Library & Literacy
The TCIS Learning Commons (Library Complex) is an active and energetic center of learning for all students. The Learning Commons personnel collaborate with teachers and support students as they develop the literacy, inquiry, and digital citizenship skills necessary to become global citizens.
The Value of Reading
TCIS believes that developing the skills and love of reading is one of the most important purposes of a learning community. Improved literacy is a primary goal in all subjects and classes at TCIS, K-12. We continue to develop our World Languages collections to support students’ literacy in their mother tongues and in additional languages they are learning. We also offer access to SORA, an online ebook database, which allows students to access a wider range of books than what is just available in paper format in the library.
We believe that it is vital for students to make their own choices when they read for pleasure, so we ask students to invest themselves in the collection by making book requests and giving feedback on our resources.
Visit the TCIS Learning Commons Mini-site, kept by our Librarians/Literacy Specialists
Starting Early
All through the year, the TCIS Elementary Library invites students to join reading-focused activities and events, to make learning fun:
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Reading Under the Stars is a literacy night in which families come to read as families on the soccer field (with hot chocolate and treats included.)
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Battle of the Books is a competition event by which student teams read a list of 10 books as a team over the course of weeks and compete with other schools in trivia based on the books. The competition aspect offers a special reading motivation for many students.
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Students of all ages can participate in the Morning Calm Award, reading challenges, Library Week, author visits, and other events to promote authors and titles and to recognize student achievements in reading.
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TCIS typically runs an on-campus Summer Reading Camp through the summer season outside of the regular school year. This day camp meets daily to encourage reading and reading strategies to all proficiency levels. It is a fun time, combining a variety of activities into the reading camp format.
[below: Families reading together at the ES Reading Under the Stars night.]
[below: Outdoor reading time during the ES Literacy Week events.]
[below: Students reading in pajamas as part of Literacy Week events.]
Physical and Ebook Collections
The Learning Center provides all students with many opportunities to read for pleasure and for information:
- The Elementary Library contains roughly 17,000 items
- The Secondary Library contains roughly 18,000 items.
- We have subscriptions to many ebooks for both Elementary and Secondary Schools.
Virtual Collections and Databases
We have multiple, research-focused databases that are appropriate for all students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and which address the curriculum of all courses and units of inquiry in the PYP, MYP, and DP. For instance:
- Raz-Kids is an ES resource that helps students in K-5 to research and to improve their reading skills
- Our multiple EBSCO products, Oxford Music Online, JSTOR, and others are resources that assist MYP and DP students in academic inquiry
- Also, subscriptions to BrainPop and World Book assist students in both divisions to do homework, inquire, and to learn about current world events.
Through all Secondary School classes and regularly-scheduled Elementary School Learning Commons classes, students learn the skills necessary to explore these materials and use them to inquire and to grow as readers. Most importantly, the Learning Commons staff members are educators who work hard to connect students and teachers with the skills and resources they need to be successful learners and world citizens.