Hour of Code Week

My first love is BOOKS and READING, but my second is technology, coding, and computer science. I always have a blast teaching students the aspects of coding and watching them problem solve. 

This year, I decided to focus on robots for Hour of Code week, so every grade level had a challenge using the Ozobots. 

5th Grade

5th grade had my favorite challenge of the week! We use ozoblockly.com to program our Ozobots. If you have Ozobot robots and have never used Ozoblockly, you should really check it out! Each group was given an Ozobot, and logged into the website. Using the program, students were given the challenge to choreograph a dance for their Ozobot to dance to Feliz Navidad. 

They had a blast, and there was a lot of collaboration and problem solving going on. The students learned that the Ozobot would not blink colors and move at the same time, so they had to create loops within their program. Lots of learning going on this day! 

4th Grade 

With the fourth graders, I integrated Geography into our coding lesson. Each student recieved a map of the world, then students labeled the continents. It was a great review of the 7 continents. They drew their code to have OzoClause 😊 to visit all the countries. We added some flying tricks in as well. 

2nd and 3rd Grade

For the second and third grade class, we had a Grinch challenge. Students had to fill in the codes for Ozobot, or OzoClause to visit the houses and avoid the Grinch. We also had to be sure to code the robot to stop for milk and cookies. 

Kinder and 1st Grades

This is the first time the kinders used the Ozobot, so we did simply line codes. They had so much fun making their Ozobot move from one end to the other. Then we made the Ozobot go slow, then fast. The giggles in the room were contagious!

Most of the first graders had used the Ozobots the previous year, so we had a more complex activity. First graders had to use turn left or turn right codes to get the robot to the dog. We had fun, made some mistakes, and learned together. 

The Hour of Code is always one of my favorite weeks, even though the students on my campus code most the year. This week is a fun week where I get to see everyone in the library and learn coding.

STAAR Review Stations Part 2

STAAR testing is finally over for our building. Three straight days of administering the test has made me go brain dead.  I have one of those brains that is hard to turn off, so monitoring a quiet room where I cannot talk is really hard on me. 

You may have read my post on the 5th grade STAAR review stations back in April. Our 5th graders have to take the test earlier in the year. 4th grade and 3rd grade teachers heard about the stations, and wanted me to set it up for them as well. The ELA teachers and I looked at data to determine what skills the students needed to review to prepare for the test, then we scheduled days for the students to come. We decided that 2 days would be best. Perks of a flexible schedule! 

Main Idea vs Theme sorting station 

Making Inferences Station

Summarizing Nonfiction 

Text structure sorting station

At this station, students had paired passages. A poem and a nonfiction
text.  They then had to roll 2 number cubes, add up the number, then
answer the question corresponding with that number. 

Types of Context Clue sort

The students really enjoyed the stations. A few students even mentioned that they were a fun way to review.

The best thing about these stations is that once I had them set up in the library, the teachers were able to bring the students through to complete them. I kept them set up in the library, no moving stations around to different classrooms.

Stations and Google Hangouts

Someone once told me that a flexible schedule wouldn't work on their campus because they wouldn't be busy enough. Their principal wanted to see them busy, so a flexible schedule would not work.  

Well, let me tell you, a flexible schedule does not mean not busy! I am busier now than I was when I started at this campus and we were on a fixed schedule. Our library stays very busy with all sorts of activities. And I love every busy moment!

Figurative Language Stations

The third grade teacher approached me last week and asked about doing an activity in the library with figurative language. They had been learning it in class, but needed some extra practice. So, she taught the skill and reviewed in the classroom, and I set up stations for the students in the library.

Each station focused on a certain type of figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, and onomatopoeia. At each station I placed a photograph with examples of figurative language. Students were tasked with matching the figurative lanugage with the photograph, then writing their own. For example, at the hyperbole station, they had to locate the sentence that contained a hyperbole describing the photograph.

Each station also contained a paragraph that students read and located the types of figurative language. There was a lot of great conversation at the stations. I especially loved that some of the students felt safe enough at the end to ask the teacher and me to go over some of the stations again. 

Two of the stations were a little different than the rest. At the Onomotopeia station, students had book to look through and find examples. Then, they added to a graffiti poster examples of onomotopeias with pictures. Someone drew a stormtrooper with the words "pew pew" beside it. It was greatness!! 

I added a station for comparing similes and metaphors. At this station, students had to look at sentences and really analyze them by telling what two things were being compared, if it was a simile or metaphor, and why. 

Guest Meteorologist

One of our fourth grade teachers connected with a meteorologist, Tim Brice, in El Paso that works with NOAA. The fourth grade classes had just completed their unit on Weather Changes. All fourth grade classes came to the library to listen to the meteorologist speak. He showed them types of weather maps, satellite images, and their workstations. My favorite image he showed us was a slow motion video of lightning. I never realized lightning was so beautiful! 

After his presentation, students were able to ask questions. It was an amazing experience to be able to connect and interact with another professional through Google Hangouts. 

Bluebonnet Club and A Little Book Tasting

#ReadYourWorld

One of my favorite things to set up is a book tasting in the library. One of the third grade teachers approached me last week to discuss a unit in Social Studies over different cultures. She asked if we could do a book tasting. I was so excited!! So, of course I said YES!! 

I had a table for each of the following types of books: nonfiction, biography, traditional literature, picture books, and chapter books. All of the books were about a different culture, or had a character from a different culture. The students had a sheet where they could record books they want to read later. 

Students look at biography books about people from
other countries, or another culture. 

This student looks through a biography about a female architect from the
same country her mom grew up in.

So many students wanted to check out the books, we decided to let the teacher check them all out and leave them in the classroom for a few weeks. 

Bluebonnet Club

Each year, books are chosen to be a part of the Texas Bluebonnet List. Students in grades 3rd - 5th at our school read at least 5 of the books in order to be a part of the Bluebonnet Club. In January, we meet as a group in the library to discuss the books and vote on our favorite book from the list. 

I bring the dessert and drinks, and the kids bring their lunch. It is a HUGE deal to get to eat their lunch in the library. The kids had lots of fun discussing and debating which of the 20 books were the best. 

Students conduct the voting online. 

This year, 24 third, fourth, and fifth graders took part in the club and were given a vote. The winner for our school was the book SOAR by Joan Bauer. This was one of my favorites, as well.

Bauer, Joan. SOAR. Viking, 2016.

I was very happy that coming closely in second were also two of my other favorites from the list: THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON by Kelly Barnhill and SOME KIND OF COURAGE by Dan Gemeinhart. You don't think my book talks had anything to do with this, do you?! 

            

Cyber Safety Smart

Our school district has a week every year where we discuss Cyber Safety with the students. I highly believe that this discussion should happen year round, not just during this designated week. This year, as every year in the past, I partnered up with the teachers to teach Cyber Safety to our amazing scholars. Yes, even with our kindergarten students! I am a firm believer that instead of blocking everything, schools should be teaching students to be responsible users of the internet.  Some things do need to be blocked, but instead of banning all devices and all website outside of the programs purchased by the district, we should instruct our students to properly use social media.

Kinder and 1st grades

YES! Even kinder needs to learn how to be safe on the web. We talk about "stranger danger" all the time, but shouldn't we be talking about strangers on our computers, tablets, and iPhones. OK, so most 5 and 6 year olds don't have a phone, but how many play games on the computer? Many games now days have a way to connect with another player in order to complete missions. Even our youngest students need to know that the person on the other side may not be how they say they are. 

With my younger students, we talked about Going Places Safely online, and I used a lesson from CommonSenseMedia. In this lesson students were able to:

• discover that the Internet can be used to visit far-away places and learn new things.
• compare how staying safe online is similar to staying safe in the real world.
• explain rules for traveling safely on the Internet.

If you have not looked through the lessons on Common Sense Education, you need to browse and find a lesson that fits your students.

2nd Grade

Second graders learned what is safe and not safe to share on the internet when chatting with others online. Many of our second graders mentioned that they play games online, such as Minecraft, Rodeblox, and Wizard 101, where they can chat with other players and complete missions with other players. 

Many children at this age don't really think about the dangers of the other player possibly not being another kid their age. So, we watched a fun video with Timon and Pumba about what information we can and cannot share with other players online. 

After the video, each group completed a sort of what is safe and what is unsafe to share online. 

3rd Grade

Third grade is the year that students really start using Google for Education and Google Classroom often. Students are able to communicate and collaborate, even from home, on assignments using Google. So, I felt it important to go over the power of words online and how it can affect us emotionally. Even as adults, I feel like we forget that an actual person with feelings is on the other side of the computer. 

I adapted my lesson from Common Sense Education called "Power of Words", but I did tweak it a little to fit the time I had with the class and to fit what the teacher and I felt was best for the students.

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4th Grade

Fourth grade had a higher level version of the lesson that I did with second grade. We discussed what is safe and unsafe to share online. A few 4th grade students are learning about social media and are starting to post things online. So, I let Professor Garfield talk with them about our digital footprints.

5th Grade

I was blown away when talking with the 5th graders at how much they do not understand about being safe online, but how much they are sharing online! When the teacher and I talked with them about conversations being deleted, they truly believed that if they deleted it, it was gone. They have a lot to learn! 

With 5th grade, we talked about the difference between Bullying and Cyberbullying. There were some great conversations going on in the groups. A few of them didn't take it seriously at first, but did at the end. This just confirms that these lessons need to go on all year long, not just during this designated week.

After we went over the lesson and watched the video, students got into groups and created a Venn Diagram comparing/contrasting Cyberbullying and Bullying. 

Poster Contest

Next week the posters will be judged and a school winner will be named!! I'm hoping for the district winner this year!! 

Everybody on the Move

 April flew by, and it is going to be May next week! That means summer is sneaking up on us. Who else is ready??!!

April was a busy month in the library, as it should be since it's School Library Month. Second graders came in for research using our online encyclopedia for their Texas Performance Standards Project (TPSP). Since we are an academy with GT and Academically Advanced students, we use the TPSP to differentiate for our GT students. This gives them an opportunity to go through the inquiry process and create a professional quality project or task.

Second grade students are tasked with exploring daily activities and their impacts on physical fitness, and use what they have found to create a physical fitness plan, an original game or sport, an invention that creates a new piece of physical fitness equipment, or a new mode of personal transportation that increases the user’s physical activity on a daily basis.

So where does the library and online encyclopedia come in for that? The students had to come up with the questions they needed to know in order to complete their task. I taught them how to use search words to find the answers to their questions. Students also had books available to them, and we discussed using the table of contents, as well as the index, to help us find the information quickly.

These 2nd graders are designing new equipment to be used by gymnasts.

Students search for figurative language in poetry
while the timer ticks in the background. 

The third grade teachers approached me and asked me to help them with figurative language. It was perfect timing, because I had just come across these super cute figurative language mini-posters I planned on using for National Poetry Month. The teachers and I decided we would make the activity stations where the students had to get up and move. They asked me to focus on 5 types of figurative language: metaphors, simile, personification, onomatopoeia, and hyperbole. The students were getting confused with metaphors and similes. 

The great thing about collaborating with the librarian, is we have the books and supplies all ready when you bring the class in, which saves you time! I had the mini-posters set up at the tables, and since we were short on time, I had poems marked in the books that had the specific figurative language the students would be looking for. The most fun part was the timer I put on the screen. When the timer, or rocket, went off, the students had to move to the next station. At each station they read the type, definition, and example, then start searching and recording what they found. It was lots of fun.

Sometimes, the library turns into a volunteer tea room. :) We had a lovely breakfast and tea for our wonderful volunteers! These parents and grandparents are amazing, and bring so much to our school. 

April was also School Librarian's Day, and I got so many hugs, treats,  and sweet cards from the amazing students! I am so blessed to work here! 

On another note, do you see those mismatched tables in the background? Well, soon I will have all matching chairs and tables!! I met with our furniture rep this past week, and together we picked out my furniture that should arrive within the month. This library is going to look amazing!!

Making Inferences with FREEDOM SUMMER

Wiles, Deborah. FREEDOM SUMMER. illustrated by Jerome
Lagarrigue. Aladdin. 2005. 

Last week, one of the 3rd grade teachers and I were discussing picture books dealing with Civil Rights, segregation,  and the Jim Crow Laws. I asked her what skill they needed more practice on, and when she said 'inferences', I immediately knew to get the book FREEDOM SUMMER by Deborah Wiles.

Flex Schedule is so funny, once one teacher comes to me with an idea, a lot of the teachers want in on the lesson too. So, I ended up teaching this lesson with all 3rd and 4th grade classes.

With 3rd grade, I started out reviewing inferences, and how we use the author's clues and our schema together to make an inference. The author does not always tell the reader everything, the reader has to dig deeper into the text to infer what is happening. This makes it more fun for the reader!! While reading the story, I stopped at certain parts of the story, and students told me their schema, then made an inference. While I read, the teacher filled out the anchor chart with the students' responses.

After reading the story, pairs took a Chromebook to a table, and opened up the padlet I created before class. Pairs discussed what they thought the theme of the story was using our inferences as a basis.

4th grade teachers wanted to focus more on theme, character change, and emotions. One of the 4th grade teachers came up with a note-taking sheet students filled out while I read the book. The plan was to have the students answer the questions making a video using the app, RECAP. However, it wasn't working that day, so students made their notes in preparation to make their video.

If you have not read FREEDOM SUMMER to your students, I highly recommend it! I read the book 8 times last week, and still teared up at the end each time. One class clapped at the end of the story, it was very moving, and it created GREAT conversation with the students. Especially our GT and academically advanced students that we have here.

All these lessons in the library made for a super busy week, but it was worth every busy minute!

Friday Wrap up, New Year, and SNOW!

We are already a week into the year 2017! We have only been back at school for 4 days, and the library has already circulated over 1,100 books. It makes me so happy to have such avid readers here. 

No time was wasted this week, and everyone dove right into working and researching. Third grade is learning about landforms, so the teacher and I collaborated on ways to make it more meaningful. She found a passport, and I provided the lesson on using Google Earth and our online World Atlas. Students were given the task to find information on different types of landforms, then to locate famous landforms using Google Earth and illustrate in their passport. 

The students and I had loads of fun searching for landforms using Google Earth. We looked at some of the volcanoes in Hawaii and mountain ranges in Europe. One group even viewed Death Valley! 

In kinder and first grade, we discussed the difference between fiction and nonfiction. I forgot to take pics, but we made a t-chart to show the difference. We learned that fiction is to entertain and nonfiction is to inform. I used the book TOYS MEET SNOW by Emily Jenkins as the fiction book and WHO LIKES THE SNOW by Etta Kaner as the nonfiction example. If you have not read TOYS MEET SNOW to your students, it is a must read and a must have for your elementary library! 

To wrap up the week, it SNOWED!! It is hard enough to concentrate on a Friday, but to add on snow! We don't see snow very often here in Texas, so the students were all abuzz with excitement this afternoon. 

Also, to wrap up the week, my manicure has lasted all week through numerous book repairs. I love these Jamberry nail wraps!!  

Holidays Around the World with 3rd Grade

WHAT?!?! Christmas is almost here!! What happened to the year? The library has been very busy the past 2 weeks with holiday madness! Students working hard to reach their reading goal, and lots of research for assignments.

The third grade teachers asked if we could work together on Holidays around the world. This is my absolute favorite time of year, and one of my favorite units I taught as a classroom teacher. SO, I was more than excited to work with the students on this project.

The students chose a particular country to research the traditions and customs for their Christmas holiday or Winter holiday. I pulled a series of nonfiction books for them to research first. We went over the research steps and they recalled that we had to organize our research. So, together we came up with an organizer and in groups they came up with questions they needed to answer in order to complete their project.

First they searched through the books and organized the new found information on their charts. After using the nonfiction books, students were allowed to search on websites. We use Santa.net and Northpole.com, both websites I reviewed before hand. I even had a student ask me if the information was reliable!! It makes me so happy when they listen to my lessons!!

The next day, the class came in to begin work on their project. Each group was given an option of their final product to showcase their country's traditions. Students could choose to create a poster, book, Google Slide show, Diorama, or a video. I was surprised that most groups chose differently.

This group decided to create a Google Slide presentation about Christmas traditions in Sweden. They are using the ChromeBooks we have in the library. 

These students are working on a book while using the iPad to find relevant information. 

This table is working on a poster.

I had another group create a diorama, but they weren't finished at the end of our time. They wouldn't let me take a picture since it wasn't finished, but I was AMAZED at their work. 

I can't wait to see what happens at the Hillside Library in 2017!