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Welcome!Welcome!Welcome!Welcome!
With our world steadily and quickly moving towards complete
digitization, students must be technology-proficient in their learning,
research, and time out of school. Otherwise, they will be unable to keep up
with the rigors of technology during college and within the working
professional world. The school librarian has the opportunity to guide he
child so that he or she is aware of the available tools and knows how to
properly use them in his or her studies. It is this careful teaching of
students about the effective use of technology that aids students in
improved academic performance.
When library programs are supported by a well-designed
curriculum, librarians are able to carefully plan how essential skills are
taught to students for maximization of learning opportunities. The
classroom teacher and librarian are both responsible for working together
to ensure that the importance of the school library is communicated both
in and out of the stacks so students are learning practical knowledge while
practicing learning skills for life.
Just launched!! The new Dickens Elementary School Library Media Center
web site. Check it out at www.MrsBentheim.com.
The Shelf
Back-to-School Issue 2009
Vol. 1 Issue 1
Bits and Bytes from the Dickens Library Media Center
D.L. “Dusty” Dickens Elementary School
Library Media Center
5550 Milan Peak St.
North Las Vegas, NV 89081
702.799.3878 – phone
702.799.3871 – fax
www.MrsBentheim.com
What a school thinks about its
library is a measure
of what it feels about
education.
~ Harold Howe
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Collaboration “Effective collaboration with teachers helps to create a vibrant and engaged
community of learners, strengthens the whole school program as well as the
library media program, and develops support for the school library media
program throughout the whole school” (Information Power, 1998, AASL, p. 51).
When you have an activity or upcoming lesson or unit that you would like our
involvement with, please contact us a week in advance so we can work with
you to put together the best resources for students.
Hours of Operation We are open extended hours from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily. The library program
is an extension of the classroom so information skills are taught and learned
within the context of the classroom curriculum. Classes are systematically
scheduled in the library media center to provide teacher release or preparation
time. Students and teachers are able, however, to come to the center
throughout the day to use information sources, to read for pleasure, and to
meet and work with other students and teachers with previous
arrangements. Cooperative planning by the teacher and library media specialist
integrates information skills and materials into the classroom curriculum and
results in the development of assignments that encourage open inquiry.
Circulation Policy The Dickens LMC has developed a circulation policy in order to ensure fair access
to information for all parents, students, and faculty patrons.
Kindergarten* 1 book
First Grade 1 -2 books
Second Grade 2-3 books
Third Grade 3-4 books
Fourth Grade 4-5 books
Fifth Grade 5 books
*With written parental permission • All materials must be returned prior to future check-outs.
• Materials must be present for renewal.
• A parent may check out materials under his or her child’s name.
Library Passes Unless a student is using the LMC with his or her teacher, the student must have
a library pass (student ID card). Students will sign in and out for all media center
visits unless they are part of a scheduled class. Students must be in the media
center (in groups of 2-3 students per teacher) with an instructional purpose
(including recreational reading). The media center is not a place for misbehaving
students.
Rotating Book Baskets The SLMS will provide classroom teachers with rotating selections of quality AR
materials for student use in the classroom. Materials are returned during
regularly scheduled library time. If classroom teachers need specially themed
materials, these can be provided with some advance notice by using the
appropriate form on the library media center web site. As long as there is teacher
support for keeping track of the books each day (count them before kids dismiss--
tie it to math), and teachers are reminding students how to care for the books as
taught, this will work!
At the Dickens LMC, we strive to fulfill our mission.
Specifically, we:
• Manage the LMC website, blog, and collaborative wiki, which
are accessible from http://www.mrsbentheim.com.
• Operate extended hours.
• Encourage student presence by sponsoring clubs and other
student activities, which enables access to LMC holdings.
• Further develop and maintain an extensive and current
collection totaling approximately 12,000 volumes of the most
relevant electronic and traditional fiction, non-fiction,
professional, and reference materials that effectively
represent a variety of reading interests and abilities.
• Reward students and classroom teachers for timely book
returns.
• Collaborate with classroom teachers so that information
literacy and content area skills are not taught out of context.
• Run an aggressive multimedia public service campaign to
encourage effective use of the school library media center.
• Support each and every reader by promoting a comfortable
space with approachable staff.
• Position ourselves as the core of our school—our goal is for
every teacher to need us and every student to want us.
I have always imagined that
Paradise will be a kind of
library.
~ Jorge Luis Borges
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How to Get the Most Out of Your School Library Media Specialist
To help get things off on a positive spin, here are a few things I’d like you to know
about the library, our program and me that can help us both form a great
partnership.
1. The librarian doesn’t own the library. You and your students do. You can
recommend materials and have a voice in library policy making. Volunteer to become
a member of our school’s library advisory committee.
2. The library should be considered an “intellectual gymnasium.” It’s not a student
lounge, study hall or baby-sitting service. The students in the library, including the
ones you send, should have a reason for being there. Whether for academic purposes
or personal use, students should be in the library because they need the library’s
resources, not just because they need to be somewhere.
3. The best resource in the library is the librarian. I can help you plan a project, solve a
technology problem, find professional research, give insight into an ethical problem,
or answer a reference question. And if I can’t do it, I will help you find someone who
can. I can help find interlibrary loan materials you need that are not in the school
library itself. Helping others gives me a huge sense of satisfaction so please never
hesitate to ask me.
4. Planning is a good thing. Advanced planning with me will greatly increase your and
your students’ chances for success with projects that require information resources. A
well-planned research unit or technology project will greatly decrease frustrations for
everyone involved. With my experience, I can let you know what strategies work and
don’t work.
5. Recognize that the library provides access to both print and electronic information.
I can determine which one best suits your and your students’ needs. Students do not
always realize that print resources are the best for many purposes. It breaks my heart
to watch a student spend a frustrating hour trying to find the answer to a question on
the Internet that could have been answered with a print resource in minutes.
6. The librarian can be helpful in evaluating the information found on the Internet.
One of the greatest challenges of using the Internet is determining whether the facts
and opinions found there are credible. I have the training and tools to do just that.
And it is my mission to teach students effective evaluation skills as well.
7. The librarian can help create assessments for your students’ projects. The findings
of research projects presented in electronic form, conclusions drawn from primary
resources, and research that calls for higher-level thinking to be demonstrated all call
for good authentic assessment tools rather than a simple gut-reaction comments or
an objective test. I can help you find examples of these sorts of tools as well as help
you create and administer them yourself. Let’s work together to make your students’
learning experiences as meaningful as possible.
8. The librarian can be your technology support center. I’m no technical guru, but I
can help you and your students with technology applications. Need to use a scanner
or digital camera? I can show you how. Need to create a multimedia presentation?
Let me give you a quick lesson. Looking for effective ways to search the web? Ask me.
I’m not a technician, but I can sometimes help locate that kind of help for you as well.
9. The library can help your students’ performance on standardized reading tests.
Research has proven that children become more adept at reading by extensively
practicing reading at or just below grade level. The library contains a wide range of
material in print format that students can use to improve reading skills. And I can help
match just the right book or magazine with just the right reader. If you need a book
talk for your class or help with a student struggling to find something of interest, just
say so.
10. The librarian will be your partner when trying new things. It’s been said that some
teachers during their career teach one year, thirty times. Can you imagine how long
those thirty years must have seemed? If you need somebody to share the glory or the
shame of a new unit, activity, or methodology, I’m the one. I hope your next thirty
years will be exciting and gratifying. You’ll be influencing the lives of hundreds, if not
thousands of kids in incredibly positive ways. I am here to help you and your students
do things you can’t do alone.
Meet the Library Media Specialist!
My name is Christina Bentheim and I’m looking forward to a
wonderful year with you. This is my 13th year working with students in
the classroom, fifth year in CCSD, and my first year at this school. I suspect
it’s going to be the best yet!
My husband (who is also a teacher at a local school) and I have
lived in Las Vegas for almost five years and are enjoying the opportunities
afforded to us here. Before we came to the desert, we lived in southern
California—Orange County to be exact—just two miles from Disneyland.
We don’t have any children yet, but we do have two little dogs, Mickey
and Daisy. When I am not preparing for our class, I enjoy reading, writing,
photography, gardening, playing with technology, traveling, and drinking
caramel frappuccinos from Starbucks.
I have a lot of wonderful things planned for this year—and
can’t wait to get started.
Happy reading!
Christina A. Bentheim, M.Ed.
School Library Media Specialist
Dickens Elementary School
You don’t have to burn books
to destroy a culture. Just get
people to stop reading them.
~ Ray Bradbury
Where can I learn more about the Dickens LMC?
Here are the steps we recommend you take to keep current with our events, activities, learning experiences
1. Visit our website at www.MrsBentheim.com and explore each section. (The Links and Teachers sections specifically have some great
stuff for you!)
2. Become a fan of the Dickens Elementary School Library Media Center on Facebook by searching for our name (Dickens Elementary
School Library Media Center) at www.facebook.co
3. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com. Our Twitter handle is DickensLMC.
4. Subscribe to our blog by visiting http://dickenslmc.blogspot.com
home page at www.MrsBentheim.com. Read previ
5. Join our Delicious network for social bookmarks by clicking on the link a
home page at www.MrsBentheim.com or by searching for the DickensLMC at
6. Take about 15 minutes to go through the Dicken
www.MrsBentheim.com and clicking on the Teach
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114
Where can I learn more about the Dickens LMC?
Here are the steps we recommend you take to keep current with our events, activities, learning experiences
and explore each section. (The Links and Teachers sections specifically have some great
School Library Media Center on Facebook by searching for our name (Dickens Elementary
om.
. Our Twitter handle is DickensLMC.
http://dickenslmc.blogspot.com or simply enter your email address into the appropriate box on our
ious postings and review the documents provided within
5. Join our Delicious network for social bookmarks by clicking on the link at the right-hand side of our
or by searching for the DickensLMC at www.delicious.com.
ns LMC Teacher Orientation by visiting
hers section.
Insert Headline Here
Find us on any of these social media
websites. Add us to your contacts list so
that you can stay updated daily on the
goings-on within the Dickens LMC!
Twitter: DickensLMC
Flickr: DickensLMC
YouTube: Dickens LMC
Delicious: Dickens LMC
Blogger: DickensLMC
Facebook: Dickens Elementary
School Library Media
Center
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Where can I learn more about the Dickens LMC?
Here are the steps we recommend you take to keep current with our events, activities, learning experiences, and other goings-on:
and explore each section. (The Links and Teachers sections specifically have some great
School Library Media Center on Facebook by searching for our name (Dickens Elementary
or simply enter your email address into the appropriate box on our
n the posts.
Vol. 1 Issue 1
Find us on any of these social media
websites. Add us to your contacts list so
that you can stay updated daily on the
on within the Dickens LMC!
DickensLMC
DickensLMC
Dickens LMC
Dickens LMC
DickensLMC
Dickens Elementary
School Library Media
Center
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