Popular Posts

Friday, August 30, 2013

Week 3

5th grade- Nearpod and Skitch apps

My 5th grade class comes twice a week. I first assessed them on the parts of a book. I just wanted to get a basic idea for what they remembered from previous year's lessons in the library.

Tuesday I decided to try using the app NearPod with them as I presented. It was really nice because the students could look at their devices and follow along with me. I feel sometimes when they sit on the carpet and look at the SmartBoard they are not always engaged. I used this PowerPoint converted it to a PDF and then shared it on the app NearPod.  http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tonibuzzeo.com%2Fbookslibrarydoorspartsofabook.ppt&ei=4vAcUpWhOOHa2AXq1IGgCw&usg=AFQjCNEFfZUb6UI-2dBuP_Do_ksof9QkUw&sig2=pySFn1eM9nKlWBuwH1L2uA&bvm=bv.51156542,d.b2I
Yes my 5th graders know these basic parts of the book but it was a good review. Not a single one of them knew what an ISBN code was so...they all learned at least one new thing. I teach my 5th graders about prologue, epilogue and appendix this year but that will come later in September.

Using Skitch...Wednesday and Thursday my 5th graders used the app Skitch. They were given a choice of 3 picture books and 2 chapter books on their tables. They choose a book to do their parts of a book project on. They had to meet certain criteria pre-determined by me. They get a participation and conduct grade in library. I have expectations of how I want projects completed though.

They first had to take pictures of the parts of a book. Then they used the app Skitch to label the parts of a book. I love this app because it allows them to have some creativity with labeling. They can choose the color of their text, boxes, arrows, etc.

2nd, 3rd and 4th grade- David Shannon PowerPoint

Our author of the month is David Shannon. I used the following PowerPoint to introduce this author to our class. We talked about biography and what that term meant. We will study biographies later in the year. After the presentation we filed out an author study worksheet http://www.sanchezclass.com/reading-graphic-organizers.htm that I will keep in a folder. At the end of the year they will have an author study booklet with all the authors we studied this year.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CD8QFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2F5thgradeauthorstudies.wikispaces.com%2Ffile%2Fview%2F211-David%2BShannon.ppt&ei=z1wfUpPdJfK72QXkioDYDw&usg=AFQjCNF0bbsUjK38525cTagIlI8dfI_m8Q&sig2=zi9kFd0CNPgkZ3R3FQPPXQ

2nd grade....did not fill out the author study worksheet. Instead I read the book Duck Rides a Bike to them and we sequenced the story.

This is an important first grade skill that we work a ton on, but it was a great review for them from last year. I still have a few that had trouble putting the story in order. We will continue to work on this skill.











1st grade- Book Care...bag of NO's


I opened my 1st grade lesson by reading The Library Dragon.  We discussed what type books would have dragons in them. (Fiction/Fairy Tales)
As I read the story we talked about how it is important to have story time in the library and why I do this each time they come in. I always start off by reading a book.

Then I continued my lesson with my bag of NO'S. I had a bag hidden from the children with things in it that we don't want around our library books ever. Last week we talked about book care so this was a review of what we need to keep away from our books to protect them. Each time I pulled something out of my bag...the students said NO NO NEVER if it was something they shouldn't have around library books.

We finished out the lesson by doing some worksheets from Library Skills about library citizenship.

K5- Library Lion

Library Lion is one of my favorite read alouds to do at the beginning of the school year! Our school mascot is the Lion so it fits perfectly. The kids LOVE to ROAR and act like LIONS! I love that Mr. McBee gets so upset over a lion being in the library but in the end realizes that he wasn't really causing problems at all. Miss Merriweather even in the end breaks the rules by running. Even though it talks about how it is OK to break the rules sometimes we have to remember when it is OK and not OK. We also talk about how not to be a tattletale and remember to be quiet in the library we can't ROAR!

The students colored a Library Lion sheet after we finished the story. I found this resource at a fellow bloggers website Library Patch. Thanks so much!

http://www.librarypatch.com/2013/07/library-orientation-for-kinders.html

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Let Them Be Little...Photos from the first few weeks of school

 
First Grade....No David puppets
 
 
3rd grade using iPads
 
 

5th grade doing puzzles  




Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Great find...Nearpod App

Not only am I the librarian at our school I am also the technology director. This year with the generous help of our Parents' Club (PTA) we were able to purchase a class set of 10 Ipads. Luckily the largest class size we have is no more than 18 students. :-) I am very lucky!

The SmartBoard in my room is not in the best location. :-( If my students sit on the carpet for a presentation it is great. However, if I write on my SmartBoard and then the students have to go to desks and copy down answers or look back to the SmartBoard it doesnt' go well at all.

I have heard about NearPod at two conferences I have attended but never gotten the opportunity to actually use it with my students. *You must run it from a PC* it seems I have discovered!!! :-) I am going to do a presentation with my 5th graders doing using the app! They will be able to look at the Ipads and follow along with my presentation in the class. I control what slide they are looking at in my presentation so they can not get ahead of me at any time. I will let you know how it goes. Look for pictures coming soon of how we used this technology in the library this week!

I am so excited to try it out!!!

Monday, August 26, 2013

Week 2-August 19th

Disclaimer----some of these ideas are not mine but I will also tell where I found them!

Another great week in the books. :-)

K5- We continued to learn our rules with the help of our jungle friends. We learned about our author of the month David Shannon and made No David puppets! Thanks to this idea I found on Pinterest! http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/2010/07/getting-my-first-week-together.html

 
 
1st grade- Book Care....I love these wonderful Chester books. If you don't have them they are a great addition to any library. Chester learns all about the library and the right/wrong ways to treat books.
We then completed this activity I found on elementary routines website... We did the No No Never Game. I first modeled on the SmartBoard and then had the kids complete their own. They did a great job. http://elementarylibraryroutines.wikispaces.com/Book+Care
 
 
2nd grade- Parts of a book....Powerpoint...I found this by just doing a google search....for parts of a book. I used the medival knight one by Jordan School district. The kids loved it and then did a worksheet labeling the parts of a book.
 
3rd and 4th grade- completed doing QR code scavenger hunt.
 
5th grade- Author of the Month study...David Shannon Powerpoint and worksheet about the author.
Parts of a book...Powerpoint...using the book Library Doors. Next week the kids are going to be using iPads and Skitch and KeyNote to create presentations about the parts of a book! 

 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Week 1 Officially Over

This year I am going to use my blog to talk about my lessons, ideas I have found and used and what worked and didn't work. I plan to blog once a week about my experiences as I begin my second year in the library!

My school officially started last Wednesday the 14th. I have now seen all of my classes for the first time. This was the hands down best first day I have had in my 5 years of teaching (I previously taught 3rd grade.)

Can I tell you I love PINTEREST!!! http://swerstysswapshop.blogspot.com/ is the best....and I got this idea from her! This year my theme for the library is WILD FOR BOOKS!! It is a jungle in here! I found 5 huge stuffed animals a giraffe, a panda, an elephant, a lion and a monkey. I started my lesson with K5-2nd graders by talking about how these animals had come in and destroyed my library this summer. They didn't know any of my rules and they were taking over. Each animal had a slight problem we had to solve. The giraffe had been running in my library and his baby ran off into the jungle. We had to search for his baby and we found him in the biography section. My panda was busy looking for bamboo and lost his baby. We found him at my circulation desk and talked about how this is where we would check out books for the year. My elephant's big floppy ears got in the way and we found his baby in my nonfiction section. My lion was busy roaring and we found his baby in my picture book section. Last but not least my monkey was busy swinging through my jungle looking for bananas and we found his baby in my chapter book (Junior Fiction/Fiction section). The kids had so much fun learning the rules. The babies had small Mr. Potato Head body parts attached to them and in the end Mr. Potato head was put together and we learned all the rules of the library. My students had so much fun moving around and learning the parts of the library. It is going to be a wild year but we are reading to start the adventure in the JUNGLE!

For my 3rd-5th graders we talked about basic rules and procedures and then went on a QR code scavenger hunt around my library. If you want me to attach the file just let me know. I would be more than glad to. We have a class set of 10 iPads in my library so my students had to share. They loved going around the library searching for clues as they remembered the sections of the library and my rules.

I am ready for the second week to begin. We will be learning about our author of the month David Shannon and making puppets. My older kids are making an author book this year as we learn about authors each month.

Stay tuned for next week. I will upload pictures from week 1 and talk about week 2. I hope some of these ideas where helpful! Thanks to  http://swerstysswapshop.blogspot.com/ for the ideas!