Media Center

Mrs. Childers is our new Media Specialist. She has been working on setting up the media center for maximum use during the school day. This means that students can check books in and out while classes are being held. Obviously this points out the need for teaching your students the expected behavior while they are there. Classroom media assistants from 3rd through 5th grade will be trained to handle checking books in and out of the media center for their classes. They will bring small groups of students for “Open Checkout” whenever they need to check out books during the day. They may also assist Mrs. Childers with checkout, if needed, for their entire class. Students selected for this class job need to be responsible, good at following directions, and able to work independently with a minimum of supervision. Mrs. Childers’ goal is to help students become more independent users of the media center, while still being available to help whenever her schedule allows. Teacher assistants will be trained to check out books for K-2 students, and they will come with the younger students for checkout. Teachers should do “status of the class” to determine which children need to go to the media center for checkout on any given day. Please limit “Open Checkout” to a few students at time, unless you have scheduled for an entire class, as others may also be using the facility. If you see that you need to schedule a whole-class visit from time to time, Mrs. Childers will be glad to work with you on scheduling one whenever needed. A book drop off area will be provided inside the media center door for students and staff members who need to return books when no one is doing checkout. The media specialist or her designee will check in books placed in the drop off at a later time. Please note that the bookshelf beside the circulation desk is for books that have already been checked in.

The Media Center offers instruction in media skills, research and literature enrichment. These sessions occur during designated media times on the master schedule. Teachers needing additional media time should schedule them with the Media Coordinator. Students are expected to return all books they check out, but not returning a book will not prevent a student from checking out another book.

Mrs. Childers asks that all classes have an initial orientation with her before they come to check out books. This will give her an opportunity to go over procedures and expectations before they check out for the first time. This will occur during your first scheduled media class. Classes needing to check out books before their first scheduled class should see Mrs. Childers to schedule an orientation session prior to sending students to check out.

Mrs. Childers and Ms. Holbert are looking forward to seeing you and your students in the media center this year. Please feel free to ask them for assistance or recommendations.