Summer Vacation

 Yes! It is finally here! Summer! Although for several days now it has been cool and spring like!  I will get back in the groove. I put all my school stuff away except my pile of books that I want to read ( YA 's from school) and some lessons that I want to look over , and my journals with articles marked that I want to read.
  Of course today I went to my public library and got a pile of  magazines and the book Victoria ( from the PBS special)so I will read that first.  ( I will probably do a review too)  My flowers are growing like crazy, and I will soon have to harvest some of my herbs  I Love Summer!

Active Learning Strategies

 Here are some examples of active learning strategies:

 1)Round Robin is a small group activity. Have students in groups of 3 or 4 . Students pass around a paper and each will write a fact, opinion or piece of information on the topic. Time is called at a predetermined time ( say 10 to 15 minutes) This allows students to share knowledge of a topic and discuss what they know about a topic.

2 ) Discussion  . When you have a general discussion as a whole group, have students jot down what they have heard. Do they agree or disagree, or did it give them a new idea or piece of information.

3) Flash cards- Have students make flash cards for use of study for tests or quizzes. Flash cards can also have drawings or words.

4) When students work in pairs, give them a time limit. Students will be more focused when given a limited amount of time.

Fiction Arrangement by Genres

  I was trying to figure out if I had written about this before . I even did a search but did not come up with anything so I am not sure if I am repeating or not. Maybe someone will let me know if I did??

  In both our Middle and High school, the fiction books are arranged my genres and then in alphabetical order.  When I first got there , I said to myself  that It would never work and I would have to change it back to regular  arrangement.
  But now I am sort of glad that we did not. Each genre  has a different color label that goes over the call number , signifying the genre. (example purple for Historical fiction) What this does is that when a student knows he  or she prefers  science fiction, fantasy , or sports books, they can go right to that section to look for another book to read. They don't have to go the card catalog ( on line) to get books in the same genre, This also makes it easy for the library staff to recommend  other titles  in say the same genre or series
  What we did also was assign another prefix to the call letters. So for a Historical fiction book, the call letters look like this in the on line catalog   HF_Fic And.  So if students find it on the catalog , they know where to look.

Toonbooks.com

 Toon.books.com

      Although Toon.books.com  is  a site that is selling  their books , there is a lot of content that can be used by teachers who want to incorporate cartoons  or graphic novels into their classroom. Under the Educators tab, you can find a Comic Genre study, an article on Why Comics? And also CCSS-aligned Teachers' Guides which includes common core standards, lesson plans, and activity sheets.  There are also guides to some of their books.

        Under the Just for Kids tab, you will find cartoon makers,  read along videos, toon craft activities, and tips for parents. So I think this would be a good site for teachers who want to use cartoon and graphic novels  in their classroom.

Active learning - Why do it?

     Active learning breaks up the  lesson into shorter segments. This helps students pay attention longer ad remember more of what is covered.  Active learning encourages integrating of previous knowledge with new information gained.

     Higher level thinking skills are required  in active learning.  Students develop questions  and may be required to find solutions and information, Independent activities give student the ability to incorporate their own learning styles into the activity.

    One of the Library Media ( Information Literacy) skills that go hand in hand with active learning is  questioning. Students need to learn about what makes a good question.

Active Learning- What is it?

     In  Education. Active Learning (engaging students in activities/ projects/ problems) is the way to provide students with an interesting and effective way  to learn.

     Active learning is the practice of doing, practicing investigating the material during each class session. It is not having student’s listening to the teacher and taking notes.

    So what is it?  Active learning is designing activities around learning outcomes of each lesson or session. The students are ‘doing’ something with the topic at hand. They are reading, hearing, seeing/ viewing, investigating the topic, or, discussing materials.

       Active learning can be done singly, with a partner or in a small group.

Inventory Time at My school library.

     I am getting  the scanning for my inventory all done. There are just a couple of sections yet to do. MY non-fiction has not been done for at least 8 years! My Reference section probably even longer~! So we will see how that all comes out.
      The next  step is going back  to look for copies that were either missing or did not scan into the scanner, It is a new scanner so we do not have the ability to punch in the number if the barcode does not go in. Then we input the number into the report section if the item is  found. ( This is a step in the Destiny/ Follett system which is something new for me)
     The third step is to finalize. I am not sure if this is done though the reports , book by book, or we can d o it a section at a time.
      The inventory has gone pretty good  so far. But I also need to remember that my collection is very small and we did weed out books that were terrible shape. This collection has not been weeded in two years at least.
     But by doing the inventory I was able to learn more about my collection and what is exactly in it. This is will help me in future orders and also in helping  teachers and students when they are looking for something specific.

TeenReads

Teen Reads.com

   Teenreads  is a part of Book Report Network.  BookReport Network aim/ goal is to provide book reviews, articles, author profiles & interviews & excerpts news releases.

  Teen reads is aimed at students from 12 to 18. On the main page you will find ways to connect /interact with the providers by voting in their current poll, answering the current question, giving your reading recommendations or writing to the editor. This is aimed for the teens to interact with the providers and other teen readers.

Tabs at the top of the page are: reviews, authors, features, reading list, contests, teen board, blog and newsletter just to name a few. 

I plan on diving into the reviews and what’s coming soon. This site is well planned out and easy to use.

Library /reading bulletin boards for June

   Some ideas for you for your June Bulletin Boards::  It's the end of the year so get ready for lots to do!

  Summer Read- Feature covers of student favorites . Use names and say" Jeanne recommends"

  Get Carried away with Books- Balloons or hot air balloons. If you want - add titles to balloons.

   Hot Days- Cool Books- summer scene-  reading on the beach

  Photos of students  reading their favorite books in their favorite places.

  Dive Deep  Into Reading- under the ocean, fish, sharks, water plants.


Special Days:
Fathers Day
Flag Day
Summer

Awesomelibrary.org- geat site

    Awesomelibrary .org is both awesome and amazing!  The tag line on the main page is that Amazing library organizes the internet with about 37, 000 sources.

    There are 30 tabs in block form in the center of the main pages. There is also a search box. The top tabs are Teachers, Kids, Teens, Parents, librarians and College. Each of those links takes the viewer to the next level where you can find specific sites for additional topics.

   Example: Under teens, there are school subjects( Math, Language arts,  Science, Technology ,English,  Social  Studies, the arts, health & PE ) and then there are also links for activities and more( Games, projects, Friends, questions, .authors, ) Each  link takes you to a page that has links .

      My focus is to find what they offer for librarians, teachers, and student’s. I feel that this will be a valuable site for librarians, educators, and students.

Organizing Your Day Using To Do lists!

   So you have your  To Do List  and you eliminated or delegated  tasks (See   post on 5/2/17 )

A good idea to make you more efficient is grouping or batching tasks or jobs.(See The Organized Librarian- my book - offered at this blog)  This works well  with small tasks or routine items. You can batch  small tasks like filing, shelving, budget work, or items that require the same mind or time frame. 

  Some Examples: 1) Take all papers, mail, handouts, budget sheets  to needed locations in one trip, 2) Do one project ( or section of a project) at a time . Work on it until completed or the task is completed before starting another task/ project, 3) Set aside certain times for checking emails, making phone calls, 4) phone contacts  to confirm meeting times and places.

Work from your To Do list with  3 to 5 items per day. Focus on getting those items done. At the end of the day, you will see  and feel accomplished .

Wing & Claw: Forest of Wonders- Weekly Reading

  A new series by Linda Sue Park is Wing and Claw: Forest of Wonders  really caught my attention. Raffa, a young apothecary is learning to use the woods gatherings  of leaves and herbs from his Father. He finds a special vine with strong powers. With it he saves a small bat, but the vine leaves the bat with extraordinary powers.
    Raffa continues to experiment with the vine,  but he also wants to warn his cousin  of its power. The cousin and his family have moved to the big city to be apothecaries there.
     Something Raffa discovers  is very upsetting and he needs to  find out the truth about his relatives. This puts him in some danger, This a new series - I can't  wait to read the next one to see what happens!

Using post –it’ notes to organize

   When working on projects, I collect papers and printouts.  If it is a large project with multi pages ( like 7 or more) I will label a file folder  and place the papers inside the file to keep them all together.

 But if the project is small or has just a couple of papers, and it is one I will do relatively quickly 

( within day or two), then this is what I do. I will paper clip the items together and then mark them with a small post it note.  ( On large  post -it notes  I cut them in half- the right way so they will stick.) Then I mark what they papers refer to or what I need to do with them.

   This way I can put them in  my  work basket,  and  then complete them quickly the next several days. (See small and large projects in my book The Organized Librarian!)  

  The post its help me organize and remind me what to do, and this  keeps me going in the right direction of being organized and getting stuff done,