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A Quick Note from the SLMS

We’ve hit the ground running at the Dickens LMC! It’s hard to believe that

in the month or so since school started, we’ve managed to acquire more than 200

new books and resources for both students and teachers, funded a $24,000

technology grant half way, conducted our first Tech 2sday mini-workshop, circulated

more than 5,500 books, implemented a number of programs for both students and

classroom teachers, and more. And of course there’s teaching going on every hour of

the school day, too.

I am also pleased to announce that one of my first professional articles

will be published in the November issue of a school library trade publication (The

School Librarian’s Workshop). It focuses on the effective use of Flip video digital

camcorders in the library media center and classroom. Another article I’m currently

writing—on library media center gardens—will be published in the Spring.

This staff newsletter, The Digital Shelf, will provide you with more details

on recent accomplishments within the Dickens LMC, and of course, will offer you a

look of what is to come.

The bottom line is that the Dickens LMC is here for students and teachers.

Our overarching goal is to provide a foundation for increased student achievement—

we hope you and your students will take advantage of our services.

Christina A. Bentheim, M.Ed.

School Library Media Specialist

This young lady was caught reading and relaxing with her favorite stuffed animal.

The Shelf

October Issue 2009

Vol. 1 Issue 2

Bits and Bytes from the Dickens Library Media Center

D.L. “Dusty” Dickens Elementary School

Library Media Center

5550 Milan Peak St.

North Las Vegas, NV 89081

702.799.3878 – phone

702.799.3871 – fax

www.MrsBentheim.com

What a school thinks about its

library is a measure

of what it feels about

education.

~ Harold Howe

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Circulation Stats Since the beginning of the school year, more than 5,500 books have

circulated through the Dickens LMC (600+ of those coming from

classroom teachers)!!! With that said, our numbers of overdue/lost

books are minimal considering the volume. We're averaging about one

book missing per class--which is excellent!! Congrats to you and your

kids for using and returning LMC materials!! There is still a list of more

than 640 pages of books that have never been checked out, so PLEASE

come and get them! They are here for you and the kids.

Teacher Book Review Program As you may already know, the Library Services department provides

school libraries with the opportunity to earn 10 new books per month

through the writing of staff book reviews. These are books that are just

being published—so new you won’t yet find them anywhere! If you

would like to participate (you can include your class, too), please let

Christina know. Reviews are due the 15th

of each month—and the next

batch will be available mid-October.

The Shelf Elf Award The Shelf Elf has made his way to two classrooms thus far (Williams and

Hinz) and will continue to visit other classrooms that have students who

keep the library media center's shelves looking the neatest and most

organized each week! Every Monday the Shelf Elf blasts off to another

classroom (or stays in the same one, if that class comes out on top

again)! This is not a behavior award. It is solely for following library

procedures during browsing. The class who earns the most visits by the

Shelf Elf at the end of the year will earn a very special reward!

Technology Grant Last week Christina submitted a $24,000 proposal for new technology in

our library media center--40 netbooks with wireless internet, a netbook

cart, 6 iPod touches, an Elmo document camera, and 6 digital cameras.

This week it was discovered that the Lincy Foundation gave more than

$12,000!!! If you would like to see the proposal and share it with others

(parents, students, community members, etc.) please go to:

http://donorschoose.org/twt/318874. There's a long way to go, but this

means wonderful things for YOU and our STUDENTS!

Birthday Book Club The BBC has pulled in more than $500 so far this year. These funds are

used to purchase new materials beyond the scope of our district-

allocated budget. We currently have 34 students in grades K-5 who have

joined. New members are accepted all year long! Applications are

available in the front office or from Dickens LMC staff.

Celebrate Reading with Our Mystery Readers!

Several staff members have already come by to have some faculty

photo fun! If you haven’t had a chance yet, it’s not too late to be part

of our Mystery Reader contest! We’ll be showing mystery readers in

the LMC hallway all year long and on our website beginning October 1.

Students will have opportunities to guess who the mystery readers

are!

The Dickens LMC Instructional Program

Each LMC lesson is structured according to CCSD’s Components of An

Effective Lesson outline. The instructional standards addressed

coordinate with grade-level content clusters, as well as the established

library and information technology standards. We begin with the

recitation of this year’s Dickens LMC theme (“Celebrate Reading at the

Dickens LMC”), move into review of previous lessons, state the

objective as a class, set the purpose for reading or listening, discuss our

thoughts on the story(ies), tie those in to the objective for the day

through various activities and groupings, quickly review, and then

check out. In other words, every session is jam-packed with content to

support your classroom efforts. The more knowledge Christina has

about what your specific class/grade level is focusing on, the more

lessons can be specifically tailored to supplement your teaching.

I have always imagined that

Paradise will be a kind of

library.

~ Jorge Luis Borges

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Effective Use of AR in the School Library Media Center

Research shows that students who enjoy what they are reading because

they chose it, will rise to the occasion, regardless of level. (This means if a

1st grader wants to read Harry Potter in addition to his "leveled" selection,

who is to say his parents won't read it to him? Or an older sibling? He has a

right to that higher-level text under the ALA's Freedom to Read statement.)

Please read the following excerpt from the Access to Resources and Services

in the School Library Media Program document, which was written by the

American Library Association and adopted by CCSD Library Services.

Access to Resources and Services in the School Library Media Program

Students and educators served by the school library media program have

access to resources and services free of constraints resulting from personal,

partisan, or doctrinal disapproval. School library media specialists resist

efforts by individuals or groups to define what is appropriate for all students

or teachers to read, view, hear, or access. Major barriers between students

and resources include, but are not limited to, imposing age or grade level

restrictions on the use of resources; limiting the use of interlibrary loan and

access to electronic information; charging fees for information in specific

formats; requiring permission from parents or teachers; establishing

restricted shelves or closed collections; and labeling. Policies, procedures,

and rules related to the use of resources and services support free and open

access to information.

Overall Message: We need to be very careful that when we level books,

we do not end up leveling our kids!

Upcoming Tech 2sdays and Web 2.0 Wednesdays

• The Tech 2sday Mini Workshop the SECOND Tuesday of

October will focus on Microsoft Office 2007 Tips and Tricks.

• The Web 2.0 Wednesday Mini Workshop the SECOND

Wednesday of October will focus on Web 2.0 and how it can be

effectively used in the elementary classroom.

Destiny Quick Tips for Teachers

If you missed the September Tech 2sday session, please stop by the Dickens

LMC so we can show you how to use the Destiny Catalog. You can search for

materials by specific Nevada CEFs/standards, place certain books on hold,

renew the books you have checked out, recommend books to your kids,

write reviews that are seen across the district, and more.

Recent Media Coverage

There are two very well-respected library media experts (professors,

researchers, writers) who FEATURED the Dickens Library Media Center's use

of Web 2.0 technologies (http://www.MrsBentheim.com). Their coverage

caused our website hits to soar to more than 110,000 visitors from around

the world.

• You can see the coverage from Buffy J. Hamilton here:

http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/element

ary-library-2-0-inspiration/

• And from Polly Farrington and Associates here:

http://blog.pafa.net/archives/837

New Arrivals

• 20 new big books for teacher use in the classroom (each has

accompanying lesson idea booklets)

• 10 new lit circle sets of novels for teacher use in the

classroom

• 15 new top-notch professional books for teachers about

reading and writing instruction

• 40 new instructional DVDs for teacher checkout

• 100+ picture books and novels for the general fiction and non-

fiction library media center collection

• 15 new picture books and non-fiction books from CCSD’s

teacher book review program

• … and more

You don’t have to burn books

to destroy a culture. Just get

people to stop reading them.

~ Ray Bradbury

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Where can I learn more about the Dickens LMC?

Here are the steps we recommend you take to keep current with our events, activities, learning experiences, and other goings-on:

1. Visit our website at www.MrsBentheim.com and explore each section. (The Links and Teachers sections specifically have some great

stuff for you!)

2. Become a fan of the Dickens Elementary School Library Media Center on Facebook by searching for our name (Dickens Elementary

School Library Media Center) at www.facebook.com.

3. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com. Our Twitter handle is DickensLMC.

4. Subscribe to our blog by visiting http://dickenslmc.blogspot.com or simply enter your email address into the appropriate box on our

home page at www.MrsBentheim.com. Read previous postings and review the documents provided within the posts.

5. Join our Delicious network for social bookmarks by clicking on the link at the right-hand side of our

home page at www.MrsBentheim.com or by searching for the DickensLMC at www.delicious.com.

6. Take about 15 minutes to go through the Dickens LMC Teacher Orientation by visiting

www.MrsBentheim.com and clicking on the Teachers section.

Insert Headline Here Month Day Year Vol. 1 Issue 1

Find us on any of these social media

websites. Add us to your contacts list so

that you can stay updated daily on the

goings-on within the Dickens LMC!

Twitter: DickensLMC

Flickr: DickensLMC

YouTube: Dickens LMC

Delicious: Dickens LMC

Blogger: DickensLMC

Facebook: Dickens Elementary

School Library Media

Center

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