Library Media CenteR

The print collection is currently over 40,000 books, both fiction and nonfiction, in English and Portuguese. We are also developing small collection of books in French, Spanish and Chinese. These will be useful resources for the students studying these languages and for those who want to read in their native languages

In the red library, located at the main entrance of the school, books are arranged as Junior level and Secondary level for both fiction and non-fiction books, in both Portuguese and English. The Community Library, found in the story corner of the Red Library, is made up of donations that have not been added to the main collection, but are still available to all CAISL parents and teachers.

In the Blue Library, located in the Elementary wing, books are grouped as board books, picture books, leveled readers, and chapter books in order to help students locate the books at their appropriate reading levels. One room of this library contains books in English, and the other room has Portuguese books.

Another resource is the Leveled Reader Room, located upstairs in the Red Library, where sets of fiction and non-fiction books are organized by DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) level. Teachers and students can use this arrangement to find books at the reading level they need, and entire reading groups can work on the same title at the same time.

The CAISL Library also offers access to a large variety of electronic resources.

The OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) means that students can read eBooks and listen to audio books from anywhere they can access the internet. Our collection of about 1000 eBooks includes non-fiction and fiction aimed at all reading levels. Many of the non-fiction titles are unlimited access so an entire class can be reading the same book at the same time. Our collection of about 260 audio books includes both English and Portuguese fiction and non-fiction books at a wide variety of reading levels.

Videos from Safari Montage and Infobase are accessible through the OPAC and can be viewed immediately.

Electronic resources also include a wide variety of materials which cover all age ranges:

• Data bases include EBSCO Explora, Infobase, NewsBank and NewsBank KidsPage.
• Encyclopedia Britannica which can be searched by different levels (Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced)
• News resources include The Day, The New York Times, Time Magazine.
• Educational resources include Brain Pop, Brain Pop Jr., Brain Pop ELL, Raz-Kids
• Citations and bibliographies can be created using Noodletools.

Learn more about these tools on the right side of this page.

Each Spring, CAISL holds their annual Hooked on Books Event in the elementary school, where everyone reads the same book or author to have a shared reading experience. During these weeks, the students in grades 3-5 read the same title and students in grades Pre-K through grade 2 read books by the same author. There are a wide variety of related enrichment activities across the curriculum from art to music. 2019-20 is the 16th year of this event.

Students in Pre-K through Grade 2 have read books by these authors:

• Mem Fox.
• Tommie DePaola
• Cynthia Rylant
• Martin Waddell

The final event is the spring show where one of the author’s books is turned into a musical performed by Grades 1 & 2.

Students in grades 3-5 have read these titles:

• "Kensuke's Kingdom," by Michael Morpurgo;
• "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane," by Kate di Camillo;
• "Dear Mr. Henshaw," by Beverly Cleary

In 2019, CAISL will host the author Bill Harley and students will read his book “Charlie Bumpers vs. the Teacher of the Year.” Bill Harley is a storyteller and musician and will be working with students to develop their storytelling skills.

During the Summer months, the CAISL Library is open to check out books and the students have fun challenges to meet!

In June, students in Kindergarten through Grade 4, and their parents, are presented with a summer reading program booklet filled with activities and ideas to encourage them to enjoy reading all summer long. There are four programs with different themes.

• The Summer Olympics will happen in 2020 so the theme for this summer will be “CAISL Reading Olympics.”
• During the summer of 2021 students will “Set Sail for Adventure” in a summer of reading which celebrates the Portuguese history of exploration.
• The summer of 2022 will be the summer of the World Cup, so students will help their favorite World Cup team to the finish by reading in the “CAISL World Cup.”
• The fourth program in our rotation is “CAISL´s Rockin’ Reading Café” which is a tasty mix of food, cooking and reading.

When we returned to school in September 2019, it turned out that 74% of the students in grades 1-5 had participated in the program. Also, 26 parents participated and earned certificated and medals – a record number!

Students in grades 6-11 participate in summer reading/listening programs called SORRIR (Summer of Remarkably Riveting Inspirational Resources). Students going into grades 6-8 will receive a booklet in June. Students in grades 9-11 will find reading/listening/viewing links on MedMood.

Research shows that infants, toddlers, and young children whose parents regularly read to them learn critical pre-literacy skills that make them better readers later-on in life.

To encourage CAISL parents to read with their toddlers, the Library Media Center started the "First 500 challenge." Families register with the Library and receive a booklet where they can record the titles of 500 books read to a child before they finish kindergarten. After each 100 books families check in at the library for a sticker on their booklet. Reaching 500 titles means a special surprise at the end!

In 1996 the Academy of American Poets declared April to be Poetry Month. CAISL celebrates poetry throughout each April with a wide variety of events. Some past activities were:

• Students write poetry in classes where poetry usually does not appear - from math to science.
• Student perform their favorite poems at the Thursday Open Mic event. Poems can be presented in any language the student wishes to perform in.
• Classes group students to work together to compose poems.
• Music classes work on the adaptation of poetry to music and the performance of both versions.
  

"Random Acts of Poetry" can be part of an April Poetry Month celebration but they also happen randomly throughout the year. People, mostly teachers, but sometimes students, suddenly appear in a classroom and “interrupt” the lesson to perform a poem. (“Interruptions” are pre-arranged with the teachers, but a surprise to the students.) There are often costumes and props, but mostly there is a love of poetry that is shared.

For several years the middle school has hosted a monthly book club where students and teachers read the same genre of book and then get together, over pizza at lunch, to share the title they read.  The 2019-20 year began with graphic fiction and non-fiction and then moved to biographies.  One of the most popular months is December which is Blind Date with a Book.  Books are wrapped like gifts and students open the gift to learn which book they will read that month.

The middle school book club has now inspired two more student book clubs: high school and Portuguese.  They also began the year reading graphic fiction and non-fiction and then moved to biographies.  Biographies have recently become some of the most popular books in the library. Many books/themes of Book Club are selected to encourage students to read and discover contemporary authors and recent best sellers.

This year has also seen the beginning of the  Parent Support Group book club.  The first meeting took place in October 2019.  Parents brought their book suggestions to the Red Library Story Corner where they introduced themselves, discussed titles and selected the book Becoming, by Michelle Obama, to be their first title.