The mission statement for Information Power: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs is as relevant today is it was in 1988, and so it remains the mission statement for the information literacy standards for student learning as well and for Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Although changes in society, education, and technology have transformed many of the challenges facing library media programs during the past decade, the mission itself remains the same. Today, this mission focuses on offering programs and services that are centered on information literacy and that are designed around active, authentic student learning as described in the information literacy standards for student learning. The goals of today’s library media program point to the development of a community of learners that is centered on the student and sustained by a creative, energetic library media program. These goals are as follows:

• To provide intellectual access to information through learning activities that are integrated into the curriculum and that help all students achieve information literacy by developing effective cognitive strategies for selecting, retrieving, analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, creating, and communicating information in all formats and in all content areas of the curriculum.
• To provide a physical access to information through:
  • a carefully selected and systematically organized local collection of diverse learning resources that represent a wide range of subjects, levels of difficulty, and formats;
  • a systematic procedure for acquiring information and materials from outside the library media center and the school through such mechanisms as electronic networks, interlibrary loan, and cooperative agreements with other information agencies; and instruction in using a range of equipment for accessing local and remote information in any format.
• To provide learning experiences that encourage students and others to become discriminating consumers and skilled creators of information through comprehensive instruction related to the full range of communications media and technology.
• To provide leadership, collaboration, and assistance to teachers and others in applying principles of instructional design to the use of instructional and information technology for learning.
• To provide resources and activities that contribute to lifelong learning while accommodating a wide range of differences in teaching and learning styles, methods, interests, and capacities.
• To provide a program that functions as the information center of the school, both through offering a locus for integrated and interdisciplinary learning activities within the school and through offering access to a full range of information for learning beyond this locus.
• To provide resources and activities for learning that represent a diversity of experiences, opinions, and social and cultural perspectives and to support the concept that intellectual freedom and access to information are prerequisite to effective and responsible citizenship in a democracy.

Excerpted from Chapter 1, "The Vision," of Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Copyright © 1998 American Library Association and Association for Educational Communications and Technology.

Resource-based teaching is a cooperative teaching method between the classroom teacher and the LMC Director. The purpose of resource-based teaching is to integrate library and information skills as well as literature appreciation activities into the classroom curriculum. The library is not a separate subject area and should not be treated as such. Rather, the library supports the curriculum. Library skills taught in isolation are not meaningful for students. Information literacy skills and literature appreciation activities become meaningful for students when related to a unit of study or interest.

Flexible scheduling is the method of scheduling used in conjunction with resource-based teaching. Classes are not scheduled on a fixed basis for a set period of time each week. With flexible scheduling, lessons are scheduled at the point of need. For example, a class studying the solar system may want to come to the LMC during their scheduled science time to do some research.

Cooperation and communication are key to the success of the resource-based teaching method. The LMC director will meet with grade level teams on a monthly basis for planning purposes. During a scheduled monthly LMC planning meeting, this team will develop lessons and discuss support materials for the coming month. Other informal planning meetings with the LMC director can also be scheduled as needed.

The district's language arts and technology curriculum will dictate the basic goals to be reached. Areas for planning will include information literacy skills, research assignments, literature support, curriculum support, publishing, technology skills, reading incentives, programs, literature appreciation activities, etc. Instruction will be delivered using a team approach, therefore, classroom teachers will remain with their class when a whole group lesson is planned. The LMC director will meet with whole classes, small groups, or individuals depending on the lesson.

We are involved in the Funding Factory Cartridge and Cell Phone Recycling Programs! These programs are FREE and easy but will only work with your support. Simply donate your empty printer cartridges and used cell phones to Fry School's Library Media Center and we'll take it from there! We will recycle the cartridges and cell phones through the Funding Factory to earn points, which we can exchange for new cartridges and other technology.

Did you know that over 300 million cartridges were thrown away last year alone?  Help us turn this waste into valuable school equipment! Donate your used cell phones and empty laser and inkjet printer cartridges today! Together we can make this recycling program a huge success.

The Funding Factory also has a Business Support Program. This allows businesses to support organizations FREE of charge by providing them with prepaid shipping boxes. If you work in a business that may be interested in supporting us, please visit the Funding Factory Web site at http://www.FundingFactory.com/adoptbus.asp or call toll-free, 1.888.883.8237.  If you would like to collect these items for us at your place of employment, the boxes and postage will be provided. Otherwise, you may bring the items into the LMC and we will send them out from here.

If you have any questions about this great opportunity, please feel free to call Michelle Loughran, LMC Director at 428-7414 or e-mail me at Michelle_Loughran@ipsd.org. You can also visit the Funding Factory website at http//www.FundingFactory.com for more information.

Thank you for your support!

Fry Elementary School participates in two other reading incentive programs for eight weeks at the beginning of each calendar year. They are the Six Flags Great America - Read to Succeed program and the Kane County Cougars Baseball - Ozzie's Reading Club. Information and the reading logs go home with students at the beginning of the winter.  You can also find a copy on our Fry School homepage.

Every student who completes six hours, or 360 minutes, of recreational reading will earn a free admission ticket to both places.   These programs are meant to encourage reading for enjoyment along with improving reading skills.   Please encourage your child to participate and support your child as he/she strives to achieve this goal.

Upon reaching the 6 hour reading goal, the student will receive a Six Flags Great America free admission ticket. He or she will also receive a ticket to the Kane County Cougars baseball game on our school's designated date.  When you attend a game, your child may be honored before the game during an on-field parade, or may receive a voucher for a hot dog and drink, and may receive a special prize.

Students can read books, magazines, newspapers, and comic books. They can read on their own or parents can read to younger children. What doesn't count, is any reading your child has to do for homework or an assignment. To record the reading, simply write down the number of minutes read on the dates of these calendars. At the end of the eight weeks, tally up how many minutes were read and provide a parent signature that verifies the accuracy of the amount of minutes read. These forms must be returned by the due date in order for us to order the tickets. Look at the Fry School homepage for the Winter Reading Incentive to download the forms.  If you have any questions, please contact the Library Media Center at 630-428-7414, or michelle_loughran@ipsd.org

Thank you for supporting reading for enjoyment,

Fry Elementary School's Library Media Center

Are you looking for a fun way to honor your child’s birthday? Fry's Library Media Center has the answer!  Donating a book to Fry’s LMC helps to build our library collection and make your child feel special at the same time.

On one day during the month of your child’s birthday, we will call all children participating in the Birthday Book Club for the month down to the LMC to choose a book from the birthday book cart. The Birthday Book Club will run from September to May. If your child’s birthday is in June, July or August, we will invite him or her to come down to the LMC during the month of their half birthday.

 
There will be a wide selection of hardcover books to choose from. After your child chooses a book, we take his/her picture to put in the front of the book with a bookplate commemorating the donation. Your child will be the first to check out the book he/she chooses!  Once the book is returned, your child's photo will be displayed in the LMC with the Birthday Book for other's to check out.  What a fun opportunity!

If you are interested in participating, please visit our online webstore to sign up and pay by going to:

  https://bit.ly/3EXAByX

Thank you for considering this program. It’s a great way for your child to feel special and to support the Fry LMC at the same time. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Mrs. Michelle Loughran, NBCT

LMC Director

630-428-7414

michelle_loughran@ipsd.org