7,000 Titles Later...

Today marked a huge accomplishment due to the commitment of so many individuals. Six years ago MRA started a library that existed in the hallway to the gym.  Many thanks to Emily Miller who knew the value and importance of making books accessible to every student at MRA.  She made the dream a reality and added as many books as she could to the small library that first year.  In the years to come the library was moved, abandoned, and relocated many times.  Piles of boxes of books continued to be donated and stacked in any available corner with the hope that someday they would be displayed and made available to our students.

MRA Library in 2012

With  less then 500 Titles

For the past two years the boxes of books have been stored in the walk-in refrigerators in our kitchen.  The task seemed daunting as there were close to 6,000 books waiting to be cleaned, labeled, cataloged, and shelved.  As the quonset hut became the nesting place for our library and the setting seemed to accommodate it well, we began the adventure of filling the shelves brimming with books.  Many thanks to the volunteers who spent countless hours, we now have over 7,300 titles in our library.  Today, I cataloged the last book from the last box that was stored in one of the many various places throughout the years.  This is what makes MRA an amazing place to learn and work, the commitment to the education of our children taken on by a community to see it to fruition.  So, with a full heart I want to thank Emily Miller, Jenny Cook, Noelle Brown, Cassie Righter, Nicole Wynn, Jessica Enz, Sandy Trussell, Lori Martin, Stacy Lowder, and all the families and volunteers who have helped our library become what it is today.  Thank you for your dedication in making books readily available for our students.

Why Use Story Maps????

1.  They improve students' comprehension.

2.  They provide students with a framework for identifying the elements of a story.

3.  They help students of varying abilities organize information and ideas efficiently.  

4.  They are fun and interactive.

http://thebookfairygoddess.blogspot.com/2013/10/reading-brain-hat.html

This week we took all our brain powers and completed a story map for our current story, "A Walk In The Rain With A Brain".  The students had fun recalling the events of the story and were able to fill in the map with excitement as we also talked about the areas our brain were working to recall the information.   

Our Alders continued with making MLA citations with magazines and we added different media sources.  I felt a bit old when I had to explain what a VHS tape was.   Mr. Luke will be working with them on using search engines and citing websites in the following weeks.  They should be well prepared for the upcoming independent projects.


http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/story_maps

Reading Brain Hat

For the next couple of weeks the Trillium, Huckleberry, and Clarkia classes will be discovering that their brain actually does a lot of work while reading.  Using the "Reading Brain Hat" lessons taken from the www.thebookfairygoddess.blogspot.com, we will place the areas we think the brain may be working when we read fiction stories.  What part of the brain "lights up" when we predict or find characters in the story?  How does our brain work to find the events in the story and put them in the right sequence?  Does our brain work harder to find the problem and solution of the story?  We will be using the book,  "A Walk in the Rain with a Brain,"  to discover that all brains have different strengths and how each one is unique and can be strengthen if you try, try, try.  

The Alder classes will be starting some research papers in their homeroom classes and so we continue to learn about MLA format and how to cite our sources.  This week we learned how magazines are set up differently then books and where to find the important information for citations. We will discover how to cite DVD's and media sources next week.  It has been a great start to our first week back!

Books Delivered

We have be anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new books.  With the money we made during our Fall Scholastic Book Fair and a generous donation, we were able to purchase many new non-fiction titles as well as a few well-loved fiction books.  It was thrilling to watch our students get so excited about our new books.  We have added books on Bullet Trains, U.S. History, Fibonacci numbers, forensic science,  batteries, great scientists, music, and many more.  Please take time to stop by and see our display!  Thank you again for all your support for our library.