Sunday, October 30, 2016

Weekly Reading

    Every week , I pick at least one book to read from my middle school collection.Sometimes it's a brand new book, other times it's just one that catches my eye and I think looks good. I want to be able to recommend books to the students and also know whats in my collection.

   I am reading Phillipa Gregory's Changeling. Actually I had read it before , but now I am reading to determine if we should get the then next one in this series- I am thinking I already read the next one because I have read all of her books as they are interesting and a great read.

 Short summary: Luca ( age 17)  is recruited to record the end of times across
Europe. Isolde ( also 17)is trapped in a nunnery, following her dead fathers wishes.  Luca is sent to the nunnery to investigate some strange occurrence.

  

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

November Bulletin Board Ideas


           November  Bulletin Board Ideas:

   Elect to read!
   Children's Book Week,
   Don't be a turkey, Read!
   Be Thankful for great books.
   What are you Thankful for?
   Gobble up these  great books - turkey with book covers of book chosen by you or students
   Pick a winner- football theme

Monday, October 24, 2016

Photos of my desk

On the right- my daily planner book, my librarian notebook and manuals for my library circ programs. My basket is used to put important files and papers.That is my "To Do File"

Right hand side- my weekly files with projects I am working on, also meeting files, budget files, and  files used daily or weekly!

The whole thing - How I leave it almost every night!

Monday, October 17, 2016

For Librarians- my office desk

    On my desk there is are two file sorters because I do not have a file cabinet on my desk. These are  items use on a daily and weekly basis. Every thing else is in my file cabinet or will be in my file cabinet when I get my filing supplies.

    In the front of one file sorter I have my to do file.In that there are items that I need to work on . I also have a to file folder, and also a to read file which is full of items to read.
   Then I have several folders of  things I am working on . I really like to focus on one project at a time- I feel that is the best way to get tasks accomplished.  But there are a few things ( like my monthly report and my monthly newsletter that I work on a little at a time , staring in the middle of the month).

 So for right now  I have a book club folder- my first meeting was last week and I have two more this week. After that I will move that folder until I need it.  It  have a folder  with my budget work in it - because that is something that I will use until my money is spent.

 In another stack sorter, I have my plan book, my " important papers" note book and also printed manuals about my circ system and other items that I refer to on a daily basis.

  This keeps my desk clean and organized.  I know where everything is and I can pullout what I need when need itl

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Teaching with Primary Sources: Historical Photographs

 Teaching with photographs( primary sources) motivates and encourages students to ask good questions and will eventually lead to higher order thinking.  Primary Source photographs inspire students to think about the past an relate it to their life today.

  As educators we need to determine questions about each photograph.  Students will need to study and investigate the photograph to locate information and  think of an answer to a question.
 This  will bring an emphasis on inquiry learning with encourages  learns to observe, analyze,  and form their own ideas on the primary source, This also helps them build knowledge.

More information will follow  about the Library Of Congress website - check this out for Primary Sources useful for American History.

https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Friday, October 7, 2016

Reading Posters from the library!

   I will be working with my art teacher to produce reading posters. The poster will be a montage of students reading in different locations ( maybe even at their homes with their pets or siblings??) I would like to make a couple for each floor and perhaps even doubles of some of the photos.

  The art teacher is going to mount them on poster board. We will come up with a catchy slogan- perhaps more than one. 

  I am hoping to show how many students like reading and do read.  I am open to students reading newspapers, comics,  or magazines. I will also catch students reading text books, signs, and posters.  This will be a great way to showcase reading at the middle School or on any level/.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Library Calendar of classes and activiites.

 I just finished this posting my library calendar on the school library's website.   It was there before  but not up to date or very visible to the staff. What I did was place the link to the calendar in the middle of the main page. 

 On the calendar, I have posted the classes that will be in the library for that week. This way  teacher can look at the calendar and see if the library is open for students to  come and  check out books or be sent to do computer work or research.   Also teachers can look at it and plan  when to bring students or have students work on projects.

  Many times during the course of the week, I am into classrooms and or in the lab helping students do research  so this is also helpful to know if I am there or not. My assistant is not always there , so I may find a way to indicate that information.

   I then sent a mass email to staff and told them about where the link was to the calendar. I am hoping this will also serve as a reminder  that they can reserve the library and it resources for their classwork.

Friday, September 30, 2016

Reading & Writing Partnership- Librarians and teachers

     School Librarians  make good partners with ELA and reading teachers. Librarians provide oral and silent reading  depending on the grade  level. We  as Librarians provide quality books to help improve reading scores.

   In the context of reading , students often are asked to describe , synthesize, analyze, and critique their  understanding of what they have read. So when librarians provide books, model and share our love of reading, we can motivate and encourage  more student reading.

   Discussions, book clubs, reviews, casual conversation,   and book challenges are all part of the job. We need to read and know the quality books in our collection in order to motivate our students. So big surprise we need to read!

Monday, September 26, 2016

Bulletin Boards for October

  These are just a few ideas for October:

 Fall in love with reading!  leaves falling down to the ground from a bare tree- could put titles of books on the leaves

Scare up some good books- ghosts with titles on it

Pick of the patch- lots of pumpkins!

Reading is a Scream - put up covers of
scary or horror  books all around the letters!

Thursday, September 22, 2016

One Goal for the school year

One of the goals of the school library media specialist  is to promote  reading and also work with staff  to help improve reading scores.  This is one of my goals this year. When students become better readers they do better in school.

  So here is a few ideas that I will use to work on this goal.  Student made reading posters, books displays, author posters,   book discussion groups,  library recess groups, use of the AR program, and reading motivation programs.  I am also hoping to work more closely with reading and ELA teachers,

  A few more ideas  to get students more involved in good books are: shelf talkers, student book reviews on our website and reading workshops.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Library or Classroom Project- Did you Know?

      An interesting and little different author/ reading project is an Author Poster, which could be do as a small group or individual  project  .  Students choose a favorite author to research . They will find interesting biographical information  about the author. "Did you know?" can be the heading and the information can be listed in bullets or around  appropriate images or clip art or the authors photo. This poster will also have a list of titles  written by the author. 
       This will provide students with good suggestions for excellent  reads. The posters can be displayed in the library, in the hallways and in classrooms. After having several done, the posters can be swapped out for different ones  to provide variety, interest and surprise.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Library Databases & Passwords

   Last week got away from me and I did not post- guess it was the first week of school thing.  Anyway I am planning a type of book mark or "cheat sheet"  for use by my staff and students.  This will provide  the log in and passwords  to our school databases. ( could also be adapted for the public library  if they have passwords)

   Students will be shown the  log in and passwords when I instruct them on the databases. I will have the 'bookmarks' available  for anyone who wants them during a research project for their use and to keep. We will also have copies at the circ desk in the library, by the computer bank in the library, and also in the computer lab.   Another larger copy can be taped to the laptop carts that are used by the students in their classrooms.
  I am also planning to give the teachers laminated  one for their personal use. This will help keep students and staff   to have easy access ( and a reminder) to the effectiveness of the databases.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Series list for students!

   The students in my middle school love to read series books. We always are stopping to check what order the titles  should be read. So I am hoping this year to a make " Series" books which will be kept at the  circulation desk.

  In it  will  be Authors name, series name, title of books and the order in which they should be read.
In the future as we purchase new titles and series , we will put numbers on the spine and also try to shelves them in number order.

 Then student can check the  lists and the shelves easily to get the book in the series they want.