Assignment+Five

 **Selection of New Materials** Below is a link to an purchasing spreadsheet for library materials on Archaeology to support the Grade 7 Social Studies curriculum, Ancient Civilizations. While selecting materials for the list an attempt was made to select materials in a variety of formats, including non--fiction information books, fiction, periodicals, graphic novels, film, and teacher reference materials. This diversity of format and varying reading levels will enable learners of varying abilities access Archaeology materials. Materials representing a wide variety of Ancient Civilizations on every continent were chosen in order to provide student choice and allow teachers to fit the titles into their existing units, as well as to reflect diversity in our student population. Review materials & Selection Tools used in this assignment: [|Booklist]  Follett [|Titlewave]    [|The Horn Book] [|Kirkus Reviews] [|Learning resources: Social Studies K to 7] [|School Library Journal]



Select Titles chosen to support Grade 7 Socials!!

[|Purchasing Spreadsheet]

Reflection : I began this selection assignment with the Ministry recommended resources list for Social Studies K to 7. I also search our school districts catalogues for books in the collections of other school, and at the Brittania branch of the Vancouver public library to see what sorts of material they had. I then tried to find these resources through ERAC, but was unable to find any of the recommended titles. In fact ERAC did not return any useful results for grade 7 social studies, instead providing a list of novels. I then turned to Follett Titlewave, which had all of the titles that I was looking for. This resource was fabulous, the feature of supplying full text reviews was especially useful to someone who does not have subscriptions to these review materials. Other Ministry recommended materials were found directly through their producers, such as the Critical Thinking Consortium. Films were found through Distribution Access. The final selections of the projector and smartboard were made from the Coquitlam School Board purchasing website. It is possible that this is not the most cost effective purchase, but selecting the District approved equipment will ensure that these items will have IT support from the District IT department. Using selection and review materials has been one of the biggest revelations of this course for me. I was not previously aware that such tools as Titlewave existed, and my purchasing last year was not very organized or strategic. I, for the most part, reacted to needs and requests, rather than anticipating needs and planning to meet them. Doing this assignment has also revealed how such a list could also be used in advocacy endeavors as teachers could be asked to collaborate on the compilation of the list, and the list could be used as a jumping off point for communication with groups such as the administration and the PAC.

When I start my next posting as a Teacher-Librarian my first steps will mirror the assignments of this course. This will ensure that I am able to be a more organized and purposeful selector of library resources. After drafting and posting my policy, creating my budget and purchasing lists, further steps would involve looking for more free online resources to add to the Library website. Here are some of the resources that I have already found: 
 * 1) Museum of Civiliation []
 * 2) National Geographic Kids []
 * 3)  BBC History []
 * 4)  Social Studies for Kids []
 * 5) dig: the archaeology magazine for kids []