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Wrap It Up!

Another great year is in the books!  Am already looking ahead toward next year, gathering ideas for genrifying sections of our library, but am definitely taking some time to relax, restore, and spend time with family.  

Here's a brief overview of happenings from March to May:

Thanks to the VERY supportive parents of our school, we held our Spring Follett Book Fair.  (I helped decorate a bit.)  While the set-up was super easy and they give 30% cash, we've decided to go back to Scholastic Book Fairs, until they build more Follett distribution centers near us, and/or hire more staff.  We missed having a regional person on-site, to ensure that we were getting the books we needed.    

I continued on with monthly Biblionasium Challenges, ending in the grand prize giveaway of 2 Paperwhite Kindles, donated by our local Zaxby's.  


Loads of more lessons for my K-5 kiddos, with an emphasis on a variety different authors: James Preller, Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert, Kate Messner, Leo Lionni, and Kevin Henkes, just to name a few.   

 
                              (I bought them some Eric Carle board games - LOVE!)


(Kindergarten & Autism enjoyed searching for birds from Feathers for Lunch!)

(Second grade used PicCollage to draw themselves Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner.)

(Kindergarten enjoyed Leo Lionni crafts and watercoloring, as well as building their own Pezzettino.)


(First grade drew their own Kevin Henkes mouse character, modeling it after Lily.)

Created a Nearpod on Guide Words, to teach 3rd, 4th, and 5th about them, and to give them time to practice before Georgia Milestones.  It was quite a mundane topic, but definitely something they hadn't had much practice with before.  Will have to consider how to introduce it earlier in the year, so as to repeat it again, so that students get more practice.  

Our school did a book character parade!  It wasn't my idea, but of course, I participated with one of my faves, Sandra Boynton's Pajama Time. (Any excuse to wear comfortable pajamas!)

Focused some lessons on poetry in April, of course!  Made several poetry centers:  haiku, rebus (magazines to cut and paste), shape (stencils), acrostic (could write a poem to leave and take someone else's), and free verse (built poems with blocks). 


Fourth grade reviewed parts of poems (stanza, verse, meter) and then created something for a poem that sparked joy for them.  LOVED to see what they came up with!  They also got up and read their poem to the class.  

Finally, with having to push into classrooms during testing, I had the students break into groups to practice and read aloud a standards-based drama from a Scholastic book I bought many years ago.  An easy way to review parts of a drama AND to get kids to practice their reading fluency!  They really got into it, making simple props and staging their scenes.  

Fifth grade Castle Apprentices helped me make this board for the end of the year.  Got the idea from Pinterest, and it turned out so cute! Didn't quite get them all back, but "Better to get back a reader than to get back a book" - Susan Grigsby.  


I don't have a picture of it, but our school already ordered and put up a bulletin board outside of the library.  It will have our 'Birthday Book Stars' on it, who donate to fund our library next year!  Hoping to get a bit more revenue to ramp up our Makerspace and the amount and frequency with which we can purchase more books for our readers!

Happy Summer!



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