April Recap from the Library

 I know it's already May and I'm just doing a recap of April, but this year has been a little extra crazy! I have not been doing a great job at keeping up with my blog this year. 

Poetry 

We started the month with a poetry breakout. Our students here love ❤️ the Breakout boxes! They love the digital ones but they extra love getting to solve and open the physical boxes and locks. For this breakout, they worked in teams using clues with different types of poems, poetic devices, and figurative language. It was lots of fun and a good end of unit review for the 7th grade classes. 

Later in the month, some of the 7th grade classes came back to the library to create Blackout Poetry with discarded book pages. I was amazed at their creative creations!! 

Text Evidence

I was chatting with a 6th grade English teacher who brought up that her students needed some more practice with Text Evidence and writing SRQs for the STAAR test. I suggested we come up with a fun game or stations, and we ended up with a Scoot game where they went to different tables to read a short passage. They had to use the passage to answer questions and write an SRQ stating text evidence to answer questions. It was helpful to hold this scoot game in the library because there is more room to move around than in a middle school classroom. 

Historical Fiction

One of my favorite units that I get to collaborate with 8th grade teachers on is the historical fiction unit. It is one of my favorite genres, so it is really easy for me to book talk. We discuss what makes a book historical fiction, I do a few book talks, then students browse the tables where I have the books set out by time period. 

Every year I realize I need to purchase more books in other time periods besides holocaust. Do you every realize how many middle grade and YA historical fiction books are set in WW II and discuss the holocaust. I need some authors to write about some other time eras so I can up my collection. 

After choosing their book, students will read with historical lense, research the setting and time to determine if it is historically accurate, then present their findings. 

6th grade research 

Our school campus has recently been moving toward becoming an IB MYP school. Part of the requirement is to have a cross curricular unit in each grade level. Students have a summative assessment and must present their projects. The best part of IB is that the librarian is very involved! 

6th grade's unit has taken place all year long beginning with a grade level read and participating in the Global Read Aloud. 6th grade read the book THIRST which fit in perfectly with their unit over Water. Students were able to research the water crisis in Mumbai while reading the book. The second semester, English classes read the book LONG WALK TO WATER, which is set in another country, but again about water shortages. 

For the summative assessment, students must research a developing country, determine the challenge that country faces, and use the UN Sustainable Development Goals to find a solution. Students will create a video, comic strip, or poster to present their findings. 

I put together the directions, rubrics, and resources for them to use in a Wakelet. Each class came to the library for a review on how to use the resources and how to cite their sources. Students started their research with me and took Cornell Notes over their chosen developing country. 

Citations and Curation

The past two weeks have been fun, seeing all of 7th grade and all of 8th grade English classes. Collaborating with the teachers is a favorite part of my job! 

Digital Book Portfolios  

The eighth grade teachers asked me to help them come up with a place where the students can write about what they are reading this school year. So, we came up with digital book portfolios using a Google Site. 

The main goal when they visited the library was to set up the Google Site and learn how to write a good book review. The students spent about 10 miintues setting up their site, exploring the themes and fonts, and choosing background photos. They also spent a little time coming up with a title: some were simple titles and others were really creative. One student name her site Book-Tacular! 

Next, we learned what to include in a good book review. 

Coming up with creative titles for their book portfolio sites. 

Citations 

The 7th grade English teachers asked me to teach citations because they will be doing research this year. A requirement is MLA citation page. I didn't want to just teach them to go to Citation Machine or another site that creates it for them, but instead I want them to start to understand the format 

I did tell them they won't memorize this format until using it a lot, and that I still have to look up using MLA citations sometimes when I cite my sources. 

We first talked about the importance of citing our sources and why we do so. Most of them said plagiarism, and a couple said so we don't go to jail. We talked about the reality of the consequences, especially how it can affect you in your higher education. We then looked at 4 types of citations: book, magazine, website, and online database. 

I wanted to make the practice fun, so I decided we would use manipulatives. I created citations for the four types that we discussed that day. I then cut up the citations and put them in bags. Each group had a set, and they were color coded so they knew which parts went together. 

The students' challenge was to put the citations back in order correctly within their groups. I think it went well. Even though they didn't have it memorized, they now have a better understanding of citations and sources to look at when they have to create their works cited page. 

National Dog Day

While my dog doesn't visit my school library, I can't leave her out on National Dog Day. This is our cutie, Bellatrix. She is a silky wire haired miniature dachshund, and spoiled rotten by every member of our family. And  YES, she is a slytherin. 

January Breakout

Did anyone else feel like January lasted forever? I'm pretty sure toward the end of January, we made it to January 75, 2020. But, we finally broke out of January and headed into February now!

"The Outsiders" Breakout Box

Our 7th grade English classes just completed the novel study over THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton. I was so excited that they had asked me to be a part of their study, and I helped introduce last month. And now I was able to end the unit with a FUN breakout box activity. 

The students had to use the clues and their knowledge of the novel to be able to open the locks. One of the clues, students had to match the quotes to the characters. On the backs of the quotes were colors, which gave students the color code. Another clue was a cipher code, that spelled out "Who was Johnny's least favorite of the gang?" This gave the word clue. 

They all worked really hard and collaboratively to solve the puzzles. The fastest team from each class period received candy, but at the end of the week, the group with the lowest time overall (with no hints used) got to choose a new book. 

Shakespeare Research

Our theatre group is putting on a play over Shakespeare's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, but set in the 1980s. I cannot wait to see it! Meanwhile, the 8th grade English Enriched Honors classes are starting their unit on Shakespeare's works. To set the stage, I created a hyperdoc and an internet scavenger hunt so that students could get more background knowledge over Shakespeare. I think they were most fascinated by the fact that Shakespeare married an older woman!

STEAM projects

Since we are an academy, all of our students are required to participate in at least one competitive science event. This year, I was excited that some of the events are taking place on campus, which means I can be a bigger part of the event. The event in January was the Gumdrop Tower competition, to see which group could build the tallest free standing tower out of gummy bears and toothpicks. My  main  job was to monitor, but I loved talking to the groups about their designs.

There were tons of squeals happening this afternoon as some towers stood on their own, but others CRASHED!

Books, Books, and More Books

Soon after coming back from the Winter Break, one of our book orders was delivered. It was like Christmas all over again! My library aides helped me unload and check the invoice, and my book club was able to have first dibs on checking out the new books. 

Our display for the month was "Reading with our Friends", and I displayed books that the library had more than one copy of. Mostly, our female students used this display, but I'm proud to say that this display is now almost empty. I have several friends that checked out the same book to read and discuss. 

Now we are into February, and it is Book Fair week! I love seeing the excitement on their faces!! 

Animal Research

One of my favorite projects of the year is when first graders get to choose an animal they are interested in and research that animal. I love how the kids get so involved in their research, and they cannot read enough about their chosen animal.

The first grade teachers and I discussed the timeline for the project, and we came up with a notetaking page to teach the students how to organize their notes. I am so blessed to have teachers on my campus that collaborate with me and allow me to be a part of the students learning.

The students used PebbleGo to begin with since we had used it numerous times throughout the school year to read and research about other topics. To go further in their research, we used the online encyclopedia in the library last week. I put the link in their Google Classroom so they could easily get to the website.

These first graders use the link in Google Classroom to access the online encyclopedia. 

Next, we reviewed the headings in our Britannica encyclopedia, which really helps the younger students not be overwhelmed with text. After they had taken notes, they then searched through the images and videos to get even more information about their animal. While reading and viewing, they took notes on their notetaking organizer.

On the back of the organizer was the bibliography. While they found information, students kept up with the sources they used. Yes, even the youngest readers need to know how to cite their sources. 

In the past, when younger students have done research, I have the books pulled out on the tables. However, this time, I decided to let the students use the Dewey markers in the library to find the books about their chosen animal. The best thing in the world is to see their eyes light up with excitement when they have found the book they need. 

They were so excited and are having so much fun, I've had several first graders come into the library this week before school to research more. They have asked me for index cards to take more notes! AND YES, they are accessing Google Classroom all on their own and utilizing the links I've added for them. 

Creating Citations and a Bibliography

Last week, 4th grade practiced notetaking skills with the Social Studies teacher and me. The classes came down to the library so the teacher and I could go over the skills and have them practice. You can find that lesson on my blog.

This week, the students are continuing their research over an event from the Civil Rights Movement. Students have already chosen an event, so it is now time to choose our sources and start taking notes. I created a Destiny Collections with sources I had already viewed that students could use during their research. Students could use outside sources as well, however, the SS teacher wanted them to use the online encyclopedia and the sources I curated before using an outside source. We threw in a mini-lesson over reliable sources. SNEAKY :) 

Student looking through the Destiny Collections to find a good source. 

Citations 

One of my favorite features of our Britannica online encyclopedia is the citation is provided for the students. So, the students know how to copy and paste this citation onto their bibliography. Well, the websites that we had students using as their second source did not provide this citation. So, the teacher and I decided to use Citation Machine with the students to create the citations. We practiced this using the website, then the book they are using in class. 

In order for the students to easily find this, and not accidently type in citationmachine.com, which takes you to a different website all together 😲, I added the actual website into Google Classroom. To check for understanding, students had an assignment to paste one of their citations into a Google Form. 

S.S. teacher helps groups of students create their citations.

Students paste their citaiton into a Google Form so that the
teacher can check for understanding.

Bibliography

The following day.... YES, the classes came two days in a row to finish the lesson!! That is the BEAUTY of a flexible schedule. 

Classes can come two days in a row, and more, with a flexible schedule!! 

Anyway, the following day the classes came back to finish up their bibliography. They created a Google Doc, and titled it so that they would easily find it again. Then, they copied their citations for all 3 sources into their bibliography.  After this was complete, students were free to begin taking notes on their notecards. The second day went much smoother, since students had used Citation Machine the day before. 

My favorite part of the day was when the classroom teacher told them that this didn't exist when we were in school. We had to know the exact format each time we cited our sources. This was the look on their faces! 

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!!