. S and got a great start on this project.  Instruction on using the Super 3 Research Model will continue throughout the school year, and the students will be introduced to the Big 6 when they enter 3rd grade.

Open for Teachers!

I am happy to announce that parts of the Library are open for business to our teachers!  Though we still do not have all the shelves or all the books out (about 1/3 of them are up), we are allowing teachers to come in and check out books for their classrooms from the sections that have been shelved.

The E (for Everybody) picture book section is complete, as is the ER (Early Reader) chapter book section.  The Folk and Fairy Tales (Dewey Decimal number 398.2) are also shelved.  The Dewey Decimal 500s and 600s are on their shelves -- that's both Pure and Applied Sciences: things like space, physics, chemistry, wild and domesticated animals, the human body and medicine, dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures, as well as "domestic science" (parenting, personal budgeting, and other household stuff like that).  The 700s are finished: that's Arts and Leisure -- all kinds of sports, drawing, games, dance, etc. 

The 800 section (Literature) is sort of in flux.  We have the American Poetry shelved over with the Fairy Tales and the ER books, but we have a LOT of space on the shelves we set apart for Literature, so we may be moving them back to their rightful spot in the 800s.  We haven't made a final decision on that yet.

Our ultimate goal with all this rearranging is to increase the circulation of some of our wonderful books.  We have weeded a lot out of our collection and will be working hard in the coming months to build it back up again.  What we have right now is very good -- but some things the kids just don't check out.  This is why we moved Folk and Fairy Tales out of the non-fiction section and over by the Picture Books.  More kids will see more great books that way.  I hope that the new arrangement of shelves encourages our students to sample new and different books than they might otherwise have chosen.  Although the space is small, access to the books themselves is much improved, in my opinion.

As of right now, classes are welcome to come and visit for instruction or for stories (much of the first grade and all of the second grade have been in already!) even though the books are not quite available.  We are still searching for tables and chairs, but feel that the highest priority at this time is preparing the Library for business.  Please stay tuned for more updates on our progress.

O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay!

We have some shelves!!!  Not a lot (60) but we're really getting started.  Megin and Jessica have gotten 2/3 of the Picture Books out on the shelves already.  As we shelve, we are weeding the collection (getting rid of really old, outdated or falling apart books) and spot-checking (some books really need to be in a different category -- Early Reader chapter books or Folk and Fairy Tales). 

The shelves have dividers in them, which prevent "floppy shelves" -- when the bookend slides over and the books tilt precariously just waiting for the whole shelf to come down on an unsuspecting child! We are hoping they will come today or tomorrow with more shelves for us to fill.

I know that many of you are concerned about the fact that our school has been operating "without a Library" since August.  I would like everyone to know that despite the fact that the Library space is not yet open, Library services have always been available to the teachers.  Before the books were packed up last year, teachers were given the opportunity to select books for their classroom reading libraries and curricular units.  And in terms of access to actual books (even though it's not ideal) the public library is always an option. 

In addition, Jessica and Megin have been available to all faculty and staff to provide help using computer software and hardware, and locating online resources which tie into classroom instruction.  We have been busily ordering and cataloging books, planning for our Book Club and television show, collaborating with grade levels, creating lesson and unit plans, developing a Library website (which is not quite up and running yet), this blog you're reading now, and even teaching classes.  All this in addition to some of the less glamorous aspects of our jobs: changing laminating film, overhead bulbs, and broken computer equipment; installing software and printer drivers on new computers; fixing paper jams and other problems with all the copiers in the building.  Not to mention the time an effort we have been spending on the library renovation itself -- the configuration of the shelves, the selection of furniture, and maneuvering through the County's Purchasing procedures.

Early on in the year Jessica develpoed a Reference Skills lesson with the 5th grade, and just this week she began introducing the 2nd graders to the Big 6 and the Super 3 in the context of their upcoming Early Communities unit.  She has participated in the All-Day Planning days of three grade levels and is working to develop collaborative integtrated lesson with 2nd, 4th and 5th grades.  The Kindergarten, 1st grade and 3rd grade Planning Days are coming up and she will be attending those as well with an eye toward making curricular connections with the instruction of information skills.

Please feel free, at any time, to come and visit and chat with Jessica about any questions or concerns you may have.  If the shelves continue to be delivered at the rate they have been, we should open for business in two weeks.