The St. John Fisher library is open every day from 8:15 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. staffed by Library Media Specialist, Kaycie Hoffman and Library Assistant, Lillian Chapman. The library houses over 9,600 items which include books, periodicals, newspapers, audio books, educational videos and CD’s. 

The beautiful library addition which opened in 1996 features six student computers, a laser printer, two color printers and a stand-alone scanner which are available for research, skills practice, internet searching and word processing.  Grades 5-8 have access to the library during lunch recess four days per week.  Lunch recess time may used for quiet study, homework, make-up exams, research, reading, or board game playing.

Each week during library time, Grades K-5 enjoy literature appreciation, reading promotion and learn basic library skills.  Upper elementary students continue learning more in-depth library skills, research skills, report writing techniques and, of course, there is always a checkout time provided for all.  This year the middle school students will access the library during lunch recess or during class time as arranged by individual teachers/subjects.

Every visit to the school should include a stop into this bright and cheery space. With a circulation rate of more than 1,100 books each month, it is clear that the SJF students use and love their library!

Kaycie Hoffman:

I have been working as a library media specialist since 2005. I began my career in the Lake Washington School District in Redmond, WA. I have a M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction and a M.S. in Educational Media from Portland State University. I have worked with all grades K-12 with most of my experience in K-8. I have a B.A. in Media Studies from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, which is where I grew up.

I went into library media because I had wonderful experiences with my library teachers growing up, and I want my students to have that same experience. I also think that what I teach in the library is vital to a well-rounded education as well as living in the 21^st century. My hobbies include cooking, darkroom photography, technology and of course reading! I am recently married, and we have two cats and a dog. I look forward to meeting the SJF community and am very excited to start the year!

Mrs. Hoffman's Current Events

Due to the updated calendar for next week, the Scholastic BOGO Book Fair has been cancelled.  

Summer is fast approaching! In preparation, the Multnomah County Library gave a summer reading presentation to K-4 on Thursday, May 20^th.

For kids of all ages there is also a Barnes and Nobles summer reading promotion where they read any eight books – library books, books borrowed from friends or books bought at Barnes & Noble – write about their favorite part, and bring a completed tear page to a Barnes & Noble bookstore. Kids can then choose their free book from a list of paperback titles.

There are many other summer reading programs. For help in selecting one or if you have one you would like to suggest, give me a shout!

Here’s what the classes are doing right now:

• Kindergarten is exploring the easy chapter book section. Also, storyteller Larry Parsons came by on Thursday, May 20^th to do the Three Billy Goats Gruff for the students. It was a fantastic time!
• First grade is preparing book talks on their favorite books for the kindergarteners.
• Second grade is finishing some Readers Theater, and then will investigate our library catalog system.
• Third grade is finishing a Dewey Decimal unit.
• Fourth grade is finishing their Battle of the Books.
• Fifth grade is working with nonfiction resources to write a realistic survival story.
• Sixth grade has a rough draft of the religion paper due on Tuesday, June 1st. They will get their rough drafts back on June 3rd, and the final draft will be due on June 8^th.

Wow, it's May!

Here are some important dates coming up:

May 24-27th- Scholastic BOGO Book Fair

May 28th- Last day to check-out books

June 1st- 6th grade religion paper due

June 4th- All books due back to the library

June 4th- 4th grade Battle of the Books ends

June 8th- Last day for library classes

If you have any questions or needs, please let me know! The library is still in need of used/empty tissue boxes, so please keep them coming! Thanks!

Hello! Here is some information about what we are doing in the library!

Kindergarteners will be reinforcing letters and numbers in the library with a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom unit.

1^st graders will be participating in Poem in Your Pocket Day. This year it is on Thursday, April 29^th. On this day 1^st graders will have a pocket around their neck with a poem they have practiced reciting in it. A person can walk up to the student pull out the poem and ask the student to recite it.

2^nd graders are doing some readers theater to practice timing and voice in their reading.

3^rd graders are finishing a Dewey unit. They will start a basic research project in two weeks.

4^th graders have until June 4^th to finish their Baby Battle of the Books unit. If you have any questions, please contact me. We are going to spend some time next Tuesday working on their summary sheets.

5^th graders are doing extensions of their mystery lit circles in library. We recently had a mock mystery in the library, and they will also be working with kindergarteners to demonstrate their knowledge of the mystery genre!

6^th graders are working on a religion research paper. Right now they are finding research material on their topic. This search process will continue for the next two weeks, and then we will start constructing their papers.

There are materials for 7^th and 8^th grade science in the library for their energy and vertebrate units. If you need any assistance, let me know!

We’re having a wonderful spring in the library, and I hope you all are too!

Mrs. Hoffman

Congratulations to the 5^th and 6^th graders for reading over 800 books this year for Battle of the Books! The 6^th grade had their battle on Monday March 15th, and they won a very close game. The 4^th grade will be doing a mini-version of the Battle of the Books to help prepare them for next year. Materials went home with the fourth graders on Tuesday, which are due back on June 1^st.

After spring break, I will be doing reading consultations in Kindergarten and 1^st grade. 2^nd grade will be doing readers’ theatre. 3^rd grade will be doing a Dewey decimal unit. 4^th grade will be doing some extensions on their BOB books. 5^th grade will be focusing on the mystery genre. In 6^th grade I will be helping them with a research paper on a personal interest religion topic.

The Dewey Readmore bracelets are in! Thanks to all the parents who are helping their students through the challenge. If you need anything or have any questions, let me know!

Have a great spring break everyone!

The Battle of the Books dates have been set! 5th grade will go to St. Thomas More on Monday, March 1st in the afternoon after lunch. Permission slips will be sent out shortly. We will need drivers for 30 students. After their battle they will have a recess/party with the St. Thomas More students.  

The 6th grade will battle on Monday, March 15th starting around 12:45 at SJF in the library. They also will have a recess/party after their battle.

Starting Thursday, Feb. 18th the library will have a reading promotion for K-2nd graders entitled "The Dewey Readmore Books Challenge". This is a simple reading promotion where a student reads three books (fiction or nonfiction) for each of these five categories: cats, dogs, families, new friends and holidays (15 books total). There is a sheet where you write the title of the books. There is also a sheet that you fill out for each book where the students rate the book by coloring how many paws the book gets and list three things they liked about the book. We will have all these materials in the library, and we have bins of books that fit each category. Once the student reads the books they turn in the papers to the library, and they will get a certificate and a special reading incentive. This reading promotion will end May 31st.

The Dewey Readmore Books Challenge is completely optional. We just want to encourage students to read books that they may not necessarily read. Read-a-loud, chapter, picture, books on tape and nonfiction books all count. And feel free to help students fill out the paperwork. You can download copies at www.hachettebookgroup.com/_.../DeweyReadmoreBooks_Challenge.pdf in case you need any extras!

Also I just wanted to thank everyone for a wonderful Grandparents Day! It was very special getting to meet your extended families! If you have any questions about Grandparents Day books, please contact me or the new and very talented library assistant Karen Ray.

1/21/10

Hello everyone! Grandparent’s Day is coming, and I would really like to have two or three more volunteers to help with the library book fair. If you have one hour to spare during 11-1 that day (Wednesday, February 3^rd), please contact me!

Speaking of Grandparent’s Day the library book fair will have a wonderful selection of books in the library. We have several new series we are adding to the library. The book fair will run exactly as it has in the past.

Here’s a rundown of what we are doing in class right now: Kindergarten is examining some Caldecott winning books. 1^st grade is looking at library organization in connection to early chapter books. 2^nd and 3^rd grade are making movies about different library skills. 4^th grade is working on atlases. 5^th grade is prepping for Battle of the Books, which will occur in early March. 6^th grade is wrapping up their graphic novel assignments in class. All paperwork for 5^th and 6^th grade BOB will be due on February 26^th. For 7^th grade media/newspaper, students are typing up their articles and bringing them to me by flash drive. If you need to e-mail pictures for the newspaper, you may e-mail them directly to me.

Last week in the SAM it was announced that Lillian Chapman would be leaving SJF after many years of service. Her enormous contributions to the library will always be felt. She is a wonderful educator and person, and I miss her a lot! But after much unfruitful begging for her to stay, it’s clear that we have to move on, so we are currently taking applications to fill the library assistant position. The posting is on the Archdiocese website. Until, we have a replacement I will be going full-time in the library so that the library can remain open everyday.

Thanks everyone!

12/9/09

Thanks everyone for a great book fair! We were able to raise $1000 for books for the classrooms.

The 8^th graders are currently working on a Manifest Destiny paper for Mr. Schulte. They are required to have three sources outside of their textbook, and one of those three must be a print source. They will also need to include a Works Cited page with their paper. If any student needs additional help with these aspects, I would be glad to schedule a time to work with them.

In Kindergarten we had a guest storyteller come this week. His name was Larry Parsons. He told the story of the Belly Button Monster. The Belly Button Monster comes into your room to steal your belly button if you don’t have your blankets pulled up to your chin. He drives a miniature red Toyota. It was a great time. I have not seen the Kindergartners laugh so hard.

1^st grade will start checking out two books after Thanksgiving. This is earlier than when it traditionally happens, but I think they are more than ready for it!

2^nd-4^th grade- During their check-out times I am emphasizing to the students that they need to make sure that the books they are checking out fit the “5 Finger Rule”. What that means is that they need to read the first page of the book to see how many words they don’t know. If it is 0-5 words, it is a great match. If it is 6-8 words, it will be challenging.  If it is more than 9, than it may be better to check something else out or check-out an easier book to go with it. I have also been asking students to read with me during check-out time so that I have a better understanding of where that student is at in their reading. I hope to do this with every child in those grades in the next couple weeks. If you have any questions or need some book suggestions, please contact me!

In 3^rd grade we will be talking about how materials are arranged in the nonfiction section for the next two weeks. After the winter break, the students will be making a short video on the different sections of the library for the 2^nd graders to watch.

4^th grade is working with almanacs and atlases in conjunction with their Oregon mapping projects. We will also be gearing up for their biography projects for class by looking at some possible subjects.

5^th grade has been working with The Graveyard Book, which is on their BOB list. The book is about a boy who lives in a graveyard with ghosts because there is a man who is trying to harm him. In the book the author talks a lot about the ghosts’ pasts and what they accomplished in their lives. In connection to this, the 5^th graders listed what things they want to be known for and what is important to them to incorporate into an obituary. They analyzed different obituaries for common phrases and style. Then I compiled their observations into a standard format that focused the obituary on life and not on death. The students had a guiding question of, “What would you like to do with your life?” Next we will work on developing different styles of epitaphs. If you have any questions, please let me know.

They will also get back their BOB questions on Monday, Nov. 23^rd.

6^th Grade has been exploring graphic novels. For their classroom assignment, I am giving the students four options from which they need to choose two. They will be working on these activities during classroom time, but I am asking the students to do any necessary reading outside of library. Students will be coming home with a packet with examples on Monday, Nov. 23rd.

7^th & 8^th grade will be visiting me after Thanksgiving to work on research and bibliography skills. This will happen in several sessions. I will post all assignments here as well as send home a descriptive sheet of the assignment. This is in collaboration with Mr. Schulte in preparation for their spring paper. 

November 4, 2009

Hello!

5^th grade will be turning in questions for BOB to me again on Thursday, November 12.

The library now has a machine that repairs skips in compact discs. We use this to help keep our audio books in good shape. If your student has checked out an audio book that skips, please let us know which disc, and we will do our best to repair it.

We received some new books in the library this week! These books are more intermediate grade level books. We will be receiving the rest of our order next week, which has some great selections for “emerging readers” and more young adult books. For now here’s a breakdown of what we got! I am including a review and the AR level of the books for your information.

The Alex Rider series from Anthony Horowitz (Action- 4.8)

Alex Rider is not a "typical" teenager. Following the untimely death of his beloved uncle, Alex is recruited by Britain's top-secret intelligence agency to investigate some of the most high profile and dangerous men in the world. Alex is quite reluctant to take on such a huge responsibility. He's only 14 years old and he has his entire life ahead of him; more importantly, he needs time to mourn his tragic loss. Ultimately though, Alex chooses to accept his mission and help rid the world of evil.

So far I have not met a boy who did not like this series.

The Gatekeepers series from Anthony Horowitz (Sci-Fi/Action- 4.7)

This series about a boy named Matt who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. As punishment for a crime he didn't commit, Matt was sent to live with an old woman named Mrs. Deverill in a remote town called Lesser Malling. Unfortunately for Matt, there is a strange and sinister plan coming together in Lesser Malling, with Matt and an evil place named Raven’s Gate at the center of it all. 

If you asked me which Anthony Horowitz series to read first, I don’t think I could tell you. This is has a strong sci-fi element and is much darker than Alex Rider, which I prefer, but everyone is different.

The Sea of Monsters and The Titan’s Curse from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan (Fantasy/Adventure- 4.2)

This series starts with The Lightning Thief (yes, spelling correct), which is soon to be a movie. It is about a boy, Percy, who discovers there are gods and goddesses living in modern day society in a skyscraper above New York City. But that isn’t the whole story; Percy also discovers that he is the son of one of the gods.

Percy Jackson, the hero of the book, comes across as every kid you'd ever meet or ever would. He's doesn’t consider himself a brain (he has dyslexia and ADHD), but he has friends who are. But he is courageous and clever, stubborn and loyal, which comes in handy when you are fighting harpies.

I know several fifth grade teachers who insist on reading this out loud every year. The series is a definite crowd pleaser for boys and girls. 

The Rise of the Evening Star (5.0) and The Grip of the Shadow Plague (5.6) from the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull (Fantasy)

This series is one of my personal favorites right now. It is a fantasy series, but it is set in the modern world. Kendra and Seth go to stay with their grandparents while their parents are away. Supposedly their grandparents live on and maintain a wildlife preserve in the Northeast of the US, but it is actually a magical wildlife preserve with not only good magical creatures, like fairies and centaurs, but evil magical creatures too.

There are several of these preserves in the world, each uniquely different. The series reveals a plot to release the evil entities from these preserves into the world. Kendra, Seth and their grandparents must maintain the balance in the preserves to keep our world from plunging into darkness.

I’ll say one more thing about this series: sadly plot twists usually don’t catch me by surprise, but in the fourth book of this series there was a plot twist so fantastic that I yelled out, “What??!!!” in a restaurant.

Flyte and Physik from the Septimus Heap series by Annie Sage (Fantasy- 6.0)

I know that many fantasy book series say, “If you liked Harry Potter, you’ll love …” And to be honest each time I see that I read the book, thinking to myself that maybe this time it will be true. But it never is. However, Septimus Heap is the closest series that I’ve read to creating that feeling of Harry Potter. The series is well developed with detail that builds upon itself in each book. This world has talking messenger rats, wizards, secret royalty and funny ghosts that roam the city.

Even though it has an AR level of 6.0 I would still suggest it to 4^th and 5^th grade, even 3^rd  grade, because the plot is captivating and fun but not overly mature.

The Keys to the Kingdom Series by Garth Nix (Sci-Fi, 6.0-6.5)

The first book in this series is on the list of 6^th grade Battle of the Books. The author Garth Nix has been writing adult Sci-Fi for years. This is one of his first children’s fiction series and his most successful. The book centers on Arthur Penhaligon who is not supposed to be a hero. He is supposed to die. But then he finds a key, discovers a mysterious house in another world and meets the sinister Mister Monday.

The series has seven books each for a different “Mister of the Week”. His encounters with these “men” will determine the fate of Arthur’s world.

The 5th grade students got their Battle of the Book questions back this week. We spent the class revising them to make them more applicable to the Battle of the Books. Revisions are due to me on Monday, October 12th. I will be checking questions again on November 12th.

For 5th and 6th grade Battle of the Books, we now have audio books for most of the selections.

Thanks!

Hello everyone!

I will be collecting the 5th grade students' battle of the books questions on Monday (9/28). This is not for a grade; I will just be checking on students' progress on this assignment. The students will be getting them back the next Monday (10/5) with notes. We will use this class time to do revisions and develop strategies for further question development.

Also, kindergarten checked out for the first time this week!

Thanks! Mrs. Hoffman