Turning library shelves into knowledge filled learning adventures!

What was tried in the classroom?

Together towards the end of the school year, Crystal Fissler-Jones and myself, Tabatha Adaszewski, introduced a new climate-focused section into our school library.

The big idea was that we both were gaining exposure to climate texts through the professional development courses we were accessing as teachers outside the school day. We wanted others to have access to the texts and knowledge we were gaining, and it only made sense that the library was a great space to reach everyone in our school.

Through our district collaborative planning time, we gathered with some of our invested colleagues proposing our concept of creating this space in our library where students and staff could access climate-related texts.

Then the space was made through several different funding resources and several hours of creative planning! The books were cataloged and some creative visuals were added to draw attention to the much-needed new addition to our library:  was born, a Climate collection!

How’d it go?

It went really well!

Although we only had a short time to implement, our vision came to fruition in a few weeks. We’ve already seen some exciting results. Students began checking out the books from the shelves, from Kindergarten to 5th grade the books were getting checked out, taken home, and shared with families. We loved watching the process and noticing the positive impact it was having on our school. Fellow teachers were noticing the excitement and planning implementations were happening from garbage cleanup to planning Garden beds on our campus to the arts and craft displays within our school.

The buzz of Spring was both metaphorically and realistically happening! Our school’s afterschool Garden club started up and we both began integrating these new resources into our science lessons, using the books and materials for student projects and discussions inside and out in our school’s outdoor learning lab.

The librarian noted that students have started exploring climate topics for their research projects and presentations. It’s been great to see this enthusiasm and engagement with the material. The new library section has definitely added value to our curriculum too, and we’re looking forward to expanding on this next school year. Working collaboratively on this project has been a rewarding experience, and we’re both excited to build on what we’ve started.

The brief time we had allowed us to gauge our students’ interest and enthusiasm, and we’re excited to continue to learn and grow in our Climate quest for knowledge. As we feel that knowledge is power!

Climate-focused educators from Bemiss Elementary, Spokane Public Schools –

Crystal Fissler-Jones; Kindergarten
Tabatha Adaszewski; Science Specialist K-5