Denise

Goldrick Elementary Denver Public Schools1050 S. Zuni St.Denver, CO 80223media type="custom" key="3614671"

Goldrick students love their library time as they experience a wide variety of lessons
According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (www.21stcenturyskills.org) a nationwide poll of registered voters showed that 99% agree that the teaching of 21st century skills is important to our country's economic success. Critical thinking skills, creativity, problem solving, information/media literacy and innovation are skills that go beyond basic instruction in reading and writing. At Goldrick Elementary, we are challenged by a "fixed" library schedule, all students visit the library one to two times a week. It is difficult to teach children with a six day gap after every lesson. After several years of including book checkout in my instruction time, I found I only had about 20-25 minutes to teach information literacy and found it was difficult to accomplish any meaningful learning. Children were distracted as they anticipated getting up to search for books. Last year I implemented a separate 15 minute checkout schedule for 2-5th grade. It wasn't easy to find the time but I now have a 45 minute block for instruction. When our PLC formed last September we immediately found that we all had difficulty with standards-based lessons that could be taught in short bursts, hence the name, //powerburst lesson//. Throughout the year we shared ideas and decided to post examples of successful lessons on our wikispace. I have posted three different types of lessons that I have taught this year.

 Second Grade Main Idea Lesson Third Grade Third Grade Reader's Theater for English Language Learners Fourth and Fifth Grade Assessing ILT Skills for Student Growth Objectives

Technology Integrated as part our Professional Learning Community
In my experience with our PLC I gained new technology presentation skills. Thanks to our technical wizard, Agnese, I learned how to create wiki pages with images, slideshows, and short videos. We "played" with Bubbleshare, Wikispaces and Animoto. I feel I have some new tools that I can integrate in my library instruction. Below is an Animoto video with soundtrack showing our hard working Goldrick students. I now feel that I can keep up with the four year old in the PC commercials. (Although I will always be a Mac.)

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Reading Comprehension Strategies Chart
This is a useful chart developed by Katy Hoops of Goldrick Elementary. I made a hand written version on large chart paper and I always keep it close by when I am doing a read aloud. The strategies are being taught in the classroom and further practice in the library gives students an additional boost toward proficiency. Reading Comprehension Chart

Photo Gallery of activities in Goldrick Library