ABCs of DCGMS Library: R is for Reporting

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library is brought to you by the letter R: R is for reporting, specifically year-end reporting.

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At the end of the 2018 - 2019 school year, we completed a library report to help with our state reporting. It's always exciting to take a look back at different pieces of the library--the collection, of course, but also things like collaborations and shared work, as well as student activities.

This year, the report was generated on Piktochart. You can access the full, continuous report HERE. Sections of the report appear below.

ABCs of DCGMS Library: Q is for Quarter Projects

Welcome back to the ABCs of the DCGMS Library! Today's post is brought to you by the letter Q for Quarter Projects.

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Each quarter, Literacy Studies students worked on projects for their reading classes, and often students shared their work with one another in Literacy Studies class. These projects were collaborative efforts with conversations and planning happening behind the scenes, then the "roll out" in Literacy Studies class. Students usually had time to work and create their projects in both their reading classes and Literacy Studies class.

So what were some of these projects? Seventh graders created Slides presentations relating to literary terms, and in another quarter, they created author study projects using Thinglink.

Sixth graders completed different projects, including a genre project and a book talk Slide. Because 6th graders talk a lot about genre at the start of the school year, it was a natural fit to create a Slides presentation using a book of the student's choice to demonstrate their understanding of genre.

The book talk Slide project was a focused attempt to improve students' book talking, and the project allowed us to explore using Unsplash to search for a related image and to use Screencastify as an audio component of Slides. Below is a screenshot of a student's Slide:

The quarter projects were an effective collaboration between reading teachers and the Literacy Studies class; it's likey we'll see more and different projects in the coming year!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: P is for Passive Programming

Today's ABCs of the DCGMS library features the letter P for passive programming. Throughout the school year library displays on walls and shelves promoted new books and old favorites. Other than a quick explanation about what students could expect with some of the displays, we really didn't spend much time talking about them. However, a picture is worth 1,000 words, and many of these books were checked out by the end of the day!

Here are some of the more popular examples of passive programming from the year:

Because of the success of the shelf displays, be sure take a look once school starts again. More and new displays and bulletin boards are coming!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: O is for Online Presentation Tools

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter O: O is for online presentation tools.

Photo by J. Kelly Brito on Unsplash

Throughout the school year, students in Literacy Studies class created several book-related projects using a variety of online presentation tools. Of course, the Google Suite of apps was the most easily accessed and the most familiar for students, so many chose to use Slides or Draw when given the choice. Below is an example of a project in Draw:

And another example of a Slides project:

Students also created projects using tools that were maybe less familiar to them, including Thinglink and MySimpleShow. Because students could log into both sites using their Google accounts, initial work went smoothly. Below is a PDF of students' author study work using Thinglink:

MySimpleShow is a great site featuring templates that students can use to create videos showing their learning. You can read about students' work on this blog post. Literacy Studies students created book trailers using MySimpleShow; below is an example:

See the full trailer HERE

A lot of creating and a lot of variety in online presentation tools! Students also used old favorites like Flipgrid and tried new tools like Screencastify to share their learning and make book recommendations. Stay tuned--the coming school year promises more creating and sharing!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: N is for New Books

We're on the downhill side of the ABCs of the DCGMS Library with today's letter N for new books.

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Throughout the school year, new books greeted students several times. Of course August brought many new books after summertime ordering, but with books fairs in late October and March, along with holiday-time ordering, students had access to hundreds of new titles. In fact, over the course of the 2018 -2019 school year, more than 775 new books were added to the collection!

What were some of the more popular genres and books? Certainly graphic novels like these:

Chapter books by favorite authors like these:

And these novels in verse, which grow in popularity every year:

Didn't get a chance to read these? No worries! They'll be waiting for you when school starts--along with more than 100 additional new titles! Your to-be-read list just got longer! :) See you in August!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: M is for #MGBookTober

We're officially half-way through the ABCs of the DCGMS Library--that means we're on letter M for #MGBookTober.

During the month of October, my advisory students and I participated in #MGBookTober, sharing the books and authors as determined by the month's postings.

We highlighted several different days as a full advisory, taking pictures with our books and collaborating on a Slides presentation, and students also shared responses on Flipgrid. Two blog posts share details of our work.

To celebrate each day in #MGBookTober, I also posted responses on Twitter. You can find them by searching for @ccls531. Didn't participate last year? No problem! #MGBookTober is only a few short months away!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: L is for Library Orientation Breakout

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter L for Library Orientation Breakout.

As a former elementary librarian, I recognized the need for a library orientation activity, especially for our sixth graders, who are new to our building. What better way to get students up and moving around and looking at various sections of the library space than with a physical breakout! 

Over the course of two class periods, students read through an introductory letter (that also had clues and combinations included), as well as worked through solving all of the locks. You can read about students' work on an earlier library blog post. After a lot of problem solving, teamwork, and critical thinking, many groups were indeed able to break out.

Over the course of the school year, students participated in two additional breakouts--a completely digital breakout related to book series and MG/YA literature, and a poetry breakout that was a combination of physical and digital work. 

After successful breakouts last year, it's certain that 2019 - 2020 Literacy Studies students will be participating in more of them--stay tuned!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: K is for Kahoot!

Making our way through the ABCs of the DCGMS Library has us at letter K today--K is for Kahoot!

Access Kahoot! HERE

Our DCGMS students are familiar with Kahoot! as it's used in a variety of classes and in advisory, so it was a natural fit to use Kahoot! in the Literacy Studies class, too. After a quick search on Kahoot!, we came across the public Kahoot! called Fun With Reading, which was a great way to wrap up recent activities related book series, book recommendations, and book review writing.

Access the Kahoot! HERE

A good time was had by all as we worked through the Kahoot!, and with so many of the books already on our library shelves, it was a great way to book talk titles that may have been new to students.

ABCs of DCGMS Library: J is for January Jackets

Today's ABCs of DCGMS library post is brought to you by the letter J for January Jackets.

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Here in Iowa, our winters--and January in particular!--can be wicked cold, but the jackets we featured were book jackets, of course! With just a little passive programming, we were able to focus our attention on several books, many of them new to the library just that month. Using a white board speech bubble from the Scholastic catalog, we highlighted multiple books from several different genres. Every book was spoken for after 3 days' time on the shelf; students were quite eager to read them! Mission accomplished!

See a book you're interested in reading? We still have them, and you're welcome to ask about the January Jackets books when school resumes. See you then!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: I is for Iowa State Award Books

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter I, and what better choice than looking at our middle grade Iowa State Award books!

Our state award books are some of the most circulated books in the collection every year, and previous years' nominees and winners are nearly as popular as the current nominees! Not only are these titles getting heavy promotion in our library, but they also are available to students in their reading teachers' classrooms.

Here are lists featuring this year's nominees:

Every year students participate in activities that highlight the state award books; you can read about our work with the Iowa Children's Choice Award nominees HERE, and our work with the Iowa Teen Award nominees HERE.

Maybe you've already read a few of this year's nominees? Stay tuned--we'll have new activities to relate to this year's nominees when school resumes! 

ABCs of DCGMS Library: H is for Hyperdoc

The letter H brings you today's ABCs post--H is for Hyperdoc. Another new activity from the Literacy Studies class was an activity in which students used a collaborative Hyperdoc to talk about books.

Image from Pixaby

The Hyperdoc that students used was a book talk/book share document that allowed them to complete a row within the document. Student chose a book, included the book cover along with another image, and then they linked a related website (author site, interview, book trailer, etc.) to one of the images. Finally, students wrote about something they learned from the book. The Hyperdoc appears below, and a copy is accessible by clicking on the link below the image.

LINK to access the template

Once students had completed their own row in the document, they read through one another's work and responded to at least two classmates with a question or comment related to the writer's original thinking. What a great way for students to see several books represented in one place and to be able to "talk" to peers and classmates about books!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: G is for Graphic Novels

Today's ABCs post features some of the most popular books in the collection--G is for graphic novels.

Photo by Miika Laaksonen on Unsplash

A quick search in circulation reports showed that graphic novels were checked out 1,282 times during the course of the school year! When we look at total circulations, that's 15.3% of all items checked out! Certainly, graphic novels are popular among students, and it's no wonder *why* they are: graphic novels are an easy-to-read blend of text and images with ever-expanding topics (family struggles/dysfunction, historical content, LGBTQ issues, and school themes to name just a few).

Some of the more popular graphic novels appear below:

And this particular interview with author Jarret Krosoczka prompted several students who'd not read a graphic novel before to try out his book Hey, Kiddo:

Haven't tried a graphic novel yet? Just stop by once school starts--we're happy to recommend something for you! Happy reading!