First Grade Graphic Organizer- Animal Reports

Link to the First Grade Animal Research

Students in the first grade recently worked on a unit and learned about one of our library's databases.( Exploring Nature). Students also used a non- fiction book from our library. We have an easy non-fiction book section which is very popular with the young students.
Here is the link to the graphic organizer!

First Grade Animal Graphic Organizer

First Grade- collaborative lesson!

First Grade students doing research! The students came down to the library and logged in on the computer. Most of them remembered how to find the library page and went quickly to the data base section! ( I think that is the beauty of showing them this- they were so excited to be doing "work" like the older students that they really listened! ) Some of the students needed a little help to find their animal . After they found it , most were able to read and they started filling out their graphic organizer. The students who read above first grade level actually got some extra facts about their animal. They had to find : what does the animal looks like, habitat, how they take care of their babies, and other facts. I will try and post the organizer if I can figure out how to do it.

First Grade- collaborative lesson!

I had my intro class with my First grade class. I went into the room and set up our library's web page. The steps to get to the Data base was shown . Students were also told that if they had computer and internet they could get here from home. Log in was completed, and then students were shown how to select there level. On the main search page, one student was asked what his animal was. Then we did some " higher level thinking" to figure out what we should click on to find that animal.

We then looked and found the animal in the list and clicked on that . Students were shown the different headings. Students were also shown a graphic organizer that I had developed for them to fill in. The students were also shown the side where they could print out a labeling chart of the animal.

On the smart board we went back to the Main search page, and did some more higher order thinking to figure out where some of the other students might click on to find their animal.
Tomorrow the students will come to my library - in two groups- and work on my bank of computers. We will have two adults beside myself that will be able to assist with the task of finding facts on their animal!

February Giveaway- Announced!!

Drum roll please!! My February give away is for the Book "Collaborative Library lessons for the primary grades"! This is a great resource.
And the Winner is Stacy!!
Stacy- Please send me your information so I mail the book to the correct address!!

First Grade- collaborative lesson!

I am working with one of my first grade teachers to highlight a data Base (Exploring Nature) with the first grade students. In the NY Common Core, there is a piece actually for all grades to use more nonfiction. This is the first grade students introduction to non-fiction so they are using nonfiction books about animals from the library . I will go into the classroom and we will introduce the Data base and how to use it and find s three more facts on their chosen animal. Then I and a parent volunteer will take small groups of students into my library and have them log in and use the database. Instructions for use at home if they have computer access will also be given.

Exploring Nature

School Libraries Work- Scholastic

Today - another snow day- even though it is really mostly freezing rain and ice, there was a little snow and snow left over from yesterday. I have included a link from Scholastic . Their study includes many great talking points about the importance of school libraries and librarians. This document should be in every administrators need to read pile. Send one to your administrators and then also follow up with a meeting to discuss some of the points. We need to be proactive and show our importance to the school community



School Libraries Work

Battle of the Books- Team Posters!

Tomorrow we announce the first round of the Battle of the books. We will be holding it on March 28, 2012. We will be setting up in a large room where the students can sit on the floor in their teams. Last year we held the first round in the library and it was a little packed. So I wanted more room to spread out. The students will be working on their team posters. Each poster can be done on an 11 by 18 poster board or construction paper. The team name is to be in the center and can then be decorated with team players names and other drawings or clip art around the team name. The signs are helpful when we are keeping track of points at both the first and second round of the challenge.

Don't forget to post or join up!

February giveway time is ending soon! Don't forget to post a comment or join the blog!

Focus on School Libraries

This is an excellent article on the importance of school libraries and librarians. I am using it with my administration and union president. Budget meetings are being held and they are discussing all possibilities of what can and can't be cut. Check out this article if you need some arguments for the role of the school librarian.

ALA Presidential Task Force: Focus on School Libraries

Nomination?

I got this email the other day. I am not sure what the catch is. But I am posting. Just to see.

Hi there,

An article you wrote in 2012 titled The Organized Librarian- lesson planning has earned your blog a nomination for a Fascination Award: 2012's Most Fascinating Librarian blog.

The comments posted in response to your post prove that your content not only inspires your audience, but it also creates discussion around your posts, both of which are requirements for the nomination of a Fascination award.

As a nominee of this award, you have full permission to display the "Nominated" emblem on your website. To learn more about the contest, the rules, or the prizes, click here: 2012 Fascination Awards Rules & Prizes.

To get started:

Accept your nomination by replying to this email by Thursday February 24th (11:59 PM EST).
Claim your "Nominated" badge to display on your blog: Nominated Badge


Voting begins February 27th at 12:01 AM (EST). The blog with the most votes by March 5th at 11:59 PM (EST) will win the grand prize, a $200 restaurant gift card.

Good luck and thank you for your participation!

Matthew Pelletier
Director of Public Relations
Accelerated Degree Programs









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Extra Snowday! -- School Library Monthly

We are enjoying a"snowday" today. It is cold but sunny here in NE Pa. I am thinking about reading some library articles that I brought home with me. I have a new professional Journal that I love It is School Library Monthly!
Check it out- it has great articles about a variety of topics of course all related to our work as librarians. There are lesson ideas, and columns about books. Also there are information about library professionalism, and great ideas for connecting students and books. I also like the back two pages where they have ideas for bulletin board and great ideas for special days and author birthdays for each month.
Check it out - Look at their website for details on ordering.

School Library Monthly

Battle of the Books & Power Point

Tomorrow I will begin the power point for the first round of this year's battle.
What I do is look at the questions and select the ones I want from the first two rounds. Each question is typed on a slide. The next slide the answer is typed- both title and author.
For the second round I go to the questions on the third and fourth pages.This year we are tentatively going to 'Battle" against a neighboring school who is also doing a school battle.

Gathering Grid- For research

If you go to this site- which is actually excellent. We received information on this at our Library Council meeting. Go down to the section that says Research and then follow by clicking on graphic organizers you will see the gathering grid. I tried to copy and paste but for some reason that didn't work.

Great Sourceiwrite

Student Research- class lesson

My fourth grade classes are doing research projects so I want to do some classes on the steps to research . I have used The Big 6 in the past and also the KWL chart. I just found another type of chart that looks good . It is called a Gathering Grid. Down one side is the subject and three questions and along the top are three columns with Source 1 , Source 2, and Source 3. Students write the questions in the question area and then find the answers .

Does anyone every use one like this?

When I find the link to the Gathering Grid I will post it here. This grid just looks like a little less work while encouraging students to use multiple resources. I think it would go along with the Big 6 model also.

Don't Forget to post or follow for the February Giveaway!

Blogging Ideas

Students in our 4-6 grades will be blogging soon!. One of our reading teachers started a lunch time book club for students- asked by Administration as part of her position. Each group selects a book and then reads and discusses it. These are kids who volunteered to be in this group. The teacher asked to help her set up a blog for the students to respond to the books and some questions she might have . We set up her blog the same as my school blog. She introduced it to the students- I was present during just one meeting. Any way the students are getting into it, and hopefully they will also go over on the library blog and write some comments in their.

New Facebook Page

I just began a new Organized Librarian FaceBook page. You will see some new content and also some of the similar posts you see here. I am hoping for more conversations and ideas!

February Giveaway!!

The book I have chosen for the February Giveaway is Collaborative Library Lessons for the Primary Grades. This book has many excellent lessons that can be adapted for students in grades K-3 depending on the lesson and the skill. Many of these lessons I have also used with 4th and 5th graders with just a few tweaks. Everything is there for you to use- standards, objectives, prep of materials and steps to the lesson and skill sheets.I would highly recommend this book to any librarian who teaches these grades( and grades 4-6) To be in the running for this book, simply do one or the other.: Follow The Oragnized Librarian, or leave a comment on any day in February! Hope to Chat with you!

Blogging Tips

I am introducing some of my staff to my school blog. I will also show it to some of my students soon also. I would like to get more conversation going between us about books and learning . Blogging could be used for so many things- writing, collaboration, book reviews, sharing of information, book discussion, maybe podcasts??
What do you do with blogs? I would love to hear.
Coming soon another Book Give Away for February!!

Great Website!

I just discovered this website/ wiki for librarians! It has many ideas for lessons that you can read, print out and use. I just found that I will do with K-2 graders for a book I always use at the beginning of school : A fine , Fine School by Sharon Creech.
I will comment on lessons that I use. Let me know if you use any lessons and how they went. I am excited to use more of the information on this site.

fcpslibrary.wikispaces.com

Article for Newsletter- Part 2

Here is the second section of my article for the school

Library Website

Students at SW elementary do not have to be in the physical library to receive some of the library services. The library website has information and links to the online card catalog so that students may see what books are available in the library. There are also links to the online databases provided by the district and also SC BOCES. ( World Book, Grolier, ect) Students can use these reliable links in their search for accurate information for school projects and personal interest.
Other links on the Website for student use are a library blog and the library wall wisher where students can leave comments and conversations about books.
The VoiceThreads link is where students can produce book commercials and book promotions of library books they have read or research they have conducted on a project.
There is also a student favorite portal that Mrs. Couture has developed over many years. This portal has many links to websites useful to students and staff.

Reading Motivation Programs

At SW Elementary, the library staff hold at least two annual reading challenges. The Caldecott Challenge is a 3rd grade reading grade reading challenge. For one month, students are to read ( or be read to) as many Caldecott Award Winning books as possible. The student and their parents keep track of books read. If there is a class where all students participate and read at least twelve tiles, the class receives a Pizza Party. Prizes are also given to the reader from each class that reads the most Caldecott Books.

The Battle of the Books is a team reading challenge for students in grades 4-6. Teams are formed in October. Students begin reading and keeping tack of 30 titles on the list. At the end of March, the first round is held where questions about each book are given. Teams with the Highest score go on to a second round, where a wining team and runners up are declared.
In the 94 library, (grade 4-6), there is a Student Starred Books Shelf. These are books that students give stars to because they have enjoyed them and they would recommend them to other students to read. Students like to recommend books and also can grab a quick book that they know will be a good one.

Article for Newsletter- Part 1

This is the first part of the newsletter that I had sent into our PR person last week. They are doing an 'Educational Issues" letter and wanted some input for that issue. I am always happy to do this because it gives information about what we do in the library

Sullivan West Elementary Library – Reading and learning is where it’s at!
For District News letter

At Sullivan West Elementary School, students and staff have access to two libraries for their use. Each library has colorful displays of posters and books to encourage and excite students about books, learning, and reading. The ’39 library is used primarily by students in grades PK-3. Students in grades 4-6 use the ’94 library which is next to the computer room on the first floor.

Classes and Learning
Students in grades PK- 3 have library classes once very six days. (We are on a 6 day A-F cycle). Mrs. Hector, SW library teacher’s assistant, holds K-3 classes and provides students with read a-louds, library extension activities, and book check out.
Mrs. Couture, School Library Media Specialist, works primarily in the 4-6 library. She teaches fourth grade classes with a fixed scheduled. They learn about different genres, arrangement of books, use of print reference tools, on line card catalog, online Databases, and research skills. On a flexible schedule, Mrs. Couture works with the teachers in grades 5 and 6 to integrate library and technology skills based research into ELA, science, and social studies curriculum. Students also check out books, and use the library computers to do word processing and projects.

School Newsletters-library services

I was asked by our building PR person to write an artilce about library services and whatt we do for the school newsletter. So last night I collected my thoughts to figure out what I should say. I am aiming this article toward parents and taxpapyers so they know what the library program is all about at the elementary level. I included information about the two libraries and also what we do to help and encourage the students to read and learn. Information was also given on our website and our reading incentive programs.
If any one is intersted let me know and I can place the article on here. Any time you are asked to do some publicity for the library, do so . Get the word out about what you do , more students, teachers, and parents will use and value your services.

The Organized Librarian- lesson planning

I am in the final stages The Organized Librarian and am going through the editing process. It is amazing to see how much work a librarian is supposed to accomplish, but we do it . We need to focus our work on student reading and learning. This year in my district we are also focusing on student writing so I am trying to incorporate more writing and thinking into my lessons.
This month I am developing a unit on biography for 4th grade and going to try a game so I am thinking about how I can engage students into being more active. I think I will be handing out a series of lists of biography books and then have students develop call numbers for these ( as a table group or groups of two) and then have them work as a table group to put them into Alphabetical order. That's for next week- this week is Atlases- I did one lesson yesterday and then decided to change it just a bit for the next 3 fourth grades. That's what I do- develop and then refine the lessons until I feel they are great for a learning experience with the students.

File Cabinets

I finally got to my file cabinets and organized just one! It had NOT been in alphabetical order, so it was very difficult to find things quickly. I also went through and got rid of many files and papers that I did not need.
What a difference! Now I can actually find quickly what I need. I will get to the second one tomorrow or the next day. This is a different school from when I wrote the book The Organized Librarian but I am leaving the filing section like it was. I need to get another file cabinet at my present library because my historical and general files are upstairs in the k-3 library and are not easy accessible to me should I need them. Those cabinets also need to be organized but that is for another day,

Battle of the books- January project

Tomorrow - back to school after the Christmas break! I will be concentrating on asking for Battle of the book prizes/ I usually send out letters to various business that have given prizes before:Our local movie theater , a game of miniature golf, a $50 savings bond from the local bank, a day of tubing on the river.