Library and Technology
The Rachel Hall Library serves as the central resource for the Burgundy campus.
Originally parent organized and run, it is now staffed by two full time professional librarians and by parents who volunteer 2-4 three-hour blocks of time a month. The library is open from 8:15 - 3:30 daily, and parents are encouraged to make use of both the general collection and the parent/teacher collection. Students may use the library at any time during the school day, and each class through 5th grade has a scheduled library time. Books are checked out for two weeks at a time and renewed if needed.
The collection contains about 20,000 titles, including books, videos and magazines. Beginning in 2007-08, the Library's electronic catalogue system will be entirely web-based and accessible from any computer, on-campus or from home.
Junior Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and First Grade come to the library once a week for 30 minutes of stories, check-out time, and projects to help them learn about the library. A variety of storytelling methods are used, including flannel board stories, cutting stories, puppets, hand-signing stories, drawing stories, art projects and chapter books. The children gradually learn that each book has its own "address," some are fiction and some non-fiction, and that one story can be related to another story by sharing a theme or similar characters.
The 2/3-4/5 classes come to the library for 45 minutes each week by grade within each class. During this time, the students review previously learned research skills and begin new skills. Emphasis is placed on learning the uses of print and electronic resources and the appropriateness of each to individual projects. All skills are taught in conjunction with class assignments and are developed and coordinated with classroom teachers. Extra library time is used when students are doing actual research. Students also have book talks to help choose books for book reports and literature units.
Middle School classes use library time for book talks, library skills and research. Each teacher requests blocks of time for an upcoming project. During the library time, advanced skills such as bibliographic form, almanacs, and keyword and Boolean searching are studied and applied. Emphasis is placed on finding material from primary sources, print resources, and websites. Last, but not least, browsing time is provided during language arts classes, and book talks are presented every several weeks to each grade.