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What's New...
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OLARC Expectations...
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Here in the OLARC we too are working on becoming a school of "READERS." We are reinforcing how to choose "Good Fit Books" and we know how to "Read to Self." Above you will see the posters that are found throughout our school so we are all on the same "PAGE" (actually using the same vocabulary and concepts). Yes, we are becoming "Life Long Learners." Please find a copy of our 3rd Trimester Reflection below: Orca Library and Research Center (OLARC) 3rd Trimester Reflection Dear Harbor Heights Families, It is very hard to believe it is time for this year to end and summer to begin. This is what has been happening this final trimester of the 2010-2011 school year here in the OLARC (Orca Library and Research Center). Our curriculum activities are based on enriching all forms of literacy using all the genres of literature, reinforcing fiction & non-fiction text features, building on reading strategies, introducing & using all materials that are available in our Reference Center, plus sharing our love for books and reading. Our enrichment activities focus, build and support all learning styles while reinforcing best practices that are taking place within our classrooms.
· Intermediate Grades (3rd, 4th and 5th): Voting for the “Washington Young Readers” Award and “Washington Children’s Choice” Award took place the last week of March. Introducing, browsing and using materials available in our Reference Center continued with all our various types of Almanacs, Atlases and Dictionaries. After our lessons on fictional genres the students created a main character from one of the following Fiction Genres; Historical, Realistic or Science Fiction. A review of the Dewey Decimal System wrapped up our year. Our “Visual Arts” lessons continued with our study of “Contour Drawing” creating designs inside two shamrocks using horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved and zig-zag lines.
It definitely was a very busy trimester here in the OLARC! Have a WONDERFUL Summer reading lots of great books together! We will miss our 5th graders but know they will love Middle School, we wish them the best always! Mrs. Shove, Literacy Enrichment Specialist J Mrs. Watson & Mrs. Stock, Librarians Please find a copy of our 2nd Trimester Reflections Below: ORCA LIBRARY and RESEARCH CENTER: OLARC’S 2nd Trimester Reflection Here isHere is a look at what has been happening in the OLARC this trimester.
All School Activities that have taken place in the OLARC: Weekly check-out continues for K, 1st and 2nd grades with a possible total of 10 books checked out for K & 1st graders and 20 possible books for 2nd graders. Intermediate students (3rd- 5thgrades) check-out every other week with a minimum of 18 books checked out. The total number of books that have been checked out from the OLARC so far this year is 15,463. We encourage Intermediate students to return books as soon as they are finished reading them and check-out more instead of holding on to them for two weeks waiting for a check-out time. This trimester everyone visited “Welcome to Happy Holiday Happenings” in December and “It’s Cold Outside” the end of February , two engaging, creative, hands-on weeks of teaming as a “Community of Learners” in the OLARC & Tech Time. Thanks to all our Harbor Heights Families for their support of our Book Fairs; we now house over 18,000 books here in the Orca Library and Research Center! We just finished celebrating “READ ACROSS AMERICA,” Dr. Seuss’ Birthday and reading our favorite Dr. Seuss books. Have you heard about our “TEAM Jenga” experience? T=together, E=everyone, A=achieves, M=more is our theme here in the OLARC and carries over into every part of our school. Our school record is 33 stories high and this year that goal was reached by a team working together. Each class continues to work towards earning SKOOB’s “Book Bucks” by returning all their books on time. Thanks to all families that help their students with this very important life lesson in accountability. We stress the importance of “Read to Self,” “Reading with a Partner,” plus the skill of speaking in front of a group, explaining their book choice, while using a microphone. We also continue to reinforce and support all literacy strategies that classroom teachers use daily. Please check-out our websites on our District webpage, more information and photos about our Orca Library and Research Center can be found there.
Intermediate Grades: They continue with their every other week check-out. Several teachers are requiring their students to check-out at least one or two “AR” (Accelerated Reading) books and then their third book can be a book of interest, a challenging book or a magazine. As research projects begin and continue in our classrooms, we will begin our travel through our “Reference Center” by looking at Books of Records, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Atlases and Almanacs. These are wonderful resources available for students. The “Young Readers Choice” nominees for this year have been introduced to the 4th and 5th graders with voting taking place the week of April 11. The “Washington Children Choice” nominees are being read to 3rd graders in their classrooms. They will be voting for their favorite book out of the twenty WCCPB nominees on the last week of March. Our literature responses to our reading vary. We hope the Read & Lead adult minutes from here in the OLARC have been of help to your children while they strive to meet their goals. 4th & 5th graders continue with our added enrichment experience of combining OLARC and Tech Time for visual arts activities. “The Luck of the Line” was our latest project of contour drawing and line design.
Primary Grades: They continue to enjoy the picture books we share with them. We focus on the reading strategies for “Making Connections,” “Visualizing,” “Predicting,” “Questioning” and of course “Listening.” They continue learning how a library is organized so they can become experts in locating their books to check-out; they love checking out books. PLEASE help your children with a reminder to place their Library books in their backpack the night before their OLARC day. Our Kindergarteners continue to place their books in their classroom book boxes and are able to enjoy them during the week. We are hoping that this experience will teach them to place their book in a special place and then return it each and every week. They are learning this for next year when as 1st graders they bring their books home and then remember to return them the very next week. The parts of a book, Non-fiction/ Informational Text features, browsing our Magazines, Books of Records, and Encyclopedias from our Reference Center plus “Read to Self” and “Read with a Partner” continue to be a focused part of our Orca Library and Research Center curriculum for these ages. They too are enjoying the Washington Children’s Choice Nominees and will vote on their favorite during the last week of March.
TEAM TIME NEWS: Just ask your children… They love it and we love that on Fridays our students have a second day of organized, educationally sound physical activity! Right after Winter Break we gathered together for a week of Team Time to review and emphasize our “Orca Expectations” focusing on all recesses and on our buses. Jump Rope for Heart was a success here at Harbor Heights due to the continued support by all our families, thank you! Thank Thank you for sharing your students with us each week! Happy Happy Spring Reading! Cindy Shove, Literacy Enrichment Specialist (shovec@psd401.net) Doris Watson, Librarian (watsond@psd401.net) Jami Stock, Librarian (stockj@psd401.net) OLARC phone #530-1822
OLARC 1ST TRIMESTER REFLECTION Dear Harbor Heights Families, Here is what has been happening so far this year in the “OLARC” (Orca Library and Research Center). Our curriculum and Learning Targets are based on Literacy Enrichment (incorporating the concepts of schema, connections, visualization, inference and questioning) using as many books as possible that surround us plus emphasizing Library/Research Skills through the use of our multi-media resources. We reinforce these skills daily with all grades. We focus on “Building our Community of Learners” through our “Orca Expectations” of on task, respectful, cooperative, accountable and safe learners. Accountability for returning books on time (date they are due) is a major emphasis. We are off to an “Orca-rrific” year of learning together! Ä Each week is a learning adventure for us. All school activities included “Welcome to the OLARC” PowerPoint, choosing “Good Fit Books,” “Reading to Self,” “Meet the New Books,” Self-evaluation at the end of each class plus “Welcome to BOO-LARC & Terrifying Tech Time” (an engaging week of teaming between OLARC & Tech Time filled with cooperation, teamwork, creativity, imagination, friendship and fun). We look forward to more of this teaming throughout this year. All students are responsible for stamping their own books with the date that they are due; reinforcing their accountability for the books they check-out. Ä 3rd-5th graders have a formal check-out every other week as part of class, but we encourage them to return books as soon as they are finished reading them and check-out more instead of holding on to them for two weeks waiting for their class check-out time. As of the second week in November, the minimum number of books intermediate students should have checked out is fifteen (15). It is so exciting to see what a busy place this can be with students coming and going, knowing just what to do without any disruption to the OLARC classes that are in progress, real life learning. Intermediate students continue to become “OPAC” (Online Public Access Catalog) users via “Destiny Quest,” they are able to find books at school and home. Third graders continue with review lessons throughout the year. It is very important that our students are able to use the OPAC with confidence. 3rd, 4th & 5th graders used maps of our OLARC for their activity, “OLARC Map Quest.” They were given a map and 24 locations to identify and label here in the OLARC. We continue to introduce new chapter books and book series through our reading to the students. Starting in reverse we have just begun our travels through the Dewey Decimal Classification System with Biographies. We will focus on Literary Genres, Text Features and Reading Strategies, Fiction and Non-fiction books. Our Intermediate students will experience added enrichment every couple of months when OLARC and Tech Time combine for visual arts activities that are based on the National Standards for Visual Arts. We have begun our study of contour drawing. Ä 1st and 2nd grade students were introduced to and reviewed browsing for books, the process of checking books out including renewing those they have not finished, all the parts of a book especially the call number and its importance plus the responsibility of checking books out for one week and returning them on time the very next week so that they are available for others to check-out. As of the second week of November, first graders should have checked out 8 books and second graders should have checked out 16 books. We are sharing lots of wonderful picture books with our primary students and also touched on informational text/non-fiction with a look at Biographies and Veterans Day. Projects included designing their own shelf marker to use each week, reinforcing and practicing “Read to Self,” reading with a partner, how to choose “Good Fit Books,” plus making connections and visualizing while we read to them. Ä Kindergarteners are very excited about coming into our Orca Library and Research Center and we are very excited to have them here each and every week. So far they have been introduced to many aspects of our OLARC such as our “Social Learning Target” of greeting each other as a Community of Learners, browsing for books, designing and using a shelf-marker, checking out a book and taking it to their classroom where they keep it in their book box to enjoy during the week, learning the areas of our OLARC (everybody books, pet and animal books plus dinosaurs to date), making connections and visualizing while listening to both fiction and non-fiction books we read to them. Our “K” students will not be bringing their books home this year but keeping them in their classroom book boxes. Ä In everyway possible we are trying to make this area a very child friendly, comfortable, welcoming and familiar learning environment. Everyone realizes that the OLARC is open to students and staff during all class times. Lots of students are in here all during the day, once again REAL LIFE LEARNING in action! Thank you for your support and taking a look at the highlights from our 1st Trimester of OLARC! If you have questions about OLARC please call or email school and visit our websites on our Harbor Heights’ website. We are very thankful for the opportunity to work with ALL our Harbor Heights students. Happy Reading! Mrs. Shove: www.shovec@psd401.net Mrs. Watson: www.watsond@psd401.net Mrs. Stock: www.stockj@psd401.net OLARC Phone #s: 530-1822 or 530-1821
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