LIBRARY | MUSEUM PROGRAM

The Middle School Library strives to fulfill the dual mission of supporting curricular needs and cultivating individual passions. Based on a core set of essential discovery, information, and literary skills, the Middle School Library curriculum is collaborative in nature, flexible in its content, and responsive to academic programs and personal interests from 4th through 8th grade.

Information comes from a myriad of different sources, and we encourage students to familiarize themselves with physical and online materials: books, websites, databases, search engines, DVDs, streaming media, and many other existing or yet-to-be-discovered entities.

Essential Discovery Skills

Students will be able to:

• Understand library organizational and classification schemes • Locate materials via advanced search tools • Retrieve print and online materials • Determine and employ the best search terms and strategies

Essential Information Skills

Students will be able to:

• Identify salient information sources • Recognize biases, points of view, and complexities of issues • Cite sources correctly • Conduct research confidently and efficiently • Produce and share accurate information

Essential Literary Skills

Students will be able to:

• Understand self as a reader • Identify genre differences • Analyze literature with textual evidence • Expand literary tastes • Elevate literary expertise: vocabulary, sentence complexity, the sophistication of ideas, plot devices, etc.

MUSEUM PROGRAM

The Museum Program supports Dalton’s mission to promote interactive teaching and learning, a hallmark of progressive education. Our in-house museum educators weave their academic training (in cultural anthropology and art history) into custom-designed experiences with objects and images in grades K to 12. Close collaboration with classroom teachers and other experts inside and outside the school ensures that every museum and related classroom opportunity is in sync with the academic curriculum, the age and interests of the students, and new technologies. Students and teachers have unique access to collections and curators at a wide range of cultural institutions, especially the American Museum of Natural History and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the same time, the program reinforces observational and inferential skills across the school.