Tag: student success

15 Must-Try 100th Day of School Activities

Everything from creative collections of 100, craft projects, math games, to writing projects and more!

1. Make a class list of 100 words the children can spell on their own.

2. Make art with 100 dot stickers.

3. Make a list of 100 things as a class they wish they had and 100 things they do not want.

4. Donate 100 canned goods as a class.

canned goods

5. Make monsters with 100 googly eyes.

6. Decorate crazy 100th day hats.

100th day of school hat

7. Make necklaces out of 100 fruit loops.

8. Work as a class to complete 100 acts of kindness.

9. Decorate drawings of what the students would look like at 100 years old.

10. Write about what you would do with $100.

11. Dress up as 100 years old.

12. Draw a tree using 100 thumbprints as the leaves.

13. Students bring 100 small items that fit in a quart size zip lock bag.

14. Make a “Before I’m 100” bucket list.

15. Make shapes/characters using the numbers “1”, “0” and “0”.

 

Have the best 100th day of school!!!

Do Strong Libraries Boost Student Achievement?

In a time when budgets are tight, every aspect of education is assessed for its value, and school libraries are no exception. Do school libraries contribute significantly to student achievement?

Research into the answer to this important question dates to the 1960s. And for just as long, a strong correlation has been found between library resources and student success.

Here are seven research findings that reflect the importance of libraries for student achievement:

  • Studies in the early 1960s found a correlation between elementary schools with centralized school libraries staffed by certified school librarians, and increased average test score gains. An ever-growing body of research has backed up her findings since.
  • A study of schools in Colorado showed that students had better reading scores on standardized tests when they had access to a school librarian, even after controlling for outside factors like poverty.
  • In a 2004 assessment of existing research, a correlation was found between access to good libraries and children who read more and performed better on reading tests. This was particularly true in areas of poverty, where libraries are often children’s only access to books.
  • In a 2003 comparison of schools with and without librarians, students at high schools with a librarian performed an average 8 percent better in reading achievement, and students at elementary schools with a librarian performed 35 percent better.
  • The more time librarians spent collaborating with teachers, taught information literacy, and provided in-service teacher training, the higher students scored on tests, according to a 2000 study.
  • When teachers collaborate with librarians, they were three times more likely to rate their literacy program as “excellent,” in a 2009 study.
  • A study of third, fourth and fifth graders showed that students with a full-time librarian had 4-5 percent higher scoring proficiency. These schools also had a lower number of students who scored “unsatisfactory” by 2-3 percent absolute difference. (The same results applied for programs with one and a half FTE library staff.)

Because every school system, body of students, library, and librarian is a little different, assessing exact impacts of a given program on students can be complicated. But even across many different assessments over many different years and across several different states, the correlation between school libraries, trained librarians, and student success remains consistent.

The bottom line is clear: Strong libraries make for stronger teachers and stronger students.