Melissa Lewis

Collection Evaluation Assignment

Part 1
March 3rd 2010
www.revolutionaryedsites.pbworks.com
Description of Site and Learners
I am completing my collection evaluation assignment at Westmont
Elementary School located in Evans, GA. This elementary school is a member
of the Columbia County School system which is a distinguished school system
located in the suburbs of Augusta, G.A. There are a total of thirty-two schools in
this system, with seventeen of them being Elementary schools. The majority of
the county is made up of students ranging from lower to upper-middle class
Caucasian students. There is also a small population of African American and
Hispanic students in this area as well.
At Westmont Elementary there are approximately 550 students that come
mostly from middle-class house holds. The primary demographic is Caucasian
students, with a small population of African American and Hispanic students.
The school employs 2 administrators, 38 certified teachers, and 25 classified
staff members. It is a Title I school who recently won a distinguished school
award in this area, and has made AYP seven years in a row.
The media center is located in the main hallway strategically placed near
the offices and directly across from the lunchroom, therefore all students pass
the facility several times throughout the day. The total number of books in the
media center’s collection is 11,247 with the average age being 1992, over fifteen
years old. There are also 10 desktop computers for students and teachers to
look up book titles and authors on Destiny or research a variety of topic areas.
There is a presence of technology throughout the building, that is not completely
reflected in the media center. Each classroom has an Active Board and student
computers. The media center does not have an Active Board of its own. The
media center operates on a flexible schedule. Students come in continually
throughout the day when they are given permission by the classroom teacher,
but classes can also sign up to come as a class. The media specialist and clerk
read to the younger grades when they come in to check out books.
There are four fourth grade classes which are set up into two teams. One
teacher is responsible for teaching math and science and the other is responsible
for language arts and social studies. This year there are a total of 105 fourth
grade students in all. Team 1 has 53 students and Team 2 52 students. Overall,
the abilities of this group of students vary tremendously. There reading levels
range from a second grade level to above fifth grade. There are a number of
students who qualify for special services including a total of eight EIP students,
five ESOL students, five Title I students, and four students enrolled in the gifted
program. Out of the eight EIP students, four of those students qualify in the
subject of reading/language arts. These students are supported by an additional
teacher for forty-five minutes during their reading block. The six students that
qualify in the math content area, two students qualify in both content areas, are
pulled our for an additional forty-minute small group lesson for re-teaching and
reinforcement. The gifted students go to the Horizons program located at the
school on Friday’s from 9 A.M. to 2 P.M. every Friday for acceleration in the
different content areas, with a focus on Science and Social Studies. .

Curriculum Review
For this activity I have chosen to focus on the Revolutionary War, which is
focused on in the fourth grade Social Studies Georgia Performance Standards
that follow:
SS4H3 The student will explain the factors that shaped British colonial
America.
a. Compare and contrast life in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern
colonies.
b. Describe colonial life in America as experienced by various people, including
large landowners, farmers, artisans, women, indentured servants, slaves, and
Native Americans.
SS4H4 The student will explain the causes, events, and results of the
American Revolution.
a. Trace the events that shaped the revolutionary movement in America,
including the French and Indian War, British Imperial Policy that led to the 1765
Stamp Act, the slogan “no taxation without representation,” the activities of the
Sons of Liberty, and the Boston Tea Party.
b. Explain the writing of the Declaration of Independence; include who wrote it,
how it was written, why it was necessary, and how it was a response to tyranny
and the abuse of power.
c. Describe the major events of the American Revolution and explain the factors
leading to American victory and British defeat; include the Battles of Lexington
and Concord, Saratoga, and Yorktown.
d. Describe key individuals in the American Revolution with emphasis on King
George III, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Benedict
Arnold, Patrick Henry, and John Adams.
Standard Concept Task/Activity/Lesson Resources

SS4H3 Life in the • Define the word United Streaming;

American colony by using prior Social Studies Text;
Colonies knowledge, social Leveled Readers;
studies text, and Current media
dictionary center books and
• Use a map of the videos; maps that
colonies to show the show colonies;
students the county curriculum
locations of each map; relevant
• Use KWL chart to websites, chart
identify the paper, Active
characteristics and Board, Writing
ways of life in the graphic organizer
New England, Mid-
Atlantic, and
Southern Colonies
• Complete a Venn
Diagram to compare
and contrast the
similarities and
differences between
the American
Colonies
• Identify the different
jobs held by colonist
using text and books.
• Write a fictional story
 taking on the identify
as a colonist from
either the New
England, Mid-
Atlantic, or Southern
Colonies.
SS4H4 Causes of the • Identify and define United Streaming;
American the list of causes of Social Studies Text;
Revolution the American Leveled Readers;
Revolution Current media
• Read about and act center books and
out the Boston Tea videos: timeline;
Party Various websites;
• Discuss the incident Graphic organizers;
and aftermath of the Dictionaries;
Boston Massacre Thesaurus, Active
• Explain what Board
happened in the
French and Indian
War
• Identify and describe
the variety of British
policies and acts that
were implemented in
1765 which led to
conflict
• Use a timeline to
show the sequence
of events that
happened leading up
to the Revolutionary
War
• Write a persuasive
letter to the King of
England using to in
order to promote “No
taxation without
representation!”
• Describe the
characteristics and
actions of the group
Son’s of Liberty
• Define the term
‘loyalists’
• Compare and
Contrast the Son’s of
 Liberty and the
Loyalists
SS4H4 The Declaration • Define and explain United Streaming;
of the purpose of the Social Studies Text;
Independence Declaration of Leveled Readers;
Independence Current media
• Explain the message center books and
that this document videos; various
sent to the King of websites; Photos
England that capture this
• Identify when the event (from books
Declaration of or internet);
independence was Dictionary;
created and why Biographies of
• Introduce the term individuals; Atlases;
continental congress Active Board
• Discuss the role of
Thomas Jefferson,
Benjamin Franklin,
John Adams, John
Hancock, and the
various other
individuals
instrumental in
creating this
document
• Watch a video that
illustrates the
development and
signing of the
Declaration
SS4H4 Events of the • Introduce and United Streaming;
Revolutionary describe the major Social Studies Text;
War battles of the war Leveled Readers;
including: Battles of Current media
Lexington and center books and
Concord, Saratoga, videos; Specific
and Yorktown. texts and pictures
• Use a timeline to on Paul Revere;
display the graphic organizers;
chronological order maps; Props for
of the battles as they acting out events;
took place Active Board
• Identify Paul Revere
and his role in the
 moments prior to the
battles of Lexington
and Concord
• Use a map to
illustrate the place in
which each battle
took place
• Act out the major
events of each battle
• Use a graphic
organizer to define
and illustrate key
information about
each battle
• Identify the Battle of
Saratoga as the
turning point in the
war
• Explain the
significance of the
French military in the
battle of Yorktown
• Identify Yorktown as
the last battle of the
war
Key Individuals • Introduce key people United Streaming;
in the individually using a Social Studies Text;
Revolutionary graphic organizer to Leveled Readers;
War take notes Current media
• Play matching game center books and
to identify videos; Biographies
characteristics and on all individuals;
facts of the different Encyclopedias;
individuals Relevant websites;
• Complete a research Active Board
paper on a specific
individual

Collection Review

The first thing I did was go to the media center so that I could get a first-
hand look at the collection. This particular media center is well-organized and
set-up to encourage easy access to every section. The majority of the books
dealing with the Revolutionary War are located in the non-fiction, split between
the informational and biography sections. All of these materials are located
together on the right side of the media center. They are labeled by the Dewey
Decimal System and the history books are located in the 900 section because
they deal with the history of the United States. A sign is posted on the shelves
that identifies the hundreds number of the Dewey Decimal System. Along with
non-fiction texts about the Revolutionary War, there are also books on this topic
located in the fiction section. The fiction section is located on the left side of the
media center and is labeled by letters of the alphabet ranging from A-Z. Each
book’s spine is labeled with a specific group of letters based on the author’s last
name. Letters are visible on the shelves in the fiction section, which makes it
easy for students to located books once they know the author or call number.
The reference section is located on the side of the media center near the
entrance. Our library has a lot of great resources in this section that will be
extremely useful during this unit of study, including a variety of encyclopedias.
The newest set of encyclopedia’s copyright is 2010 and will offer the most current
information available on all of the individuals and battles discussed in these
Georgia Performance Standards.
The first way I evaluated this collection is by going to the specific
sections of the media center, locating specific texts that were relevant to my
topic, and then determining their age. I started this process in the non-fiction
section. As I glanced through I found most of the books in two places: the 900
section and the biography section. There were a lot of titles I found related to my
topic and from the cover they looked fairly new. However, when I found the
copyright date I was extremely surprised to see that most of them had a
copyright date in the early 1990’s, if not much older than that. The good
condition of these dated books tells me that they do not get much use, therefore
probably have not been checked out very often.
The fiction texts were a different story. It was harder to find these by just
glancing through the collection because they are so spread out, so I used
DESTINY to do a subject search of non-fiction books. In the collection there is
not a huge amount of non-fiction books on the topics of the American Colonies
and Revolutionary War; less than twenty. I found two main themes of the fiction
books on this topic, with a few exceptions. The book was either a part of the
American Girl Series or The Magic Tree House series. These are both really
great book series that give detailed and descriptive fictional accounts of historic
events, but there is not much variety. Also, unlike the non-fiction section the
books in the fiction section were much newer, but did seem to have a little more
wear and tear. This fact tells me that students really enjoy these fiction texts, so I
will definitely focus on adding a better variety when I complete my materials
order.
After I browsed through the collection focusing primarily on age, I moved
on to evaluating by Georgia Performance Standard. I logged into the DESTINY
catalogue system as the administrator and was able to pull up a list of all the
books that covered each of my standards. This is an extremely effective and
helpful tool. After I printed the lists of books for each standard, I broke my
standard into specific categories and sorted each title. By doing this I was truly
able to see how many resources were available for each topic that is covered
through these standards. Also, by doing this it became even more apparent how
old some parts of this collection are. After making this list I was able to see
which topics are covered more heavily than others. For instance, there are a lot
non-fiction and fiction texts on the Declaration of Independence, as well as a few
of the individuals like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Some topics
that need more items to adequately cover the standards are the American
Colonies and the battles. Both the causes and events of the war are covered,
with the exception of a few small holes that need to be filled in. I will focus on
ordering materials that will help to fill in these gaps in these standards.
Below is a chart that breaks up each standard into smaller topics and
graphs the age each topic, as well as the number of materials of each.
Subject of Materials Number Materials Average Age

American Colonies 8 1974

Causes/Events Leading to
the Revolutionary War
There was one text from
1951 and it brought the
average age if this section
down substantially.
20 1996

Events of the Revolutionary 23 1991

War
Key Individuals 18 1988
As you can see above the average age of each specific topic is starling.
The American Colonies, as stated before, is definitely an area which needs major
improvement. The average age was brought down by one or two specific texts
that were extremely dated, but even without those two the average age would not
be much better. The only topic area whose age is within fifteen years is the
causes of the war and overall this topic is covered well.
These numbers reflect the entire media center collection which has an
average age of 1992, as does the fiction section. The 900 section, where the
majority of the informational texts are housed is one year better averaging 1993.
The age collection will be a main focus as I create my order for new materials. I
will focus on ordering items that have a recent copyright date, in order to ensure
that the latest information about this topic is covered, as well as texts that cover
multicultural perspectives. Basically, I would like to weed a significant amount of
materials from this part of the collection and use my budget to replace the
materials with recent titles. Also, I would very much like to add to the number of
texts under each topic of the standards. As the GPS have changed I feel that it
may have caused there to be holes in the media center materials. I will attempt
to fill all of those holes during my book order.
 The third way I evaluated the collection was by looking at the circulation of
materials. First, I started with evaluating the circulation of the whole collection
which holds a total of 11,247 books. Overall this year there have been 32,778
circulations which calculates to around 3 per item in the collection. I then wanted
to be specific and make sure that I determined the circulation for the materials
that refer to my standards. Although they are somewhat spread out, I focused
mostly on the 900 section because the majority of the information texts are found
there, and overall most of materials at the moment that deal with this topic are in
the informational section. In the 900 section there have only been 265
circulations this year for the 271 items, which is roughly 1 per item. This is lower
than the average for the entire. Over ¾ of the books related to my content area
are found in this section and proves that they are not being checked out
consistently; therefore literature is not being effectively used to extend the
learning of this curriculum. I want to change this by choosing newer texts that
contain more relevant information, as well as literature and other resources that
will grab students’ attention.
The last criteria I used to evaluate the collection was related to the
multicultural aspects of each text. Although there were a few texts that
represented different cultures and opinions on this topic, overall it was very one
sided. Most of these texts told the story of the Revolutionary War from the
American perspective, painting the founding father as heroes. Also, there were
very few texts that spoke of other cultures that fought in the war or were affected
by the many events. I will strive to find texts that tell multiple sides of the story,
as well as find resources that represented the different groups of people who
were involved outside of the ‘typical’ Anglo Saxon colonists. As I build the
colonies topic area, I will strive to find resources that describe the perspectives of
the Native Americans as these actions were taking place.
Summary of Needs
1. Focus on updating the collection and buying resources that were
published in the last five years. Although five years may seem
too far back to order books, there have not been any changes in
 the facts regarding this curriculum; therefore the facts would not
have changed. Yet, at the same time, many new, diverse
materials would have been written and made about the
Revolutionary War and the colonies, so I will definitely focus on
finding titles with the most current copyright date. The average
of the collection will also be increased significantly even if texts
that are ten years old are purchased.
2. Add multicultural texts that cover the perspectives of the Native
Americans regarding the development of the colonies, the
loyalists and their views/reasons/opinions, the perspective of
King George the III, as well as resources that highlight slaves
were impacted and their role in the war.
3. Find a variety of fiction texts that tell the story of colonists,
loyalists, redcoats, and many of the other people and events that
are covered through these standards.
4. Find a few videos that could be used as additional resources in
the classroom. I will mostly obtain DVD’s, because teachers do
not have VCR’s in their classrooms, so if they show a VHS they
must run it through the library which can be a hassle. They can
play DVD’s through their computer and show them on the Active
Boards.

Budget Summary
I am very confident that I chose a wide range of materials that cover the negative
aspects found in my collection evaluation. In total I spent $3.359.89 on a variety
of materials including books, DVD’s, E-Books, and Audio Books. I was able to
find a large number of titles to fill in the wholes in curriculum, as well as recently
published books. For the most part I was able to find books that had been
published in the last five years, but there were a few exceptions. I made a
professional decision to add a few titles that were older than the five years, due
to the fact that the facts of topic have not changed in hundreds of years. With
that said I was able to add a tremendous amount of resources that had been
published within five years. Another thing I focused on was adding a
number of fiction texts to the collection that cover the standards of the American
colonies and the Revolutionary War. I was successful in this hunt and am
confident that I was able to find an assortment of fictional text that will aid in
teaching these standards. Lastly, I searched for texts that would teach a
multicultural view of this topic. I added several texts that shared the view of
slaves and Indians during this time of our history, as well as women. I was also
able to find several texts that were written from the perspective of the loyalists
and English. Overall I am confident in the items I chose to add to this collection.
My additional web resources can be found at:
www.revolutionaryedsites.pbworks.com.