• SCHOOL YEAR Impact Report

Librarian

  • The Scholastic Book Fair was at the Royal Ridge Library, September 12-16! PTA partnered with the library to host a Literacy Night during the book fair to help families learn about books and shop at the fair. Families heard staff members, including the librarian, read some of our favorite books aloud. Proceeds will help pay for future author visits and book purchases.
  • Literary Pumpkin Patch - Royal Ridge families and students were invited to create a literary pumpkin based on one of their favorite books to promote reading. Pumpkins were displayed in the library for three weeks for all the school to see.
  • Potato Patch- Library students heard stories encouraging individuality and kindness, all with potato characters. Royal Ridge families were invited to decorate a potato, however, they wished to help celebrate the virtues learned in the stories.
  • Library Appreciation Week- The Royal Ridge Staff participated in answering daily trivia questions. Winners received swag bags with advanced copies of books, autographed copies of books, and other classroom goodies. The students participated in the 2nd annual Bookmark Design Contest and played Plinko to receive prizes.
A potato decorated to look like a snail.
 
 
7,071
print books in collection
 
4,461
ebooks books in collection
 
17,968
print books checked out
 
133
ebooks books checked out
 
Boy holds up artwork of cacti.

Teacher

  • Students celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with multiple stations introducing them to different aspects of Hispanic culture. Stations included a cactus collage that shows how vital the cactus has been, a Picasso-inspired self-portrait, a look at the flags from Spanish-speaking countries and learning their colors in Spanish.
  • Third, fourth, and fifth grade students researched the ins and outs of 3D printing. Students looked at how 3D printing works and how it is used today. They discovered the medical, architectural, and culinary innovations made with 3D printing. Students worked in pairs to create a simple “puzzle” of information about the technology. After learning about the new techniques and advancements, the students explored designing with a 3D printer using Tinkercad online.
  • PreK students learned about the fall season and the different activities they could participate in. They learned how pumpkins and other fall fruits are grown, harvested, and used daily. Students used premade shapes and playdough to recreate scarecrows, fall fruits, and leaves.
  • Kindergarten students were polled about what type of roller coaster they would like to ride- none, big, bigger, or biggest. They then took a look at different types of roller coasters based on size and speed. They researched how roller coasters work using gravity and other physics. They then were asked again what type of roller coaster they wanted to ride now that they know how they worked to compare before and after answers. Students concluded the project by creating paper roller coasters.
 

Image Alt Text

Lesson Spotlight

Third grade students began their research unit on rapid changes to the Earth. The librarian worked with the classroom teachers to create a collection of print and digital resources. The librarian then used NearPod to focus on one of the natural causes of rapid change each week for three weeks to give the students an in-depth look at how each change occurs, what it looks like, and how to prepare for one.

 

Collaborator

  • The librarian has partnered with the music teacher to create 50-minute-long lessons to help PreK learn and practice kindness. The librarian provided stories and videos that helped demonstrate how kindness can be used in school, and the music teacher worked to provide songs that touched on the subject as well as incorporating sharing and taking turns with multiple instruments.
  • The librarian collaborated with the campus GT teacher on a coding project with 3rd grade GT students. The librarian built on the coding skills the students previously received in the library and then introduced the students to Dash robots. The students worked with the robots to earn their "driver's licenses." The GT teacher then used the robots so that students could map out different routes for their imaginary journeys to other parts of the world.
  • The librarian worked with the family specialist to educate his ESL parent class on the resources available through the library to help their students and provide them with different resources in both English and their native language. Some resources included: Sora, PebbleGo, ABDO eBooks, and Britannica.
  • The librarian worked on a 2nd grade research project with the campus GT teacher. The librarian provided print materials, digital resources, and visuals for the students to learn about different bridge structures. The students then used GT time to build popsicle stick replicas of bridges.

Collaboration Spotlight

The librarian partnered with ITS Missy Mayer on a research project for 5th grade students. Students used library resources to find information about different types of landforms. The ITS then worked with them to create 30 second - 1 minute greenscreen videos advertising their landforms and where the most famous ones could be found. Students loved this project and were very successful. Collaboration Spotlight (paragraph detailing a collaboration you are most proud of, heavily student focused, details of the process and the outcome of the collaboration)

 

5 adult students sit at a table with the librarian to learn about library resources.

Campus Leader

  • Teachers were invited for an after-hours PD on beginning library resources. They gained hands-on experience using the NEISD Library Catalog, SORA, and Capstone eBooks. Teachers learned how to request multiple copies of print and digital books, connect SORA and SAPL eBook accounts and take advantage of both book collections.
  • The librarian served as the Grade Level Chair for the Specials Team and was a member of the Campus Improvement Committee. Meetings for both positions met every other week with the principal to discuss campus goals, concerns, and future endeavors.
  • The librarian used community literacy and math night events to invite attendees to tour the library, get information about digital resources, and shop the spring and fall book fairs.
  • Teachers were invited to an after-hours PD on new applications using AI to help complete classroom tasks. Teachers were shown how to use Chat GPT to create templates for parent letters and Canva to create templates for presentations.
 
A woman in a beret uses a microphone to read to families in the school gym.
A group picture of librarians.