Blessed to Teach and Read

I can’t hardly believe it, but it’s my 5th year as a librarian! I’ve decided to dial back my expectations on myself this year.  Over the summer, I read Susan Cain’s “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking”, and it really brought me a sense of peace about being myself; not pushing myself to be more extroverted than I am.  To keep following my passions, but to do so at a pace that doesn’t leave me feeling exhausted and depleted. :D For this new school year, I used the Avery template for file folder labels to update the nonfiction shelf labels.  And, though the pictures turned out tiny, they really help to give a visual cue to students who don't look in the media catalog before going to the shelves.  I also divided up the sports section into major sports, so that it's MUCH easier to keep them organized.  :) My professional goal this year is to work on promoting reading through a variety of outlets.  One is by creating an EC...

Found out last night around 10 p.m. that school was cancelled for today.  One of those, "better safe, than sorry" situations, where we probably could have attended school, but stayed home and used our ItsLearning platform to learn instead.  I got time to work on a new book order list for this spring, and time to update my much-neglected blog.  (And time to catch up on some household chores!)  So, without much further ado, here's what I've been up to instructionally since my last post in September 2015... In October, I found this cute jack-o-lantern in the storage closet, and used it for our "Carve Out Time to Read" Halloween/Fall book display.   I also tried to incorporate spiders in kindergarten's lesson on "Verbs" and in first grade's lessons on taking notes from nonfiction books and identifying nonfiction book text features.  We also worked on our nonfiction writing in conjunction with our school's adoption of Lucy Cal...