Library and Lab - John Muir Elementary

Muir Library and Computer Lab

2007-2008 Upcoming Library/Lab Events

Last day for students to check out books will be Friday May 30th (unless they have a note from their teacher.)

All student books are due June 6th.

Please do submit poems Earth Day and Environmental awareness or enter our Fruit and Veggie poem contest!

Library News

Missing/Lost Books?

Remember to take responsibility and talk to me about your missing/lost books! You will need to either pay for them or make a partial payment or otherwise replace the missing item. If you don't take care of this then unfortunately we will need to hold your report cards until you do. Remember part of being a STAR is Acting Responsibly!

RAMW Read A Million Words The idea is a simple one – to challenge our students to read a million words per year, and to encourage reading for pleasure. R esearch indicates a good way to increase student achievement is to encourage reading. The more children read, the easier reading becomes. The practice of reading helps people of all ages to learn about the world and helps create better readers. All types of reading encouraged, including newspapers, magazines, books, websites, and digital text.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKS

Book Donation Thank yous...

Ms. Surella Scott and all the wonderful volunteers who helped with the book fair THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!

Elise Van Deventer (Room 4) and her mom Lynn
donated The Curse of the Campfire Weenies and other Warped and Creepy Tales, and The Scarecrow and His Servant by Award winning author Phillip Pullman. (Hi Zola!)

Richard (Room 20), Arthur (Muir Class '07) and their dad Paul Hill purchased the following books at our Book Fair and then donated them to our library: Bats At The Beach, The House of The Scorpion (winner of the National Book Award and the Printz Prize for excellence) and 2 copies of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

Lucy Zajonc student in Room 5 came in with an armful of books for our Library! Too many to name, but they included one of my favorites, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast which will be very popular and checked out a lot! Thank you Lucy!

Circulation Statistics
During the 2007 - 2008 school year we circulated:

September: 982
October: 1842
November: 1279
December: 1206
January: 1,431
February: 1068
March: 1,377
April: 1,306

2007-2008 Year to date: 10,491

2007: 14,665
2006: 13,615
2005: 13,928
2004: 12,447
2003: 12,046

Pizza Party Winners for Sonic's Read to Achieve Contest:

November 2007 -- Ms. Lamarre's Room 16 (the tradition continues!)
December 2007 -- Ms. Lamarre's Room 16 tied with Ms. Kumata's Room 9
January 2008 -- Ms. Autrey's Room 15
February 2008 --Ms. Autrey's Room 15, Ms. Kumata's Room 9
March 2008 -- Ms. Superfisky's Room 4
April 2008 -- Ms. Lamarre's Room 16! For the first time in Muir history we had 100% participation from a single classroom! Congratulations to you!

My Current Favorite Book:

Mission Statement

The mission of the Muir Library and Computer Program is to create a warm, welcoming environment where students are empowered to become lifelong learners, lovers of the written word, and effective users of ideas, information, and technology.

Three Roles of the Librarian

Librarians in the Seattle School District:

Teach Information Literacy
Promote Literacy and Advocate Reading
Manage Information by providing appropriate information resources to students, teachers, administrators, and parents

Libraries and Student Achievement

A substantial body of research since 1990 shows a positive relationship between school libraries and student achievement. Fourteen unique state research studies validated that a school library program that is adequately staffed, resourced, and funded can lead to higher student achievement regardless of the socio-economic or educational levels of the community. To read more about the research linking school libraries and academic achievement:

Library Programs Promoting Literacy

Read A Million Words (RAMW): The idea is a simple one – to challenge our students to read a million words per year, and to encourage reading for pleasure. Research indicates a good way to increase student achievement is to encourage reading. The more children read, the easier reading becomes. The practice of reading helps people of all ages to learn about the world and helps create better readers. All types of reading encouraged, including newspapers, magazines, books, websites, and digital text.

The program objectives include the following key points:
-To help students develop the habits of good readers
-To create excitement about reading everyday
-To support students in becoming proficient readers
-To increase academic achievement for all students

Sonic's Read to Achieve: Students can win prizes for returning the monthly form signed by parents or guardians that they have read at home for 20 minutes for 20 days during the month.

RIF, Reading Is Fundamental: In conjunction with our PTA and a grant from the Federal government we give every student at John Muir a free book of their choice and we do this 3 times each year. We have parents who run the RIF program. They order the books and help staff the book giveaways. This is a very fun way to put in some volunteer hours and support the library and school and each and every student. "A book in hand is worth two in the bush!"

Our 2007-2008 RIF Parent Team includes: Jim Peterson; Surella Scott; and Lynn Van Deventer. (Thank You!)

Global Reading Challenge: In conjunction with the Seattle Public Library 4th and 5th graders are encouraged to participate in the Challenge which involves teams of 7 students working together so that the team (as a group) will have read each of the 10 Global Reading Challenge books. They then compete against other teams in the District and from Michigan and Canada in a Game answering questions about the books!

Poem of the Week: Every Wednesday at approximately 9:15 the Librarian gets on the PA system and reads poems to the entire school. Sometimes the librarian presents "Poetry Puzzlers" about the Poems of the Week. The poems are selected from student submissions and from traditional and modern classics. Most month's poems are selected in accordance with various seasonal themes or historical celebrations.

Resources

7,370 Titles
13,417 Copies
An average monthly circulation of 1,500 volumes.
3 Current Print encyclopedias at two grade levels.
Subscriptions to 11 Periodical Magazines.
9 Computers with access to the Online Catalogue, the Internet and Microsoft Office applications.
25 Computer with the same access as above in the lab just adjacent to the library.

Donate Now!

Computer Lab

Historic Overview:

In the summer of 2004 the Muir computer lab was added to the Seattle Schools domain. The original lab was donated by Powerful Schools, but now is the property of Muir and Seattle Schools.

Being part of the Seattle Schools domain, the computers (and students) are protected online by the Seattle Schools effective internet filter system "Bess."

In addition student work can be saved on the Muir school server; students can open, view, and work on their documents in their classrooms, in the library, and in the lab!

In the fall of 2007 the original lab computers were all replaced with 25 new Dell Optiplex 740's. They have AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core 3800+ Processors and 2 Ghz of RAM.

Current Needs:

We need computer headphones!

Feeling Generous? We would love 8 new state of the art computers with Flat Panel Monitors to replace the 8 aging computers in the library. These computers get constant use, both in accessng the Muir Online Library catalog, but also for research when the lab is full or overflowing (a common occurence!).

We also need computer cleaning supplies like: canned air, and cleaning wipes for the monitors and keyboards.

We also need the plastic cable ties that are used in computer cord management.

Would you like to sponsor a pilot program that allows students to check out library laptops or handheld organizers for use both at home and in their classrooms?

Librarian Contact Information

Steve Marsh, Librarian
John Muir Elementary School (CR-256)
3301 South Horton Street
Seattle, WA 98144

206 252-7410 tel
206 252-7401 fax
smarsh@seattleschools.org
http://www.seattleschools.org/schools/muir

Last update: May 2, 2008