Cassidy Vance

SMP3

Spring 2014

Physical Facility: At Peachtree Elementary School (PES), the media center is the largest classroom in the school. The overall climate of the area is warm and inviting. The room is bordered with shelves of books ranging from the everyone level to fiction, non-fiction to informational, and biographies. All sections are user-friendly and labeled in order for scholars for find their book selections easily. Our nonfiction/informational section is organized by the Dewey Decimal system and there are huge, florescent signs labeling the numbers on top of each shelf. Also, every single book in the media center is labeled by its Accelerated Reader (AR) level, and has the AR quiz number labeled inside each book. There is a comfy couch and three large red, modern cushioned chairs for students to use for reading and relaxing. The room includes three large computer tables with 8 student computers on each table, which is enough for a class of 24 students to use all at once. The media center, as well as the entire school, has wireless access and our county has updated all of their online resources this year in a program called My eClass. This is a program where both students and parents can log on and access a plethora on online resources (read more about this program in the virtual facility section). There is also a portable Smart Board available for checkout and for meetings that are held in the media center. Both the media specialist and the media clerks have an office with an open-door policy, and there is a room off to the side specifically designed for the school news/announcement show as well as for storing audiovisual equipment (video cameras and tripods, etc.). Students and teachers are also encouraged to utilize the tables spread throughout the library as work/production areas. In addition, there is a designated area for teaching a lesson to a whole class or to hold staff development meetings. On the other hand, our school building was built in 1973, so it is older and the ceiling is quite low, which makes the room appear smaller. Also, the media center is located right next to the cafeteria, which can get too loud and chaotic at times with the flow of traffic of classes. All of our computers and most of our shelves are easily accessible to our special needs population. At PES, our media center is one of the most popular places for students and staff to visit and where life-long learning takes place!

Cassidy Vance

SMP3

Spring 2014

Cassidy Vance

SMP3

Spring 2014