Showing posts with label Library resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Library resources. Show all posts

Friday, November 11, 2022

Library Programs/ Displays Read Local !

   I saw this on a FB post and thought to myself- Why didn't I think of that! It was a book store that was highlighting the local authors and illustrators.

  For the school librarians, I would do a display, a book talk or read out loud to the students.I would make sure they knew who the local authors and illustrators were. In my area,(NEPA and upstate NY Catksills)

  We actually have a lot of authors and illustrators so I could do a lot!  I might highlight / read them according to the level of the books- Picture books for elementary/ Middle,. Ya for upper elementary/ middle and high school.  Nonfiction depending on levels of book / or the content that fits in the curriculum.

  Our local libraries have special sections in each area , that have the local authors, and illustrators. They sometimes host readings of the author with their work.  If they have funding, they also host book signings, readings, and special programs!



Monday, August 9, 2021

Book Club- Middle School

     I held  the first meeting for both 7th and 8th grade this past week. The students are really interested and ready to read. 

     I put out books that I had multiple copies of , and let the students select what they wanted to read.
  My 7th grades all boys. They selected to read Chains.  ( I love this book) So they are up and running. The 8th graders will be reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian( Alexie)

    Seventh graders will meeting after school. Eight grades during their lunch.

   We are required by administration to take attendance and minutes which we hand in.We set a date for the next meeting which was good. So now I can prepare a mini poster with dates on it to hang around the school. Last year I never thought to schedule the next meeting so I feel super organized.

  I will still announce each month when the book club is over morning announcements. Usually I start announcements about three days ahead of time.

   Does anyone else do Middle School book clubs? I would love to hear from you!

Monday, July 12, 2021

Building better libraries- career resources

 Libraries both school and public provide valuable resources for career research and job services, At the school level, many middle and high school have career resources, both print and digital, 

There are also countless websites to assist students in determining what career they might  be interesting in There are also book resources oh specific resources ,  Several teachers did  career research  with students . One year when the goal was thinking about careers, our administrator promoted the career resources  in the morning announcements. 

 On our website we had a career section that had career surveys ( to help students figure out what they would like to do and what they would be good at doing) We also had databases and websites  that highlighted careers and what was necessary to enter in the career.

 Career Resources:

CareerQuiz.com - 

https://careerquiz.org/?msclkid=3b3adcedaea11285ac38bc01cc2599ff

 Occupational  outlook

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/

ProQuest\- 

https://www.proquest.com/

Factcite.org

https://www.factcite.com/texis/user/login.html?to=/


Friday, July 2, 2021

Building Better Libraries-II (Books and digital resources)

 Years and Years ago, when we first started with bar-coding and computers, my principal said to me,"We won't need books anymore" And I strongly disagreed with her, saying "Not in my lifetime!"

 And I still feel that way today! Say you want a particular book- do  you just order it online? You could, but say you go to your  library , do they order it and then give it to you? No . But if the library has it you can borrow it for free,  And other patrons can also borrow it.   The book is stored at the library,

If the library does not have the book, then in most cases, they can get it for you on inter library loan.They even track it down for you , if you can't do it yourself. 

 Card holders can borrow digital books to read on their devices( computers, phones, tables)  This is the most basic common goal of the library. Acquiring books and resources that benefit the community of their patrons. A good library system saves money and builds community.



Thursday, June 3, 2021

Summer reading!

 What are you doing for your summer reading lists this year? Does your district want a list attached to the website? Is your library open during summer school( if you have it) . I am going to do a little research and see , so let me know what  your school/district does.  In the last district I was in we had to have a list on the website .  

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Earth Day activities!

     Earth day is Thursday April 22.  Here are a few sites that have activities that engage students and  bring awareness of Earth day and global conservation!


Education. Com

https://www.education.com/resources/earth-day/?msclkid=72ef303863821bc8cebd504f6a6c81cf&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search%20-%20Spring%20Holidays%20-%20BMM&utm_term=%2Bearth%20%2Bday%20%2Bactivities&utm_content=Earth%20Day

  

  This has some good worksheets and activities for students  to celebrate earth day



Tinkerlab


https://tinkerlab.com/fifty-earth-day-activities/


  Another site using natural materials for students.



Project Learning tree

https://www.plt.org/educator-tips/earth-day-activities/


   Some more interesting activities!


Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Online story creators

 .https://studentreasures.com/s

Student treasures is an online book creator that student will enjoy. It looks to be fairly straightforward and it is free to create. They do sell classroom books and parents can buy their child's books for  $20.00.

There are many resources for teachers : lesson plans, writing work sheets, and ideas for projects. Check this out!

 https://storybird.com/

  Story bird’s  claim is that anyone can produce visual stories in seconds.  Illustrators and artists around the world have their art work available for use by creators of stories.  Families, student’s & teachers, and authors use story bird to create  & publish their own stories.

  Visitors to the site can read books from their favorite writers. They can create their own stories and share them with friends and families.  Teachers can help their students use Story Bird to have them learn the art of writing and have them produce their own books. (This encourages  reluctant writers and readers) Authors use story bird to give them a growing audience and connect with more readers,

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Library Web Page-What is on it?

  I think it is a good idea to periodically check  your Library Web Page. 

1. Are all the links working?  Check the databases or  give student helpers a job and check them. Check other links as well. Sometimes students or teachers may tell you, but more than likely they will just turn to something else on the page or go to Google. 

2. How does the catalog look? is is up to date-sometimes just changing the background if you can , will grab some more attention.

3.If you have a place for comments or questions, check those at least weekly. Or if you have a place for student comments, that needs to be checked.( Glogster, Library Blog, ect)

4. If you have a review section, add reviews weekly. Some catalogs let students review which is a great tool.

5. If you use Google Classroom- make sure it is linking up correctly and looks right.

Monday, March 8, 2021

Wide Open School

 https://wideopenschool.org/  ( Wide Open School) is a new resource provided  by Common Sense Media. It looks to me to be a wonderful site for students, teachers , and parents ,to assist students in learning and growing and furthering their education.

    There are a multitude of learning activities that will work for students.  There is of course, Math, Science, and core school subjects with activity  links- there are also off line activities,  arts and crafts, digital activities,physical fitness,  emotional well being,life skills and virtual field trips. 

     The neat thing is also a  a daily  planning page where a day of activities / lessons are laid out.  They  also provide planning sheets for teachers/ parents/ caregivers to plan their own depending on the student. The plans are based on grade levels so students just pick their grade levels and complete the activities.

   The activities ( games, lessons, ect) are shareable with Google  Classroom , so if you are a teacher you can send specific activities to your student. The plan lays out each day of the week and activities to go with them, The students are even given a screen break and ideas on what to do! 

   I think this site will be invaluable to teachers and parents  working on virtual learning . The activities would also  be doable in the school setting. 


 

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

StoryJumper.com

  StoryJumper.com  is a great site ! A few years ago I did a very brief post about StoyJumper. It has come to my attention again , so I decided to really look and see what they had to offer.

 

    I think teachers and librarians would really like to use StoryJumper with their students. There  is information on the site for teachers . They give examples of projects for student activities in each subject area.( even Math & Science!!)


   There are also  ideas for different types of writing: nonfiction, expository, collaborative projects, and creative writing ideas. And there is opportunity to use student art work or use the StoryJumper art work.


 Students can have their book published online for free; Of course , there are options for the publication of the book in both hardcover or paperback for a fee.


There is a wide selection of student work,that can be read online, which will also give students a chance for reading and a spark to create their own work,

I 


https://www.storyjumper.com/school


Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Virtual learning / read aloud ideas

 Here are some sites with read alouds and  ideas for story times. 

Storytime with Ryan & Craig:  These two guys have a ton of  read alouds The site is easy to use . You can also search for specific titles .

Emily Arrow: Librarian Emily Arrow shares singalongs with music and stories on her YouTube channel. This will give you lots to use if you are doing storytimes this is a good place to look for ideas and songs.

Story Time From Space:  This site has  stories from space . Astronauts  read the stories

These may be helpful if you are doing in person or virtual learning. Do you use any others? I am really looking for more for the middle school age level.


Friday, February 5, 2021

Author Presentation for Second graders~

Author Presentation

   This came up on Face book and I thought I would share. As librarian , you get to provide many extras for your students. This was from a time at school when I gave the Second graders a presentation about the story that  had just been published in Highlights. I talked about how I got the idea, how I wrote the story, and then did revisions, I showed them my writers notebook. ( at the time they were working on writing stories and they we keeping a writers note book , so it really fell into place.

  So any time you are asked to do something not on the ordinary, make every attempt/offer to assist This particular event earned me a lot of brownie points with my teachers,

Sunday, January 31, 2021

World Read Aloud Day!

     On February  3rd,  there will be a World Read Aloud day with several author volunteers doing a quick virtual read aloud with classrooms around the world to share the joy of reading. 

  Some of the authors are Tracey Baptiste, Debbi Michiko Florence, Hena Khan, Meg Medina, Ellen Oh, Dawn Quigley, Rajanni LaRocca, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Linda Urban, Anne Ursu,  Kate Messner and  Renee Watson

  Each  author will  read a five-minute sneak-preview from one of their upcoming books for readers in grades 3-7.  The whole segment will run about an hour.

 The link to the video will be on Kate Messner’s site and she will post it  a day early so that teachers / librarians can embed in Google Classroom if they want . You could also use it in classrooms or share with parents.

The presentations won’t  be long, Kate’s site has the following information.

  • 1-2 minutes: Author introduces himself or herself and talks a little about his or her books.

  • 3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel

  • 5-10  minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing

  • 1-2 minutes: Author book-talks about a couple of  other books they love.

https://katemessner.com


Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Library bulletin boards for February

 Now it is time to think about February and what to do about the bulletin boards.   Here are some ideas :


We love to Read!- Give pink or red hearts  to students and have the write their favorite books. Students can write I Love...   and give the title and their name. Place on BB with letters of slogan on top in black letters - Can use a light background and heart /scallop edges.❤

Black History Month- Place pictures of famous African Americans . You can number them, Give some clues under each one. Students can use references or online sources to find out . Students can give guesses in to you- At the end of the month, place names under each one.

Tech tie in- Tweet a sweet Book! Give students an enlarged note. Place a cute bird on each side of the BB- Students can write their favorite titles on each note and then placed on the BB.💻

Presidents Day- You  can do this similar to Black History Month.( Use presidents that students do not know) Or you could place some presidents  and have students find little know facts on each person.

Fiction to Film: Scan covers of books that you have in your library that have been made into movies.  Place the slogan in the middle and the covers around. A slogan to add  would be: Have you read these?📺💟💟❤

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Quizizz.com- another tool for library and classroom


   Here is another on line tech tool that students, teachers, and librarians will love to use. It is perfect for virtual learning and compatible with Google classroom.


  There is a lesson and quiz creator. But there are also numerous lessons and quizzes already  created that you can use . Some lessons use power point. The Quizzes are self check. 


    There are tutorials to help you set up lessons , which I did not go all the way through, But the steps seem to be easy. Teachers can assign lessons and quizzes. There seems to be a lot of information to assist teachers in using this with their classes.

 

  There are quizzes in English/ Language arts, Math, Science , Social Studies, World languages,

Creative arts, computer skills, and career/ tech education.


Check this out , I think it will be helpful!




https://quizizz.com/teachers?ref=header_tab




Tuesday, January 12, 2021

JeopardyLabs- great tool for library & classroom

  You are going to LOVE JeopardyLabs!  The site was created by Matt Johnson, while working on his undergraduate degree at Washington State University, Vancouver. 

  JeopardyLabs makes it easy to create jeopardy games to use with your students. Building one is easy with the template provided. The games can be played online and students will love them!!

  If you don’t want to create your own, you search for games made by others. There are over 2 million games on jeopardylabs. You can also  keep track of points during play, add more than 3 teams if needed, and edit the games to fit your specific needs.

  This is a really useful tool for review, or post/pre testing of  skills, vocabulary, or topics.

  If you go to the site and search for library skills, reading skills, or literature you will find many games that will be useful for you and your students.

https://jeopardylabs.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Online sources for Internet safety

 If you are looking for additional information and activities for student online safely, here are some links to check out . Parents, teachers, and librarians can use the information to 




 FBI Inerent safety-Information ,games, activities for students and teachers to promote on line safety


https://www.fbi.gov/fbi-kids



 US Department of Justice-  Links that lead to information for teachers and parents


https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/keeping-children-safe-online

https://www.ojp.gov/feature/internet-safety/online-safety-youth




FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Consumer Information  look under Privacy,Identity &o nline security for resources


https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/topics/protecting-kids-online




U.S. Dept of Education-

Ways to keep students safe online


https://www2.ed.gov/free/features/cybersecurity.html



Homeland Security

Resources to keep students safe when at  home


https://www.dhs.gov/blog/2017/06/12/five-tips-keep-your-kids-safe-online-summer


Monday, December 14, 2020

The Girl Who Lived in a Shoe- Book Review

 The Girl who Lived in a Shoe ( and other torn up Tales) is an independently publication written by a group of authors. ( L Smith,  B. Seward, M. Rietz, J. Quist  , & B. Warren) They are actually a writer's group who collaborated to produce this body of work.

   The book is written at a 2nd / 3 rd grade reading level. But it could be used with other grades also. The stories are updated and fractured for the 21st century. Students will love them!! 

   Each author  takes a fairy tale and makes it her own. The stories are geared for today's students  and beyond. Each story is catchy and invites student discussion and engagement.

 My personal favorite story is Rita Van Winkle ( Loreley Smith) and Tara and the Wolf ( Jesse Quist). They are fractured but still retain enough of the original story.  They have updated and unique items incorporated into the stories.

 The illustrations are also unique.. The authors used torn paper to build the illustrations which are extremely well done and very appropriate. On the verso, they also provide a link for free printable activities and information about creating  your own torn up tales, which is great in these times of virtual lessons/

 The book can be found on Amazon. This would be a great addition when you are introducing fairy tales and fractured fairy takes to students . It can be used for 2 and 3rd grades , which is when I introduce both, But I can also see it used in the upper grades!  It would work well  up to Middle school and could be a story starers  for student writers to produce their own , just to analyze differences and similarities , or just enjoy!






Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Librarians- 5 things to do in December

These are a few things I think are good to do during the month of December.
1) Thank/ show appreciation for your staff/ volunteers/ student helpers. You have made this far in then year with a little help from your "friends".  So give a small gift or card. When I had lots  of volunteers ( and a little paid staff) I held a volunteer "tea"  with cold drinks and homemade fruit breads. Do a little speech about how much you appreciate their help and then socialize!

2) Touch base with your administration, especially if  you do not get chances to update them on what is going on in the Library Media Center. I always did a monthly report ( more on that in The Organized Librarian) but I found that most of the time , the report was just filed and not really read.So catch up with them and maker them aware of all you are doing.

3) Check your supplies to see if something is needed.Do this especially if your budget funds must be spent before the end of the year. Order what you need or are low on,

4)  Many times ,this is a slow time of year, when students and staff are winding down for holidays and vacations, Send out some PR  and remind then of how you can help them with resources, activities and lessons.

5) Planning time- if your patrons/ students/ teachers  have few demands, use your time to prepare for January and the rest of the year, Check journals, online resources, and blogs for some new ideas that will draw interest in useing the library and all its resrouces.

Monday, November 16, 2020

Library bulletin boards for December

    December is almost around the corner so it is time to start thinking of new bulletin boards. I like to plan ahead so I start now to figure out what I will put up.  I usually keep my bulletin boards from year to year, So many times I can just pull on out  and put it up. I do not put the same one up each year- I alternate.


  December Bulletin Boards Slogans

Seasons Readings - Put a wreath in the middle with students favorites all around. I use scanned covers.

LOL- Place large letters in the center, Place names or covers of books jokes and riddles.

 Mittens-  make large mittens out of construction paper, Have students write their favorite books on the mitten. Slogan: Keep Warm With Great Books

Battle of the Books: Place  photos of teams on the board with Team names and date of competition.

Books Are Gifts You Give Yourselves.