We've been busy in the OPS Library throughout the month of November. 

Our K - 2nd grade students have been learning about authors, illustrators, and the elements they use to create a story - characters, setting, and plot.

In library club, our 2nd - 6th grade students have been building on that knowledge by creating wanted posters for their favorite villainous characters.

In the fifth grade, we are discussing plagiarism and have begun to learn how to properly credit a creator in our writing using in-text mentions and work cited pages. ​

It has been a busy first two months of OPS Library Club as students have engaged in reading, games, and building projects.  What will happen next month?  Stay tuned.

Library Organization:  Over the past few weeks our kindergarten through fourth graders have been learning how our OPS Library is organized, where to find certain types of books (fiction, nonfiction), and how to properly browse for a good book.  Our kindergarten, first, and second grade students have practiced using shelf markers, and learned how to select a book using the five finger rule.  Our third grade and fourth grade students have focused on searching for books in our Follett Destiny online catalog, identifying the section the book is located in, and then accessing them efficiently.  In addition, the third and fourth grades will be learning about the Dewey Decimal System and how best to locate books in the nonfiction section of the library.

Bookji - Our fifth and sixth grade students are learning to use a new book recommendation tool, Bookji.  Bookji allows our students the opportunity to safely discover, share, and rate books that they are interested in reading.  For our fifth and sixth grade ELA teachers, Bookji provides a way for them to see what their students are reading, check their reading progress, and provide book suggestions.

This week we are kicking off another year of our OPS Library Reading Clubs.  These voluntary clubs are open to 1st - 6th grade students, and provide students with an opportunity to earn prizes for reading a wide variety of age-appropriate and award winning fiction and nonfiction literature.  Details for each club are included below (click on "fullscreen" just under the document to read.)  We will also be sharing information about the clubs with our students during their library class over the next week or so.  If you have any questions regarding the clubs please don't hesitate to contact Mrs. Lisa Santangelo.​

To Our Students: 
We want you to know that we are excited to kick off the 2023 - 2024 school year by welcoming you to our Oradell Public School (OPS) Library.  We can't wait to see you enjoying all of the great library books we have to share with you.
​
New School Year, New Books:
Speaking of books, we're thrilled to announce that we have over one hundred new books to share with our students beginning Thursday, September 14th when we kick off our library borrowing for the year.  The new books include a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction titles ranging from realistic fiction, fantasy, and graphic novels to biographies, natural sciences and history.  We can't wait to share all of these new books with our entire OPS community.

Reading Clubs:
On Tuesday, September 26th we'll be kicking off another year of our OPS Library Reading Clubs.  These voluntary clubs are open to 1st - 6th grade students, and provide students with an opportunity to earn prizes for reading a wide variety of age-appropriate and award winning fiction and nonfiction literature.  Details for each club will be sent home with students the week of September 18th.  We will also be sharing information about the clubs with our students during their library class over the next week or so.  If you have any questions regarding the clubs please don't hesitate to contact Mrs. Lisa Santangelo.

Lunchtime Library Club:
Beginning on September 14th, we will once again be holding our 2nd - 3rd grade and 4th - 6th grade lunchtime library clubs.  The monthly clubs are voluntary and will run on an alternating day schedule during each grade's recess period.  2nd - 3rd grade students who sign up for the club will attend on A, C, and E days, and 4th - 6th graders will attend on B, D, and F days.  Sign ups will take place in the library, and students who are interested should express their interest in joining the club to Mr. Mangol.  Please note that sign ups are monthly on a first come, first serve basis, and each club can only accommodate 15 - 16 students.  All of this information will be discussed with students during library class over the next few weeks, but feel free to reach out to Mr. Mangol if you have any questions.

Graphic novelist Kayla Miller will be paying a visit to our fifth and sixth grade students on Friday, March 31st.  Kayla is the author/illustrator of the New York Times best-selling graphic novel series, Click, and co-author of its spin-off series Besties.  They will be sharing insights into their writing and illustrating process as well as answering questions from our students.  To find out more, please visit Kayla's author study presentation at the bottom of the OPS Library Media Center website's home page.

Thanks to the Oradell PTA, author Karina Yan Glaser will be visiting with our 3rd and 4th grade students on Thursday, March 16th.  During her visit to OPS, Ms. Glaser will share her creative process, and answer questions from our students.  If you'd like to find out more about Ms. Glaser, please visit our author study of her work located at the bottom of our OPS Library Media Center website's home page.

This summer reading program allows students to log their reading minutes online and earn brag tags and other prizes for hitting certain reading milestones.  To sign up for the program please visit the Oradell Public Library Read Squared website.