Bulletin Boards November Tips/Sandy on Monday?

           We are expecting Sandy , I guess some time today with winds and rain. I am hoping that we do not loose electricity but it looks like we may. So if you do not hear from me the rest of the week , you will know  why. No school today in our county.

  
           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

School Library Signage & Library Vocabulary

           At the school level, especially the elementary , signage is important.   If you have library vocabulary  for each grade level ( I do- and they are overlapping) then it is a good idea after introducing each term to make the word into some kind of signage.  
     
           After I introduce a term  by the following week, I like to make a sign for it. Depending on the word I may also place it where the items are ( example- Fiction and its defination  by the fiction section)
I make a sign for the word and a separate sign for the definition. This way I will occasionally take the definition down and see if the students knows what the word means.
 
          Other times I will move them around  to different spots in each section, or put them completely in a wrong section. Then we play a game - " What library words/ vocabulary are in the right place?"  This  helps student be more observant of the signs  and gets them to read them.
 
          How does this help? For starters, students see the term and the definition each time they are in the library.  If there is question about the word they can quickly look and see the definition.   I can review  with students by having them notice how many  library vocabulary we have learned each  month and year.

          This also helps to make the library a bright and colorful place to be. I use bright construction paper or colors on black. Sometimes I save the signs from year to year.  Sometimes I make new ones.  The signs also show the staff and administration that in our  learning library  there is always something new to learn and remember.

         I will continue this thread with more ideas on signage and vocabulary.  What do you do about library signs and library vocabulary?

Technology Tools- Glogster!

                  Another  cool tool to use with co- workers and students is Glogster.  There is a special glogster just for educational use .  Glogster is an online learning tool where students and teachers can make interactive posters .  What can be placed on a Glogster?  So many different items: videos, audio, text,  graphics.drawings,  and other data.

                Sign up is free. You will see on the gloster site some great examples of glogs done by students and teachers.   Drag and drop items to create the interactive poster.  Once completed , teacher and students can share the work by embedding it in a  blog,  a wiki, or webpage.

                There are many uses for Glogster: book reports, research projects, announcements, newsletters, class projects, presentations, lesson presentation,  assignments, tours,
  

Glogster



Don't forget to sign up for the October Giveaway! ( Library Lifesavers) Leave a comment or join THE ORGANIZED LIBRARIAN!

Book Processing

        During October  you still may be processing all of your new books. And you may be getting tired of doing it and wish it were done. How can you get it done and still do something / anything else to have your library in good shape ?    In "The Organized Librarian" I give some ideas   on getting everything done or at least not feeling so very overwhelmed at all there is to do.
        But I still get the feeling that the books will Never  get all done and then a new shipment comes in with more books. Now I love love new books but I want them to be all ready for the staff and students , and not have them staring me in the face.   So what I do is this , depending on the number of classes I have , I set a daily goal of the number of books  to do each day.  
         The rest I 'hide"- no I really do not hide them , I just place them on a cart facing toward the wall or in a closet  so I do not see them 24/7.  Then I get the book goal done as soon as I can - coming in early, staying late, making sure that the other activities I need to have completed  are finished. If I am having a good day- I sneak out the next days goal and do them. 
        If there is a great day of only a few classes or a meeting that I do not have to attend then I sometimes do a marathon day of stamping, date due slips,  and  putting on genre stickers.  Then I really feel great about getting all the books ready.

      Most of the time when I place orders I get them mostly pre-processed- For many years I did not do this, but I find that the time I save by doing this, I can be making a difference by working with students and teachers. 

Technology tools and October Giveaway

         Another fun technology tool for students is Blabberize. Students can actually make a picture or photo talk. It could be an original picture that the student creates, or a  photo of a person, an animal, a place , or an an object.   When a public domain photo is chosen , don't forget to cite the source of the photo. ( this is a great place to teach about  citing  source of photos.)

        The account set up is free, quick , and easy. Teachers and librarians can create account for their class. Multiple students can be logged in under on account.   A blabber photo must be completed before saving. You can embedd the blabber on your web page - go to Share it.
  
         Monitor students as they work. When you are done  you may want to change the passwords.
How can you use this?  In many ways- but the most obvious are  having students tell digital stories from original art work. Also they could do reports on animals  or famous people.  When you check out the website  you may get even more ideas.

     Don't forget my October Giveaway-  Library Life Savers- Leave a comment or join the Organized librarian to be edible to win!!


blabberize.com

Battle of the Books-2012-2013

        The students have started reading for this years Battle of the Books. If you have never done one , this might be the year you decide to do one. They are fun and they students love them!  You can find the book list for this year at the Americans Battle of the Books ( see link below) . 
        Depending on the number of students and number of teams will determine how many copies of each title you will need.  We have about 300 4-6 graders ( not all participate) and we usually have about 4-5 copies of each title. 
         You can order books at the site , but I usually just get copies from Follett  (Titlewave) or Perma Bound.    I hope you try a Battle - let me know if you are doing it  this year!

 
Battle of the Books

Title Wave
  
 Perma Bound

Technology tools-bubbl.us

       Another fun and useful tool for educators and students is Bubbl.us.  This is a great tool for teachers to use to create graphic organizers to  organize student  thinking, writing, and research, . It is very easy to use and if you make a  mistake then you just delete and start over.
      Graphic organizers can be saved or printed out.  Students will also enjoy making their own organizers for many things.  There is a step by step home page that shows just exactly how to brainstrom to create your own organizers. Check it out and see how else you could use this great free tool.

bubbl.us

October Give Away

           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.

Technology Tools-Starfall for young learners

       One of the best computer tools for young students is Star Fall.  If you haven't heard about Star Fall , I would be greatly surprised.  Librarians, computer teachers, and classroom teachers can all use Star Fall to help students learn reading, math and much more. It is a fun site for students .  All the times I have used this, students think they are playing' but they are also learning a lot.
      They listen and read stories.They  learn  letters, reading,  and phonics. They also learn about using the computers , learning to select and move items.Stories and letters are read to the students so they can listen and learn letters and word sounds.
     There are math skills also  on the site. It is an all-around wonderful site for students to use , possibly during lab time, in the library as part of their e books, and in the classroom as a center during reading or ELA time.


Starfall

Technology tools- What we need for our students

      Another great tool for librarians and teachers is the Bookemon site. Although you can purchase hard cover books that are written at the site - you do not have to.   It is a great site where students can create and make their own books and stories.
       Classmates can also work together on projects.  Books are made in a 'bcloud' so students working in pairs( or more) can add text and photos and edit their work.  There is a special spot for educators ( Edcenter) to have their students do and view their work and other  students work. check out this site to see how use full it would be for  your classes.
     This would be a great place for teachers to promote their student writing.


Bookemon
 

Library Sparks- Next Article

          Watch in December for my  next article  in Library Sparks!!  This is my third  article  in Library Sparks. This  will be on the  non-fiction book pass and how to use it for several lessons on  non-fiction book parts and beginning research  projects.   If you had seen my last article on Fiction book passes- you may want to check this out. I have used these lessons to showcase my new nonfiction and also teach the research process to younger students.
            Library Sparks is one of my favorite resources . There are so many great ideas in that magazine!  What is your favorite library journal?  Watch for my October Giveaway - coming soon!

http://www.highsmith.com/librarysparks//librarysparks

Technology Tools & Websites

       I spent the morning at the dentist with my husband. He had to have two teeth taken out - Ouch!!  Now that's that is done his mouth should feel better.  Check out  my new page- Technology tools/ Websites. I will update it several times a month. Right now I am putting links on  that I discussed in the summer blogs.  I hope this is helpful to the techies - instead of pulling up old blogs you can just go right there and see the  links and  go straight to them.   Let me know what you think.
    Good day to be off- the sun is shining and it is pleasantly warm out. 

Technology Tools- What we need for our students

                 So far  most of these tools are interactive sites that we use with our students to provide a e  more engaging , compelling, interesting, and competitive education for our 21st century learners.  Porta Portal is one way to organize them all.  A Porta Portal is a site that you design and organize specific sites for students to use  in their day to day work for you. The sites are already there and ready. The student does not have to search for them and they are easily accessible. There is no cause to get on a questionable site when looking for something else. So this is a safe place for  you to  collect the sites you want  students to use.
  
              Once you design your site and add you desired  addresses, you are pretty much done until you want to add more , change the arrangement , or color.  The one thing I try to do each year is make sure that all the sites are still linking, My example needs to be gone over and fixed / removed becasue there are soem sites that are no longer working,

               If your class does a lot of  web work, always point  the students to your portal portal- for  an easy way  to get students to find out what they need to know.

              Here is the link to the portal portal that I designed many years ago. There are a couple of links that no longer work and need to be removed.
 http://my.portaportal.com/

            Here is the link that will bring you to where you can sign up and design your own porta portal. Follow the prompts on the left hand side to create your own portal.  When  you are logged in you can begin to organize  and add your sites. Create categories that make sense for your students. It is pretty easy to get this up and running.  Have fun!

http://www.portaportal.com/index.php