Learning, Connecting, Growing

This past week, I had a few opportunities to learn and share with other educators. From blogging to Twitter to faculty book club meeting to attending my first Edcamp, it was definitely a FULL week!

On Tuesday, I worked with teachers and librarians on blogging. Each person was at a different place, some had an active blog but just wanted to add some WOW to it, while others had not yet begun to blog.

I went with Blogger, since that is the one I am most familiar with and helped teachers set up a Google account and then create  and "decorate" their blog. Sometimes, especially with elementary teachers, we can't even begin until we are pleased with the look! :)

 In addition to teachers & librarians, our diagnostician came to the session, wanting help not only with blogging, but also finding relevant blogs to follow.  By searching topics and people, we were able to find blogs that would be beneficial.  Some decided to add these to their blog page under "My Blog List" so that it was easy to follow. 

There was a really good discussion about "audiences" for our blog and who we are targeting.  We all agreed that our hope is that our school families are reading them, acknowledging though that more often it is other teachers & librarians.  Everyone brainstormed ways to draw in our school families, and decided one way is to make sure there is more coverage of daily events with pictures!  :)



The best part of the day was the informal sharing that happened as we all moved forward with our blogging skills!  I love how Mrs. Abdur-Razzaaq added video of her new genre-fied fiction section to her Crockett Elementary Library blog!  

It was fun working with each other to create informative blogs for our students & families!


On Wednesday, I met with a few teachers to help them create Personal Learning Networks (PLN)on Twitter.  Again, we started where each person was, some without a Twitter account, some with "eggs" as profile pictures, and others with wanting to find people to follow. 

I am passionate about sharing the benefits of establishing a PLN with colleagues and was excited about the opportunity to "hook" a few new people!  :)  We discussed the difference between using Facebook and Twitter, separating your personal and professional Twitter accounts, and connecting with people who will inspire and energize you! The professional learning opportunities that come up from following people on Twitter are fabulous!  The weekly chats are plentiful!  Just look at this Tweet for Jerry Blumengarten, who is an incredible asset to any PLN:

Weekly Twitter Educational Chat Schedule http://t.co/lsnhn5kNM9 Every day you can learn and share with a global audience.
— Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1) July 29, 2013

Webinars are often shared on Twitter, as well as conferences.  And then there is the daily interaction between people who create, collaborate and share!  This is the best place to personalize your professional learning!  (see, I told you I was passionate about this!  ;) )

When everyone left, they had their account set up, people to follow, and had posted at least one tweet!  Woohoo! 
 
Most of the people working on Twitter are also members of our faculty book club, which happened to be meeting right after.  Each month we choose a book to read and then meet to discuss it. Now that more of us are on Twitter, we are also using #curtisbookclub when talking about our books.  We read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn for this month's book and the discussion was LIVELY to say the least! (This is NOT a children's book, definitely for "mature audiences.")  The delicious treats at Cup and Cake in downtown Weatherford made the discussion even better!

Our next selection is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and we will meet in a few weeks for this discussion.  This is another adult book, but as I have recently been reminded, teachers need to be READERS to teach READERS!  :)  We will work in children's books during the school year, but for the end of summer, this seems good!  I'm taking it with me on my end of summer trip next week. 

 

 

Edcamp Fort Worth was so awesome, it deserves its own post! More to come!

 

Happy Reading AND Happy Learning!



Summer Throwdown (Attacking my TBR Stack!)

I am enjoying participating with other readers in the Summer Throwdown , which in the past has been a friendly competition between teachers and librarians to see who could read the most books. This year, readers are just competing against their own TBR (To Be Read) stack, which mine stays miles high!  This competition was started by some teachers & librarians I follow, or have started following, on Twitter (Jillian @heisereads, Brian, @brianwyzlic, Sherry @LibraryFanatic, and Kathy @thebrainlair).  Over 100 other teachers and librarians are participating in the contest, and hopefully the TBR stacks are shrinking!  :)

Today, I am beginning my 13th Texas Bluebonnet nominee for this year.  The book is called Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood. The book is set in Mississippi in 1964 and deals with the racial tension during that time period.  Glory Be, just days before her 12th birthday, is worried about the threat of the community pool being closed during the heat of the summer due to "outside agitators" trying to make it possible for ALL in the community to swim.  I've just started, but will share more about the book when I finish!

I set my goal at 20 books, and you can see to the left what books I have read so far.  At the halfway point, I am well on my way (18 books so far!) and anticipate updating my goal to 30 books! 

What are you reading on this rare, rainy cool JULY day in Texas?? It is a PERFECT day to curl up with a book!

A Delicious Story

A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A TANGLE OF KNOTS is a fantastically woven tale of Cady, an orphan, and how her life intertwines with a host of other characters. Each character has a Talent, or is Fair (without an identified Talent.) Cady's talent is baking the perfect cake for each person, a talent she usually uses for Adoption Day parties or baking contests. Unfortunately, Miss Mallory, who has a Talent for matching children to families, has yet to find the perfect family for Cady, until Toby enters the picture. Each character seems to hold secrets that help to add an air of mystery to the book. And as you go along, you wonder how the knots will untangle and the puzzle will fall perfectly into place. This would be a wonderful read aloud for elementary age students!
To add to this fabulous story, each person has a cake and recipe designated for them. You can find the author, Lisa Graff sharing the recipe for Miss Mallory's Peach Cake here http://www.lisagraff.com/peach-cake-r... .

View all my reviews

What am I reading about today? Babe & Pluto

Becoming Babe Ruth by Matt Tavares
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

#Bookaday As a 7 year-old, George Ruth skips school and steals money from a nearby saloon. His parents are out of patience with him and take George to Saint Mary's Industrial School for Boys. While there, George discovers baseball, and so begins the life of Babe Ruth. The story of Babe Ruth is accompanied by colorful illustrations that perfectly capture the time and personality of Babe. This will be an enjoyable read for baseball fans of all ages. In addition, the messages in the story, about hard work, having good mentors, and remembering the people who helped you along the way, will provide opportunities for great conversation.

Pluto's Secret: An Icy World's Tale of Discovery by Margaret Weitekamp
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whimsical illustrations and background information about the discovery and naming of Pluto make this a great addition to a solar system collection. An explanation as to why Pluto was removed from the list of planets helps readers grasp the definition of a planet. The authors help young readers by providing definitions and pronunciations of unfamiliar terms, as well as adding actual photographs, a glossary, and "Who's Who" at the back of the book.

View all my reviews

Summer Reading Opportunities

We had our 2nd Summer Library Checkout time today and, although it got off to a slow, hot start, it was another success!  Again, almost 40 people came to the library today along with three teachers, two administrators, and an additional librarian! Students and families used the iPads, computers, microscopes, and read books.  Bookmarks were created and puzzles completed.  On top of all that, students walked out the door with BOOKS!  It was another fun morning, and I can't wait until July 9th for our next summer library time! 




Brothers bonding over books.

Not only does it give the kiddos something to do, the
adults like the chance to visit!



Reagan shared with me how she finds great books to

read by looking at reviews by her favorite reviewer on

YouTube. Guess who will be using our new Media Makerspace

and reviewing books for Curtis students!

 

 

Another way students are showing their love of reading is by logging pages and hours read on Biblionasium.  So far, students have logged in 8 hours 49 minutes of reading and 512 pages! Readers can earn BookFair Bucks by participating in summer reading programs such as this or the Weatherford Public Library's summer reading program. 





One of the challenges I have set for our 3rd-6th grade students is to read the Texas Bluebonnet Nominees.  There are 20 books that are nominated, and students who read at least 5 books are able to vote on their favorite.  The actual winner is chosen by students who cast their votes!  Here is a link to the books:

Texas Bluebonnet Nominees

I have read ten of them, and am starting Freaky Fast Frankie Joe by Lutricia Clifton this evening.  I have hear that it is a book that will catch you and keep you reading!  Sounds like a perfect summer evening book!

 

 

Happy Reading! Here's hoping you find the perfect book for you!

 

 

Reading the Texas Bluebonnet Nominees

Jangles: A Big Fish Story by David Shannon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A dad shares a whale of a tale with his son about Jangles, the fish that always got away, until... Told with vibrant illustrations, this story by David Shannon is sure to delight young fishermen, as well as the adults who share this story with them. The humor in the story made me smile as I read lines such as, "Supposedly he gave the baby's momma a dirty look as if to say, What are you doing bringing your precious little baby out here in a tippy old canoe?!"

Be sure to find this book at the library and record it on your Texas Bluebonnet log! View all my reviews

Curtis LMC Summer Checkout

We had such a good time today at our first Summer Library Check-Out!! There were almost 40 kiddos, parents & teachers! It made my heart happy to have summer visitors in the library! Enjoy a view into our morning! 

Click below for more pictures of our day!

Curtis summer book check out

Where did the time go?

I can't believe we are almost at the end of this school year!  AND I can't believe it has been over a month since I have posted anything!  Lots of things have distracted me (testing, purchasing for this year, planning & budgeting for next year, and my oldest daughter's college graduation) but we have still been very busy in the Curtis Library Media Center!  Here is a re-cap of our fun:

At the end of April, we celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day by reading poetry via Skype with students in Stephenville with their librarian, Lura Manley.  The students took turns sharing poems for two voices.  

Mrs. Pitman and her 5th grade students provided an opportunity to work together on a Glogster project. The students were creating presentations on inventors and were looking for a new tool.  It is wonderful to see how quickly students can learn a new tool and then teach their peers!  The students enjoyed using Glogster once they figured out all of the little tricks! Mrs. Pitman's students were then ready to work with 3rd graders who wanted to try their hand at using Glogster!

One of the things I am most excited about for next year is having more technology in the library for students to produce projects.  Thanks to book fair sales, I was able to purchase 10 iPads for students to use.  In addition, we will be adding laptops, so there should be enough devices for students to create products during their time in the library media center! 


And then May arrived!  With the end of school fast approaching, I knew I wanted to impress upon students the importance (and fun) of reading during the summer!  We had a wonderful puppet group who read Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don't!) by Barbara Bottner to the kinder students and  presented a puppet show about finding the right book.  They were GREAT and the students loved it!


Mrs. Gwendolyn, the Youth Services librarian at Weatherford Public Library also came to share all of the great things that will be going on at the public library this summer!  Their summer program has something for EVERYONE!! Mrs. Gwendolyn met with each grade level, talked about the activities and read to them!  The children are very excited about the events that will take place this summer!





Every "end of school" post needs a graduation photo, don't you think?  Here is a picture of me with my two daughters!

Happy Reading!

Third Graders "Hangout" with Zoo Atlanta

We had our first Google Hangout in May and it was an incredible experience!  A third grade teacher, Mrs. Crowley, came into the library one day wanting to arrange a Skype with her students before the end of the year.  They were just finishing the Newbery winner, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate so I thought we might try to Skype with the Atlanta Zoo, where the real Ivan lived for part of his life.  Unfortunately, Zoo Atlanta said that they were not doing Skypes at this time, but would let us know if something changed.  Well, a couple of weeks later, I received an email that invited our students to a Google Hangout. Hmmm, I had heard of a Google Hangout, but had never done one, so I quickly started looking for people to "hangout" with!  :)  

I went to the Zoo Atlanta YouTube channel and saw how cool it was!  I couldn't wait for our students to have this experience!  Not only would they be talking to people at the zoo, but they would also see and hear classes from other parts of the country.  The students prepared questions and we submitted those to the zoo officials before the hangout began.  Mrs. Crowley's and Mrs. Vestal's third graders came to the library and anxiously waited for our "hangout" to begin.  After introductions were made, students were able to hear from Ivan's caretaker at the zoo.  

The students listened intently to Carvel, the education instructor with Zoo Atlanta, as well as Jodi Carrigan, who took care of Ivan for the past 10 years.  It was fascinating to hear about the "real" Ivan and what his life was like at the zoo.  

We even got to see one of his paintings!

Here is the entire Hangout where you can see some of our Curtis students ask questions! Our students are in the sixth tile at the bottom.  :) In addition to the classes that were shown, many other classes across the country watched the live feed of the hangout!  We can't wait to try this again!

Reading & Weeding

Thanks to Matthew Winner and this month's Shelf Challenge, I am reading and weeding! Unfortunately, my blogging is falling behind!  I do suffer from self-diagnosed ADD, which is why, while I have tried to work on my blog, I have also backed up my phone, looked for graduation announcements for my daughter, checked email, etc!   :) So, although I am suppose to be reading the books on my "N" shelf of the Everybody section, I somehow weeded approximately 50 books in the Fiction section!  Anyway, here are some finds from the Everybody section:

Book #7

I found Tuff Fluff: The Case of Duckie's Missing Brain by Scott Nash to be a picture book that would definitely appeal to the older crowd!  There a a lot of words on the page and the vocabulary is more advanced. Tuff Fluff is a detective living in a stuffed animal world. He is trying to help Duckie find his missing brain. In the story, there is a distinction between the stuffed and the bean bag animals, so they go to Beantown for clues. It is a fun book and could be used when teaching descriptive writing. It has only been checked out once in the past 3 years. I am now wondering if a lot of these books aren't finding their way into the hands of readers because the "N" shelf is on the bottom.  I created a "Books from the Bottom Shelf" display recently to try to circulate some of the treasures students aren't stooping for!  ;)  I think I will encourage students to find a book from the bottom shelf this week and see what they find! 

Book #9

One thing I have enjoyed is finding books and immediately passing them on to a teacher to use in their classroom!  King of the Playground by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor was passed on to our Counselor, Ms. Fuller!  She has made bullying her focus this year, and although this was an older book it is still a great one to use during her lessons!  I could see teachers pairing this with The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill. 

And then I came to Cindy Neuschwander's math picture books. These are great to introduce and reinforce math concepts! Marilyn Burns has created math activites to accompany some of these books. The three I read focused on multiplication, capacity and patterns. I will take these to classrooms for teachers to use with last minute reviews for STAAR testing! 

Books 15, 16, & 17

Books #21 & 22

It has been a great week of reading, and I am definitely feeling good about the books I am weeding!  I can't wait to see how much better the shelves look at the end of the month!  Here are a couple that are being retired! 

Day 6- I Have a Friend

Unfortunately, it does not look like this book has a friend as it has never been checked out, or at least not under our current system.  I Have a Friend is by Keiko Narahashi and was published in 1987. It is in very good condition, maybe due to lack of check-outs. :/  The friend in the story is the little boy's shadow, and he describes the happenings of the day with his shadow.  One line that I liked was, "He is yesterday's night left behind for the day."

It is a very quick read, with vibrant illustrations.  Another one for me to try with my kinders tomorrow to get their opinion.  

Almost caught up! Happy Reading/Weeding!  

Shelf Challenge Days 3, 4 & 5

Ok, I am covering multiple days in one post since I am several days behind.  :)  

Day 3 found Little Bear written by Diane Namm and illustrated by Lisa McCue. This book was published in 1989 and, although it may have been checked out at some point, there is no check out history showing.  In the story, Mama Bear is trying to convince Little Bear to eat.  During a trip to the grocery store, she asks him if he wants peas, cheese, and other items that rhyme with each other.  Little Bear will have nothing to do with these foods.  

I'm going to read this with my kinder friends on Monday and see what they think. I will let them decide if we should keep it or not.  :)

Day 4 brought Ready to Dream by Donna Jo Napoli and her daughter, Elena Furrow.  Ally and her mom are in Australia for the summer.  Ally is a budding artist who meets Pauline, a local artist.  Throughout the story Pauline guides Ally to appreciate art found in nature.  The illustrations in this book are by Bronwyn Bancroft, an Aboriginal artist.  The illustrations definitely make this book!  This would be a great book to share with our art teacher!  I'll hand this off to her on Monday!

Day 5 happens to bring another book by Donna Jo Napoli called The Wishing Club. This is a great book to use for a math lesson on fractions! Four siblings spend their evenings wishing upon a star.  Each day they get just a fraction of what they wished for.  Samantha decides they are wishing wrong, but then figures out the pattern to what they are getting.  The children combine their wishes and hope they will get a whole pet!  I will share this with 2nd & 3rd grade teachers to see if they can use it when teaching fractions.  :)

So, two out of three of the books look like ones that should circulate now that I've "found" them!  Can't wait to see what other treasures are on the "N" shelf!

Shelf Challenge for School Library Month

April is a GREAT month!  It is a month to celebrate School Libraries!  This year, for School Library Month, I joined Matthew Winner (read about his finds here) and several other librarians, in a Shelf Challenge.  I am to read every book on the "N" shelf in my Everybody section.  I am a few days behind in my post since this week we have been testing, but so far, here is what I found!  :)

I was surprised when I realized how few picture books I have on the "N" shelf!  If I can get going, maybe I can also read the "O" shelf!  :)

Day 1 The first book on the shelf is The Lunch Line by Karen Nagel. Kim forgets her lunch at home and must decide what she can buy for lunch for her dollar.  The math activities were designed by Marilyn Burns.  It has only been checked out by a couple of teachers in the past four years.  The book is about 17 years old, and I'm thinking maybe we need to go ahead and weed it. ;)

Day 2 The second book on the shelf is Who Made This Cake? by Chihiro Nakagawa and Illustrated by Junji Koyose.  A birthday cake is being made for a little boy by his toys. The book has recently been checked out by one of our kinder students and was adopted as a "Birthday Book" in 2009, when it arrived in our library.  It is a cute book!

  
More to come!

Happy Reading!

Library Centers

With encouragement and help from my fabulous fellow librarians, my Twitter PLN, and Cari Young's Library Centers blog, I set up library centers this past week and couldn't be happier!  Several of the other librarians in our district had started using centers recently and then the Twitter chat #TLElem was all about library centers this past week!  It seemed like NOW was the time to jump in so I am starting out with a few, and using them for just two weeks.  Due to our schedule, classes come to library for lessons every two weeks, so this way, everyone will have a turn.  

This is what we started with this week:

The Puzzle Table- a definite hit with students of all grade levels!  I'll change this out as the puzzle is completed. 

An ocean themed puzzle paired with ocean related books

The Pop-Up Book Center- FINALLY I have a way to share the pop-up books with students!  Even the books that come with the extra inserts, like this year's Texas Bluebonnet winner Postcards From Camp, are perfect for this table.

The Bookmark Center- students have card stock, markers, crayons, etc to create their own bookmarks.  For the younger students, there our bookmarks to color. Stickers would make a great addition to this center.


The Research Center- here, students are given the opportunity to research a topic of their choice using databases and resources provided by the library. Bubble maps are at the station so that students can document their learning.  Students enjoyed using TrueFlix while here, as well as WebPath Express.  The hardest part seemed to be narrowing the topic, which would make a great library lesson in the near future!  

The Almanac Center- I found a set of almanacs with a question of the day flip chart in the media closet.  The almanacs are a bit outdated, but the students are still enjoying them.  I also added a 2013 almanac to the table for the students to compare.  There are activities to go with the almanacs but the students enjoyed just looking through it on their own for the first time.  I even had a teacher come through and learn a couple of new things!  :)

The Book Review Center- This is something I have done in the past and it fit perfectly into the library centers.  Students will create a speech bubble with the title, author and a short summary of a book they have recently enjoyed.  These will be displayed in the library windows for other students to use when searching for a good book to read.

Leisure Reading Area- The LRA is always an option for students because sometimes you just want to read the book you just checked out!  It was surprising that with all of the new centers, several students in each class wanted to READ.  Love it!  

After one of these girls finished her book, she passed it to her friend and went on to the next one!  

Depending on the grade level, small adjustments had to be made during the week.  When 1st grade came in and enjoyed A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long, they had the option of going to a table with butterfly books as one of the centers.  Students used the books to draw and write about butterflies.

As one of the other librarians said, centers won't replace reading books with the students, but it is a nice addition to our library program!  Now for some fine-tuning for week 2 of the library centers!  Any other center ideas??