Lowell Library Newsletter

Kindergarten to second grade spend some time with books in November. We look at the parts of a book, how books are made (second grade), and identify books as fiction or nonfiction books. When we can access our full library this precedes students learning about where books are located in the library so they can begin to independently and effectively navigate the collection.

Third to fifth grade are more tech-focused from introducing Google Apps (third) and digital citizenship units. Fifth grade takes their deep dive into the Internet and how it works to help them in making better choices online.

Kindergarten: We learned about:

• Fiction and nonfiction
• Parts of a book
• Literature appreciation

First Grade: We learned about:

• Fiction and nonfiction
• Parts of a book
• Literature appreciation

Second Grade: Learned about:

• Parts of a book
• How books are made
• Google login and apps launcher

Third: We learned about:

• Google Docs Intro to menus and toolbars
• Lego WeDo Mars Rover Build and Code Project

Fourth Grade: Learned about:

• Copyright, fair use, and public domain
• Rights and responsibilities of being a creator

Fifth Grade: We learned about:

• Structure of the internet
• Data collection and privacy

Part of our library curriculum involves students working collaboratively to solve problems. These situations will remain part of their academic life now and in their future adult working life. A fun way to learn these skills is to work collaboratively to build a robot that performs a certain task and to code that robot to complete the task. Students have roles and responsibilities, practice beginning block coding, and complete and evaluate the task as a group. As an added bonus, these same skills transfer to the research process where students think about a problem and break it down into smaller pieces they can more easily complete. Help from friends never hurts during research either!

Brain breaks are fun! In this Blazer Fresh series, students move and bond with each other over what they feel like.

• My child has a library book from before quarantine. What should I do with it? Please bring it back! There is no penalty for pre-quarantine books and I would love to have them back in the library so other kids can enjoy them.
• Will kids check out books this year? No, our library is still in storage and the number of books is limited. Kids will have a chance to enjoy books during library class this year which will, hopefully, inspire some ideas for outside reading.
• Where can we access the databases and encyclopedias? Use the Lowell Library website and under SEARCH find a list of the databases students have access to through the school.
• What will students learn without the library? Don't worry! I selected a lot of books to continue our read alouds each week. We will also take this time to explore more aspects of our digital learning curriculum such as digital citizenship and computers as tools.

Email: kelly.mccollum@watertown.k12.ma.us
Website: http://lowelllibrary.com
Location: 175 Orchard Street, Watertown, MA, USA
Phone: 617.926.7770
Twitter: @jrlowellreads