MONTHLY REPORT TO THE PRINCIPAL
2009-2010
November SCHOOL MISSION STATEMENT We, as the staff and community, are committed to standards for excellence. We will provide a safe, positive, and nurturing atmosphere that will allow students to discover their fullest potential and develop a passion for learning. LMC MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the D.L. “Dusty� Dickens Elementary School Library Media Center (Dickens LMC) is first and foremost to provide adequate access to information; second, to provide a warm, kind, inviting, and comfortable environment for all students and teachers to learn, grow, and ultimately love reading; third, to actively teach students by partnering with classroom teachers for regular and consistent collaboration; fourth, to foster the integration and use of 21st century literacies within the classroom and media center; and fifth, to build the foundation for increased student achievement within the school.
Monthly Report to the Principal
Monthly Report to the Principal STATISTICAL HIGHLIGHTS
Average number of students visiting the Dickens LMC to check in and out per day (on nonscheduled library days): 10 (down from 12.5 last month) Books lost: 0 (no change from previous month) Books recovered that were marked lost in 08-09 inventory: 2 Books damaged beyond repair: 0 Books added to the collection: 49 Monies recovered from books lost or damaged in previous years: 0 Monies refunded to students from books previously marked lost, but then found: 0 New Birthday Book Club Members: 0 (no change from last month) Birthday Book Club Profit: $0 (no change from last month) Number of circulations: 7,017 (down from 7,701 last month); 465 of those were faculty (down from 701 last month) **Kindergarten = 5 (up from 0 last month) **1st grade = 909 (up from 834 last month) **2nd grade = 826 (up from 757 last month) **3rd grade = 1,190 (down from 1,251 last month) **4th grade = 1,650 (down from 1,883 last month) **5th grade = 1,278 (down from 1,579 last month) Number of holds placed: 347 (up from 321 last month) Top 5 catalog search terms: **michael jackson **captain underpants **twilight
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Monthly Report to the Principal
**michael Jackson book **diary of a wimpy kid Top 6 WebPath Express search terms: **thanksgiving **chickasaw Indians **google **jalisco **michael jackson Number of students consistently involved in the Friends of the Library apprenticeship club: 14 Number of brand-new instructional materials and books added to the catalog: 49 Classes awarded the Shelf Elf Award for proper use of shelf markers and meeting or exceeding LMC expectations: **Thatcher **Wallace-Roth **Schubmehl **Byers Number of students with a zero balance after taking advantage of the Read Away Your Fines at the Dickens LMC program: 0. Number of teachers participating in the LMC Book Basket program: 9 (no change from last month) Number of teachers participating in 100 Books in 100 Days: 16; so far more than 400 books have been read aloud across the school Number of teachers involved in the Teacher Book Review program, which provides free hardcover books (2010 publication dates) to the library in exchange for reviews: 13 GENERAL PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
School-wide assembly featuring Buffalorump Dan supported Native American Heritage Month. We celebrated reading by learning from Buffalorump Dan–a mountain man re-enactor! He so graciously came by to share his experiences with every student in the school. Students heard about his heritage as a registered American Indian and saw first-hand what pelts, native Page 2
Monthly Report to the Principal
instruments, and cooking materials look like. The Dickens LMC has a variety of resources available for students in all grades to explore more about the relationship between the Mountain Men and Native Americans. Please see the official Dickens LMC blog post for a photo montage and additional details: http://mrsbentheim.edublogs.org/2009/11/14/mountain-man-visits-students-of-the-dickens-lmc/. {SIP Goals 1, 3} Designed a new instructional program model for implementation in January – June 2010. The primary role of a library media specialist is that of a teacher; this model supports that notion. Small groups of “red” kids will be pulled while other students work on intensive literacy skills. It was requested that teachers provide information on “red” students such as reading level and areas of struggle (as well as areas of success for off-the-charts students) for proper grouping. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP} Prepared research pathfinders for teachers interested in teaching about Geography Awareness Week and Thanksgiving. The purpose of the pathfinders is to provide a single place where information can be located. In other words, a pathfinder is a type of home base for information on a specific topic. The pathfinders are located here http://www.netvibes.com/dickenslmc#Dickens_LMC_Home.
{SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP}
Planned, organized, and executed the Winter Book Fair. The theme was Read Around the World. Teachers were provided with a packet of materials to distribute to students and parents, as well as materials to use in the classroom to infuse a love of literature into the classroom while promoting books available for sale at the book fair. The campaign included teacher preview breakfast, animated videos, photo presentations, PA announcements, ParentLink messages, notes home, banners, posters, and word-of-mouth advertising. To date, we are approximately $400 above our goal with four full days of sales left. Four different parents provided regular assistance with supervision. {CAP} Distributed an online survey to teachers for LMC evaluation. While the number of participants was disappointing (less than a majority of the staff), the responses did provide some insight for reflection. Results of the survey are posted below. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP} Re-labeled the shelves with color-coded signage to aid students in the location of materials. For complete details and supporting images, please refer to our blog post at Created two Animoto videos for Jody’s special incentive assembly and for the Literacy Night. The videos can be viewed through a private password-protected link. {CAP} American Library Association READ poster was hung up in the multipurpose room. Parent and PTA member Ms. Lakeotes offered to use her professional photography skills to take the photo. Four teachers and their classes participated: Hartman, Carpenter-Turner, Wilson, and Johnson. Teachers were selected by participation in virtual author visit with Nancy Krulik, as well as first respondents to the email distributed via school Interact forum. {CAP} Placed an ERP/SAP shopping cart order of nearly $2,000 worth of books. Materials included were purchased based on teacher and student requests, as well as observed needs of the Page 3
Monthly Report to the Principal
collection. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP} Continued seeking funding for the Dickens LMC technology grant. To date, 50 percent is funded thus far with a little over $12,000 to go. Technologies requested include 40 netbooks, a wired netbook cart, 6 iPod touches, 6 digital cameras, 1 document camera. The proposal can be viewed by visiting the Donors Choose website at http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=318874 . {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP}
Planned lessons based on received grade-level collaboration matrices. In October, it was requested that the grade levels submit general level plans monthly so that library curriculum can more closely support classroom teaching. First, third, and fifth grades participated. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3}
The after-school program continued to utilize the services of the Dickens LMC daily after school. Each after-school teacher brings their students into the library for approximately 30 minutes one day of the week. During this time students are able to check in/out books, use computers to access school-wide initiatives such as Ticket to Read and Accelerated Reader or conduct research, read to/with the animals and pillows, as well as start on homework. {SIP Goal 1} Provided articles to teachers featuring topics such as: collaboration, action research, and comic books as literature. {CAP} {SIP Goals 1, 3} Worked with Alan, the ECS, to get the school-wide ITV video encoder furnace up and running for school-wide broadcasting. The set up is expected to be finished in January. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} Fulfilled a variety of teacher requests, some of which are the following: **Native American materials and books **Thanksgiving materials **materials on persuasion **lesson ideas **interlibrary loan requests (some items were not in our collection) {CAP} Continued to manage the district-wide Reading for Laptops contest. Students in grades 3-5 select books from certain lists and report on them. The student reports are entered into a drawing where one student from each participating school will earn a laptop. {SIP Goal 1} {CAP} Worked with fellow specialists to provide appropriate materials for their subject matter during Native American Heritage Month. Books, films, and websites were shared. {CAP} Facilitated one formal before-school collaborative planning session. Ms. Applegate and I planned a lesson for her class and Hampton’s class. The students came in the library during my prep and we took a virtual field trip aboard the Mayflower. {SIP Goals 1, 3} A variety of emails were distributed to classroom teachers via the school forum. Some topics were: interactive museums, inquiry projects, shared lesson plans, Destiny screencasts, thematic Page 4
Monthly Report to the Principal
dates and resources, access to materials, upcoming LMC activities, research, etc. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} FUTURE PLANS
Cultivation of a reading garden in the school quad area. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP} Collaborative planning and teaching between grade levels and the library media specialist using the Dickens LMC Teacher Collaboration Ning. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP} Staff development presentation about the various databases that are available for students and teachers. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP} Staff development presentation on how to collaborate with the SLMS for increased student achievement. {SIP Goals 1, 2, 3} {CAP} Weed the collection in areas 000-099, 300-399, 800-899, and 900-999.
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Monthly Report to the Principal
Are you pleased with the services of the Dickens LMC thus far? Yes!! Very!
15
79%
For the most part.
4
21%
Absolutely not.
0
0%
Which of the following social media tools do you use to keep track of happenings within the Dickens LMC? Facebook 3
16%
1
5%
The Dickens LMC Blog (Edublogs)
3
16%
Flickr
0
0%
Diigo
0
0%
Delicious
1
5%
MrsBentheim.com
7
37%
None of these; I am not interested in following the Dickens LMC.
2
11%
None of these; I don't know how to access them.
3
16%
People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%. Do you feel you are getting ample support (instructional assistance, library materials, planning help, etc.) from the school librarian with regard to your classroom teaching? Yes. When I need it, she is there; or even if I don't need it, she is there. 100% 19 No. I have asked for help and I am not getting it; or I don't see her working hard enough to make herself available to me.
0
0%
Other
0
0%
Do your students generally seem to be excited about going to the Dickens LMC? Yes No
19
100%
0
0%
Do you notice more reading going on in your classroom with the increased number of
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Monthly Report to the Principal
checkouts? Yes
11
58%
No
5
26%
Other
3
16%
Do you feel your students are benefiting from the increased number of book checkouts? Yes 13
68%
No
4
21%
Other
2
11%
Do you believe the Dickens LMC is supporting your classroom efforts with AR (allowing testing at any time, variety of reading materials available for all students, etc)? Yes 100% 19 No
0
0%
Other
0
0%
Do you generally find the frequent emails from the librarian to the school Interact forum helpful? Yes 53% 10 No
9
47%
Do you believe the efforts of the school librarian to get print materials into the hands of students will be positively evident in student assessment scores in the Spring?
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Monthly Report to the Principal
Yes
19
100%
No
0
0%
Other
0
0%
Has the librarian provided rationales for questioned LMC policies when necessary? Yes 19
100%
No
0
0%
Other
0
0%
Do you feel that the two special activities sponsored by the Dickens LMC thus far support CCSD curriculum? Yes 89% 17
Please rank your overall experience with the Dickens LMC thus far. 1The worst ever. :-(
1
5%
Other
1
5%
0
0%
2
0
0%
3
3
16%
4
4
21%
12
63%
5-
The worst ever. :-(
No
The best ever! :-D
The best ever! :-D
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