October 2020

This school year is full of restrictions to ensure our safety but it is also full of opportunities to stretch our thinking and try new ways to connect and learn from one another. Although it can be challenging to provide library services to our middle school patrons - both students and adults - we are coming up with innovative routines to make it work! As the year evolves we hope to continue to be imaginative in bringing the library to everyone in a whole new way.

I spent a lot of time trying to anticipate the types of information students, families, and faculty would find most helpful when building our new library website this past summer.

The website pages include:

• Skills, Resources & Tools
• Catalog
• Teacher Info
• Parent Info
• Digital Citizenship
• News & Events
• About Us

However, you are the library users. If you think of information you wish you could find here, please send me an email at roym@barringtonschools.org. I am always open to suggestions!

Much thanks to our cluster teachers for allowing me to Zoom with students and staff to do a BMS Library orientation in our first weeks of school. We explored four ways to find books - both physical and digital.

• Destiny Discover - school library
• Sora, for OverDrive - school library
• RI eZone - public library
• Hoopla Digital - public library

Although students will not be coming into the library, in-person students can place holds and I will deliver books to their ELA teachers. Students who have book returns can simply leave books on the ledge of their first period class and I will come by to pick up each morning.

This school year in-school students will obtain books by placing holds through the RICAT system. Each morning I will deliver books to students' ELA teachers who will then pass out holds to their students.

Students will return books by leaving books on the ledge of their first period class. I come by with a cart each day to pick up books from the ledges.

Distance learners are encouraged to take advantage of the convenient curbside pick up service at Barrington Public Library.

If you are a RI resident, AskRI.org offers you a plethora of databases at no cost.

I specifically mentioned the following during orientation:

• Flipster - online magazines
• NoveList - a way to find your next read
• World Book - online encyclopedia

Mrs. Van Leer has been VERY busy processing titles for our new humanities curriculum. She is extremely cheerful and efficient for such a gargantuan task. She is also moving, purging, and making room in the book room to accommodate all the new titles. She makes it look easy but I assure you it is not. It requires attention to detail beyond the level of most people.

Mrs. Van Leer has been putting core ELA and SS books out for distance learners' families to pick up. The new system is as follows:

1. Families get an email alerting them to the book pick up.

2. Families stop by the front of the school during school hours (tables set up outside on indicated day and after that in the front vestibule).

3. Families find their children's names in the bookmarks of the core curriculum books.

4. Families sign off on the cluster clipboard to indicate the book(s) are now in their possession.

5. A book return bin for returning books is available in the front vestibule during school hours every day.

Mrs. Bento of the Razz cluster jumped at the chance to try something new with our 2020 summer reading requirement. This past summer we asked 6th and 7th grade students to read 2 books of their choice from the 2021 RI Middle School Book Award nominee list.
Mrs. Bento asked students to look at the nominee criteria and decide what elements the books they read met. Students then gave a brief synopsis of their chosen book and defended why it should or should not be a RIMSBA nominee. This gave students practice with listening and speaking skills. It also gave all of us a chance to hear about a host of book titles.

Mrs. Meystre decided to try this method as well. I give both of these teachers HUGE PROPS. They invited me in to collaborate and model with a past 2020 RIMSBA nominee. There were some technical difficulties (the story of 2020) but we forged ahead. It was so great to hear students discuss books and learn from one another!

I am happy to put together specialized lists for teachers. Recently Mrs. Van Leer and I have been creating a biography list for Razz and a list of Civil War titles for a teacher looking for more access points for her students to comprehend the core topic (see photo below).

Our district prides itself on becoming Common Sense Media certified each year. At the middle school level, one of the requirements includes teachers providing 3 Common Sense Media lessons to their students. In order to ease the burden of the already swamped teachers, I have worked with Mr. Mark Davis to utilize Nearpod to create student self-paced Common Sense Media lessons. Teachers can assign lessons to their students throughout the school year and I can go through the Nearpod reports to gauge student understanding. If you would like to see what the Common Sense Media lesson topics are, you can look at the Digital Citizenship page of the BMS Library website here.

Inspired by Mrs. Stephanie Mills of Park View Middle School in Cranston, I decided to take the books outside for browsing and check out. Mrs. Van Leer and I loaded up two mobile bookcases, packed up P.E. cones for social distancing reminders, and took to the streets! No, actually I just alternate days between the front and the back door of the building.

When it is a nice afternoon and students are coming out for mask breaks, it is a perfect way to entice them with titles. It is also helpful to have quick conversations with readers and answer questions they may have about the new library procedures.

This year we decided to go with an "Un-Book Club" theme for virtual family book club. Instead of choosing a single title that everyone reads, we will choose our own books based on a common genre or format and explore the aspects of that genre/format through our personal choices.

Meetings will be hosted by:

• Ms. Tanya, Teen Librarian of Barrington Public Library
• Ms. August, BMS Reading Specialist
• Dr. Fernandes, BMS Reading Specialist
• Mrs. Roy, BMS Librarian

Meeting Dates:

• Tuesday, November 10 at 5pm - Kick-Off (nothing required but your presence)
• Wednesday, January 20 at 5pm - Fantasy genre
• Wednesday, March 24 at 5pm - Graphic Novel format (any genre)
• Wednesday, May 19 at 5pm - Realistic Fiction genre

If you would like to sign up for book club, please have your BMS student fill out this form. We will send you the Zoom link through the student and adult emails you put in the sign-up form.

Hope to see you there!

Grade 8 students, are you interested in helping us create and curate content for Barrington Middle School? If interested, please fill out this form. Mrs. Roy will be in touch with you by mid-November.

For September 14 - October 30, 2020:

Total Books Checked Out: 1,399

Total Holds: 218