seattle public schools and seattle public library
TRANSCRIPT
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND
SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARYSuccessful collaborations between the Southwest Branch library and K-5 schools in West Seattle
• Roxhill parent/child book club• SPL Presents at the West Seattle PLC• SPL’s Pacific Science Center experiments
at Roxhill's summer school open library time
• Roxhill pages and pajamas events• Roxhill comes to Southwest library!
Kristina DarnellChildren’s Librarian, Southwest branch
ROXHILL PARENT/CHILD BOOK CLUB As part of an effort to involve
families in the excitement of the Global Reading Challenge, a family book group event was held at Roxhill Elementary in January.
Roxhill receives Title I funding, and many of the families come from situations that produce barriers to reading and academic success.
CSL Kristina Darnell and Roxhill librarian Chris Robert worked together to promote the event to Roxhill students and families.
The program took place on a Tuesday evening in the Roxhill library, where 16 fourth and fifth graders (along with some parents and siblings) gathered to discuss the GRC title Because of Winn-Dixie.
Parents learned more about the GRC program and they got to see how their kids gain a deeper understanding of reading material through interactive discussions and activities.
This was an effective way to interact with families and to model techniques for building deeper reading comprehension.
Several of the parents had never attended a book discussion and appreciated the opportunity to see how their children might benefit from reading and discussing literature.
“I see how good it is for the kids to talk about the book like we did here today. I can’t do anything like this every time my kids read a book, but is there another way I can talk to them and help them?”
- New American, father of 3
SPL PRESENTS AT WEST SEATTLE PLC
During the October West Seattle PLC meeting, SPL librarian Kristina Darnell presented to 9 SPS librarians and 1 SPS Instructional Technology liaison.
The presentation touched on Homework Help, Ask a Librarian 24/7, Help in other Languages, key Databases (reading and academic), Institution cards, Children's Audience page at spl.org, Brainfuse online homework help, eBooks and eResources.
The planned 40-minute presentation turned into 60 minutes with an additional 30 minutes of question and answer time!
Of particular interest were Brainfuse, access to NovelList Plus (and how it differs from the SPS subscription to NovelList K-8), BookFlix, Tumblebooks, and of course, eBooks.
Prezi on Public Library Resources for Students:
http://ow.ly/Jxj4G
ROXHILL SUMMER OPEN LIBRARY
Roxhill Open Library 9-Jul1-1:30 Fingerprint ID Wise WitnessesRoxhill Open Library 16-Jul1-1:30 Reaction Time Blind Spot
Roxhill Open Library 23-Jul1-1:30Introduction To Electriciy Conductivity
During a summer school session at Roxhill Elementary, SPL librarian Kristina worked with interim SPS librarian Caitlin Enga-McPhee to provide open library time for Roxhill students and families.
Kristina brought STEM activities from the Pacific Science Center kits created for SPL.
Kids participated in hands-on activities, signed up for SPL library cards, and received information about SPL’s Summer of Learning program.
PAGES AND PAJAMAS SPL librarian Kristina Darnell and
Roxhill Elementary librarian Chris Robert co-hosted two evening literacy events for Roxhill families
The first event in October took place at the Roxhill library. Over 45 families gathered, read together, and learned about SPL resources available for students.
The second event in December took place at SPL’s Southwest branch. The event drew over 70 people to the meeting room to read books, hear stories, and of course eat cookies together, all while wearing their pajamas. Kristina spoke with several new immigrant families who didn’t realize their children could sign up for library cards for free. We passed out children’s card applications, and over 10 children went downstairs with their parents to sign up for library cards.
ROXHILL COMES TO SOUTHWEST LIBRARY!
On Tuesday, June 10, all 380 students from Roxhill Elementary school plus teachers, other staff, and parent volunteers came to the Southwest Library to hear about the Summer of Learning!
Every Roxhill student got to:
Become familiar with and comfortable in the library space
Meet and speak with the staff at Southwest Library
Learn about SPL’s new Summer of Learning program
Many students indicated they’d never been to this library before, but now that they knew where it was and knew several staff by name, they’d be more likely to come back this summer.
The Roxhill teachers and parents also got to learn about the Summer of Learning as well as some other library-related information many of them didn’t know
Southwest staff met face-to-face with tons of kids they hadn’t seen coming into their building. They also got to put faces to names of the teachers and teacher-librarian at Roxhill Elementary.