I've been really bad about sharing my thoughts on the books I have read this year.  Since this book collection is new to me, I wanted to focus on reading as many chapter books as possible, so that I would have a lot of titles I could recommend to students, teachers and parents.  The first book I read this school year was...
I was skeptical and expected something a long the lines of a third grade Captain Underpants type story with the type of potty humor that makes parents question my sanity as a librarian.  I was completely surprised, and I'll be recommending this series to students, teachers as fun read alouds, and parents as a great series to get their kids hooked on reading.  This book is clever and witty.  Two brothers, full of spunk and adventure, make a plan to rescue a damsel in distress, trick their mother (who is also their school principal) and become mad scientists.    They play tons of  inventive games, and provide directions to recreate the games at home.  It is nice to see a series about two siblings that like one another and enjoy each other's company.

Early Elementary Research & Note Taking

I was thinking about the First Grade Common Core strand ELA Research to Build and Present Knowledge, which states students will:

• W.1.7. Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of “how-to” books on a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions).
• W.1.8. With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

I've been trying to figure out why they would state it as “gather information from provided sources to answer a question.” As one teacher commented to me recently, "My kids can do so much more than answer one question!"

 I think maybe it goes back to this whole idea that with the Common Core we are supposed to “go deep”--what does that look like with this standard?  I think that by limiting the number of questions students are supposed to answer allows students to focus on other equally important things like extracting the appropriate information from the text, taking good notes, connecting what they learn to what they already know, organizing their information into creating a good product, thinking about spelling and handwriting, and avoiding anything that looks like plagiarism, time to reflect on the process, etc.  

I also keep pondering the subtle details nestled within the vertical alignment of this strand--sources are provided during research for grades K-2, students aren't asked to cite sources at all until 3rd grade when they are asked to "take brief notes on sources"

So, much to rethink.  Take a look at this Research to Build and Present Knowledge strand K-12 vertical alignment thingy.

Common Core Research Vertical Alignment from Georgia's Regional Education Service Agency

Here is the form I am hoping to use for small group research with our first grade classes.

Public Library/School Library Partnerships

The new NC School Library Media Coordinator's Evaluation Instrument is full of standards that address the need for external partnerships, partnering with other libraries and community organizations.  I've always known this was important, but I've always struggled with how to make this an authentic partnership (more than just calling them to let them know a class is researching a topic and to let them know families might come in looking for books on a specific topic).  It always seemed like there was more we could do to support each other's goals.  I've noticed in the morning there are lots of parents dropping off their children, who have younger kids as well.  So, we are partnering with Jesse, our Buncombe Co. Library Preschool Outreach Coordinator, to provide a monthly story time for Dickson families who have preschool aged children , toddlers or infants.  Today was our first event, with seven adults and ten children attending.  Our next event will be held on Friday, December 7th at 8:15 am.