The goal of the library curriculum in ECU and first grade is to foster appreciation for and understanding of literature and to develop a love of libraries as places of life-long learning. Students learn to connect literature to their personal experience. They learn to identify major ideas and themes and to recognize different parts of a book.

First graders begin to use the library as a resource for their own personal use, learning to identify books that are of interest to them, and checking them out. Accountability is recognized as a necessary skill as they learn how to respect resources by caring for their books and returning them in a timely manner.

 

Appreciation for literature continues in second grade with a more in-depth exploration of themes, identification of time and place, illustrations and illustrators, award winning books, non-fiction and fiction titles. Students are introduced to research concepts, and they continue to practice respectful library usage.

The third grade curriculum expands autonomy for students, enabling them to navigate and use the library’s resources independently. Students learn how to locate and utilize resources in the library, both print and electronic. Identification and location of bibliographic information is introduced.

The curriculum for fourth grade incorporates higher level thinking skills as students begin to use resources in the library more expansively. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and online catalogs, databases and websites are utilized to formulate research strategies, and to analyze and interpret information. Students explore new genres of literature for classroom book reports, and website evaluation is explored to determine accuracy and relevancy of internet resources.

 

The fifth grade curriculum continues exploring print and electronic resources with an ever increasing emphasis on higher level thinking skills. In addition, students create a classification system as a means of organizing information. Building on this understanding, students then study the Dewey Decimal system and how it can be utilized to retrieve information.

Project directed research skills become increasingly important in middle school. Classes visit the library as scheduled by teachers for research, reader advisory, and online search strategies.

The library increasingly becomes the focus for reference and research materials, both hard copy and online as students develop formal research papers. While doing History Day in seventh grade, students take a field trip to the Monterey City library for a tour of their extensive collections, information exchange programs and to visit the archive room of California history.

 

The library collection provides materials that will aid students in their educational and recreational reading needs including non-fiction books, magazines, subscription databases, instruction on public access databases and professionally reviewed fiction. An extensive art history collection is maintained.