ASD Libraries Annual Report 2017: Strategy 3

The ASD libraries were happy to welcome award winning author Candy Fleming and award winning illustrator Eric Rohman earlier this year. Candy and Eric worked with Elementary to Middle School aged students to share about researching interesting people, writing historical non-fiction, creating beautiful illustrations, and using a variety of techniques in art. Candy is the author of many historical biographies, like "The Lincolns" and"Family Romanov". Students were interested to see techniques they use in their own research being used by a successful writer. Eric met Elementary and Middle School students in art classrooms, sharing his Newberry winning book, "My friend rabbit", and talked about how to share your unique story through images. The MS/HS library hosted a parent presentation on "What parents can learn from children's books". This topic encouraged group sharing and interesting conversation. We appreciate the support of the PTA in helping us bring this valuable author visit program to our students. 

Photo credit: http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/event/candace-fleming-and-eric-rohmann

The elementary library is the place to be at ASD!   The students using the library are passionate about reading, exploring new titles, and sharing favorites with friends. Classes, small groups, parents, tutors, as well as teachers use the library weekly. We see great numbers  of students coming to use the library before school, during recesses, and after school. During recess, we have a steady influx of students (between 250-350 daily) who share books with friends, read quietly, play a game together, and once we put supplies out, began to use the area as a mini Makerspace.  

Elementary Programs

Read Week is a fantastic, fun filled week celebrating books and reading!  Students at ASD participated in the many events that took place in the library throughout the week. The bookmark contest focusing on the Book Week theme, “We Are Children of Books” encouraged students to design their own book marks and enter them into the contest.  Winners from each grade level have their book mark printed and passed out in the library.  

Students raced to the library every morning to read a few lines (snippets) from popular books that were posted in the library. Students from all grade levels entered a draw by writing the title of the book the snippet came from.

Another popular event of the week was the “Who Am I?” poster contest.  Pictures of famous characters from children’s books were posted on the library wall. Students were asked to identify the characters by name and to submit the complete list to the library for the chance to win a book of their choice.

Children of Books Picture Display: Students had the chance to have their photo taken with their favorite book and have it displayed on the wall in the library. 

Throughout the week the focus remained on the joy of reading.  The many events encouraged students to explore books they may have previously been unfamiliar with.  It was a fun filled Read Week!

Poetry Week featured Poetry Pop-Ins, Poetry Pockets and Poetry Jams. Administrators and coordinators “popped in” to classrooms for a 5-minute poetry read aloud break.  Lower Elementary students created poetry pockets and read their favorite poems to students and staff during recess times. The poetry jams were a huge success as students of all ages signed up to present a favorite poem to an audience in the reading loft of the library.​

This one time I had a bloody nose in the library, my friend picked up a book he found about medics, and one of the pages included how to stop a bloody nose. So I checked out the book. Thank you library.  (grade 3)

I got help from the library to find a book about ancient Greek stuff. It helped me have a conversation with Lily where I could understand some of what she was saying (she loves ancient Greece).  

One Book One Community in the ASD Middle School allows students, teachers, administration, staff and parents to come together as one group of readers. Each student is gifted a copy of the book thanks to the generous support of the PTA. Students took part in daily read-alouds, popcorn reading, activities in classes, and lively discussions.  This year's book was "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen. Students were interested to learn more about main character Cole, his motivations, downfall and his recovery. Our culminating event took place in the evening, where students performed spirit animal dances, took green screen photos running from a bear!, asked one another "what would you do?" scenario questions, and ended the night making s'mores over an open fire. OBOC in the ASD Middle School continues to encourage conversations about real life issues, and builds community around a common book. Thanks to our teacher and parent volunteers for helping to make OBOC 2017 a success! 

Graphic novels continue to be one of the most popular sections of the MS/HS library. With a collection of 1,700, Middle School teachers are encouraging students to choose graphic novels as an alternative to chapter books for personal reading and parents are recognizing them as an enjoyable and enriching reading experience. The collection is constantly growing, from Manga, Marvel comics, popular series and re-imagined classics, kids are finding lots to love.

Think about one time in your ASD career when the school library really helped you. Write about the help that you got, and what you were able to do because of it.

• I needed more sources for a paper I was writing and I got help from the librarian to find informational pieces that were useful for my paper. I was able to have more insightful information in my assignment.
• I was doing a research project and the librarians helped me find multiple encyclopedias, websites, and books that helped me do my research and organize my notes for my assignment.
• The library is a great place for studying-- I went there before one of my exams and was able to get a quiet place to do practice problems and look over notes while the rest of the school was clamoring.

Please give one specific example of when the ASD library helped you.

• I once needed help gathering information for a Geography essay, which I was able to find thanks to the library session which taught us how to look for information.

• Helped me find books to keep me interested in the pre-20th writings.

• Whenever I have problems printing or finding a book, I feel confident enough to ask someone working at the front desk for help and they always do. I really appreciate that!

Are author visits beneficial? How do we know? 

We've been running an author visit program with the support of the PTA for the last 7 years, so we decided it was time to ask the students about their impressions and memories of the author visit program. Over 350 students from grades 3 through 12 took our survey, and we asked them about every author who visited during their time at ASD.

Here is a list of what ASD students think are the benefits of author visits:

• The students learn more about writing/illustrating/storytelling. "It impacted me because I did not know that other authors do the writing steps that we do.” - Grade 5 student about Candace Fleming.
• Author visits are entertaining and fun. “I remember he used to record everything significant to him in his diary which was bound by rubber bands, not a lock. He was hilarious! He also had that story where he would beam light off his watch to his teacher.“ - Grade 10 student about Jack Gantos. (The student would have been in 3rd grade when Jack visted.)

• The students learn about topics that are discussed in the author's books. “I learned a lot about pearl diving and I thought it was interesting because it was a way to make money a long time ago in a new culture for me." - Grade 4 student about Julia Johnson.

• The students get more interested in reading, especially non-fiction. “They show me books to read and get me interested in them. Every time they would come I would get one of their books and read it because they made it sound interesting.” - Grade 11 student.

• The students like to buy the author's books. “I bought two of her poem books and I read them to this day!” - Grade 7 student about Naomi Shihab Nye.

• The authors make a personal connection with the students.  “She was an amazing person. I remember talking to her about Chains and just having a really good connection.” - Grade 11 student about Laurie Halse Anderson.

This past October, the 7/8 Choir performed a series of songs from literature, including Much Ado About Nothing, Sound of Music, Alice in Wonderland, and The Secret Garden.  Their beautiful voices and lively choreography made the concert a joy to attend, and the library was a perfect setting for the concert.                                                                                                                         

Think about one time in your ASD career when the school library really helped you. Write about the help that you got, and what you were able to do because of it.

They helped me nowing new books.

When the library tought me how to find books on my own and it was good because I can find books without an adult.

Elementary students are readers! By the time summer ends, our students are just waiting for school to start so they can return their  summer books and check out some fresh titles. It's not unusual to have parents dropping off books ahead of time so that their child can get some more books on the first day of school. With a circulation of close to 90,000 books checked out in a year, you know the library is the place to be.

Elementary students are readers! It’s not unusual at all to find students sitting in the library, reading books, during classes as well as at recess time. Our fiction collection is now sorted by genre, including Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery and Historical Fiction. The new divisions have proven extremely popular with the students. It will be interesting to observe patterns of student checkouts over the next year.

• I remember last semester I had to, for the first time, check out a camera from the library for computers. I had no idea how to do it or when it was due or who to ask to check it out, so when the librarian was so kind and patient it really calmed me down. I was able to then tell other people how to do it and that the librarian was really nice, so I'm glad it worked out!

• I was looking for a Quarter 2 book to do for my History log, and it was in the week Candace Fleming came to the school. One of the librarians helped me pick out The Lincolns. Even though it was a long read, it was certainly interesting and helped me get my book log done efficiently.

• I think that the librarians are very kind and helpful. I feel like I can always go to them for help about books and they make the library a very inviting place.

Fiction circulates more than non-fiction for individual reading. Often non-fiction that is used for a research project is checked out to the class for the length of the unit, and then several students will use it each day during the project.

It's natural for the number of titles read to decrease as the students read longer, more complicated texts and experience more homework demands, but we continue to encourage pleasure reading for high school students. 

The libraries publish summer reading lists via Libguides (see below) and encourage students who will be in Qatar for some or all of the summer to check out library books. Reading lists include suggestions from teachers, students, and national reading lists. Summer 2017 checkout numbers are: over 1800 books from the MS/HS library, and over 1600 books from the ES library.
 

Lauren Alderfer, author, professor, and mindfulness teacher spoke to parents and staff about her newest book, Teaching from the Heart of Mindfulness. Lauren introduced everyone to some mindful practices and shared strategies on how to integrate mindfulness in the classroom. Parents and staff found her presentation informative and left excited to practice what they learned!

The high school choirs held a "Music in Our Schools Month" concert during break. Several small groups of students performed their own arrangements.

These MS students checked out the most library books this year.

• Kalani S - grade 6
• Akif R - grade 7
• Emory S - grade 8
• Olinka C - grade 7
• Keira V - grade 6

These HS students checked out the most library books this year.

• Ahmed W - grade 9
• Manaal S - grade 9
• Zaid A - grade 9
• Isabella L - grade 9
• Hiba A - grade 9