Private Montessori School | Preschool to Grade 8 | South Shore Scituate MA

Our Library & Philosophy

Encouraging lifelong reading and 21st century skills

The Inly Library has a rich selection of reading materials that reflect our community and the increasingly diverse world in which our students will live. The goal of the library’s collection, like our school-year literature program, is to encourage lifelong reading and nurture respect for all people.

Many of of us—parents and teachers and even our older students—spend a lot of time on our devices, our iPads, smartphones and laptops. They allow us to communicate with one another and do our work. As educators, we are looking at how the world is transforming and reading about the skills our students will need to succeed in the 21st century. In all of the conferences we attend and the articles we read, one thing is made clear: no matter their profession or lifestyle, our students will need the ability to focus and to think critically.

Focusing on reading, understanding and critical thinking

When our students graduate at the end of 8th grade, we want them to have met the Wild Things and Charlotte and Wilbur and Atticus and Scout, along with new characters that will inspire and challenge them. We want students who can read and understand complex texts in high school and in college. We want students that, regardless of what reading device they are using (a Kindle, a Nook or even a book), are knowledgeable about their past and ready to embrace the future.

Our library holdings include:

10,000 volumes on our shelves
Extensive reference book collection

Teaching library and research skills, integrating technology

Children's House Preschool Curriculum: Preschool students visit the Inly Library on a regular basis. During their visits, they select books to bring home and often enjoy stories read to them by a parent volunteer or the Librarian.

Lower Elementary Curriculum: In grades 1–3 we stress library skills and include a basic instruction to technology as it relates to classroom work. Library classes are held each week. Third-grade students spend an additional 30 minutes each week for formal library skills instruction.

Upper Elementary Curriculum: In grades 4–6 students spend 30 minutes a week either with the Librarian or Technology Integrationist working on classroom initiated projects. In the Library they learn note-taking skills and how to use and evaluate source materials. To integrate technology with curricular projects, students learn how to use digital tools such as word processing, drawing, presentation, database, spreadsheet, digital image manipulation and mixed media.

Middle School Curriculum: The Library and Technology curriculum for Middle School continues to build on these skills, especially as they relate to interpretation of material and evaluation of sources. Students work with the Technology Integrationist to develop more advanced technology skills, with the goal of having an electronic portfolio of their work upon graduation.

Sommer Reading: A blog about books

2018 Inly School Summer Reading List

Library News & Posts

Meet the Staff

List of 3 members.

Shelley Sommer

Head Librarian & Literature Teacher

781-545-5544 x112

ssommer@inlyschool.org
Bio
Shelley joined our staff after working for 15 years as director of public relations for the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. She holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Dayton and an M.A. in children's literature from Simmons College. Shelley's first biography for young readers, John F. Kennedy: His Life and Legacy, was published in 2005 by HarperCollins Children's Books. Her latest biography, Hammerin' Hank Greenberg (2011, Boyds Mills Press), was named a 2012 Sydney Taylor Honor Book and a 2012 Boston Authors Club Finalist in the Young Reader category. Every day Shelley inspires the Inly students and staff to read, by sharing her infectious love of books. Her blog about books, Sommer Reading, has a wide public following. She is also a reviewer for the School Library Journal.
Mary McKelvey

Assistant Librarian

781-545-5544 x112

mmckelvey@inlyschool.org
Kelley Huxtable

Technology Integrationist

781-545-5544 x401

khuxtable@inlyschool.org
Bio
Kelley has a B.A. in Management (with a concentration in Management Information Systems) from Babson College and a Masters in Library and Information Science from Simmons College. Prior to joining Inly she worked as a quality assurance engineer in Silicon Valley, Systems Librarian for the Old Colony Library Network, an Associate Director of Technology for the Healey Library at UMass Boston and Director of Information Services at Beaver Country Day School. When not fiddling with technology or teaching Lego robotics, Kelley loves to spend time with her family and volunteer. She has run three Boston Marathons (two of them for Dana Farber) and has volunteered at numerous national parks with the Wilderness Volunteers Organization.