Appy Holidays

This year, one of the goals for our district has been to get teachers to increase their use of technology in the classroom. I blogged earlier in the year about our fun during October with the Trick or Treat Twitter challenge.

For November, the teachers participated in a Thankful for Technology Bingo game that included many technology-related challenges. Shout out to our magnificent music teacher Mrs. Nelson on completing her Bingo card and winning a pair of new ear buds! Check out her winning card below.

For December, I have created an appy holidays display of QR codes that lead to free apps for teachers to download. The apps are comprised of time savers, note-taking, and creativity for the students to use in the classroom. The teachers will be able to stop by at their leisure to download the apps they want.

We have also been busy decorating the library for Christmas. There is holiday music playing and seasonal books everywhere!

Lots of cool holiday books on the recommendation table!

Holiday books and festive bells adorn the end of each aisle.

The Grinch in normally stuck hanging out with the other Dr. Seuss buddies but during the holidays he gets a prime spot in the library!

We even have an elf on the shelf in our library! Can you spot him?

Stop by your local library and enjoy a holiday story. There are so many fun ones. Currently, we are reading Clark the Shark Loves Christmas and Bad Kitty Christmas.

Thankful

Last week our country shifted and divides became more evident. I know that the library is a safe place where all opinions, races, ideas, and values are welcome. My hope is that the focus remains on uniting instead of separating.

I did not teach the students about the candidates or about the election process. I felt like we all needed a break so I chose to still teach the students about letting their voices be heard through voting but with two lighthearted books. We read Lauren Castillo's TroubleMaker and Nana in the City. Students across the world were also reading these books as part of #GlobalReadAloud.

The students loved how the little boy in this story changed his mind about the city. We discussed how the facial expressions of the little boy helped us, the readers, see how he was feeling as the book progressed.

This book was a clear favorite in the voting. I think many of the students found humor in the raccoon taking precious items for his own.

Our first graders had the pleasure of having Mr. Dillard from the Garland Retired Teachers bring them books for their home libraries.

The students loved getting to pick out their own book to take home. The excitement filled the library and we are very thankful to the Garland Retired Teachers.

Since Thanksgiving is coming up next week, we have been reading a book from our latest book fair called There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey by Lucille Colandro. The students have been howling with laughter as I turn each page. It has been nice to laugh with the kids and know that there is still light in our world.

Lastly, I am forever thankful for my job as a school librarian. It has been my dream and now it is my honor. It is a huge responsibility to help shape a student's love of reading and it is one that I treasure.

Interactive Books

Fun fact about Mrs. Ray=I have 5 nieces. My husband had 4 when we got married and then I had one on my side of the family. Elissa, Lily, Annabelle, Emily, and Lizzy are all under 10 and a lot of fun to hang out with! My husband pleaded with me to choose a boy from the Salvation Army Angel Tree so that he gets to finally shop for a little boy. :)

I remember seeing one of my nieces get a game based on the book Press Here by Herve Tullet. At the time, I had never heard of the book and I did not understand why a book would ask the reader to interact with it.

For Dot Day celebrations this year, I needed another book about dots since I let another teacher check out The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. My eyes landed on Press Here and I thought "why not?" I read it to a kindergarten class and they thought I was a magician! As I called a kid up to do each instruction in the book, the students eagerly waited to see what would happen when I turned the page. The ooohhss and ahhhss were so loud I thought we would get in trouble by the classes around the library. The same thing happened with the other classes that I read the book to.

As I was getting ready to teach my annual lesson about fall, the music teacher asked to check out my favorite fall book Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson. I was sad, but I knew that more students would get to enjoy they book so I said goodbye to Fletcher for this year.

I searched the shelves for another book about fall or leaves and I landed on Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson. I skimmed through it and saw that it was similar to Press Here so I thought it would be fun.

I was sure that the magic would have worn off and the kids would know that their actions did not really impact what happened in the book, but they were still amazed! It was so fun for them to connect what they had learned in class about leaves and trees to what was happening in the book.

So, I am definitely a believer in interactive books now. I purchased more Herve Tullet books for the library and I hope to find even more that are similar to these two. Anything that gets children to see how magical books can be is a plus in my mind!

Trick or Treat Twitter Challenge

For the month of October, I challenged our staff to a Trick or Treat Twitter challenge! Many people won treats including candy and stylus/highlighters/pens.

-Tweet a ”shelfie” of you and one of the books from the book fair that starts on October 10th. Include the tag @ReadingRay or @BES_Cowboys. You can use the #gisdreads if you want the district to see how awesome you are.

-Participate in the #gisdchat on Tuesday, October 4^th at 7 p.m. The topic is Goals for New Teachers. 

-Tweet something going on in your classroom. Include a picture following the guidelines. You can tag @BES_Cowboys or @ReadingRay so I will see it.

-Tweet #motivationMonday with a motivational message or image. Include the tag @ReadingRay so I will see it or you can email me with your Twitter handle.

-Tweet a selfie with your team or a coworker with the #bradfieldbest and include the tag @BES_Cowboys

I was so excited to see the tweets roll in. Here is a collection of just a few of the great moments that happened during October's twitter challenge.

Ms. Bedolla tweeted about the artwork for Day of the Dead that was being created by her art pullout students. It was so fun to get a glimpse into the specials' classes. 

Mrs. Orsini highlighted her teammate's hula hoop club in a tweet. Ms. Bennett's Schoolahoop club was a hit! 

The challenge was during book fair so "shelfies" were a fun challenge to complete. Here is Super Green with her favorite book from the fair. Mrs. Green was one of the most active tweeters between H.E.R.O. week and Red Ribbon Week. Thanks for showing off our school spirit all month long!

youtu.be/m5yCOSHeYn4  I love Kid President! #motivationmonday #positivity @BES_Cowboys was a tweet from our awesome counselor Ms. Green. Check out the video!

Ms. Quiros made a PicCollage to show a learning strategy called carousel being used in her classroom. 

Kami Nelson ‏@mrsnelsonmusic  Oct 5

Can you figure out one of the songs we sang in 1st grade today? There's a hint in the picture! @BES_Cowboys #bradfieldbest #kodaly

Pumpkin bowling! @BES_Cowboys #bradfieldbest This tweet was from field day by Ms. Dossey.

Here is a tweet from H.E.R.O. week featuring two super girls-library aide Mrs. Lopex and music teacher Mrs. Nelson. A special shoutout to Mrs. Nelson for being the lone staff member to complete ALL 5 challenges!! Woohoo! #superspecials 

A hashtag was born out of #bradfieldbest that we will continue to use all year. It made my heart so happy to see Atomic Learning even tweet our school using the hashtag!

Jessi Schultz Retweeted Bradfield Elementary

#bradfieldbest you each bring so much to your students every day! Thank you! Let me know what you strive to learn, #collaborate with me!

Thank you to all of the people who participated. This month, we are doing a Thankful for Tech bingo card and I cannot wait to see all the cool tech things our staff does in November.