Summer

We'll, it's been quite some time since I've posted anything.  The month of May and part of June was devoted to testing in the library.  I missed my classes, but was lucky to have a satellite location in my school with a couple of book carts.  Although, I wasn't able to teach lessons during this time, I was able to continue promoting books and putting them into students' hands.  

There were 2 weeks left in school when all of the testing was over and I was able to get back into the library.  During the first week back, I promoted several summer reading programs; The York County Public Library Summer Reading Program, Barnes & Noble's program, and the Reading Rewards offered by Chuck E Cheese.  It was rewarding to see all of the interest in the summer reading programs.  I would really like to be promoting/running my own summer reading program next year.  I have some ideas brewing, but don't have all of the details worked out just yet.  Hopefully, I'll have it all ready to go by next June. :-)

The last week of school I had a beach themed "Read-In".  It was a lot of fun!  I had floats, beach chairs, beach mats, sunglasses, and ocean sounds.  The kids loved reading around the library with all of the fun beach stuff.  They read independently, in pairs, and in small groups.  I got some great pictures and was able to post them to Twitter.  They were so cute!  My favorite is a  kindergartener reading on a beach mat with a tube around his waist.

Now it's summer.... the inventory is complete, the shelves are dusted and straight, and the ipads/ipods are charging.  I brought home 20 books to read including next year's Battle of the Books.  Commence... reading and relaxation!

I'm contemplating presenting at the VAASL conference this Fall.  I have a topic picked out, but I'm not ready to commit just yet.  More next time.....

 

Hats

This week I'm having some fun with a Jon Klassen author study. I'm reading, I Want My Hat Back and This is Not My Hat.  The Kindergarteners and 1st graders love these books!! (So would the older students, but I have some unfinished projects to work on with them this week.) After reading the books, the students are creating their own illustrations.  I asked, "Who else could have taken the hat?"  I gave the students a choice between the red pointy hat from I Want My Hat Back or the blue rounded hat from This is Not My Hat.  The students created the cutest illustrations today!  I love listening to them as they discuss their pictures with their classmates.  

 

Have a great week!

Book Fair

The Book Fair is up and running!  Last week, a high school student told me that the Book Fair was her favorite thing in all of elementary school.  So, despite all of the work, it's all worth it to make some memories for our students.  

I'm really lucky to have such wonderful parent volunteers to help out all day/every day.  Today I had 6 volunteers to help with running the registers and assisting students with picking out books.  The school's PTA gives every student $5.00 to buy a book so we are VERY busy.  How cool is that?! 

I'm excited to give out well-deserved book fair bucks to students that have been submitting answers to the Question of the Week center since October.  I bought the Question of the Week center from Mrs. Lodge and have adapted it to use in the SES library. I set it up with "Spike" our school mascot.  He's "looking" for answers to questions and the students in grades 3rd-5th have the opportunity to help Spike by finding the answers to his questions. Students must use library references sources or non-fiction books to find the answers.  Students are not allowed to search the internet for answers since I know they are already proficient at using internet search engines. I've found that having students use World Book online or other subscription databases is valuable in teaching students how to keyword search.  Many students are in the practice of typing the complete question into an internet search engine and as we know, this is not how encyclopedias or other reference sources work.  The question of the week changes each week and I have added increasingly challenging questions throughout the school year.  I supplement Mrs. Lodge's questions with some seasonal and school specific topics.  Each week,  I display the last week's answer with a list of 3 students in 3rd-5th grades that found the correct answer.  I usually have more than 3 correct answers in each grade level, so I have to put all of the correct answers "into a hat" and pick 3.  Chosen students earn 1 "book fair buck" for every correct answer. I love this center and so do my students.  Thank you Mrs. Lodge!  Mrs. Lodge's TPT Store

Here's a picture of my version of the Question of the Week Center.

Have a great week!

April.. Earth Day, Poetry, and Wimpy Kid... oh my!

There are so many great topics to choose from this month, that it's difficult to choose what to focus on sometimes.  

Last year, I taught so many great poetry lessons and had some great centers too.  But, I've had so many projects going on this month that I haven't had a chance to read any poetry books yet. :-(  I am definitely going to work on putting together a Lego poetry center.  Mrs. Lodge describes it on her site.
Mrs. Lodge's Library

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders LOVED the riddle poetry race center I had set up last year.  I had copies of riddles in sheet protectors and stopwatches.  The kids had so much fun timing themselves. I'll have to look around and see if I have any pictures to post.  

I also covered a table with craft paper and students could add their own poems.  Students loved reading poems from other grade levels and were inspired to write their own, especially after reading poems written by younger students.  I only wish that I had wall space to hang them.  Our library is pretty small so it is lined with book shelves and windows.

Earth Day, April 22
This week, I'm going to read, Me...Jane, Wangari's Trees of Peace:  A True Story from Africa, and Micheal Recycle.  I actually have to be out for meetings on Monday and Tuesday, so I bought an Earth Day mini book on TPT and made a response/color sheet to go with Me...Jane.

WimpyKid.com  has information about Wimpy Kid month.  I'm going to print the 9th book Do it yourself cover sheet for a center.  The Wimpy Kid series is the most popular in my library.  On April 28 at 9:00 am, Jeff Kinney will reveal the cover, title, and color of Wimpy Kid book 9. During the webcast, he will share a few cover designs during the webcast.  So, I want to give our students a chance to enter their designs.

Next week..... Book Fair!!!

Spring Break

This Spring Break I really had fun spending time with my kids and working on several projects in our home.  We went to Busch Gardens twice (the kids were thrilled!).  It was pretty empty so the kids got to ride every ride in the park, multiple times.  I finally painted 2 rooms, so now I've got the painting bug.  But.... it's time to get back to the library.  So, painting will have to wait until Summer.

I'm feeling recharged and ready to teach!  It was even hard to sleep last night because I couldn't stop thinking about what we'll be doing during the upcoming weeks before testing begins.  

I've been working really hard to come up with some lessons to make reference sources fun for 5th grade.  I'm going back and forth between a Nearpod or Socrative lesson.  I'm leaning toward Nearpod because it's so interactive.  I used Nearpod with this same group of students last year, so that should shorten the introduction time and leave more time for the lesson.  What's tricky about the 5th Grade Virginia SOL is that one of the objectives is for the students to be able to compare and contrast a dictionary, glossary, and thesaurus.  I know the students can tell me the use of each source, but I'm sure most of them will be unable to compare the reference sources or identify the best source to find the information given during testing.  I'll post more next week. :-)

I'm really excited about beginning an author study with my Kinders and 1st graders.  Up first will be:  Mo Willems!  The kids LOVE his books and so do I.  It will be lots of fun!  I think I can also find a way to tie together the bunny unit they are doing in the classroom with a Knuffle Bunny book.

Have great week everyone!

Super Duper StoryMaker App

I discovered the coolest app this week! It's called Super Duper StoryMaker. Students can create stories with pictures from the camera roll on the device, with any of the many choices in the app, or they can draw their own. StoryMaker has 2 screens, create a story and tell a story. In create story students make their own stories. In tell story students read, tell, and talk about their stories. Kids can record their voice and have others listen to it. 

The upgraded (paid) version has 120 pictures for storytelling - 51 fictional characters, 41 places, and 22 animal choices. I was going to use the free version, but you can't save your stories with it and I know the kids will want to save them. So, I bought it for 4.99. 

My 2nd graders have been doing animal research during their last 2 visits to the library. Now, they are going to use the research collected on their graphic organizers to write their own animal stories. Then, they are going to share the stories with their classmates. I'm so excited to see the finished products! 

 Now, I just need to work on finding a way for the students to share their stories with their parents.

First Grade Research Mini-book

Reserach, Reserach, Research

So, I was very hesitant to teach 1st graders about research, but I am so glad I jumped in with 2 feet!  They are learning about animals in their classrooms, so I'm supporting their classroom instruction with animal research in the library.  Last week, I taught a mini-lesson about using non-fiction books to find information.  I pulled about 30 non-fiction books with lower reading levels. I also created a book for the students to use to record their facts.  Each page has a sentence starter and a space for a picture.  I was still nervous as I was introducing the lesson with my first class of the week, but it went GREAT!  I can't believe how excited and engaged everyone was with this lesson.  As I stepped back and watched the students, I started looking around for the candid cameras.  They were using keywords (live, eat, etc..) to find information for their books.  Their pictures are absolutely adorable!!

QR Codes

I've unintentionally made this QR code week in our library.  Good thing all students love them!!  As I was planning lessons for the week, I found myself adding QR codes to several of my lessons and center choices.  I've always loved using QR codes and it's fun to find new ways to use them with students. 

I have a reading center set up with ipads and QR codes that I found on TPT.  Lawren Christianson has created some great QR code sheets.  She has a bundle of 248 stories for a whole year or has monthly themed sets sold separately.  I've just bought the March set for now.  My Kindergarten and 1st grade students have been having fun with this center.  Many Kindergarteners are even beginning to use the QR code reader app independently. 

The 3rd graders are learning about Ancient Civilizations in their classrooms, so I decided to support their instruction with some research.  I found some websites for students that contain information about Ancient Greece written for a younger audience.  Which, by the way, were not as easy to find as I anticipated. I wrote the questions this time, since my focus was to have students use the website as a vehicle for scanning and finding information within a long piece of informational text. I'm really working on teaching them to use key words and tabs to find what they are looking for so my QR codes took them to a page that the students would have to further navigate using the tabs. Fingers crossed that they will enjoy this activity and be able to find answers more independently. 

Still loving the library! I have the best job!