Blessed to Teach and Read

We enjoyed a rather summery October this year with highs in the mid-80s.  Whew!  Hot! However, I went ahead and pulled all the fall books and eventually sipped on a pumpkin spiced latte.  :)   Our "Fall" display of books, made its way into the window, since we'd been running out of space on top of our book shelves.  I had to turn down 5th grade for displaying their Civil War projects, because PTA's Reflections (student art) were already going to be using the space. I made some new shelf labels to replace old ones and to help students locate books on their own.  These also assist me when I shelve books during my classes.  After 3 years, I've almost memorized where everything is located, but these visual clues are quite helpful. (On my "to-do" list are visual clues for the "E" and Non-fiction sections.) I did do a fiction lesson with first grade on different series found within the "E" fo...

Look at that shelf. Such disarray.  That's kind of how I felt around mid-August.  Pulled in too many directions.  On overload.  In need of a bookend to hold me up and set me straight.  (or, in need of more time in my day)  One week, I tried staying no later than 4 PM, and leaving undone what I couldn't accomplish, but that was stressful, too! I currently spend around 30 minutes everyday, either during classes, during planning, or after, afternoon car duty, to keep all of the books shelved.  I'm doing a better job of preventing the shelves from looking like the one pictured above.  (We've had 3 different moms come a collective six times to volunteer to help with shelving. Yay for Mrs. Stratton, who has come back multiple times!)  I implemented a new change this year, to allow 4th and 5th graders to re-shelve their own fiction or everybody/picture books.  That has helped! I also started a 5th grade program called "Castle Apprent...

Made it successfully through the first full week of my third year as an instructional media specialist, kicking off the 15th year of my teaching career!  Started a bit early by attending a Code.org workshop with these lovely ladies before summer's end.  Learned about the importance of teaching computer science in our schools, and began pondering how to incorporate it into my already-packed library and literacy skills lessons for the year. During pre-planning, received a package at school containing this advanced reading copy of Grace Lin's soon-to-be-published book When the Sea Turned to Silver .  (Thanks to Mrs. Weng, a former parent and friend of Mrs. Lin for connecting me with this opportunity!)  I'm not gonna lie.  I've been reading it as slowly as possible.  I don't want it to end!  I LOVE her stories and the way she writes stories within her story.    Her books are GREAT for teaching figurative language, too!  So beautifully wr...

In the summertime, I usually follow this pattern:  stay up super late into the wee hours of the morning, sleep in until around 10 a.m., and then mill about all day.  As the days tick by, I then stop knowing what day or date it is and stop remembering the things that are told to me.  My husband and I go for a week to some beach, and I typically spend a week at home in Alabama with my family.  I do try out lots of new recipes from my Pinterest board, and I do catch up on reading all the books I want. I also stress out a bit about the impending school year, knowing that 40+ hour weeks lie ahead of me, yes, even as a librarian!  But typically, the highlight of my day is going to the mailbox to get the mail.  Three glorious minutes in the sunshine. However, this summer is completely unlike any of the ones before.  My husband, Michael Daniels , is currently out of a job due to a lay off.  He has been out of work since April.  We decided to put hi...

As always, I'm very far behind on posting, but I've finally combed through all of the photos and put them into Layout to share with you. Created a "Reading Helps Your Mind Bloom" book display, to leave up as state testing started.  I pulled lots of gardening, bees, and butterfly books. Plus, lots of potential parents came through at the end of the year for tours, so it was good to have this out to keep it from being too sterile as all the library books started coming back.     I did a "Hop Into a Great Book" display here to put an emphasis on some seldom-circulated books as well as to highlight nonfiction, though I also put out some fiction books too! Kept on teaching kindergarten and first graders about different authors.  I did create some very fun centers for Mo Willems.  As one paraprofessional said to me, "You're brave to do Play-Doh on carpet."  However, we didn't really have any issues when I gave the kids clear expec...

This is how all of the student work from our Georgia Book Award Centers came out.  Again, some was digitally created, some was paper pencil, and some was crafted from their own imaginations.  Next year's goal:  Centers could be less teacher-directed, and more open-ended.              Reflection:  So, as you can see, I did put up all the hearts that students created for why they love the library.  Obviously, next year, I need to make better paper color choices, like yellow or light blue.  But, I also need to figure out what else I can do for that day or entire week.  Within my all-day, fixed, 6-day rotation, I did do lessons that involved Dr. Seuss' books, but for his actual birthday, it was back to regular library lessons.  I had read collaborative ideas from other media specialists within our county, and even created a page on our county's ItsLearning platform for sharing past ideas, but I didn't ...

I got creative this month by moving loads of dictionaries to the teacher resource closet, and by turfing some paperback dictionaries that should have gone home with third graders in years past.  By clearing out an extra set of shelves, I was able to make the nook below for more display space.  I put the Valentine books there, so that I didn't have to move or take down our Black History Month book display.  (I got to put out "Love Letters" by Adoff Arnold - My absolute favorite!   Someone already checked it out.) (Only a third of the books we have on display) I added this "I love our library because..." interactive display to encourage students to fill in hearts with their reasons for loving our library.  The small print tells students that I will use their paper hearts for our "Read Across America" display.  I've already received lots of great responses!   While working at our Forsyth County Technology Fair on Saturday, Ja...