Notes from the Smith School Library
Trimester One Newsletter
August 2023 to November 2023
Hello Smith Families!
My name is Hope Morrison, and I am thrilled to be the new librarian at Smith School! This is my seventeenth year as a school librarian; I was an elementary librarian for eleven years in Illinois before moving to Montana in 2017. Since arriving in Helena, I have worked in the libraries at Helena Middle School, Helena High School, and Hawthorne School. I am thrilled to join the Smith family and have loved getting to know your kids these last few months.
My library philosophy is very simple. In the library, we become critical thinkers, skillful researchers, and enthusiastic readers. I hope your student has shared some of our lessons and activities with you. I have provided a summary of our lessons below. Additionally, there is a short narrative included on the progress report that highlights library instruction; I encourage you to read it with your student and ask about their library skills time.
I have included my schedule for library skills and checkout at the end of this newsletter. Please take a moment to check what day(s) your student has library and help them remember to bring back their books on the checkout day.
Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to meeting many more of you in the months to come!
Hope Morrison
Kindergarten
Kindergartners have library checkout on Mondays. This is a hard day to remember; I really appreciate your support in helping them remember to bring their books back!
First Grade
The first grade students kicked off the year with lots of great discussions about how to become better, stronger readers. We talked about good fit books and worked on strategies for finding these in the library. In October, we started a multiweek unit on the books of Mo Willems, author and illustrator of the Pigeon books, the Elephant and Piggie books, and many others. We spent several weeks on an art activity to go along with Willems' Knuffle Bunny books; the student mimicked the art style by inserting illustrations of their stuffed animals into a photograph background. Check out a few examples below!
Second Grade and Lower Montessori
The second graders started the year participating in discussions about good character and contributing to our PAX vision board. After a quick review on taking good care of library books, we began a Fractured Fairy Tales unit, wherein the students compared and contrasted traditional fairy tales with "fractured," or alternate retellings. This was a lot of fun, and I continue to get requests for fractured fairy tales at library checkout! In November, we kicked off our Adopt-a-Species research; this year, we are learning about the black-footed ferret. Ask your students to tell you more about this fascinating critter! The students are using both print and digital resources to build their knowledge.
Third and Third/Fourth Grades
The students in Mr. McBride's and Ms. Jacob's classes spent the first few weeks getting reacquainted with one another and developing our PAX vision for the library. We spent several weeks reviewing the location of various categories of books in the library (picture books, chapter books, information books, and graphic novels) through a variety of activities and scavenger hunts. In November, these students also kicked off our Adopt-a-Species research and spent the last few weeks of the trimester learning about the black-footed ferret.
Fourth and Fifth and Upper Montessori
The students in 4R, 5R, 5H, and UMB had lots of great contributions to our PAX vision board. We followed that with a multiweek unit on literary genres. Through a variety of activities, students learned the characteristics of genres, how to search for genres in the catalog, and how to locate books in different genres in the library. In early November we kicked off the Young Readers Choice Award program. Each year, students in grades four and five are invited to read the eight nominated titles and vote for their favorites. At Smith, students who read at last three will also get invited to a pizza party in the spring. There are lots of great titles this year; ask your fourth or fifth grader about their favorites!
Scholastic Book Fair Recap / Call for Volunteers
Speaking of volunteers...I could really use a shelving volunteer in the early part of the week. If you are interested and available to volunteer for one hour once a week, please email me! It's an easy commitment - some even find it relaxing - and is a tremendous way to help ensure that our students can locate the books they are interested in reading!
Smith School Library
MS in Library and Information Science
National Board Certified Teacher
Email: hmorrison@helenaschools.org
Website: https://smith.helenaschools.org/library
Location: 2320 Fifth Avenue, Helena, MT 59601
Phone: 406-324-1527
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmithSchoolHelena