This week we celebrated our first Dot Day.  We created something from a dot using the doodle buddy app and then uploaded it to our google drive folder.

 

 

So it is time to start posting again.  Christina Jontra found this on Facebook and it seemed a perfect way to start blogging again.

March Currently

Currently--- finally Blogging Again

April Currently

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

The elementary students enjoyed celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday this month.
K5 listened to One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and played a concentration game.
 First Grade listened to Tim Tebow read Green Eggs and Ham and made a tic-tac-toe game.
Third Grade listened to The Boy of  Fairfield Street.
Fourth Grade listened to Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!  

We used these apps to take pictures with the iPads.  

Currently

It's hard to believe March is already here.....

100th Day of School

We celebrated the 100th day of School in the library by looking at 100 books.  The students then tried to guess how many books were in the library!  I used the app Pic Collage to make my collage.  I learned all about Pic Collage at TCEA.  

Currently....Finally

I love the Olympics, it is finally snowing it Tyler, I loved TCEA--but I need to take the time to look through all my notes, I've been out of town the last 3 weekends and I'm looking forward to a peaceful weekend, maybe if it is quiet this weekend I can get caught up, hmmmmm I've been to Uganda, Megan lives in NYC, and I've never eaten peanut butter nor do I ever want too!! 

TCEA

We are registered and ready!!! 

This week has been really cold--so snow books seemed to fit perfectly.

First Grade listened to me read Jan Brett's Three Snow Bears.  Then we took the AR test together to practice test taking skills.  We finished by watching a video from Jan Brett's website.  I love the way she talks to the students about why and how she writes a book.  We didn't watch all of this but got to see the real polar bears, her trip to the Arctic Circle, and the beginning of her drawing a baby polar bear.




Kindergarten Students enjoyed listening to Snow by Uri Shulevitz, and then All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle.  I told them I wanted them to be prepared if it ever snowed in Tyler.  We finished library by creating our own snowmen.  

January Currently

I really love college football. This is fun time with my husband

My daughter was home from her job in NYC, my son home from Texas A&M. We spent lots of time with my brother and his family and our friends.  Christmas was relaxed and fun.

My life isn't perfect-- but I can see God's hand in it.

I love decorating the house--- but hate taking it down.

I really need to spend time in my closet--maybe that can be my summer job.

My family has always eaten homemade tamales for Christmas Eve.  This year Matt got us some from a little Mexican shack under a railroad bridge-- he swears they have a current health department inspection.  These were the best tamales ever--they were wrapped in banana leaves not corn husks!

Library Book Tree

Our library book tree got a new look this year. It has a dowel rod running down the middle to help support it.  I drilled a hole through the spine of each book and then threaded the dowel rod through them.  I also added battery operated wire lights---so much better than having to roll the book truck over the extension cord.  I'm not sure who enjoys the tree the most-- me, my students, the parents or the other staff!! 

Merry Christmas from the GCS Elementary Library!

It's Christmas Time in the Library--well almost!

Last week the Kindergartners lost their gingerbread man.  He was spotted all over the school.  He even ran through the library a time or two.  This week during Kindergarten library we will watch The Gingerbread Baby, read the Gingerbread Baby's Friends and watch a quick movie of Jan Brett making Gingerbread Cookies.  If you haven't visited her website I would encourage it.  My favorite part of the site are the videos she has made where she teaches the children how to draw or explains her books.  I think it is great for the students to "see" the author of a book.



First Grade is getting to listen to a new book--An Otis Christmas.  I'm excited about reading it to them.  I just love new books.

Second grade will get to listen to Otis also and play a game I found on TPT.  It is called I have, You have and reviews the Christmas Story.

Third Grade enjoyed the book Christmas Cookies--Bite-Size Holiday Lessons.  After listening they completed a crossword puzzle using the words introduced in the book.  Crossword Puzzle and Bookmark. My goal for this summer is to make something cute for this book and put it on TPT.

Fourth Grade isn't having library next week, so this week they will get to watch The Candy Maker's Christmas and eat candy canes.  This is a long standing Christmas tradition at Grace Community School.  I sure am glad that my K5 teachers are willing to share their wipes with me.  Clean hands (before books are checked out) is a must!!

Fifth Grade worked this week.  Last week they wrote one question using the atlas.  Their paper had to have their name, question, answer and page number of the answer--if you didn't include these you were automatically knocked out of the game.  Sadly to say many were knocked out at this step.  This week I asked the questions and the students used the atlas to answer the questions.  They had to give me the page number and the answer--and if they did I gave them "smarties".  If a question goes through all three classes without being knocked out--I will buy that student lunch.  I have only bought lunch 3 times in 14 years.  I can't wait to see if I have a winner next week.

Fifth grade has also participate in Projects by Jen'-- Christmas Card Exchange.   The students made mitten cards and we mailed them to 90 different places.  After Christmas, we will begin our year by finding the different schools we received cards from using Google Earth on the iPads.  This was a way to incorporate technology into our Atlas unit. 

Currently

Salvation Army, Biographies, iPads, Evaluations--OH MY

I love being a librarian.
I love getting to see first -fifth grade every week and kindergarten every other.
I'm also glad to help the teachers out when I can.  Last week I showed the OCC movies, and this week my classes have watch a video and learned how to sign up for Salvation Army bell ringing.  Of course I forgot to show it to my first 2 classes--but their teachers were flexible and I showed it to all 72 third graders at the same time!
Third grade began biographies this week.  We watch a power point by The Book Bug. I tweaked it to match my library call numbers.  This was the perfect introductions to biographies.

Click on The Book Bug for the link.

Second Grade read the book, The Plump and Perky Turkey.  Then they labeled the parts of the book as a group using an activity I purchased on TPT.  I cut apart the parts of the books, put them on a table, and called students to choose a card and then find the part in my book.  It was a great review of the parts of a book.

                                            

First Grade finished the Library Mouse series.  They are looking forward to seeing if the author Daniel Kirk writes any more adventures.
                                                               
Fifth grade used the iPads to play a game review the library.  It was purchased from TPT.  It was easy to make and the kids had a blast.  I used guided access to set the iPads on the i-nigma reader. This kept the students from playing at will with the iPads.  I was also observed during one of my three classes. My vice-principal was impressed with my integration of technology during library.  I had laminated the game parts--we discovered that if the overhead lights were on the glare was bad enough they cards couldn't be scanned.  We turned off the overhead and used the spotlights and it worked perfect.
                                                                   

Fourth Grade finished their unit on Non Fiction books by completing a Venn Diagram on the iPad.  I used the app Explain Everything, and an activity from TPT.  The students completed the Venn Diagram in pairs and then took a screen shot of their final work.  This allowed me to see what they had done.  I might also email their parents just to brag on their skills! 

I am really enjoying incorporating the iPads into my library skills time.  I have started a file of lessons I've used and lessons other Librarians have used that I read about on their blogs.  Hopefully I will upload them onto the iPad section of my blog soon.

Operation Christmas Child

This week I got to show the Operation Christmas Child video
to all the K5-5th grade classes.  Their exit ticket to check out books was to tell me one item they would put in their shoebox.  It was a great way to review what's appropriate and what's not.





The Fourth and Fifth Graders got to watch a special packing video.  It took them a minute to calm down but I'm thinking they will remember to pack a shoebox.



Each child left the library with a prayer bookmark to help them pray for the child who will receive their shoebox.

Currently

Explain Everything and More

I read a blog post by Matt Gomez.   It was how to use the app Explain Everything.

 After watching his video on it--my mind began to think about ways I could use it in the library.  But before I could use what I made for the library--The FIFTIETH day of school happened. Kindergarten teachers needed an activity, TPT had one, and Explain Everything was the quickest way I could make a game that all 4 teachers could easily access on their iPads.  Once you create the activity in Explain Everything, just save it in your Google drive and share it.

                                          

First Grade continued with the library mouse series. They also labeled a worksheet with the correct part of the book--TPT again.

                                                                 

Second grade also continued with the parts of books.  They also did a little cutting and gluing in the library. I found this on pinterest.

      

Fourth grade is working with Non Fiction books.  I used explain everything to complete this worksheet and then the kids paired up and completed a worksheet together.  They shared at the end of class.  I am going to start including the name of a blog when I save a free worksheet so that I can give the person credit.   

                                                          

Fifth Grade review the almanac using question cards that required them to use the index! I also signed the fifth grade up to do a Christmas Card Exchange.  They are going to make the cards in art, I'll mail them and then we will use our iPads and Google Earth to create a map to show where the cards they receive come from.   

"L" is for Library and more

Last week was "L" week in K4 and they journeyed up the hall to the library to visit  the librarian!  It was a quick field trip that required no transportation.  We had fun reading I Took My Frog to the Library.

K5 had fun falling into books.  We read Leaf Man, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves and two new books--Going on a Leaf Hunt and Tap the Magic Tree.  We practiced sequencing using an activity from TPT.  

   

First grade also got to read Tap the Magic Tree and then we read the Library Mouse A Friend's Tale and  labeled parts of books.

Second Grade reviewed parts of books with the power point The Library Doors.  I love this power point because there is a place where I stop it, let the students check out books, then we go back to the power point and find the various parts of the books listed on the remaining to screens using their newly checked out books.  I also love using my iPad, Slide Shark, and Reflections to project the power point.

Third Grade did a crossword puzzle to review parts of the book.  Next week they will take an easy test to see if they learned all their parts.  We also discussed that there are more books in the library than Magic Treehouse and Geronimo Stilton.  I encouraged them to try a Cam Jansen, Horrible Harry, Ruthie's Gift, Encyclopedia Brown, AstroKid , or Boxcar Children to name a few. 

Fourth grade got a quick lesson on the school website and how to find the eBooks necessary for the project on colonial jobs.  I reminded them to use the search engine on the website.  Then showed them how to log in to read the eBooks. books with.  While we were looking at the books of course we looked at the parts of nonfiction books.  Click here for eBooks.

Fifth grade reviewed the differences of Historical Fiction and Non Fiction.  We then searched for the book needed to complete their wax museum project.  Wax Museum will be November 20th.  Each student will dress up as a character important to world history. They also need to bring a prop to illustrate what makes them important in shaping our history.