EdCamp Library 2018

As a school librarian, you are the only librarian on your campus. You go from being a classroom teacher with many other peers, to the only one of your profession on your campus. That is the reason that professional development with other professional librarians is so important to your career. Being a school librarian is the BEST job in the world, in my opinion, however the hardest part is not having another librarian next door to discuss work issues with. 

EdCamp Library is one of the best professional development days for this very purpose. Hundreds of school librarians gather together for this "unconference", build a schedule together based on the current needs of those attending. If you've never been to an EdCamp, I highly suggest it. Upon arrival, the attendees make the suggestions for sessions over topics they are interested in. Attendees can also sign up to facilitate a session on a topic they are passionate about, excel at, or are just highly interested in. You don't have to be perfect or a pro at the topic, you are simply there to faciliate the session and keep the conversation going. 

The schedule is built on a google spreadsheet, and the collaborative notes are linked. 

Sessions 

After the schedule is built, we get to choose our sessions that we want to go to. The best thing is, if you get to a session and it isn't what you thought, you can go to a different session during that time. 

Digital Badging

The first session I went to was over Digital Badges. I met some new librarians and had some great conversation. Two of the librarians had used digital badges with their students and their teachers. I learned a lot, and I cannot wait to implement this next year. These ladies were so awesome to share their amazing resources!! 

Genrefying the Library 

Next session was over genrefying your library. Most attendees were secondary librarians, but a few were elementary. This is something I am definitely thinking about next year, and I love that now I have other librarians as a resource to turn to for questions. Students are constantly asking for a certain genre, and while a few librarians said "Why can't they just look it up in the catalog", I try to be more positive and think of how I like to look for books. Public libraries and book stores are all organized by genre. Everyone has their favorite genre, and while I believe we should encourage children to read multiple genres to find their favorite, by 4th and 5th grade those good readers usually know their favorite genre by now. 

I'm really excited to start my genrefrication journey!! Stay tuned...

Self Checkout 

The next two sessions I agree to facilitate and guide the conversation. Self checkout has been an amazing life-saver for me, which is why I wanted to facilitate this session. Some of the attendees also used self-checkout, but several were wanting to implement the process an had several questions. I'm glad I had a picture of my self-checkout station to show, which several people said was helpful. 

One question that was posed by an attendee was, "How do I talk this up to my principal so he will allow me to do this in my library?" I'm thankful that my principal lets me run the library the way I feel is best for our students, but I know many principals like to have a say. So, we discussed reasons why you should implement self checkout:

• Opens up the library for more check out time.
• Frees up librarian to work one-on-one with students.
• Allows for more co-teaching time.
• Teaches students independence. 
• All ages can utilize self-checkout. 

Collaborating with Teachers

If you've been following my blog, or following me on twitter, you know how passionate I am about collaboration with teachers. We had a fabulous conversation about collaboration and the importance. We first talked about the obstacles and ways to overcome them. I always like to get the obstacles out of the way first. :)  Many questions were how to get teachers on board. While many teachers forget that we are also teachers, we have to remember that student success is our goal. Start small, maybe only one teacher or grade level at first, and let others see how you can TOGETHER impact students.

Smackdown

At the end of the day, everyone meets together to share highlights from the day. I like being able to hear ideas others got from sessions I did not get to attend. Plus, we get doorprizes. :) I won this cute shirt from FlipGrid! 

Kinder Using Google Slides

One of my favorite days of the week is when the kindergarteners and first graders come to learn in the library. Their excitement over learning something new is contagious! Often times, these little learners are limited by expectations of adults around them. I have heard so many times "They won't be able to use Google Drive" or "It's too hard to teach them how to log in." NOT TRUE! Even though a little learner may not be reading yet does not mean that they cannot create, explore, design, and more using technology.

This year, we started Chromebook Academy with our kinders and firsties. We learned how to take care of the Chromebooks, carry the Chromebooks, and log into the Chromebooks. My little learners now know how to get into Google Classroom and get into their Google Drive.

Believe they can, and they will! 

Learners today, for the most part, have had a device in their hand since they were little. However, that does not mean they know how to use technology for learning, designing, and collaborating. Do not assume just because they play games on their parent's iPad that they can use a computer to complete an assignment. But, don't assume they can't benefit from technology!

Look at these faces! They are completely engaged in their learning and having a great time while doing it.

I suggest you start off with allowing them to explore in Google Drawings and Google Slides. They will learn a lot from exploring on their own. Plus, if you let them get the exploration out of the way, they are more likely to listen and follow along with you when you are giving step by step instructions. 

Kindergarten student exploring in Google Slides. 

After giving them time to explore, the teacher and I give them instructions. On this particular day the teacher was reviewing shapes, so we had them add shapes to their slides.

Why wait until 3rd grade to teach them the basics of Google Apps for Education? Prepare them when they are young, then they are more prepared for the older grades. 

A great blog to follow for ideas on using Google with littles is Learning With Christine Pinto.  Also, follow #gafe4littles on Twitter. 

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.

School Library Month Wrap Up

As School Library Month now comes to an end, I would like to reflect on ways that school libraries make an impact on students. This year's theme was Making Connections, so lets talk about all the connections that happen in a school library.

Making Learner Connections

This is probably the connection made most often in my library. Students constantly come into the library specifically looking for a book recommendation. Several students have found their favorite book by just chatting with me about books. I love this part of my job! 

This past month, I held a 'book tasting' with the fifth grade students to encourage them to read more genres. At each table, I had a different set of books that were a certain genre. Tables had scary, historical fiction, realistic fiction, literary nonfiction, free verse novels, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. The activity went over very well, and it sparked some interest in kids that had not really read a book in a while.

  

Also, to celebrate both School Library Month and National Poetry Month, I put a reading challenge in Biblionasium for students to read 3 or more books of poetry. I had a few students tell me they had never really read poetry before except when doing STAAR passages, but they had really enjoyed reading the poems for fun. Makes this librarian heart happy!

Look at these smiles! All because they shared their poem with me. 

Making Educator Connections

Educator connections is my passion, and I love to talk about connecting with teachers. I believe this is one of the biggest impacts we can make on our campus. While I make connections throughout the whole school year, this month in particular I made a point to reach out to more teachers to collaborate with. I was able to pull my first grade teachers in for note taking and research lessons. I also sent out several Smore newsletters this month highlighting different activities we could to together with a collaborative partnership. 

Making Community Connections

Community connections happen all school year at my school. This year we have hosted a school wide Read-A-Thon, a book drive for schools in the Houston area impacted by Hurricane Harvey, and a family reading night just to name a few. During the month of April, my favorite community connection was made during kinder and first grades lunch. Some of the parents were asking me about books for their students. During our conversation, I invited them down to the library to check out a few books to read with their students that week. They were extremely grateful! 

My absolute favorite activity that connects the community is our annual Book Swap! It takes place closer to the end of the school year, but it is an event where students find gently used books at home they don't read anymore and bring it to swap for a "new to them" book. Parents in our community bring me boxes of donated books for our students. Last year, I received enough donated books that EVERY student, whether they brought a swap book or not, was able to choose a book to take home. It was AMAZING!! I even had a designated place in the library where parents and teachers were able to swap their books. 

Making Global Connections 

Throughout the school year, we had several global connections. With 3rd grade, the teacher and I conducted a book tasting focusing on books that take place in another country, or have a character from another country. With 4th grade, our biggest connection was with a meteorologist to talk about forecasting the weather. 

Most recently, we had an author come to visit our school and speak to every grade level. Ellen Leventhal did an amazing job of speaking to our kids about using your imagination, being creative, and writing down all those ideas. 

Another connection made was a second grade student came to me about a book series that he had been reading by Doreen Cronin. He wanted to know how he could ask her a question. So, together, we wrote a letter and I emailed it to her. We are crossing our fingers that we hear back from her very soon!!! 

Throughout this month, I really learned a lot by looking over the AASL website where I got a huge variety of ideas for my campus. Making connections is important not just during the month of April but all year long! Some yearlong ideas would be:

• Dot Day
• Global Read Aloud 
• Book Clubs
• Family Reading Nights
• Book Fairs
• Book Swaps 
• MakerSpace with a Cause 

I also learned a lot and made many connections at TLA in Dallas this year. I met some amazing authors and other amazing librarians. Attending conferences, such as TLA, helps build our Professional Learning Network and makes us better in our profession. 

What connections have you made recently to impact your school? I want to hear your ideas. 

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. 

Ban This Book

Gratz, Alan. Ban This Book. Starscape Books, 2017. 

Amy Anne Ollinger is shocked when she rushes to the library to check out her favorite book, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, only to find it not on the shelf. Mrs. Jones, the school librarian, gives Amy Anne the bad news: the book has been banned from the school library! All because a fellow student's mom thinks the book is inappropriate for elementary students.

You cannot help but fall in love with Amy Anne. Gratz does an incredible job of establishing the character in order for middle grade readers to relate. Amy Anne is very shy and soft spoken, but throughout the book gains confidence to speak up for what she believes in. Amy Anne does not back down from the banning of her favorite book, and in turn establishes a secret Banned Book Locker Library.

Amy Anne begins to realize that many more students are backing her up on her war against the banned books. Their antics to fight the school board and principal on their decision will make you cheer along through the whole book!

Book lovers and librarians will adore this book that defends the right to read. I applaud the approach that Gratz has for this subject. He successfully disputes this issue on a students level, and is able to add humor to the situation.

I cannot wait to get this book into my students' hands! I have a feeling that the challenged/banned books mentioned in Ban This Book will be flying off my shelf soon as well.

STAAR Review Stations

Our State Assessments are coming up this week for 5th grade, and what better way to help teachers on your campus then to help with a STAAR review.  I met with the 5th grade teachers to see which skills needed to be reviewed before the test. While meeting and looking over the data, it seemed as though the students needed making inferences, theme, main idea, summary, and genre. We had noticed that one of the classes also needed a reminder to look at charts, tables, captions, etc... in order to find answers as well.

Stations 

I had these super cute green baskets, and I've been waiting to use them! After finding the materials for the different stations, I put everything needed inside the baskets. Each table was labeled with a number, and students had a recording sheet. Everything was set up when the class came in.

At this station, students sorted stories by genre. 

\\

This was my favorite station. Students had to tell the difference
between main idea and the theme of a story.

At this station, students had to first sort nonfiction text features
by their name and definition. Then they had to use the pictures to
answer the questions. This will hopefully remind them to look at charts,
tables, and captions to find answers as well as the text.

Students moved through the stations while the teacher and I helped out and monitored. They really needed a second day to finish up, but I was leaving for TLA conference the next day. Next year, we plan on having this two days in a row so students can stay at each station longer.