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,