Hubbard School Library E-News
January 30, 2015
HS & MS Media Center News
The Eagle Reading Initiative is About to Begin!
The third annual Eagle Reading Initiative is about to begin! This program is a joint effort of the Hubbard Elementary and Hubbard Middle schools. The purpose of this program is to support literacy, promote reading, school spirit, (and of course) to have fun!
During the month of February, for every book students in grades K-8 read, they will be encouraged to complete a white eagle feather. Students must read books appropriate for their reading level and each feather will need to be signed by a parent or guardian.
Last year the Eagle Reading Initiative was amazingly successful! This year we are planning to top this success with a pop! For every 10 feathers a grade level submits, they will earn a paper kernel of popcorn that will be added to a large paper popcorn bucket in the Eagle Reading Initiative display right outside of the Media Center. The grade levels that fill their buckets with the most popcorn will be treated to a popcorn and a movie party.
There’s more!
If all students read a total of 10,000 books, then…..
- Mr. Marcello (Elementary Principal) who is committed to student success has promised to shave his head!
- Mr. Hoffman (Middle School Principal) who is dedicated to our students (and healthy living) will break his zero sweets streak and eat a donut!
- Mrs. Liptak (Middle School Assistant Principal) with pride for our students’ reading achievements will dye her hair Hubbard blue!
The Eagle Reading Initiative supports Hubbard’s mission to “to challenge students to be life-long learners in a diverse culture.”
The students will receive eagle feathers at school during library class. Additionally, for your convenience we have attached a sheet with two eagle feathers. A PDF file of the eagle feather can be downloaded from the Hubbard School website. Just click on the Eagle Reading Initiative link on the school’s homepage.
How Can Your Librarian Help Bolster Brain-Based Teaching Practices?
Katrina Schwartz | January 19, 2015
Inquiry-based learning has been around in education circles for a long time, but many teachers and schools gradually moved away from it during the heyday of No Child Left Behind. The pendulum is beginning to swing back towards an inquiry-based approach to instruction thanks to standards such as Common Core State Standards for math and English Language Arts, the Next Generation Science Standards and the College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. Transitioning to this style of teaching requires students to take a more active role and asks teachers to step back into a supportive position. It can be a tough transition for many students and their teachers, but turning to the school librarian for support could make the transition a little easier.
“This is so new for teachers, whereas librarians have been doing this for ten years,” said Paige Jaeger, a school librarian turned administrator and co-author of Think Tank Library: Brain-Based Learning Plans for New Standards. According to Jaeger, librarians were some of the first educators to realize that the Internet made finding information (their bread and butter) much easier. But they also recognized that kids would need help synthesizing and analyzing the vast amounts of information at their fingertips. This realization naturally led them to inquiry-based approaches. “The emphasis went away from being taught how to find it and went towards how to assess what you’re finding and what you’re going to do with it,” Jaeger said.
As grade level and content-specific teachers begin to incorporate inquiry-based approaches into their classrooms, they should look to collaborate on lesson planning with their librarian, Jaeger said. Jaeger and her co-author Mary Ratzer want to align teaching strategies to the research on how the brain learns best, which they believe fits perfectly with inquiry learning.
“The inquiry process is brain-based from beginning to end,” said Ratzer, a former teacher, current librarian and adjunct professor in an edWeb webinar. She and Jaeger are eager for educators to understand how the brain works and why traditional school tactics ignore what neuroscience teaches about how kids learn.
Continue reading this article at: http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/01/how-can-your-librarian-help-bolster-brain-based-teaching-practices/
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