Today marked the end of yet another successful book fair at Hamilton. Our book fairs help to increase our library budget so we can get more new and amazing books into our collection. This year we raised $2,800 for the Hamilton Library!
I am so appreciative of all the adults who donated their time and energy this year. I could not have run the fair without your help. Also, a tremendous thank you to all the adults who donated to their teachers' classroom eWallets. Hamilton teachers were able to get over $500 in new classroom books thanks to your incredibly generous donations. This book fair was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me. Scholastic made some recent changes to their fair cases, in an attempt to be supportive of teachers in districts where diverse books have been banned. Although they claim they did this to support teachers, the consequences were upsetting to authors, illustrators, teachers, librarians, and members of the community. Most importantly, the message they were sending to students was utterly inappropriate. It is my opinion that diverse books belong on every shelf of every case in every book fair. I took steps to ensure that our fair had books that reflected the inclusive values of the Troy School District, and reflected our diverse student body. I was still upset with Scholastic, and I made sure that my disappointment was heard. Thankfully, they have since released a statement that they are going to reverse the new practices they put in place and make a concerted effort to improve access to diverse books for future book fairs. I am hopeful that we will see these improvements reflected in the spring fair. It's a pretty common misconception that all we do in Media is read and check out books. Literacy is at the heart of everything we do in the library. And of course we read and check out books! But books are just one type of media and I want my students to be prepared for their future. That is why we do a lot more than just reading and checking out books. 5th graders in the photo above are working on a website called Xello to learn about future careers and the different paths they would take to get to those careers, be it college, on-the-job training, military, trade school, and more. We also enjoy a little time building on the LEGO wall. These 5th graders on the right used LEGO pieces to attach the LEGO basket to the wall! Ingenuity at work. At Hamilton we have an amazing collection of over ten thousand books for students to check out and read. In addition to the expected fiction and nonfiction titles, we also have graphic novels, magazines, Playaway audiobooks, a small collection of braille books, and an ever-growing collection of books in languages other than English. In addition to our library collection, we also have an incredible Makerspace. In the Makerspace students are challenged to explore, innovate, and build. The third graders pictured above are building a spooky "bone bridge" out of q-tips, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks. Their bridges must be able to hold the weight of 5 Keva Planks. Activities like this help students build their 21st century learning skills. Together they collaborate, think creatively, and problem solve.
So next time after you ask your child about their day and what books they checked out, make sure to also ask, "What did you learn?" or, "What did you make?" to find out more about the exciting learning we are doing in our Library and our Makerspace during Media. This week, Kindergarten learned about how we organize our picture books in alphabetical order by the author's last name. We sang a new song about the parts of a book: "Cover, Pages, Spine & Label" (to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes") and we looked at some Nonfiction books, which we call "learn about the world" books. We read the true story about Yoshi, a Loggerhead turtle who was rescued by an aquarium in Cape Town, and later released into the wild again. Yoshi swam for over a year to make it home to Australia. We enjoyed looking at some of the Nonfiction text features in the book, including a cross section of a sea turtle's body. Their lungs take up most of the space inside their shell - no wonder they can hold their breath for so long! 1st & 2nd grade are learning how to find books in the library. We learned about "call numbers" (which sometimes aren't numbers at all) and what they stand for. In our library:
3rd grade is exploring their interests in Xello, a web-based game designed to teach students about career readiness. 4th grade is finishing up designing their keychains in Tinkercad. We even started 3D printing some today! This is one of my favorite projects and I am glad that it is becoming an annual tradition for Hamilton. Students design their own unique and personalized keychain with their name in Tinkercad. After they are 3D printed, we'll decorate them in the Maker Space. 5th grade wrapped up their Drone Unit by getting creative in the Maker Space. We brainstormed careers that could use drones as technology to improve the job. Then students had to pick one of the careers and design an "attachment" or improvement for the drone which would serve that career. Students crafted their prototypes around the drones using aluminum foil and pipe cleaners. Their creativity and collaboration were impressive!
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AuthorMrs. Henderson is the School Library Media Specialist at Hamilton Elementary. In addition to being a book-lover, she is also a gamer, a crafter, and a mom. She also shares a lot on Twitter: twitter.com/lhendersonreads Archives
April 2024
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