Cherokee Elementary Media Center
The Cherokee Elementary School Media Center is unique in that it provides not only an inviting setting for students to read and check out books, but it also provides high quality technology and software that lends itself to reading skills enhancement and to reading enjoyment. In addition, the Media Center promotes the culture of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The walls of the Media Center depict scenes from books. Interesting is the scene from a book on Cherokee Myths showing how the turtle got his shell. A lab of computers holds center stage and is surrounded by shelves containing thousands of books. Two Smart Boards are housed in the library for use by teachers and students alike. Check-out is automated in this media center. Students are provided a computer with patron software that allows them to look up books by title, subject, or author.
The Cherokee Elementary School Media Center currently has 4,896 titles in its Accelerated Reading program. This program encourages students to read books and then take a weighted computer based test about the book. The Accelerated Reading program is incorporated into Cherokee Elementary School's reading curriculum. The student earns points and uses them for special prizes and activities. Point goals are set by individual grade blocks and the individual student may set a point goal as well. There is a movie field trip in mid year for students who meet point goals, and at the end of the year students visit the Fun Factory if they meet individual and grade block goals.
Accelerated Reading titles are kept current by Media Center Coordinator, Betty Allen. Betty does online ordering, taking care to specifically order book titles requested by students and titles on the new book lists. Also contained within the Accelerated Reading program are Native American books. Betty has made sure that the Media Center has every book on the Accelerated Reading Native American book list. Also, if a book in the Media Center is not listed on the Accelerated Reading list, teachers can create and add a test within the program itself. Accelerated Reading tests are available on the Media Center computers and networked to each classroom computer.
Software available in the Media Center includes Star Reading and Success Maker. There are numerous software applications as well. The school's Accelerated Reading list is available at the Qualla Library as well. We feel very fortunate to have such an inviting place to read!
The Accelerated Reading Booklist of book titles that begin with a is available by clicking the link. (Note: to view this list you must have Adobe Reader)