• SCHOOL YEAR Impact Report

Librarian

  • Book Fairs - Hosted a spring and fall book fair for students which allowed them to find and buy books. Book Fairs promote self selected reading which is important for students to grow as lifelong learners. It also helps build reading skills because the choice of reading is the students. Any profits from the book fair goes back to the library program. This year, the profits were used to buy some nonfiction books.
  • Board Game Mornings - Students can play different board games every morning in the library. Checkers, Guess Who, Battleship, Spot It, Connect 4 and other games were made available to students. Most popular this year was chess. Board games teach student cooperation, collaboration and creative and critical thinking which are essential skills needed for 21st century learning.
  • Teen Read Week - Librarian created book talk signs which had the book cover and a QR code that linked to librarian created book talks. These signs were highlighted throughout the library. Students also used scratch painting to create bookmarks.
  • Read and Chill - Our first 9 weeks reading promotion enabled students to read a book and then write a one sentence summary on a popsicle cutout. The grade that had the most participation received an invitation to the paleta celebration.
  • Design Studio - All year long, students created and elevated class projects with materials and tools in the Design Studio. Some of these items utilized were a Cricut machine, foam, felt, paint, canvas, chenille sticks and many other items.
students showing their balloon cars
 
 
10,912
print books in collection
 
19,634
ebooks books in collection
 
4,440
print books checked out
 
565
ebooks books checked out
 
Students using ipads to look for information

Teacher

  • Digital Marketing using Canva - After creating their toy in Career and Tech, 7th and 8th grade students had to design a social media campaign about the toy they created using Canva which is an online graphic design program. Before they started creating their fake Instagram ads in Canva, students learned the basics of social media marketing.
  • Bibliography & Plagiarism - 8th grade ELAR students learned how to create a bibliography and cite their sources. They also learned how to use information and not plagiarize it. They created sample bibliographies of both digital and print resources and practiced paraphrasing.
  • What’s My Genre? Reading classes came into the library to find new books using speed dating. Students also learned about genres and took a librarian created genre quiz to see which genres appealed to them most.
  • Immigrant Americans - In 6th grade social studies, students researched various immigrant groups (Irish American, Mexican American, Indian American, Iranian American, Japanese American, Nigerian American) who have settled in the United States. Students created a one-pager about their immigrant groups and then produced a Venn diagram comparing their group to another.
  • Substitute Teaching - The librarian spent much of the year substitute teaching in various classes because the campus did not have enough coverage when teachers were absent.
 

A girl uses a laptop computer to build a toy using Tinkercad

Lesson Spotlight

In Career and Technology class, one of the units covered was about manufacturing. Students researched the manufacturing process. After understanding the process, students had to design a toy using Tinkercad, which is an online 3D design program. They had to explain how this toy was used and for what age group. Not only did students learn about manufacturing, they also learned how to create and design in Tinkercad. They also learned that many times, the prototype is just that and that many adjustments go into the process. Students presented their prototype ideas to the class. Students went through several drafts before their prototype was 3D printed on Makerbot 3D Printers in the library.

 

Collaborator

  • Library Jenga Orientation - Several librarians collaborated to create a Jenga Style library orientation. Students pulled out Jenga blocks that correlated to questions about the library such as how many books can be checked out and for how long.
  • Financial Literacy - Career Tech teacher and the Librarian collaborated to create a financial literacy unit to teach students to learn about money, savings, interest and credit. After learning about each one, there was a real world mini project about each concept. For example, after students were given a job, they created a budget and savings plan based on the job’s salary. Students presented their budget to the class and answered questions about their budget decisions.
  • Mini Civil War Reconstruction - Worked with 8th grade social studies team to provide research links and print materials for the mini civil war reconstruction project. Students had to compare and contrast civil war reconstruction events and show what they learned in either a one-pager, infographic, Flipgrid or comic.
  • Sixth Grade Culture Studies - Sixth grade social studies teachers, Social Studies IC and Librarian collaborated to create sixth grade stations researching the art and music of different cultures. Students had a passport to fill out about each culture.
  • Green Screen Professional Development - Instructional Technology Specialist and Librarian worked together to create and teach a Green Screen 101 PD for district teachers. Teachers learned what they needed to set up a green screen project. They also learned how to use the Doink app. Teachers were also provided resources to help.

Collaboration Spotlight

Collaboration Spotlight: The librarian is most proud of the Genius Hour collaboration with the sixth grade GT ELAR teacher. Despite many obstacles that were thrown our way, most students were able to successfully complete their Genius Hour project. It was interesting to see that students like having a distinct roadmap that someone else creates rather than the student creating it for themselves. This project spanned many weeks. The librarian met with students often to discuss their goals, plans and obstacles. She offered suggestions and feedback. This collaboration produced student driven projects like a podcast, a website, art, and even a fashion guide. It was a constant, changing collaborative effort with the GT ELAR teacher. It was more long term than most collaborative lessons or units. But the librarian and teacher learned a lot and have many ideas on how to improve it for next year.

 

female students writing down answers to questions on Jenga blocks

Campus Leader

  • Professional Development - Librarian created and taught a PD called “Librarians are Your Prose Partners,” which showed all the ways that librarians can be instrumental in helping theater teachers find UIL selections for their students.
  • Community - The librarian was part of the campus Literacy Night as she hosted an evening book fair. The librarian also helped put together the Wood MS 40th Anniversary Celebration on April 1st, 2022.
  • Advocacy - Librarian’s Information came out in the Principal's weekly Smore. The librarian also created Book Toks on TikTok and used Twitter as well as the library’s Facebook page to promote library events.
  • Leadership - Librarian is part of the Leadership team at Wood Middle School that met every Monday morning. She also leads the 3D printing club where students use Tinkercad to create a variety of things to 3D print. As well as learning Tinkercad which is similar to Autocad, a professional drafting system, students learned to think creatively and worked collaboratively to complete projects which are essential skills for future careers.
  • Professional Learning - Librarian attended several virtual training sessions this year including SLJ Summit in October, TCEA Lunch and Learn sessions, thirty-four hours of Library Services Professional Development as well as a Wakelet professional development.
 
3D printer printing a 3D project of initial keychain
Three different images of the librarian doing a book talk on three different books