Learning With My Library Ladies

Today Yesterday I hosted my district's summer in-service for the librarians. It was so exciting to see everyone and discuss ways we could incorporate CCS into our library lessons.  Of course we also discussed hot topics like weeding and using e-books in our collections.

Our morning session focused on centers and small groups in our library classes. I highly recommended Debbie Diller's books:

Other books that were suggested included the Café Sisters, Smarter Charts (this one might be more for our teachers?) and of course we talked about Cari Young's book, The Centered School Library.

 

 

All of these are available on Amazon and Follett's Titlewave. (Yes, many other places also. Those are the two I shop from the most!) 

I had to show my girls my favorite places to get centers and center ideas. (TeachersPayTeachers, TeachersNotebook, and Proteacher. A couple of the ladies didn't know about Proteacher. It's another great source for free materials. You do have to register, but it's FREE! I love getting task cards there and use with game boards in my library classes.

 



 

Of course we talked about storage and other issues with centers. Many of us are K - 8, so yes, storage is a big issue if you want to make/use centers with all classes. :)

 

I had to show off my new toy. We're not allowed to use the laminator at school during the summer. (We're under an energy program. Hey, if it keeps the librarians, art and music in our schools then we follow any suggestion from Central Office!) I went to amazon and found/purchased my latest toy. Now when my boys (menfolk) are watching ESPN I can stay in the room with them and work on my things.





I'm in love with my new toy. My boys think I have a new addiction. (I am trying to cut back on Dr. Pepper!) I had to show off some of the projects I've made. My favorite might be my new dry erase boards. I laminated black cardstock. Bought some neon dry erase markers. Make sure you get the ones that say they write on black. Not all neon markers will do so. I found a pack at Wal-Mart for $3.98 or so.



 I was so excited with my boards. Sorry about the glare. I tried turning off the flash but then it was too dark... You get the idea.

Our afternoon session was full of ideas for non-fiction and cool posts I had found on teacher blogs that I follow. My goal was that everyone left with a little something to make them a better teacher librarian and of course KEEP 'EM READING!

Happy Reading,

Three weeks and trying not to count!

Yesterday, I took one of my teachers some books from the library and I saw the number 15 posted on her board. SHOCK. Yes, I know we only have a few weeks left, but it was still astounding that there are only 15 more outfits (days for some of you) left in this school year. So little time, so many books!

With that in mind, I'm planning stress free and easy lessons for the next three weeks. That means making plans with the KISS method - Keep it simple Sara! (You thought it was going to be the S word! I have kindergarteners in my building so that would be "stupid" for those of you who teach uppers only!) That's 27 more lesson to plan, as I'll see each of my K - 8 classes three more times assuming field trips do not keep them from attending their library day.

As I'm preparing for the end of year library inventory, I'm trying not to cancel library classes. At my school I'm considered a "specialist" and therefore I provide planning time for my teachers. This week if I'm not teaching my library classes, I am inventorying all technology in my school. Usually it's not too bad, but this year I have 3 new teachers. I've got to make sure the room inventories match the district's inventory list. One of my teachers received a new teacher station today. That will need to be added. I was glancing around a couple days ago and I know a couple of my newbie’s moved a few things. I don’t mind. I just need to make sure the inventories are correctly updated before summer break. The month of May gets a little crazy in my library world.

Basically my library lessons this week are:

I like to ready my favorite authors to Kindergarten. I haven't shared Mo Willems yet. His pigeon books should keep them busy for a couple of sessions. I have a couple ideas I "borrowed" from Pinterest for his stories.

I found a freebie at Shawna's (The Picture Book Teacher's Edition) site yesterday I'm going to use with my 1st and 2nd grade classes.  I wanted a cute activity to accompany the book I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont. Now I don't have to create one. I love her website. It's great for getting ideas for my lower grades.

 

Third graders are still practicing their skits for the puppet performance on May 15th. Now I just have to convince Mr. Brown to help me fix their stage. A pan of brownies work miracles at my house!

I'll work on idioms with my 4th and 5th graders. I found a couple cute ideas on TPT. Now I just have to decide which one. It's a good thing I have a few minutes before my first class tomorrow morning. I can print which ever I decide upon then.

My 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes are going to be a little crazy this week. Between field trips and special assemblies, I won't see all of them this week. The ones who make it to the library are going to help me check my library games to see if I need to replace parts or pieces. I've been slowly making or assembling centers for all grade levels to use with my library lessons. A couple game pieces make it under my desk. Got to find their homes!

Keeping it simple,

Calling all Librarians!

If you haven't checked out Cari Young's blog, The Centered School Library, you are missing out on a great site. I have found lots of great ideas to use in my library. Cari is currently putting together a master list of teacher librarian blogs. Now we can quickly find other librarian blogs in our state or across the globe. To get your library blog added to the list, see Cari's link for teacher librarian blogs by state. I can't wait to meet new librarians and maybe touch base with some old friends.