Paterson Public Schools School 28 or Public School Twenty Eight was erected in 1962. The president is John J. Pasquale and the vice president is Leonard R. Jacoby. The general contractor for the school is Thomas Construction Company. PS28 is located in New Jersey. The school's address is 200 Presidential Blvd., Paterson, NJ 07522. The school's telephone number is [HIDDEN] . There are a total of 360 students in the school. The school has several classrooms dedicated to specific areas such as pre-kindergarten, special education, and performing arts. The students range from pre-kindergarten all the way to grade 8. So the age range is around 4-13 years of age. Because New Jersey is located within the tri-state area, the population is diverse with black, Hispanic, Asian, and white students and faculty. The principal, Nancy Castro is Hispanic as well as the Assistant Principal, Victoria, Larosiliere. The majority of the students are black with some Hispanic, white, and Asian faculty and students.

The library is not mentioned in the school website, however they do provide a link to the Scholastic Book Reading Club. The program within this website is used by the school, specifically Mrs. Hodge's class. They are allowed to use these programs to acquire additional reading materials and although the library does not appear updated nor within the schools website, it is still functional. The strength of this library is the availability of books for the age range of the students. The weakness is the lack of online integration and the lack of updated titled along with variety of materials.

Going more into the library details, the library program, is a small one because the library itself is small. When it was previously mentioned the books are out of date, they are out of date by specifically five years. The smart board has some material in terms of weekly lesson plans discussed but only for the lower grades like pre-kindergarten and first grade. The check-out system within the library uses a computer.

The Paterson Public School District is led by the State District Superintendent. His name is Dr. Donnie W. Evans. He works closely with New Jersey's Department of Education. Within the district, there are 54 schools.

In those 54 schools are 2,526 certified teachers some of which are either full time or part time. The grades represented within the district range from pre-kindergarten all the way to grade 12. The district also houses a preschool program. The program instructs 3,447 preschool students aged 3-4.

The facilities for preschool programs consist of 30 early childhood community provider centers and 4 in-district sites. The mission of the district and the school is to institute and implement rigorous controls and checking measures connected to all school and central office processes. The mission for the school is to provide excellent support and instruction to children from pre-kindergarten to grade 8. Additionally PS28 wishes to provide a safe and comfortable environment that promotes personal growth and education.

In the school's own words, they wish to develop the intellect of their students and character. They believe these two things when properly formed contribute to a successful life. Their special education offerings are small, much like the library, but have caring teachers that contribute to the mission statement by providing attention and support to the students who attend. The ratio for students to teachers are 9 as they have 40 full time teachers within the school.

Section II: The start of the modern era in the 21st century has been named the Information Age due in part to the increased availability of information output and a plethora of continually added information sources. With a clear understanding of these sources, one can become a lifelong, independent learner. To achieve this, one must become proficient in information literacy. Information literacy equips students with the necessary skills to critically understand information and information sources.

A common belief that people have when it comes to information literacy is that if students write enough research papers and read a variety of textbooks, they will gain enough information literacy skills to succeed. This is not entirely the case. IL skills that are introduced alongside regular curriculum helps to not only improve their skills overall but also assist in information literacy. Information literacy is the capability to know when information is required, to find it proficiently regardless of its place, format or medium, to assess its significance, authoritativeness, and legitimacy, to use it to shape new information, and to interconnect that knowledge. The VALE Shared Information Literacy Committee shares ideas, information and materials connected...

This program apart of the New Jersey education program, assist in literacy goals through the state. (Library Part)
On January 2010, the Information Literacy Progression Standards were announced at the VALE (Virtual Academic Library Environment) Users' Annual Conference. Many schools like PS28 have begun utilizing the Standards to assimilate and measure information literacy within the prospectus or just as a foundation to initiate a dialog between librarians and faculty. Faculty expect students to be proficient in technology and information literacy by grade 8. The standards explained earlier consist of objectives such as identifying and addressing information need as well as accessing information efficiently and effectively. An evaluation of the information along with critical analysis and use of information for a particular reason effectively is also stated as part of the standards; along with use of information in an ethical and legal manner.

In regards to each grade, pre-kindergarten to grade 4, most of the information literacy skills are mainly focused on acquiring simple knowledge of books like their author, illustrator and its functions, know how to check out books, develop good listening with the use of read-out-loud books. Additionally knowing the arraignment of books and e-books along with experience in a variety of literary forms are introduced, specifically from pre-kindergarten to kindergarten. Special populations, since their learning may require more practice, more attention, or more repetition, they will receive generally the same standards with the exception of the time limit being longer than with non-special populations.

Recognition of numerical order for non-fiction books along with personal choice of book through browsing and map reading is introduced in grades 1 and 2. In grade 3 children determine whether statements are fact or fiction. They locate non-fiction books using Dewey Decimal System. They also use guide words in dictionaries etc. Grade 4 increases the variety of sources from atlases to internet resources. In grade 5 students are expected to organize books alphabetically, use GAILELO to perform basic search, use abridged dictionaries, and use cross-references in multiple types of sources. Grades 6-8 expand on this with grade 8 evaluations determining computer and information literacy. By grade 8 students should be able to discern what is fact or fiction and gather information in an organized way while also referencing any information they gather. Although special needs students are fairly the same in regards to most things, they will and do have difficulty learning and communicating. Therefore Visual literacy may be used more so in order for students to recognize and understand ideas carried through observable actions or pictures.

Section III:

Outlining your project

The project will be a "Readers Theater" program. A "Readers Theater" program is a minimal theater that supports literature and reading. There are numerous styles of reader's theater, most are the same in that the narration serves as the outline of dramatic performance. There is no need for stage sets as everything can be done through the narration. Costumes can be used but aren't necessary. Neither is full memorization as scripts can be openly used during performance. I will be doing the story "Miss Nelson is missing." They will learn the lines for a short, 10 min play.

The class I will be working with are 2nd graders. They are a part of the special education part of the school. Their reading levels are not the same as other 2nd grade classes and are the level close to Kindergarten. Since full memorization is not necessary and scripts can be used, they will improve their reading, speaking, and listening skills. Often students in special education class lack development in communication and reading.

Their reading levels are already below the average and can use the practice of reading scripts to help them understand words and sounds. A "Reader's Theatre" helps them use their imagination and picture a world within a story. It will help them understand the context of the words and help them remember what these meanings attached to these words are. Literacy is an important thing to aim for when it comes to reading comprehension, this project helps support literacy.

Since the program involves little prep work, most of it can be done with one person. If another teacher were to help they would need to pass out scripts, help kids with any costumes they may want to make, and help children understand what their assignments are. Since the students are from special education, they may need to have instructions repeated as well as need more time to understand what…