River City Reads #8

This is the first of what will be monthly newsletters from your River City Middle School library! Our goal with each newsletter is to keep you up-to-date with what's happening in the library, in a (hopefully) entertaining way, that isn't too long to read in a short amount of time, with useful information for all staff.

You'll notice in the heading that this is YOUR library - not just the librarians, not just the ELA department, but ALL content areas and for every member of the RCMS community. Our vision of this library is that it is the hub of the school community, and should be an active, exciting, accessible, safe place for every child, adult, and parent of our school! We hope you'll find it to be all of this, at all times, and will kindly let us know if we fall short.

Because we serve so many students at RCMS, there are 2 full time certified teacher/librarians on staff every day! That is like having a second seasoned teacher to collaborate, plan, and deliver content with throughout the school year! Please - take advantage of us as resources! We love checking out books to kids (and staff!), but we are also veteran educators who can help make your projects and activities more exciting, engaging, and effective. We are support resources - two of many in the school - who are here to work with you and to amplify your great teaching!

Mr. O'Dea is starting his second year at RCMS, but he's been a classroom teacher (ELA, social studies, math and science) and school librarian for 25 years...that's pretty impressive at only 27 years of age (or thereabouts...). He's also fairly new to Virginia, relocating one year ago from the beautiful Pacific Northwest state of Oregon. Before starting his career in education, Mr. O'Dea fronted a little known (but not too bad!) punk rock band for over ten years. You can't tell from looking at him, but he can really sport a bleach blond mohawk with the best of them! "I love being creative, and music allowed me to do that until I started teaching, and now I use that creativity in the classroom and library." Now he appreciates quiet moments, a good run around the city, rooting for his Seattle Mariners, and reading teen and young adult books. He loves to talk kid lit, so ask for (and offer) good book suggestions any time! One of his favorite books? K. L. Going's Fat Kid Rules the World.

Ms. Byrd is the newest addition to our library staff, and we are glad to have her! She is a native of Dillon, SC and graduated from Dillon High School, Francis Marion University in Florence, SC and Regent University in Virginia Beach. She has taught English, and is trained as a School Administrator as well as being a School Librarian Media Specialist. She has three lovely children, and a lifelong partner. Her hobbies and interests include reading, writing, technology, spending time with family, fishing, relaxing at the beach, and traveling around the world. She has coached her son’s little league soccer team and a Girls on the Run team at her previous school. Ms. Byrd loves working with students and encouraging students to read. She also believes that education is a key of building a better life for one’s self, so one should seize every opportunity to make his or her life better. One of her favorite books? Mildred Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

The first order of business for us at the start of each year is to get equipment to staff and laptops to students, which takes a minute. At press time, we are hoping to get devices out to your students the week of August 26th. Once that is completed, the library will be open for you to bring your students for check out and library time! Ideally, we will begin to book classes into the library the week of September 3rd.

We ask that students' first trip to the library this year is with a class, probably ELA (but it can be in any content area). We want to orient them to the expectations and procedures of library usage...even those 7th and 8th graders who have been here before. Those first visits will probably last half a block, and will allow for students to check out items to take home and read.

As a teacher, we ask that you stay with your kids when you bring a class, and be present. We try to mirror your rules and expectations for your students while you are here so we follow your lead for what is expected. That said, we will share our expectations with your students as well, as being in the library is a beautiful privilege for all of us that we want to make sure everyone understands and fully appreciates. If you send a small number of students to the library as the year goes on, without your presence, please make sure they have a pass, and that they come in small numbers (2-3?). This helps us help them versus manage them. We also ask that individual students sign in when they come to the library, so we can better track them as well as analyze usage data for this part of the school.

We are all about literacy, and one of the many tools we use to promote reading to the RCSM community is book recommendations. Now, some middle schoolers will listen to advice from wise adults like us, but more are interested in what an animal is reading...right?!? Introducing Zelda, the Dog with the Blog! Here is a link to her blog. It is updated several times a month, depending on how much reading time she can create (but usually 2 - 4 books per month). As her bio describes, she is a very smart dog who loves to read young adult books...and blog about them! She rates each book on a scale of 1 to 5 paws (5 paws being awesome, since she doesn't even have 5 paws)! Her link is above - please share it with your students, and follow it if you'd like regular updates on her reading! A note: Because the blog is not on a school Google account, following the blog requires a non-school email address. So your students may not be able to follow her on their own, but you could!

Do you want to make color copies, or need more access to laminating services? RPS Copy Center at Richmond Tech is available for you to make color/black and white copies and to laminate. You can email a PDF copy of your document to ricohsupport@rvaschools.net. After sending an email, you should receive an email notification. Please be aware there is a 72 hour turnaround. The hours to pickup completed work is 8 am-3pm. If you need to pick up earlier, or make self copies or laminations you can schedule with Adrian by calling 804-354-1134.