Thursday, August 31, 2017

New School Year!

 Tomorrow is our first day- conference day  with staff. It will be an interesting year. Our assistant superintendent retired the end of June and we have a new  young  assistant superintend  Our superintendent retired in the middle of the summer  so now we have an intern . So we will see how that goes.
  My principal is away til next week,so I guess our Assistant Principal will be in charge for tomorrow. I am hoping to get into the Library. I did go the other day and went through the mail and put as much as I could back in place from the cleaning over the summer.

  The first thing I will do is send emails regarding library orientation and possible  research help.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

September Bulletin Boards

  Yes I know many of  you are back in school already and probably have your "Welcome back" bulletin boards already . We go  back the first week of September.
  I will put up something like the following:

Fall in Love with Reading

Leaf though a Good Book

Fall in love with  your library

Rake in a good read

Welcome Back - The books missed you!

All of these can be done with a simple background,  a tree, and some leaves!

Friday, August 25, 2017

Project Based learning- Why should we use it?

   Project Based Learning is the way most of the world works now. If you think about your life at home, and your life at work , you can see that we go through a variety of tasks and projects throughout each day. Each task requires that you learn new things and acquire new skills as you complete tasks.

   In real life , we don't spend several hours listening as authorities  in their subject area speak on and on. We  start with what we know and then we ask questions  about what we need to complete the task,

  The research shows that PBL is more effective than  the traditional lesson plan model. In Japan, Finland, Sweden and Denmark use this plan and believe it is the best way to learn. ( They score the highest on math and science tests.)

 The PBL teaching and learning approach  takes more time to plan. It also requires collaboration with other teachers.  And  it requires students have a set of skills that work with the process.
   This year, I am going to emphasize the PBL to my staff and hope to work with them to incorporate PBL into their lessons and curriculum, so I will be writing more about this as I do more research on the system.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Project Based Learning

   Shannon talked about Project Based Learning and Project Parades. In Project Based Learning, students are engaged in their own learning. PBL helps the students focus, requires higher order thinking skills, ad encouraged  and encourages partner or group work.  There is a lot of discussion among student, teachers and administrators.

    PBL is learning in which the students produce something useful to share with others. In the process of  creating the project , the student leans the inquiry  ( Scientific ) method, howto gather information and facts, analyzing data, write and record the facts ( produce the project) and then finally present the project.

     PBL emphasizes  creativity,thinking skills, cooperation, collaboration, and communication.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Shannon McClintock Miller



   Shannon McClintock Miller  was an awesome presenter a our NYLA Institute. The theme was "Future Ready Librarians :You lead the way!"  She had so many fantastic new tech tools to use with students. I will try and highlight them as I go back over notes and play with them and see how they work.

  Shannon is ten"Future Ready Librarian  and Project Connect " Spokesperson. So her first part of her information was about the spokes on the wheel of a future ready schools  framework.( New York is a Future Ready school state)

   School Librarians lead, teach,  and support their school s and districts future in education of students.As librarians we an connect staff and students to the leading edge of digital learning,

 If you look at the list below, you can see the different spokes  . Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessments  is the spoke that Shannon spent the most time discussing the newest digital  resources,
( I could not seem to copy the graphic!)

THE 7 GEARS OF THE FUTURE READY FRAMEWORK ARE:

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

MakerSpaces- Evening Event

    At our Institute we had a "MakerSpaces Petting Zoo". NO there were no pets , but what we did see was 16 different and incredible MakerSpaces Ideas for our students.

     The 3 -D printer was of course the biggie~! They used student friendly tinker cards. The students would have a blast with this. and would the staff.  I think it might be best for older elementary , middle and high school students. /students  create the desired object and then can watch as the printer builds the object.

      The Lego stations of course were popular, This I think would be the most easy and affordable for most schools.  They can be used with students of all ages , as there are three different levels of kits. There are robots to be build and also lego story starters for the younger set.

     The Little bits had  electric  modules that snap together . Students create circuits that have movement, light and sound. To me this looks like a system for middle and high school age students. There are 'patterns'to follow' to show students what they can actually build.

  This is just a sampling of some of the ones that  I think would work for   my building;
   


Thursday, August 10, 2017

Weekly Reading- The House at Riverton

  Kate Morton has done it again with The House at Riverton !  Before WWI , Grace went to work at Riverton House for the Hartford family.  There is a movie to be made about the family and the tragedies that befell  them - and the tragic death of a family friend.  Grace,w as one of the witness actually knew the truth about what happened.

 The story is told in flashback pattern and brings to life the story of the wealthy family, and how life was lived in the 1920's and up to WWII. Grace tells the story of the family and the members of the household who worked at the house. We get a clear picture of what life was like.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Summer Institute for Librarians

 Wow- what we packed in for a day and half was amazing!  The most fun of course was the 'Maker Spaces Petting Zoo" and  the  Auctions!  
  The Petting Zoo was so cool!  The Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES  was so cool. We got to see in action and try out some really amazing maker space items: 3d printing,  green screens, Ozobots,  little bits, and dash and dot to name a few.  Would really love to do something like this in our library- even though I am really short on space.
 The Scholarship  Auction was fun!  There were great items donated by some major companies( Perma Bound, Kapco, and even some of the Maker Space companies. Then the regular auction  - there were baskets with some wonderful items that groups put together - those brought in the  big bucks. We had fun bidding- tons of laughS as librarians tried to outbid each other. The most popular were the wine baskets, and the Mo Williams baskets.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Summer Institute for school Librarians

   I am so excited to be getting ready for our NYLA /SSL educational leadership institute! It is this week at Cornell University .( Ithaca, NY) The theme this year is Future Ready Librarians: You Lead the Way! 
   The presenters are Shannon McClintock Miller( The library Voice blog@  http://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/ )who is a library mover and shaker. I am sure she will be very inspirational and a motivator   with some new ideas.
   The other presenter is Jim Belair from Monroe.2-Orleans BOCES and an adjunct professor at University of Buffalo.  I am expecting to get some fantastic ideas from this institute. I will share some of the stuff next week in a follow up post.So check back here and see a post or two ob Future REady Librarians, and some ideas on new programs and issues.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Weekly Reading/American Heiress


   American Heiress is another great novel done by Daisy Goodwin .  Set in the 1890's , it begins in Newport, RI.  Cora Cash , as a young American " Princes"becomes a young lady, and is from one of the wealthiest family's in the East Coast.
   Her mother is intent is for her to marry well and into a title. After her debut,  she arrives in England to be brought out in English Society.  Quite by accident ( a horseback riding accident actually) Cora meets a very eligible ( but poor) Duke who rescues her. Their love story ends in a marriage that is both full of love, mystery, and scandal. A very good read you won't want to end.


Tuesday, July 25, 2017

More Active Learning Strategies

 Picture Prompts- show students an image with out a caption or explanation.(For History use a primary resource from  your libraries webpage) . Ask students to identify , explain, and give evidence for their answers.  Ask students to use terms from a previous lecture or to name the processes or  show concepts ( think Science) This can be a whole group  activity, or small groups or pairs. Students can then share their ideas.

Think -Break-  Ask a  rhetorical question. Allow 20 to 30 seconds for students to think about the problem. Students can then write something down about the solution  or the problem. You can then go on to explain or expand the topic being covered.

Update Notes- Take a break for 2 to 3 minutes to allow students to compare  class notes ( with the other students)  and to allow students to fill in the gaps and develop questions.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Weekly Reading- The Lake House

     Kate Morton's  The Lake House was excellent! Although in the middle I was wondering where it all was going . But at the end I could not believe how it turned out.  The novel spans a time frame of 70 years , so it goes back and forth between the two story lines.

   Alice,in the 1930's, and her family in Cornwall- and their privileged life.  The family's country estate is well hidden  but the home of a proper English family.The tragedy of  what happened with her Father and her Mother is kept secret from the world.  ( Father's shell shocked/ disappearance of  11 month old baby Theo)

   Sara, nearly seventy years later when visiting her grandfather, stumbles upon the estate  .  As a Detective she is intrigued by the story of the missing  and adored baby, so she is determined to find the answers of happened all those years ago.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Middle School Lessons- Online Card Catalog

 Lesson for Online Card Catalog- Follett Destiny

 "Searching for a Book"


1) Review of Destiny- finding  library page, and where to find card catalog.
2) Discussion of ways to locate / or search the materials in the library.

Vocabulary: online catalog,author, title, subject, series, call numbers,  genres, keywords

 Resources needed:
   ( Students)Computers with internet access . Destiny worksheet
   ( LMS) whiteboard with internet access

Where the lesson takes place: in the library or computer lab

Student completes worksheet.