Monday, November 14, 2011

Winner announced!!

Congratulations! The winner of the October Giveaway of Library Lifesavers is Tiff! Please send me your name and address, Tiff at shadylanewriter@yahoo.com so I can send it out to you.



Giveaway was processed by an independent agency.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

still here!

No I did not forget to write. I have been fighting a cold and the flu. Thats what happens when you work in a school with sick kids.
will be back soon I hope!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Picture Book Month- November

November is Picture Book Month. I found this wonderful site that has interviews of authors and others on why they love picture books. I love picture books too because they offer everyone a quick read and so much can be done with them. Besides reading them to the younger students, they can be used in so many ways with older students. I will try to give you some of my ideas during the month.
Check out this link: PictureBookMonth

What do you do with picture books??

Thursday, October 20, 2011

October Give Away


Time is running out for the Book Give away!! Leave your comments on any blog for entrance into the October Book Giveaway! Follow the Organized librarian for tips on organizing and lesson ideas.
The book giveaway for October is Library Lifesavers: A survival Guide for Stressed Out Librarians!!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Vera B Williams



Vera's visit was great ! She talked to the 1-3 grade about writing and did a little skit of how a picture book gets published. Then we went upstairs to our library and she held a special audience with the third grade and talked in more detail about her writing. Students asked questions and took notes. Vera read parts of Amber Was Brave, Essie was Smart.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Author Visit Today!

We are having Vera Williams( Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe, Music,Music for Everyone, and more) today at school! I will post some photos here! The students have been hearing her stories and the third grade is getting a special audience with her. It should be great! Tell you more later!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

October Give Away

On my very first giveaway I am giving away Library Lifesavers by the Bacon sisters ( Pamela and Tamora) This easy to read book gives many ideas and suggestions for librarians that are stressed out. Chapters in this great book offer tips on getting organized making a weekly action plan, a mail tacking form for voice, snail, and email. The funniest section is on how to avoid interruptions.
They also discuss energy drains, and what's working, what's not working chart. All in all a great source of ideas for school librarians to get their work lives back in order and to get more done without a feeling of being hit by a train wreck.
A great purchase for any librarian who needs to be more in control of his/her work life and after school life. (Amazon Review)

Okay- here's the deal for the Give Away. Leave a comment here about how you would like to be more organized or also just sign up to follow me on my blog and you will be entered into the October Giveaway.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Mysteries for October

I am hoping to launch a genre study with my fourth graders on mysteries. I have been collecting ideas and book lists . I would like to do a Mystery Wall and have students write Mysteries they have read in an attempt to get more and more students involved in reading Mystery's. I will keep you posted as to how it goes.
What do others do for a Mystery Study? Leave A comment!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Readers NoteBook

I am going to be creating readers notebooks with my fourth grade class. This follows along with our guided reading program and I want to continue the theme into library class. It should be fun! We will track our reading and our mini lessons and our genres!!
I will use some of the sheets from the guided reading programs and will also create some of my own sheets. The ones I create/adapt I will place here at a later date. One is a mini lesson sheet. I think it will be good for students to see what they have learned and reviewed during library class.
Our first step will be to create our " folders" . We will start with Names and Reading Note Book On the front. I got some cool markers and special scissors that I thing students will enjoy using.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

New Books- Checking in/ Processing New books

Yes, I am still unpacking books and supplies from my orders this summer. I check in each book and place the vendor and price in the inside cover. Books are stamped and a date due slip placed in back, and they are ready to go. I get most of my books from Follett, and Perma-Bound already processed.
Books from other vendors ( Junior Library guild) I catalog, make labels, stamp , date due slip, and then they are good to go.
Those are my three major jobbers for books and I pretty much just use those three except when I am ordering Reference sources. This simplifies my ordering and processing.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Fiction book Pass article

My copy of Library Sparks came the other day and yes- my article :"Please Pass the books"was in there!! Naturally I showed everyone and gave a copy to my administrators! I actually had an email from a librarian who wanted to do the book pass with her students. I will post her comment in the comments below.
Did any of you see the article? Leave me a comment about what you think!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Ficiton Book Pass Article

This week when you get your Library Sparks , Check out my article about Please pass the Books an article about fiction book passes for elementary students. Can
't wait to see it. There is also an online attachment for the book pass which should also work well. Let me know what you think about this article! Comments are very much appreciated!!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

First Day of School- but no school!

September 7, 2011
Its our first day with students but school is closed due to flooding.! What a way to start the year.
Any way , at school yesterday and last week. I am putting up posters in a different way and making lots of signage- like labeling my reference section and my magazine and newspaper section . I will also make signs and posters for my library rules and routines and will go them with students when they come for library class or orientation.
Using lots of color - to make areas pop. My library is small and I want it to be inviting for the students. Our other library ( classes run by my aide k-3) is in the historic part of the building so it has beautiful woodwork and a non-working fire place. She always decorates it nicely with posters and lots of signs.