Teachers Write: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday updates

Teachers Write began this week and I had to dust off my old Facebook page in order to catch all the updates. I'm just not a Facebook person. I signed up years ago when it was  available to university students but since the arrival of Twitter in my life, I have all but abandoned Facebook. It makes me feel really weird when my mother asks me if I have checked my Facebook to see a picture that one of my sisters has uploaded. The woman needs to be on it herself, she has always been far ahead of her time.

On Monday, we wrote about keeping a writer's notebook. I have several stuffed into hidey holes at work, in my rolling teacher's cart, in my car, and on my bedside table at home. I like to use the primary journals  the type usually used by first graders. Each page provides a large blank space for drawing a picture with red and blue lines for positioning letters on a baseline. I need all the help I can get with my handwriting. I call my journal My Sanity Book.


Tuesday Quick Write Assignment

It was very quiet in my library this afternoon and I caught myself staring into space remembering conversations, events, and wonderful times spent in the school library that I have very carefully and reverently built up over the past five years. When I read the Teachers Write Quick Write topic for Tuesday, I immediately begin to write without stopping to plan. It felt great to write down what I had been remembering. There are so many memories that I can replay in my mind's eye as I look out over the now quiet tables.

Tuesday Quick Write:  Begin with "Sometimes, ..

Sometimes, when the school day is over and I am alone in my library, I like to run my fingers across the book spines occasionally stopping to pull one out and flip to a favorite tear stained section. I smile as I remember the laughter of two friends speaking over each other as they try to share their favorite part of a story, the strained voice of a boy trying his best to eerily describe a ghost scene. These are beautiful echoes in my memory as I walk the shelves. Books are like coming home to a warm memory or revisiting a friend from long ago. Books are beautiful things. They are always there for you when you need them to lift your mood or to offer guidance. I believe books become part of who we are, because as I look around the library, that I have spent years carefully building book by precious book, I see myself. 

 

My library is a very happy place filled with great books and fun props. 

Teachers Write Wednesday Q and A 

Find it here: Wednesday Q and A

Guest authors Laurel Snyder and Joanne Levy field questions about writing and writers and are joined by Kate Messner and Gae Polisner

It's Monday, What Are You Reading June 10, 2013

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme began by Sheila at Book Journeys as a way to share what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and what is in store for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading. I first learned about it at Teach Mentor Texts. 

This week was a continuation of library inventory which required mandatory stopping to "smell the roses"(books). The most wonderful part of inventory is getting to revisit books that you have forgotten on the shelves. Poor little books. I will find someone to love you when the students return in August. It is my belief that successful librarians are natural marketing geniuses. We know that a book will sit on a shelf until you advertise it through a book talk, promo poster, or referral. The minute you do so, WAP! the book becomes the hottest ticket in the library and fights almost break out to see who can check it out first. I admit I kind of like inciting this type of book riot.

Here are a few books that will be getting some book love:

Harry Potter series

Magical Links: 
Scholastic's The Stacks-Harry Potter has some magical games like lighting your wand. creating a magical creature, and Wizard's Duel. I played for a looonnnggg time.

J. K. Rowling talks about a continued world of Harry Potter. Pottermore

Pottermore web site




Charlie  Bone series
Scholastic The Stacks-Charlie Bone

I love this series with all the unusual talents that descendents of the Red King possess. 

Fairy Tales and Folk Tale section are also often overlooked because they are not in the same section with the E=Everyone books. This past year I made a special section divider and the 2nd graders really flocked to this 398.2 Dewey section where they also discovered nearby jewels in the 30 and 31 sections which includes many of the World Record, Trivia, Ripley's Believe It or Not, and Almanac books. 

My current reads:

I never realized how late it had gotten last night because I was so engrossed into Hold Fast. Now I am heavy eyed at work and can't wait to pick it up again. 

 

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett

(description from author website)

The mystery begins with a bizarre accident on a on a deserted, wintery street in Chicago. Now stir in old Langston Hughes book on rhythms, the Chicago Public Library's huge downtown building, a family of four that finds themselves in the midst of a spiraling nightmare, and the 2003 Antwerp Diamond Heist, the biggest in history.  You will meet Dash, Sum, Early, and Jubie...and many others living in a large city shelter. As dreams chase reality in a fearless yet sparkly search,11-year-old Early Pearl will take you on a ride not easily forgotten. 

Audio Book:

I am having so much fun re-listening to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone while I finish up library inventory.

My Library Hold List:

Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier

 Audio clip here

Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean.

At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice oneverything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Set over the course of one school year in 1985, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try it. 

I just love the start of summer and all its possibilities. I work through the summer but without the students around I can get a lot of cataloging, repairing, sorting, and implementing new ideas done. I move furniture around trying to find the just right feel of the space making it more reader friendly. Summer in my library gives me a chance to try out my crazier ideas between readers camps and tour groups that traipse through to get a good look at our unusual school. My favorite part is all the audio books that I get to listen to while I work. I just wish my local public libraries had better selections, 

Are you a fan of audio books too?

I am also seriously in need of an outstanding title to read Something with the whizz bang of last summer's Wonder, The One and Only Ivan, or Liar and Spy. Any suggestions?

What I Read This Summer 2013 Reading Challenge

This week I issued a Summer Read Challenge to my entire school asking that they keep a reading log of the books they are reading this summer and then create a poster or creative project to be displayed in a highly visible location when the new school year begins. Here is my letter:

Dear ECDC Family, 

One of my professional goals for 2013-2014  is to redefine how I “Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk” as a way to motivate students in their path to becoming life-long learners and readers. I am issuing a Summer Reading Challenge to all ECDC Staff and Teachers to keep a log of “What I Read This Summer” and then create your own version of a What I Read This Summer door, poster, or creative project.

·        Cha-Ching! All ECDC participants who create and post their “What I Read This Summer” project, in a highly visible location for all students to see, will receive a $20 Gift Certificate to use at the ECDC Book Fair in October.

I can visualize Valerie’s long list of Nursing textbooks that she will be plowing through this summer that can serve to inspire a student wanting to become a nurse one day. Something so simple can prove to be a spark that ignites a flame within a student.

Nurse Valerie’s What I Read This Summer 2013

1. A Nurse’s Guide to Boogers, Lice, and Wee Wee Accidents by Iwetta May Pants

2. The School Nurse from The Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler (real book)

3. The Thick Encyclopedia of All Things School Nurses Should Know by O. Verload

How Can I Become an Advocate for Reading?

We have all seen mountains of research that indicate students are more likely to become readers when they have good reading role models. This article offers good examples of how to be a reading role model. Consider joining CCIRA-Corpus Christi International Reading Association for 2013-2014. I have the membership forms. Everyone is welcome to join us. We are working with CCISD to offer PLX credit hours for some of our meeting. Our membership consists of teachers, librarians, literacy coaches, principals, ITAs, and retired teachers.

Articles for Families as Reading Role Models:

Raising a Life Long Reader PBS Parents

Scholastic: Be A Reading Role Model

Here is my 2012 Summer Reads door as an example. 

I hope you accept my Reading Challenge for 2013! Happy Reading!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading June 3 , 2013

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys as a way to share what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and what is in store for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading. I first learned about it at Teach Mentor Texts.

This week, I began the arduous task of library inventory but with it comes small pleasures. Every now and then, I would come across a forgotten favorite book so I would take a few minutes to quickly read through it again. Sometimes, I would scan the book into the inventory and then set it aside promising to create a new lesson plan for a chosen few. The problem beginning to unfold was my chosen few stack begin to grow taller and taller. I am so grateful for such a rich and diverse collection of books that well reflects years of dedicated and thoughtful curation. How very lucky I am to be a elementary/middle school librarian.

During inventory, I came across one of my favorite biographies The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton. I still remember when I was a kid becoming fascinated by these odd new colors. I spent my entire allowance on things like fluorescent glow in the dark paint and glue. I was really into science at an early age and still love it today thanks to cool inventions like day-glo paint. This is a terrific addition to any school library with themes such as: inventions, chemical reactions, family relationships-brothers, seeking solutions to a problem (multiple problems), and perseverance.

In School:This week, I read The Last Day of Kindergarten by Nancy Loewen to (of course) Kindergarten students and then we talked about what they were looking forward to when they became first graders. This was a wise little group-they pretty much offered answers that might help butter up their future first grade teacher.

It was a fun activity and they loved that the kids in the book were also graduating from Kinder while wearing mortar boards on their heads.

In Our Home:
4 year old, Mr. L, wanted to give his teacher books for her "Thank You Teacher gift" so he picked out some favorites-A Sick Day with Amos McGee, Big Animals, Worms, and a Toni Morrison's The Big Box which I added to the stack. 2 year old Mr. J wanted to hear A New Bear at School by Carrie Weston and Tom Warnes. This is one of the books I set aside for working into my fall lessons. Mr. J also selected Little Quack's Bedtime by Lauren Thompson because he likes math and this is a terrific way to introduce subtraction as each duck closes their eyes and goes to sleep leaving the others awake to hear the night sounds.

Professional Development Read:

 Notice and Note
Strategies for Close Reading
by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst

I borrowed a copy of Notice & Note from my friend and colleague, Mapuana Jones, a very talented literacy coach and the epitome of a book lover. This woman has possibly read every book ever written for children and middle grade students. I will be taking part in a Twitter PD and #NNNchat beginning June 6th at 8 p.m. CST. Join us!

I am still listening to Moon over Manifest by the talented Clare Vanderpool.  It is taking me a while to get through M.O.M. as I have a three mile commute to work, but listening to an audio book makes that short commute a joyful ride. I was not fond of the voice artist in the beginning and almost quit listening to it (for the second time) but I was a Bluebird when I was in elementary school (Campfire Girls) and our motto was "A Bluebird always finishes what she begins" although I am not sure this is always such good advice. I am glad I am sticking with the book. 

Abilene is a good sturdy main character and I like her tremendously. She appears strong and venerable at same time. She can take care of herself but still ponders over the reasons why her daddy left her in a stranger's care. She is hard working and honest. After accidently breaking Hungarian fortuneteller, Miss Sadie's clay pot, she returns to work off her debt and is rewarded with intriguing tales of 

 the days of Ned and Jinx, two previous residents of Manifest that are linked to the contents of a mysterious old cigar box that Abilene finds under a floorboard in Shady's home. 

Some of the characters are predictable like the mine boss and his spoiled son but there are also some very endearing like Lettie and Ruthanne, the two cousins who have befriended Abilene and set off to help her unravel clues to discovering who may have been a spy nicknamed The Rattler during the war. I am a big fan of historical fiction and found it interesting seeing Manifest's connection to World War I, immigration, orphan trains, Prohibition, the Spanish Influenza, coal mining and the use of a "company store" to keep employees in a never ending cycle of poverty.

What am I reading next? I am going to try to get my hands on a copy of The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater. Last year, I read The Raven Boys on Net Galley and am hoping to find The Dream Thieves available too. The woman knows how to write interesting books. For me, summer time is a chance to read YA fiction and listen to audio books at work as I work on much needed library maintenance-reaffix all those labels that come loose, create library displays, take part in online professional development and work on my Bluebonnet Book Club lessons.

Let me know what you are reading. I am always on the look out for something thrilling, mysterious, romantic, or shocking!



Scholastic Book Fair Fun, Games, and Tips

Running a book fair can be a scary thing unless you become a seasoned pro like me. I learned a long time ago what to worry about and which worries to let go. You can go with the Scholastic theme or use one of your own. My recent fair took place during Texas Public Schools Week so the focus was on Texas! Easy to decorate and lots of fun.

Make all your decisions weeks in advance to ensure a smooth book fair. Get flyers and special announcement dates set and flyers printed out before your book fair begins. Publicize your fair via local news 

I am glad my Scholastic Book Fair is over. It was a busy week but lots of fun. Sales were down so I was bummed out about that but many factors could have come into play for our school. My school is housed on a university campus with very limited parking so parents now have to pay to park when visiting our school. We have seen fewer parents this year. This is not a good thing.

Get great volunteers!
This is a tough one for me because of the paid parking issue but the wonderful folks at Coastal Community and Teachers Credit Union still volunteered in full force! I could not run my book fair without these very fine folks. They help me set up my fair and run my Book Fair Game Day.

Your best friends:
Your Scholastic sales rep and Restock folks are your best friends. They will listen to your crazy ideas and requests and steer you in the right direction. The wonderful restock representatives are super patient and will do everything they can to locate titles and order them for you. They can tell you the hot sellers and what schools across the country are requesting. They have mad skills for looking up obscure titles and rumored-to-be-had items.

One TIP I got from my clever mom was to use pill bottles or snap lid containers for holding coins when not in use. This helped keep my petty cash organized and easy to fill the register eh morning by dumping the coins in.

On the last day of book fair, I always hold a special Game Day. Here is the Estimation Station. This helps to keep kids occupied while waiting for their turn at a game. I used a bear shaped graham cracker jar filled with one inch colorful cubes. I posted a sign "Make a BEARY good guess" and had slips of paper for kids to fill out with name, grade and their estimation. The winner won a one dollar prize at the book fair.





This is Feed the Alien Cowboy game. Each student attempted to toss four squishy alien balls complete with tentacles into the mouth of the alien. I used a re-purposed acrylic tube with a white L bend pipe attached on top and covered with a foam core shaped alien head. We used this for a recent Benjamin Franklinstein game thus the alien. We just renamed him the Alien Cowboy. Get three in and win a free bookmark or eraser!

"Rope the calf" ring toss game using food coloring in two liter soda bottles and swim dive rings as ring tossers. Kids love to play this game. The colored water bottles also look great year round on my library shelf..









Be sure to get great shots of your families with Clifford! I let our 5th grade students dress up as Clifford. They do a great job and gives them a memory for a lifetime.

We gave 246 Books Away in Celebration!

I was thrilled to have given away 246 books on behalf of 

the Early Childhood Development Center Library to children ages 3-12. 

I read aloud to many groups and younger students created "Love a Book" projects to connect 

with our books: "Looking at Lincoln" and "Franklin's Valentines"

What My Library Means to Me

Picture Book Month

Day 20 theme: Library

Early Childhood Development Center Library

What "MY" Library means to me.

I am thankful for being able to teach and share beautiful stories with people every day because I understand that books become part of  who we are as a person. Thus, it becomes a great responsibility of librarians to seek out and provide high quality literature for young minds to absorb and build upon. 

Home is an important word. A word that gives comfort and provides a person with a sense of belonging. This is what I want every student, teacher, parent, university student or professor, and community member to experience when they come to my library. It might sound a little selfish to call it "my library" when it most certainly belongs to everyone, yet I would wish everyone would think of it as their own too. A library is a home where a love of reading is shared and experienced. There is always someone ready to tell you about a book they find interesting, helpful, exciting, terrifying, informative or even funny. In my library, I encourage children to express themselves by creating book projects or activities. Here are a few that have recently been shared with me.

 BOOKS ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF GREAT MINDS.

We support the GUYS READ book club and love it when our ECDC Train rolls in with new books. 

 

go to website

Many book projects are based on the Texas Bluebonnet Award nominees each year.

Here we are growing our own bluebonnets in the library

 I just love these student made  projects

 Just Being Audrey 

by Margaret Cardillo

Illustrated by Julia Denos 

 Just Being Audrey Resources, Activities, and Lesson Plans: 2012 Bluebonnet Book Club

Hot Diggity Dog: The History of the Hot Dog
by Adrienne Sylver
illustrated by Elwood H. Smith

 Hot Diggity Dog Resources from the TBA website

This Lion and the Mouse project was made by a first grade reluctant reader. Isn't it amazing?

I shared it with all my classes as a "How to Create a Book Project"

 

 My library brings in as much of the world as possible. November is Picture Book Month and we are having fun rabidly reading as many picture books as we can this month and keeping track. Kids who read five PBs this month will earn a Library Challenge badge.

November is also American Indian Heritage Month. Our school sits upon the settlement where the Karankawa Indians once lived. Below is a presentation piece created by our good friend Ernest Graywolf Salazar. He also made an incredible replica of the Alamo for us. Every other year, Ernest and his brother, Larry Running Turtle Salazar, visit our school to share information about their cultural heritage and demonstrate a spiritual drum circle. Our students appreciate this and the lessons really stick with them.

American Indian Heritage Month Resources

American Indian College Fund Resources

National Parks Service Resources

Karankawa Indians in Texas

Indian Nations of Texas