Intro to the Outsiders and MakerSpace

I am finally starting to get settled into my new position and new library. It was more difficult than I thought, moving in the middle of the semester like I did. It made me realize how important that week of staff development is! I still have a lot to organize and changes I want to make, but I keep reminding myself -- "One Step At A Time!"

Introduction lesson for THE OUTSIDERS 

Our 7th grade Enriched Honors and Pre-AP English classes read THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton. I have been collaborating with the 7th grade English teachers to help with the unit. For an introduction, we discussed 'cliques' and what they look like. Students talked about what cliques are on our campus, and what cliques they felt they were part of. Then, the teacher stirred things up, and put them into random groups. Their task was to decide something they all had in common and form a clique. The groups had to give their clique a name, then create a poster that represented their cliques. 

This assignment helped them to understand the two social groups in THE OUTSIDERS, and how even though they were very different, they had similarities. The students really had to think out of the box to come up with their cliques. My favorite was the song that many of them came up with to represent their groups. 

Maker Monday

For the month of December, our Maker Monday was creating ornaments out of weeded book pages. I placed materials and instructions on the tables, and students came in to create the ornaments. I had several staff members join us as well. I will definitely plan on doing this MakerSpace every year. It was a hit.

Students and staff are all enjoying looking at the final products on our StoryBook tree, and many are asking for directions so they can make it them at home. 

Just 3 more days, then we have WINTER BREAK!! I am ready to lay on my couch and read ALL THE BOOKS! 

My Move to Middle School

After 20 years in elementary school as a classroom teacher and then a school librarian, I have made the move up to middle school. The elementary school I have been at the past 5 years feeds into Austin Academy, which is also a magnet school. The librarian there, during the week of PD before school startedd, was offered the position as a technology coach at a high school. The principal there offered me the position, and while I was reluctant to leave my littles I knew that this opportunity would not come along again for a while. Sometimes, you have to take an opportunity when it presents yourself. There is a reason for everything, in my belief. 

The official move happened 5 weeks into school, so I had already started the school year out at Hillside, the elementary school. It was a bit stressful starting out at one school, then moving to another. My last day at Hillside was very emotional and filled with lots of hugs from the students. However, I know they will love their new librarian, who has just made the move back to Texas. (Another reason I knew that this move was happening for a reason.)

My first middle school displays

The first week there, I wanted to get some displays up quickly, since the students had not had a librarian there for 6 weeks. I needed to let them know I was there and ready to talk books and make recommendations. 

My first bulletin board, that will probably stay up all year, was the BOOKFLIX board. I found this idea on pinterest, and knew it would be a hit with the students. I plan on changing out the book recommendations each month to keep it current. It has been so fun these past two weeks watching the students be drawn to this display in the hallways! So far, this has been a HIT! 

I also placed a sign outside the library door that shows what I am currently reading. It has so far sparked a few conversations with students, and I can't wait to have more as I change the book. 

Banned Book Week is always a week to start great conversations with the kids about our freedom to read. I usually did this with my fifth graders in the past, but this year, was able to go deeper in the conversations with the middle school students. Students were shocked that some of their favorites were on this list. We had some great conversations about our perspectives on different topics, and how just because you feel a certain way doesn't mean everyone else does. I was impressed at how considerate they were of each other during the conversation. We also talked about the fact that it is ok to abandon a book if the topic in the book is making you uncomfortable. 

Library Decorations

I have always enjoyed decorating my space, and I believe that decorations make a place more comforting. I chose to do the library theme in Harry Potter this school year, and lots of students are loving it! I get lots of compliments.  

I plan on adding more over the year, but for now this is what I've got. I also, last week, decorated for fall with some leaves and pumpkins. I had someone tell me it might be too childish, but the students, teachers, and principal have all loved it so far. People see the decorations through the windows and come in to tell me how comforting it is. 

The first activities

Starting 5 weeks into school made it a little more difficult, so for my first lessons I wanted the students to get to know me, but also for them to have a voice. I placed posters around the room with questions the students were given a chance to answer. They loved having the opportunity to voice their opinions. As I read through all their responses, I am planning out programs I want to do this year with them. 

I started running low on post-it notes, so for the 7th grade classes I created a padlet for them to respond to. 

I admit, I do miss my littles sometimes, but I am enjoying getting to know the middle school students. I have had a few "are you crazy" looks when I tell people I moved up, and maybe I am. :) But I love the quirkiness so far in these kids! I think I am going to love it at Austin Academy! 

Dot Day Fun

Dot Day

One of my favorite weeks of the year is when I get to collaborate with our art teacher for DOT DAY. She brings the students into the library during their art time, and we co-teach the lessons. We like to start off the class with a discussion about where we can find art in the library. Then, especially with kinder students, we talk about what an illustrator does. Since Peter Reynolds is both the author and the illustrator, we don't get into collaboration between the two a lot this week, but later in the year we like to do lessons where we discuss how the author and illustrator collaborate on the story. 

I read the book, THE DOT by Peter Reynolds, to the students. We talk about the lesson from the story, then go to dot stations. 

Start with a dot, then see what you can make. 

Her dot, turned into a strawberry seed. 

Collaborative Dot -- students each received 1/4 of a dot, decorated it,
then got in teams and put the puzzle together to create a dot. 

At this station, students used Buncee.com to create a dot masterpiece. 

At another station, students were given a hand lense and sent on a mission.
They were dot-tectives. 

ISH

Since I saw students during their art time, for some of the students I saw them twice this week. The second time I saw the students, I read the book ISH by Peter Reynolds. We weren't for sure, but the students and I decided that this was the boy at the end of THE DOT that Vashti helps out. 

After reading the story, students made their own -ISH drawings. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

This sweet girl was so excited to find all the PUPPY PLACE books. 

Engineers and Literacy in Art

1st Grade Engineers

This past week, I read THE LITTLE RED FORT by Brenda Maier to the kindergarten classes.

While reading the book, we made a text-to-text connection, then compared this story to THE LITTLE RED HEN. After reading the story, students went to tables with various materials and were given the tasks to build a fort. 

Who knew forts could have wheels. This little one told me his fort would be mobile. 

This sweet face! She is having so much fun. 

Literacy in Art

If your art teacher is amazing like the art teacher I get to collaborate with every day, then give them this idea!! Our art teacher decided this year to make a display of some of her favorite books from the library, all having to do with art. The students can pull the card of a book they would like to have and bring it to the library. We help them find it, they check it out. When they return the book, we return the book to the art room to be displayed again. 

School is Back in Session

This is a late post, as we have been in school for 3 weeks already. I recently was thrown a curveball, and found out that I will be moving up to the middle school that my elementary school feeds into. This was an unexpected opportunity, but an opportunity that I could not turn down. I will be here at the elementary school for 2 more weeks, then I move over to Austin Academy. I am very excited about this new journey.

Back to School Bulletin Boards

I love looking at ideas on Pinterest for bulletin boards at the beginning of the year! The kids love looking at the bulletin boards through the year as well. 

I really like this last year's favorite bulletin board. I found the idea on pinterest over the summer. I looked up the books with the most checkouts and holds from last year, and put them on the bulletin board. The bookmojis are from Buncee. 

The school theme for this year is "Super Learners are Super Leaders", so we did a superhero theme on our other bulletin board. I took grade level team pictures, then asked teachers their favorite books. Do you spot my Tieks? That was my aide's idea, she is brilliant! 

Library Orientation 

The first couple weeks, we focused on library procedures and taking care of our books. The older grade levels played a Kahoot game to review the procedures. They had a ton of fun with this game! 

The younger grades went over taking care of our library books and being responsible. After reading MR. WIGGLES BOOK by Paula M. Craig, the students drew pictures of themselves taking care of their library book. 

Making Connections with Kindergarten

I absolutely cherish my time with kindergarten! They are so eager to learn, read, write, and be at school. We recently started an author study over Mo Willems with the kindergarten classes. In their classroom reading times, they were working on text-to-text and text-to-self connections. So, we worked it into the library time as well.

This week, we read KNUFFLE BUNNY by Mo Willems, and I had the students make a text-to-self connections. We compared Trixie at the beginning of the story, not being able to tell dad what was wrong, to the end of the story when she finally speaks words that are understandable.

Students made connections by thinking of something they could not do when they were as young as Trixie, but that they can do now that they are 'big' kindergartners.

Could not talk, but now can talk

I could not walk, now I can walk. 

Could not walk, but now I can READ! YAY! 

I had enough books written by Mo Willems, that most of the students were able to check one out. They are having a great time finding the pigeon, Piggy, and Elephant in the other books. We are also comparing the books and how Mo Willems uses speech bubbles in his books. 

4th Grade Theme and Main Idea

The past few weeks have been lots of collaboration with the 4th grade ELA teachers. Our latest co-teaching endeavor has been over main idea and theme. We started with main idea, reviewing how to find the main idea of a selection.

At each table, I placed a short passage that had the title cut off. Students were given post-it notes and were asked to write the main idea in a sentence, and to give the passage a title. When the time limit was up, they covered their answers and moved to the next table. At the next table, they did the same with another passage.

On the last rotation, students then uncovered all the other answers and chose what they thought was the best written main idea.  It helped them to see that the main idea is not copied straight from the passage, but is in your own words.

The next week, we read SNEETCHES AND OTHER STORIES, by Dr. Seuss, which is a great book for comparing themes. I read the first story, SNEETCHES, to the whole group. We came up with a theme all together, then found the text evidence. At their table groups, students made a chart with each story, the theme, and the text evidence. They had the other stories from the book at their tables. This collaborative lesson took two days of 4th grade coming in. This is one reason why it is so important to be on a flexible schedule if you are collaborating with the teachers. 

On the second day, after groups found the theme of each story, students had to compare the themes of all 4 stories. This led to a discussion of the events that were happening during the time period that this book was published. We had some very thoughtful discussions.