FPES Learning Commons
2nd Nine Weeks Quarterly Report 2018-2019
New Check-In Station
Check out our new Boys Read Corner!
Warm Up With A Good Book
Usage Trends
Circulation Statistics-Check outs per month
November 2018-2239
December 2018-1888
January 1-18, 2019-1217
Scheduled Classes 4K-2nd Grade 8:00am-10:45am Daily (Fixed Schedule)
Scheduled weekly visits include a read aloud and an accompanying lesson related to the
7 Habits of Highly Effective People or a lesson supporting classroom curriculum and/or the ELA standards followed by book checkout and Makerspace time permitting.
In November, we read Fletcher and the Falling Leaves. Kindergarten students then created fox puppets to help retell the story to their families. I also shared One is a Feast for a Mouse. Students then worked in teams on a sequencing activity in which they had to cut and paste the items that the mouse picked up for this Thanksgiving meal in the correct order.
In December, kindergarten and first grade students had so much fun creating Splat Christmas books. After sharing the story, Merry Christmas, Splat, kindergarten students had to predict what they thought was in Splat's large present and draw it for their book. First grade students delved a little deeper into the story through character depictions, retelling the chronological events of the story and then predicting what was inside the present.
Second grade students focused on story mapping during the second nine weeks and worked in teams as well as individually. After the read aloud students completed story maps that included listing the characters, describing the setting and retelling the beginning, middle and end of the story and then an evaluation of the story...what they liked about it and what they didn't like about it.
During the second nine weeks, I started reading the SC Picture Book Award Nominees to the related arts classes. We are now having a Battle of the Books competition in the Learning Commons to see which Picture Book Nominee will make it to the top.
Class Visits 3rd-5th Grades (Flexible Schedule)
- Third thru fifth grade students visit the Learning Commons throughout the day independently for book checkout.
- Fourth grade classes participated in my Explorers Scavenger Hunt.
- Third and fourth classes had their second in a series of five Digital Citizenship lessons. This lesson focused on Being Safe while on the internet. Students learned to distinguish between private and personal information. We discussed what types of personal information is okay to share and examples of private information that should never be shared while online. We then discussed the importance of strong passwords and students practiced creating strong passwords.
- Fifth grade classes also had their second in a series of five Digital Citizenship lessons. This lesson focused on evaluating websites for validity. Students worked with a partner and evaluated an assigned website using a rubric. Some of the websites were fake while others were good sites.
- Fifth grade classes had a great time working on my Westward Expansion Scavenger Hunt and the Industrial Revolution Scavenger Hunt. These classes are so competitive!
2nd Graders on the Nonfiction Text Feature Scavenger Hunt
Merry Christmas Splat
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves
Goals
I will create a Digital Citizen unit of study for the fifth grade students that meets the Computer Science Standards and prepares students for safe and responsible behavior on the internet. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals of digital citizenship and mastery of four digital literacy computer science standards in the areas of safety, being respectful and being responsible through creative instructional videos.
*The second digital literacy lesson was taught during the second nine weeks. Students in the fifth grade learned the five major criteria for finding valid websites. They were then given the opportunity to evaluate/grade a website for its validity. Other grade levels learned the importance of staying safe while on the internet. We distinguished between private and personal information and then created strong passwords.
Professional
I will promote literacy in our school with reading programs each nine weeks and incentives throughout the year.
*I am continuing to work with students in creating book reviews. We will start sharing book reviews on the morning news show on Tuesdays. We are currently having a Warm Up with a Good Book reading incentive. Students can have their book review and/or picture with a favorite book displayed in the Learning Commons.
Programming
- Warm Up With A Good Book-Students are encouraged to share a book recommendation on our winter themed bulletin board. Younger students can have their picture taken with a favorite book.
- In an effort to retrieve some of our overdue library books, we are having a Return Overdue Book Drive, an incentive program for our students and teachers. At the end of the second nine weeks, if a class has no overdue library books (30 days or longer overdue), then the class will receive a 30-minute MakerSpace in the LC coupon. This is also an incentive for teachers, because they will get 30-minutes of free planning.
Upcoming Events
February 1-28--Love That Book Reading Promotion
February 25-March 1--Read Across America Week
March 25-29--Spring Book FairSuccesses
- On November 30th, I met with David Wendt, our Follett Representative, to review my current collection status. Even though our collection is currently considered to be At Risk, I was pleased to find out that we can meet the Basic requirements simply by weeding our aged titles. We will need to weed approximately 2800 books in order to reach the Basic level.
- We now have a Boys Read area in the FPES Learning Commons. I chose a corner near the entrance that was not being fully utilized to transform. It is our hopes that this display will help spark an interest in our male students especially those that are struggling readers. Fourth and fifth grade boys are responsible in keeping the shelves stocked with eye-catching and interesting books on varied reading levels. The boys have selected a variety of genres and subject matter for this area including-sports, hunting/fishing, cars, military, wars (Civil War and WWII are really popular), graphic novels, fantasy, sports related fiction and science fiction. I have also started letting the 3rd-5th grade boys check out magazines in this area which is something we haven't tried in the past so I am interested to see how that goes.
- I also created a Check-In station to help alleviate some of the traffic at the media assistant's desk. Students really enjoy being able to check-in their library books. I had one student tell me, "That's a very smart idea!"
Contact Information
Email: sstewart@lexington1.net
Website: fpeslearningcommons.weebly.com
Location: 7350 Fish Hatchery Rd, Pelion, SC 29123
Phone: 803-821-2514
Twitter: @FPESLMS