Library 2016-2017 School Year!

Hello Everyone!

It's me, Ms. Clerkin, the Library Teacher here at McDevitt!

It has been another great start to a new school year!

• Grade 6 students are getting to know their new library with library introductions. Their reaction to our beautiful space never grows old! 
• Grade 7 social studies students are in the library analyzing primary and secondary sources related to The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine, our first One Book Two Schools Summer Reading Program! And, the author is coming to McDevitt on September 21!
• Grade 6 social studies students are learning about website evaluation and primary and secondary sources. And it's only September! 

A couple of things I’d like you to know:

It's hard to believe this is my 14th year in Waltham Public Schools!

Collaboration is my passion! Let's talk!

My schedule is flexible. I can work with you any day, any time. Sometimes you are in the library, sometimes I am in your classroom, and always I am sharing resources to support your curriculum. I have a TON of resources to share, both print and digital. We have access to fantastic print and digital content in our library collection, and access to some amazing databases. These resources are multimodal, leveled for varying reading needs, have read aloud options, and more. Let's use them!

My Calendar is a shared Google Calendar. You can view it on this blog. If you want to schedule some common planning time, a research class, or need a change of scenery, take a look at my calendar. Or you can send me an e-mail and let me know.

We have a new makerspace in the Library! It's definitely in the developmental stages, it's growing, and kids are already taking advantage of morning hours in the library. The library is open Monday-Friday 7:40 am-8:00 am. Up to 25 students are invited to catch up on homework, browse the library, and make fun stuff! Library passes are located in the office.

I am a mentor. If you are mentoring another teacher and you are looking for peer mentoring opportunities, let me know. I collaborate with so many of you, it’s an ideal opportunity to share the great work being done in our classrooms.

I will be hosting our annual Scholastic Book Fair this year from December  7-9, 2016 from 7:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. The Book Fair is held in the building foyer. I encourage EVERYONE to stop by on their own and with their students. I will be sharing more information closer to the date.

I am excited to catch up with returning staff and to meet new staff, and I can't wait to work with all of you this year in any way I can!

Stop by the Library and say hi!

Have a great day!

Lucy

Happy Summer Reading!

Two Schools, One Story!

This is exciting!

Our first Two Schools, One Story summer reading program is underway!
This summer students from McDevitt Middle School and Kennedy Middle School will read
The Lions of Little Rock, by Kristin Levine.

What's the book about?

A historical fiction novel, The Lions of Little Rock takes place 

in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1958, a tumultuous time in American history, known as the Lost Year, when Little Rock closed its schools in an effort to block desegregation. The protagonist, Marlee Nisbitt, is a 12-year old girl of silence. So silent, in fact, that she'd rather count prime numbers in her head than speak to another human being. Speaking five words to someone other than her family is an accomplishment. But that all changes she she meets a new girl in the first week of school. Liz Fullerton, confident and loquacious, was the exact opposite of Marlee, which is depicted when she strides up to Marlee during lunch and strikes up a conversation. Thus, a friendship is born.

Liz is determined to help Marlee conquer her fear of speaking and convinces her to participate in a oral presentation with her for one of their classes. But on the day of the presentation Liz is inexplicably absent. It turns out that she was pulled from school because she was caught "passing" - that is, an African American trying to pass as white for a better education and more opportunities. 

The devastation consumed Marlee, but she and Liz soon devised ways to see each other in secret, and ultimately igniting a series of unfortunate and heroic events.

Filled with facts, this novel educates readers on the lost year of 1958 in Little Rock. But the friendship built between Marlee and Liz drives the story forward and makes the reader cling to idea of unconditional love, renounce ignorance, and, just as Marlee did, find their voice. 

borrowed from:http://lionsoflittlerock.weebly.com/book-summary.html 

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What will students do before school ends this year? 

Students will participate in a variety of grade level activities aimed at generating excitement about the summer reading program. The activities will emphasize a theme of identity, community, and tolerance. Before the last day of school, students will create community mural. Stay tuned for pictures!

What will students do this summer?

Read!

Every student will be given a print copy of the book. Students will have the option of reading the book or listening to the audio version of the book on OverDrive. Incoming 5th graders and current 6th and 7th graders will receive a packet of information including a letter to parents and guardians and a list of activities to choose from and complete over the summer.

Happy Reading and Listening!

Follow us on Pinterest!

Hi there, it’s Mrs. Cote again, Ms. Clerkin’s student teacher in the library.

Did you know McDevitt Library has a Pinterest account?  Are you following us?  Here’s a link: https://www.pinterest.com/mcdevittlibrary/

Lately I’ve been taking a look at all the books in the library that have to do with any kind of bullying...books with bullies, books with victims of bullying and also non-fiction books about bullying.  I created three different Pinterest boards:

• Bullying Resources: Fiction
• Bullying Resources: Non-fiction
• Bullying Resources: Graphic Novels

The library has 138 books related to bullying!  I’m hoping these boards will help you find out more about them.

Last week I highlighted a few books from the Pinterest boards with a display—did you see it?  Come by and check out one of the books!  

I would love to hear what you think of these three new Pinterest boards.  Have you read any of the books?  Did you see any that interest you?

Black it out!

Black it out!

Hi there, it’s Mrs. Cote again, Ms. Clerkin’s student teacher in the library.

So last month we did something pretty cool that I wanted to share with you.  In collaboration with both 8th grade ELA classroom teachers (thank you to Mrs. Russak-Smith and Mr. Campbell for inviting us into your classrooms!) and library teacher Ms. Clerkin, I taught a lesson about Blackout poetry.  Have you heard of it?

Here’s how it works—instead of writing a poem on a blank piece of paper from scratch, you use paper with words already on it.  The page with words on it is actually a discarded page from a book!  We used pages from the books Monster  (by Walter Dean Myers) and Esperanza Rising (by Pam Munoz Ryan).  You then “write” the poem by blacking out the words you DON’T want.  Your poem ends up being the words you did not blackout.

Next, once your poem is finished—you get creative!  Turn the words you don’t want into artwork!

Sounds simple, right?  It’s not!  It can be tricky since you can only use the words on your page.  Not only that, you need to choose words in the right order (or somehow connect the words in the right order).  However, once you get going it gets easier.

Take a look at these awesome examples from 8th grade students:

Pretty impressive, right? The students worked SO hard on these!For more examples, check out the displays I put up on the library bulletin boards for both clusters (3rd floor). Which one was your favorite? Did you connect more to the poem or the artwork? Or both together?

Get your Head in the Cloud!

It’s all about the save!

Hi there, I’m Mrs. Cote—Ms. Clerkin’s student teacher in the library from Simmons College.

So tell me…Do you know the difference between saving to the cloud versus saving locally to your device?  The difference is HUGE and can have a big impact on your work!  If you break or lose your iPad, having your work on the cloud can save you from near catastrophe!

In order to clear up some confusion, I created an infographic(fyi infographic is just a fancy way of saying a graphic with information on it!). Here it is:

 

In collaboration with grade 6 Tech Literacy teacher Mrs. McCrary (thank you Mrs. McCrary for inviting us into your classroom!) and Library Teacher Ms. Clerkin, I used the infographic to teach students all about saving to the "cloud". They learned a lot! After discussing the infographic as a class, students used the Explain Everything APP to demonstrate what they learned. In 20 minutes, their task was to use any tool within the APP to show me they knew the difference between saving the cloud and saving locally.

Check out some of their presentations—they worked so hard and, I was impressed by their creativity!

(click on the image to view video!)

(click on the image to view video!)

(click on the image to view video!)

So….  what did YOU learn from the infographic?  Anything new?  Anything surprising?  Will you take that extra step to upload your files to Google Drive?

Le buone norme in azione!

This year, I have been a part of McDevitt's Instructional Leadership Team (ILT). The team is a varied group of Teachers with a shared interest in exploring best practices in the classroom and talking about those ideas with colleagues. In the beginning of the year we worked together as a group to determine a list of core teaching practices we wanted to research, including:

• Student Learning Objectives
• Differentiation
• Checking for Understanding and Exit Strategies
• Total Student Engagement
• Time Management

These strategies are not necessarily new, but taking a fresh look at them was really interesting. There was a lot of great energy in the group and sharing with each other what we learned was fantastic. We learned a lot from each other!

By now, you may be wondering why the title of this post is in Italian. The translation: Best practices in action! Well, it all comes back to another great experience this week with Teacher Rounds. I've written about Teacher Rounds before and I can't say enough good things about the group.  

It has been a long time since I have sat in a foreign language classroom. This week Signora Ironside invited Teacher Rounds to her classroom with 8th-grade students. They were reviewing how to say people's names and learning animal vocabulary. Wow! This class was fantastic!  The first thing I noticed was Cold Calling.  I should tell you, Signora Ironside is also a member of the ILT team, and Cold Calling is one of the teaching practices we discussed, specifically how it can increase student engagement. I loved watching this strategy in action, not to mention in Italian! It was active, quick, and a really useful review of terms students have already learned.  

Next up was a great activity where students lined up facing each other and practiced identifying their animal. This was a lot of fun. Students were up and out of their seat, moving around, and learning. The class ended with a Kahoot quiz.  Kahoot is a game-based response system that motivates students to participate in class and to learn the content. What a great way to finish up! Bravissima Signora Ironside!

How do you motivate your students?