3. OPES Media Center
Our Media Center is approximately 2,000 square feet
including a teacher workroom, two AV production rooms,
two offices and two storage closets.
Our bookshelves house 18,263 books.
16 computers are housed in the Media Center, including
the circulation desk computer. There are also two laptop
carts that can be checked out with 20 laptops each.
We have one full time media specialist and part time
clerk. There are also many parent volunteers that offer
assistance.
4. School Data
Oglethorpe Point Elementary School opened it’s doors in
August of 1994 on the north end of Saint Simon’s Island.
We serve over 500 students in Pre K through fifth grade.
Our faculty is comprised of over 50 faculty members.
We have a fulltime principal, assistant principal,
instructional coach and two secretaries on site.
Our students represent a diverse mix with children from the
relatively affluent Saint Simons Island attending as well as
many students who are bussed in from lower socio-
economic regions in Brunswick.
glynn.schooldesk.net/Portals/Oglethorpe/image...
5. Media Center Location
Our Media Center is centrally located, right down from
the front office. Pictured on the right is Oglethorpe
Square where all the hallways meet. The Media Center
is located to the left of the square. Directly across the
square is our computer lab.
6. Parent Notices
The parents at OPES are very
actively involved. They often
utilize the media center to read
with their children. AR is also
very popular with our parents.
7. Whole
Group
Area
As you enter the Media Center you see our whole group
area with enough seating to hold an entire class for
instruction, although it is rarely used for that purpose at
this time.
11. •Two storage closets are pictured above.
•The one on the left holds additional equipment and older
periodicals.
•The closet on the right houses videos and serves another
function as the AV production room for our morning news show.
13. •Pictured above is our wonderful AV Production
room, there are windows looking into this room
from the front hallway of the school as well as the
media center. Fifth grade students produce and
broadcast our morning news show form this room.
14. A view looking
into the AV
Production Room
from the AV
Editing room and
the media center.
15. Circulation Desk and Two Office Spaces
•The nerve center of the media center.
•The office to the left behind circulation is currently being used for
storage and the one on the right is the media specialist’s office.
16. The view from the circulation desk
encompasses the entire media center.
17. OfficeSpace
Pictured below are the two office spaces located at the back
of the media center. The one on the right is our media
specialists office. The one on the right is currently being
used for storage.
18. ARPromotion
Two displays devoted to AR Promotion in the media center.
The photo on the left shows our progress towards our reading
goal. The photo on the right highlights AR books available for
check out.
19. Teacher Work Room
Our workroom is a wonderful resource for
the faculty with the following items
available for use:
•Die Cut Machine
•Laminator
•Poster Maker
20. Server Storage
The server and any other
technical issues are handled
by our district level
Instructional Technology
Team.
21. Story TimeNook
This bright, colorful area is used for story time with the
students. When it is not being used by a class, the soft
seating is available for individual students, as pictured in the
photo on the left. This is the gathering place of the media
center.
26. FacilitiesUsage
•The Oglethorpe Point Elementary Media Center
operates on a flexible schedule.
•The media center is open from 8:00AM until 2:30PM on
Monday, Thursday and Friday.
•There are extended “Parent Hours” on Tuesday and
Wednesday from 2:30PM – 3:00PM
•The media specialist offers story time to children in the
lower grades and research support to the upper grades.
•The majority of teacher / media specialist collaboration
occurs at the upper grade levels.
27. FacilitiesUsage
•The media center is often used by PTA for meetings in
the evenings as well as other groups, like boy scouts
and daisy scouts.
•AR Celebrations are also held in the media center each
term.
•Students are able to utilize the media center throughout
the day in small groups, or if teachers sign up
beforehand, as a whole group.
•Student are aloud to check out two books at a time.
•There is no limit on the amount of materials a faculty
member can check out
•Outside groups are not aloud to check out materials.
28. FacilitiesUsage
•The penalty for overdue,
unreturned books is to hold the
report card until all fines have
been paid.
•Students with unreturned
books are not permitted to
check out new books.
•Students may check in and out
as many books as they would
like on any given day.
29. Survey Results
The teachers, media specialists and students surveyed
agreed that we should have more direct instruction in
our media center.
The teachers all agreed that we need a scanner and a
copier available in the media center.
Both teachers and media specialists felt that a private
conference/collaboration/small group room would be
quite beneficial for planning and instruction.
30. Survey Results
The teachers surveyed wanted to be able to do full class
lessons in the media center.
The students surveyed requested more AR books that are
easily identifiable by their level.
The students would like extended hours to use the library
before and after school.
31. Proposed Changes
Turn small storage office into a conference room to be
used for small group instruction or grade level
collaboration.
Add Smart Boards and projectors in three locations:
whole group work area, story time nook, new conference
room to allow for effective direct group instruction.
Add scanner to network printer area and copier to
teacher workroom for access during school day when
needed.
Institute a color coded labeling system for all AR Books.
Add table to teacher workroom for workspace and
meetings.
Add plants around to warm up ambiance.
32. Proposed Policy
Changes
I would like to see extended hours on Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday from 7:15AM – 4:00PM for
student and parent usage before and after school.
I would like to have information literacy lessons taught at
all grade levels.
I would like PTA to start a “lost book fund” to cover books
that go missing, so students can continue checking out
books.
I would like to raise the number of books checked out per
student to three. I feel that size of our collection in
relation to our population supports this.
38. New AR Leveling System
www.stmms.org/arlevels-b.jpgebendickinson.blogspot.com
Colored stickersto label all AR
book for easy identification by
students.
Example of color coded
leveling guide for AR.
39. Conclusion
In conclusion, I feel that our Media Center
is a wonderful facility that offers a warm,
inviting environment for our young
readers. I enjoyed thinking about the
possibilities for this facility very much,
and learning what others would like to
see happen in our Media Center. I hope
to utilize what I have learned in this
project in my own Media Center one day.
