December 2019 in the Library

Even though it doesn't feel like Christmas time...it is! December was a packed month and I cannot believe this semester is almost over. Here is a sampling of the many events that occurred this month.

This semester, our book fair was canceled at the last minute due to some production issues. The company did provide us with a credit to buy tons of new books for our library though. These have already proven to be very popular!

I hosted our annual spelling bee this month. Congrats to these two!

I enjoyed being a featured moderator for #GISDChat this month. The topic of growing your PLN is one that I love to talk about since I learn so much from my PLN. 

I attended the Garland Education Foundation's Tinsel and Trivia Night. They had a board with a grant from each school on it. Mine was funded right in front of my eyes so our students will have some Chromebooks to use next year!

I also served as a brain to help give back to the organization that has given our library so much. I was nervous, but it ended up being a great time! I helped the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce to a second place finish and met some awesome fellow brains from across the district. 

My fifth grade novel study group finished Number the Stars on National Cookie day so we enjoyed some Danish cookies. I also used A World of Cookies for Santa as my read aloud for that week since we had a school-wide research project on how other countries celebrate the holidays. The project culminated in an AVID Around the World Night where the students showed off their hard work.

The students in my morning group finished off the year creating their own countries. They had to do a whole packet of prompts like "what land forms do you have?" and "what language do your people speak?" The students then presented their info by doing a press conference. 

My 3rd grade Charlotte's Web group got to have a little makerspace fun by creating a web.

The kids created cards for the teachers to spread some holiday cheer.

My book bites clubs ended for this year. Here is one of the groups celebrating the end of our book by watching The Grinch during lunch. 

This week has been full of Secret Santa fun, sweet gifts, and celebrating the end of 2019. I pray that you and yours have a wonderful break, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

November 2019 in the Library

Another fun, fast month has come and gone! I cannot believe we are about to have Thanksgiving Break. It has been a blast November!

I was blessed to by named Professional Staff Member of the Month for October along with my wonderful aide Mrs. Lopez as Paraprofessional Staff Member of the Month. 

Our campus is proud that we earned a B rating due to last year's STAAR scores! Dr. Lopez helped us throw a huge party to celebrate. 

We received beautiful pins that recognize the accomplishment and this friend helped pin me. She is a joy to teach and always cheerful!

The annual glow walk night is always a blast! We added in a glow dance party area that I was in charge of this year. It was so fun. 

A new Book Bites lunch club started for second and fifth graders. We will read this book until Christmas break. So far, they have really enjoyed this zany tale!

The students love discussing the novel while they eat their lunch.

I had the amazing opportunity to go to the American Association of School Librarians conference in Louisville, Kentucky for three days this month with a great group of library professionals!

A local high school drum line welcomed up to town.

We toured Churchill Downs. 

We made sure to make a fashion statement.

We learned about how Louisville Slugger bats are made during a factory tour. 

A landmark of the town is the factory and museum.

We saw a view of the river next to the Muhammad Ali Center.

Here are some items from his career. 

We were able to hear Ellen Oh speak about diversity.

The exhibits were a great chance to speak with vendors.

I attended lots of cool sessions like this one about literacy initiatives from library professionals from Nashville, Tennessee. 

An author presented about types of nonfiction books.

One of my focus items was to learn more about making connections so I attended a couple of sessions on this topic.

 I also went to several other sessions that included information I will be using on my campus. I will also be sharing what I learned with our other district librarians. 

We received lots of books to take back to our eager readers!

Author Jarrett J. Krosoczka shared about how books helped him overcome a difficult childhood to find success. 

Fun fact: Louisville is the main manufacturer of disco balls...if you believe an Uber driver :) 

I am ready for the break to recharge to wrap up this year's teaching and reading! See you in December for lots of holiday cheer. 

October 2019 in the Library

I cannot believe that October is over! This year is just flying by. I know November will be gone in a flash too. October is one of my favorite months. Although our book fair got canceled, we still had tons of literacy fun!

For Hispanic Heritage month, we read this book. It has become one of my new favorites because it gets the students thinking about the story of their own names. 

We had our annual cybersafety poster contest. This was our campus winner!

Book bites lunch book club started with 5th grade and 2nd grade. 

The 5th graders listened to spooky stories while the 2nd graders listed to Classroom 13 Halloween. 

Students got to watch a ghost story on Goosebumps for the final meeting. 

Our Tynker coding club finished with students creating cool projects.

Our 5th grade novel study of The Toothpaste Millionaire concluded with a study of inventors and the students designed their own inventions. Then, we made commercials on YouTube. We have now started Number the Stars and I am working with a group of 2nd graders on Charlotte's Web.

Our wonderful counselor Ms. Green and I met with the 5th grade leadership students. They designed posters for the canned food drive and for Red Ribbon Week. I am excited to see the positive things they do this year.

The app Novel Effect was great fun during story time this month. The students loved the spooky sound effects!

1st grade got to Skype with Rubin Pingk and learn all about being a ninja and how to draw one. It was a great experience!

For Halloween, the students took a pause from their novel study to write silly MadLib stories. They had to guess who the author was. It was a fun brain break!

Our storybook character pumpkins turned out amazing! 

Bye pumpkins...November is going to be an exciting month! 

September 2019 in the Library

September has just flown by! I feel like it was just Labor Day and now October starts tomorrow. Check out all the awesome things this month has brought below. 

We had a great turnout for Grandparent's Day! 

I received my doctorate degree for participating in Twitter chats last year. We have already had the first one this year with a new format and it is so helpful!

Our first graders celebrated Dot Day by creating 3D dots using the Quaver app.

Our 5th grade Tynker coding club began and the kids are really embracing it! They have already started creating their own projects. 

Cybersafety week included reading these two books that teach about cybersafety in a fun way.

Mrs. Valdez collaborated with me so that I could teach her students cybersafety lessons from Common Sense Media.

Classes were challenged to complete an internet safety pledge and we had 10 classes win a prize for participating. 

5th graders brought in awesome book projects!

The book projects have been so creative! I am excited to see more grade levels like 2nd and third bringing in projects as well. 

Our district held the first annual Literacy for Life event/ There was free food, lots of free books, a book fair, and tons of booths run by GISD staff members. My booth was about figuring out book titles using emojis. Students and parents enjoyed the challenge!

I continued doing a book study with 5th grade about the novel The Lemonade War. 

They held a debate about whether lemonade stands on the street should be allowed.

They prepared their own lemonade stand to bring our novel study to a conclusion. 

They "sold" lemonade to staff members throughout the building. 

It was a great time and they made over $155 in fake cash. 

The students loved acting out the vocabulary words from the novel. This one is malicious mischief!

October is always one of my favorite months. I enjoy the weather getting cooler and fall finally starting. Next month will bring a pumpkin decorating contest, a new novel study, and hopefully even more collaboration opportunities.