ELA Checkout
26 ELA classes came in to checkout independent reading books during January. Many classes also heard some booktalks about new books or things that they might not ordinarily consider. Ms. Pommerenke and Mrs. Cornelius shared about graphic novels, novels in verse and non-fiction choices. Plenty of students like to select books based on the kinds of shows and movies they like to watch. One of our favorite questions to use in Reader's Advisory is, "What have you been watching lately (besides TikTok)?" This usually helps us guide our readers to some choices they might enjoy. We also added some identifiers to the spine labels this year which help students find books more easily while browsing.
AP Lit
Students in Mrs. Worthington's and Mr. Smith's AP Lit classes began writing argumentative research papers. They began the process by playing "Peer Reviewed or Not", a wily game that helps them understand the clues that tell us if a source is peer-reviewed (or not). They also worked on the Topic Selection, Preliminary Research, Thesis Writing, and Asking Questions steps of the information search process. Students were responsible for research and pre-writing activities while also continuing their AP literary studies to replicate the course work they'll have as college freshman (even though most will not have to take Comp 1 in college)!
Physical Science-Element Foldable
We started a new collaborative unit with Mr. Ocon's Physical Science classes. Each student chose an element from the periodic table and created a foldable. We worked on some prototypes before starting the unit with the class. Students used library databases to gather research and then created their foldable elements. Eventually, the elements were displayed in a giant periodic table on the wall in the Science Hallway!
US Government-Media Bias
This semester's seniors in Government classes learned about the Ad Fontes Interactive Media Bias chart to help gauge the political bias and reliability of news articles that they encounter. Students are each responsible for sharing current event information through the semester and this resource from Ad Fontes media helps them understand and fact check their resources. This is a vital component in teaching these soon-to-be adults how to verify information, identify misinformation and think for themselves before they graduate in a few short months!
English 3 & 4
Students in Mr. Allen's English 3 & 4 classes studied mythology while preparing for a field trip to see The Lightning Thief musical at the Coterie Theater. Each Wednesday, students came to the library, heard the stories of various gods and goddesses and completed some learning activities related to each story. The unit culminated with the trip to the theater!