When left to their own devices..or...mine!

Here are a few of my students interacting with an Elmo Slate for the first time.

It was fun to watch them discover how to use this new device.

They talked amongst themselves and gave each other guidance.

They practiced writing with the stylus.

What book lover would not love the message they left me?

(The red "x" over the Elmo document camera image is due to the fact that I had left one of the cables in my car.) 

I love this new tool. It has already made the teaching and learning experience more interactive. 

A day in the life...

or...

One life in a day...A photo essay of one school day in this librarian's life!

Friday, March 9, 2012

8:00 a.m.
Driving to work, I witnessed this beautiful sight, a parent reading to her children while walking to school.

A mom reading to her children while walking to school

There are so many great things about this image:
**The story must have been that good that no on wanted to wait until after school
**There is no age limit on reading aloud
**There are no boundaries on where reading aloud can happen

8:45 a.m.
The Sharon Creech reading groups meet again!

Reading Heartbeat by Sharon Creech

10:00 a.m.
Suzy Kline, author of the Horrible Harry and Herbie Jones series visits with the 3rd graders!

Suzy Kline visits

11:45
Spring arrived!  Well, at least some early signs of spring were enthusiastically welcomed by a few first graders.  Imagine a high-pitched, "I found a sign of spring!!"

12:30
I stopped by the office to check my mailbox and noticed this delivery in the literacy specialist's box.

Waiting for their turn

This harbinger tells me that testing is in the air...

1:00
My first graders arrived for the second lesson on Theodor Seuss Geisel and the award named for him.

I have no photograph for this, but will say that my students did ask me the date! 
See last week's post:  I boldly go  Ha ha!

Crossing State Lines..to Read Poems for Two Voices

World Read Aloud Day 

On World Read Aloud Day, people around the globe read aloud to raise awareness of the importance of reading and global literacy.

http://bit.ly/yk9cvi

Like many others who celebrated, I virtually crossed state lines (via Skype) as part of my celebration.  

The highlight of these experiences?  

My students reading from Messing Around on the Monkey Bars: and other School Poems for Two Voices by Betsy Franco with students from Illinois.

Here's Part two!

It was a RAD WRAD Celebration!

March 7, 2012.
School Librarian's Log:
It was a rad World Read Aloud Day celebration!
We read, we Skyped, we read and Skyped, and then we read some more! I am already looking forward to next year.

The began with a few last minute visits by my fourth grade World Read Aloud Day Ambassadors:

This classroom had students write their favorite read aloud book on the white board as part of the morning message:

And this fun note:

I handed the Flip video camera to a student and didn't see it again for a while...this was done all on their own: 

This class was getitng ready to Skype with students in Iowa.

Waiting for the phone to ring!

Happy Skype Readers

I sent these flyers home in each student's folder:

Tomorrow, I'll post a video clip of my students reading poems for two voices with students in Illinois.

It was a World Read Aloud Day celebration to remember!

The WRAD Ambassadors Have Spoken!

 

My fourth grade 

World Read Aloud Day  Ambassadors 

have spoken! 

Read aloud to show how important reading is...

They visited classrooms 

in our school today 

to share 

what they know 

about

World Read Aloud Day. 

You can read anywhere you want!

Not only will 

we be reading aloud 

during the school day,

 my fourth graders 

are encouraging 

all our families 

to  read at home 

tomorrow night.

WRAD: the awesome new holiday!

Reading helps you find the treasure inside a book.

Reading helps you learn a lot

I'm excited 

to hear 

the murmur of 

reading aloud 

echoing 

through the halls! 

I hope 
everyone has a 
RAD WRAD 
tomorrow!

I go boldly where no school librarian has gone before...

"Embarrassing myself in cyber space - - - - - the final frontier.

These are the exploits of a school librarian.

This is my mission: to share honest teaching experiences; to educate, inform and entertain;  to go boldly where no school librarian has gone before..."

….into embarrassing territory….

Before I share this gem, allow me a few sentences of background context.  I am a tad busy at this moment in my life. I am: teaching full time; taking a graduate class; Senior Warden at my church (those of you who are Episcopalians will understand what this commitment means); guiding a son through SAT/college visits (i.e., the stressful mine field that is junior year); and, taking a Category I ELL training course.   

This last one, the ELL course is the reason I have the following footage; we have to tape ourselves teaching a class and evaluate the experience from the perspective of an ELL student.  (The above laundry list of my life is only there so you will show me some compassion as you watch the footage.) 

We are all busy, I just want my business to be the reason for what happened…suffice to say, I am all set on which day of the week it is, but having a much harder time with the actual dates of the week…

Not knowing the date and missing an incredibly important birthday?  #embarrassinglyfunny

Having first graders set you straight?  #priceless

Tomorrow is Monday the 5th of March, correct?

What does awesome sound like?

Well...


On Friday...

In my library...

It sounded like three consecutive classes of fifth graders reading and conversing.  What were they reading?  Sharon Creech's Hate That Cat and Heartbeat.

Just to give you a sense of how awesome it is, I will tell you that I have a small library and 24 fifth graders can take up the space, both physically and vocally, fairly quickly.  These students were so engaged in Sharon Creech's books that their voices naturally dropped and I could move from group to group to quietly observe.

Here's a small sample:

We began our author study with Love that Dog.  I had such a great time reading it with them.  As an aside, I had the students read and discuss each poem before I read the passage in the book (as was suggested in Teach Creech).  They loved hearing some of their thoughts mirrored by Jack.

We then watched the reader's theater performance of the book on TeachingBooks.  It features Sharon Creech, Walter Dean Myers, Avi and Sarah Weeks.  I loved that there was an audible intake of breathe when the students first heard Walter Dean Myers voice as he read "Love that Boy."  You know that a piece of writing is great when students react that way. 

In groups of six, the students are reading either Hate That Cat or Heartbeat.  After reading the books, each group will create and perform a reader's theater script.  The students will also respond to and share their experience with the books via VoiceThread.   I would love start a dialogue with another group of readers.  Let me know if you are interested!

Also yesterday, one of the students shared that she wanted to write a letter to Sharon Creech in the style "inspired by Jack."

"Dear Ms. Sharon Creech, you probably don't want to hear from us..."

Wow, that's when you know a book has made an impact.  They were excitedly quoting the letter. Great stuff indeed.

Speaking of books making an impact...don't forget, Wednesday, March 7th is World Read Aloud Day!

Help make opportunities like this one a reality for all children and help make reading a reality for all people around the world.  Join the LitWorld initiative!