Blessed to Teach and Read

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...

Wow!  Another year in the books!  It was wonderful not to have to pack up a classroom, now that I'm in the library!  Finished up the 19,000+ book inventory, re-labeled over 125 books that were coming up incorrectly barcoded, inventoried and reorganized the teacher resources closet (Actual space to add more materials!), and reorganized the reference shelves to, hopefully, make them more usable next year. I did already see several projects that will need my attention in the fall, such as relabeling our 39 Clues books as a "series" to make them easier to find.  Will also need to re-label some reference book spines, and to try to help categorize the teacher resources mentor texts into usable topics for mini-lessons.  While we did just adopt Lucy Calkins writing materials, and I'm sure we'll be looking at ordering her mentor text suggestions, we can also still utilize the many books we have previously purchased.  I also found some great math and science ...