I is for Inventory

This week, I started my library inventory that I do every other year. This means that I have to scan EVERY single book or resource in the library. On Monday, I was without my aide and had a full day of classes, but I still made a dent in scanning the E books. I was able to get quite a bit done on Tuesday so that was exciting. 

I am blogging so late today because I was swamped with laminating all morning due to our school being labeled with English/Spanish words and then I worked on scanning for most of this afternoon. I am proud to say I am near 70% done now!

When I do the scanning, I use my little blue chair that is purposely short for the low shelves. However, there are still several rows of shelves where I have to get on the ground. It is quite a beating on the body and I am glad I only have to do it every other year!

As I am scanning, I pull books that: A) Don't scan. B) Need repair. C) Are paperbacks. The ones that do not scan usually need a new barcode or rarely they are not in the system at all. The need repair books are usually requiring some tape. I do not buy paperback books because they are just not durable enough for an elementary library so if I see ones that have been purchased previously, I take them out of the collection. The exception is books that are classics and we only have the paperback copy in our collection.

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The life changer in our library has been a wireless scanner!! I bought it at the end of my first year and put it aside. I got it out recently since my inventory was approaching and tried it out for checking in books. My aide and I were so excited to not have to unpack the carts of books just to check the books in. The wireless scanner has made inventory much faster as well because I do not need to worry about finding a laptop to use. 

It sure has been a busy week in the library so far with inventory going on, lots of laminating being done/cut, and promoting our district's TechFest by showing students PebbleGo. I am excited to share more with you next week about the fun from TechFest! 

Newsela and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I will never forget when Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is because it is the same as my father's birthday. Also, as a teacher I always know when the next holiday is! :) As a classroom teacher, I would always have the students discuss the "I Have a Dream" speech and then create their own dreams. It was so interesting to see what the students came up with for their dreams. I enjoyed seeing the students get motivated to start a new year by declaring what their dreams for the future were. You can see a similar one below from clipartfest.com.

Besides viewing the "I Have a Dream" speech, I also made sure to read the book Martin's Big Words to my students. My favorite line from the book is "Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can." In our current times, it is a reminder that we need to come together and share love instead of hate. 

In the past year, I learned about a great website called Newsela. Newslea features nonfiction text that can be read on different lexile levels. There are quizzes and and writing prompts to go with the articles as well. I also love that most of the articles can be translated into Spanish.

I have become a Newsela Certified Educator and I am doing a pilot program for them to improve. The program I am working with is about Civil Rights. The students in the library are going to read articles about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thurgood Marshall. Then, the students will complete formative tasks written by Newsela that go along with the articles. 

I highly recommend trying out Newsela some time soon. I am looking forward to using it to make my yearly lesson about civil rights more engaging for students. It is a great example of a tech tool that does not just replace regular text...it enhances the learning experience.

STEAMing into 2017

On Tuesday, our school participated in STEAM day where students completed science challenges. Winners from each grade level will be chosen to compete at our district's STEAMposium in April. It is a fun event that I love volunteering at each year. I am looking forward to seeing all the cool science going on this year. Check the blog in April for a report on that! Meanwhile, view just some of the creativity that was going on with these kids making a rubberband car. I loved the teamwork and great ideas I heard in the library all day by 4th graders. 

Today, I was able to party with my two Bluebonnet Reading Challenge winners. These two students read 5 Bluebonnet books on their own. I do not get to see 3rd-5th grade students enough to read 5 Bluebonnet books with them so we tried making it an independent challenge this year. I am hopeful that more students will finish the challenge instead of just starting it next year. 

We watched a movie, ate lunch with a friend, and enjoyed cookies while voting!

The students also got a certificate, a book, a card game, and candy jewelry. 

I am excited to start reading next year's Bluebonnet books to prepare my questions for the next challenge. Reading is succeeding!

Welcome to 2017!

I am so excited to be back to start our second semester. My first semester goal was to blog every Wednesday and I did it! I took off the two week for the holidays of course. My goals for this semester are to continue blogging, do more screencasts for teachers, and focus more of my instructional time on what can build on the skills the teachers are teaching in the classroom. 

I got started on goal number 3 by using the Alphablocks strategy to teach nonfiction facts about whales to my first graders. 

They really enjoyed trying to find words that related to whales to go with each letter. They were shouting out words before I even opened the book!

 I plan to try it again with another topic and bring in using digital resources to round out the experience. Also, another teacher gave me a great idea of letting the students complete their own version in groups. 

Personally, my goal is to read more. I know, a librarian who needs to read more? But, I want to read more chapter books and not spend months finishing a book. I am going to try this reading challenge to keep me accountable. Happy New Year!