Mission Statement
The mission of the Howard County School Library Media Program is to provide opportunities for students and staff to become effective users of ideas and information.
Learning and teaching, information access, and program administration are the essential elements of school library programs. These elements suggest the roles that the library media specialist plays in supporting student learning. The functions and services necessary to the learning and teaching and the information access roles will promote that learning directly; program administration activities offer underlying organization support to the program.
Did you know that your Library Media Specialist . . . advises students, attends meetings, catalogs materials, coordinates and works with library media volunteers, coordinates instruction with teachers, creates displays, develops web pages, furthers professional development, helps students find information, manages computer networks, obtains materials from outside sources, organizes book fairs, plans lessons, plans workshops for staff and community, previews materials, produces videos, purchases media materials, reads to children, repairs books, repairs equipment, sponsors afterschool clubs, teaches staff, teaches students, tracks down overdue materials, trains staff on technology usage, troubleshoots software and hardware problems, writes college recommendation letters. . . .
Library Personnel
Mrs. Lopez is originally from Southern California. She became a media specialist as a second career. She had always wanted to be a librarian, but had entered the business world after college. She is married and has one daughter. She also has two dogs; Chinook, a Siberian Husky and Pooh, a Shiba Inu and Bichon Frise mix, and one cat named Joy. She enjoys reading, surfing the internet and scrapbooking.
Mrs. Thompson is from Baltimore County, and grew up in Catonsville. She was originally the Kindergarten IA at Northfield, but agreed to be the media assistant. She is married and has one daughter and one son. She enjoys woodworking and working with any sort of tool.
Kindergarten
Kindergartners visit the Media Center every two weeks for book selection. At the beginning of the school year, we discuss general book care, with the help of our mascot, Shelf Elf.
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First GradeThis year your child will master:
* Media Manners
* Browsing
* Selecting books
* Proper book care
* Listening and sharing stories
* Predicting
* Retelling stories
* Parts of books
* Arrangement of Everybody books
* Introduction to Nonfiction
* Identifying and describing plot, setting, main characters
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Second GradeThis year your child will master:
* Maintenance of first grade skills
* Book parts: title, page, publisher, copyright date, call number/letters, place of publication
* The Rule of Five
* How a book is made
* Location of library materials
* Subjects of Nonfiction
* Introduction to encyclopedias
* Introduction to electronic tools
* Reading enrichment and encouragement
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Third GradeThis year your child will master:
* Maintenance of previous skills.
* Characteristics of fiction, nonfiction, biography, and reference.
* Introduction of library catalog.
* Locating books by author, title, and subject.
* Usage of electronic tools to access information.
* Reading enrichment and encouragement, booktalks, storytelling, and reading guidance.
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Fourth Grade This year your child will master:
*Maintenance of previous skills
* Library media center arrangement: locating and defining all areas of library media center, such as everybody books, fiction, and nonfiction, reference, library catalog, circulation desk, magazines.
* Introduction to the Dewey Decimal System
* Library catalog review
* Using reference materials, print, nonprint, and electronic.
* Reading enrichment and encouragment: booktalks, storytelling, and reading guidance.
* Book report projects that develop a variety of media to express knowledge and creativity. |
Fifth Grade This year your child will master:
* Maintenance of previous skills
* Catalog review: identify and utilize basic information on catalog records
* Location materials by call numbers/letters
* Choosing proper reference materials: arrangement and use of basic sources print and nonprint
* Taking notes
* Utilization of electronic tools to access information
* Identifying fiction genres: fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, humorous stories, mystery and suspense
* Reading enrichment and encouragement
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