MAKE YOUR LEARNING COMMONS THE HUB OF YOUR SCHOOL

Many elementary schools are transitioning away from the traditional library to a Learning Commons. Here at the Hollis Primary School in Hollis, NH we have been doing just that over a two year period. We, the Library Media Specialist and the Technology Integrator at HPS, work side by side in our Learning Commons. We began our own transition right away by redesigning our space, weeding out old resources and adding new ones. (We have put in a second, separate proposal - submitted by Sarah Proulx to share how we transitioned to a Learning Commons.) Then, we began to follow our vision for making our LC the hub of our school community.We will share detailed activities, lessons and projects that we collaboratively created and implemented over these two years. These include whole school projects such as our own version of One Book, One School and the HPS-Seniors Connect project, RTI group lessons, STEM challenges, project-based learning activities, as well as many ideas for integrating technology into library lessons. Finally, we will share the variety of opportunities we’ve created for students, staff and the wider community to use our Learning Commons: having job responsibilities, offering board games, working on class work, individual and small group learning/teaching, professional development activities, meetings and more.We plan to encourage questions, dialogue and sharing of ideas throughout this presentation.