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Fill ` tools to add to all the great things you
doToolboxYourCreated by Summer Pittman
I teach at Knightdale Elementary and see k-2 on a fixed schedule
for 45 minutes a day and then 3-5 are flexible. We have over 70%
free and reduced lunch. Most of our population consist of Hispanic
and African American students. We have a very large population of
English Language Learners as well. This drives what I do in the
library.2
What are you hoping to get from this
session?http://bit.ly/1NzKxfN
Make your job easier!
Student checkoutThis makes me laugh because I have an annoying
recording from a girl who use to attend my school that says Try
Again so I hear this sound all the time when students scan the
wrong barcode, have exceeded their checkout limit, and so sometimes
I feel like this is me.5
Assign a helper and brand them.Call centers one at a time to
circulate.How it worksI have specials tags for my media helpers. I
try to pick students in each class that are responsible to help man
the check out. It is also an incentive to behave because I remind
them when they are lining up or coming in that I am looking to see
who is going to be my helpers.6Organize
The biggest life saver for me is the separating area. I train
the older classes to check themselves in and then separate their
books but it also makes life easier for me. Do they always
independently do this? No, but for the most part it 1 saves me from
having a cart that is packed with books 2 time from separating the
books to shelf 3 creates another area for kids to look for
books.7Signage
Make as many signs as possible. These really lead the students
in to searching for something without your help. It also gives me
points to lead students when I am at the other end of the library
and cant leave the area at the moment I can say, see the animal
sign, go over there and on the shelf is a sign that says sharkslook
there.8Signage
Notice the empty shelf.guess what books are usually here. I
place these near the door and check out so that I can easily
illuminate endless searching and students running up and down and
around trying to beat the other one to the book. This year I called
Lowes and asked if they would donate paint for a school project.
And they did. We have old shelves and so I wanted to brighten up
the library. Little did I know how well this helps me to point out
areas as well. Go look on the stage at the teal and yellow shelves,
that is where the biographies are. I also purchased some wrapping
paper and placed it behind these shelves so I can easily show
students where the borrowed books are. They are also by the exit so
students are tempted to go check them out on the computer.9The
Sacred CowsHow many of you are familiar with Mike Eisenburg the
cocreator of the Research Model BIG 6? He created a series of
vodcast where he answers questions he has received from colleagues
around the world about Information Literacy.Other things you can do
if flip your library, create videos and QR codes for rules and
procedureskids can create them. As far as missing books, I have a
bookmark where students earn money/points for everytime they read
to an adult to work off their fine.10
LibraryLiteracyManaging centers and center ideas
CentersAs I said earlier, the population at my school drives
what I do in the library. Because we have so many students that are
English Language Learners and lack the basic literacy skills to be
successful readers, The centers in my library are either literacy
based where students practice reading or working on words or
technology based.12
Why Centers?According to the book, teaching with the Brain in
Mind Eric Jenson states that the appropriate time for direct
instruction for k-2 is (anyone want to guess?) 5-8 minutes.
Therefore, students are more engaged when they are actively
participating when they are in centers. With that in mind centers
also allow me a chance to expose children to different
technologies, help support the literacy instruction in class, and a
chance to be free to help those students who are checking out
books. I do not do centers all the time, I also try to do read
alouds, author studies or incorporate a theme that the students may
be working on in their classroom.13
Organizing centersOne center a visitStudent choicePocket Chart
Students check out books
Students visit one center and check out books each class.
Students get to choose but I do remind them that if they were at a
center last week they should give someone else a chance to visit
the center. We meet on the carpet, choose a center, and then they
move. At the beginning of the year, I go over centers one at a time
and talk about how to act in each one. Our school implements Daily
Five where the practice each center and talk about what to do in
them and what not to do in them. I think in the future I may have
students create videos on how to work in each center. Then I am
going to create a QR code, put students in small groups and have
them rotate through each video. It might be more effective for
introducing centers. I also want to work on have a timer so
students know when to clean up instead of me calling the class as a
whole and then having to tell them to clean up.14
Mobile CentersThere are a lot of I Can sign examples on
Pinterest and other parts of the web that tell the students what
they can do at that center or you can create your own. Because of
space, and the mobility of my centers I do not have those. My
centers are on this bookshelf beside the carpet. The pictures on
the boxes that I got from scholastics with bookfair money (I think
the dollar store may have some too) match the pictures in my pocket
chart. Students take the box and go to a table or space away from
others to work in their center. I have the centers placed behind
the ARMOR in the library poster to remind students what ARMOR which
is our PBIS acronym means the library.15
Listen to ReadingStudents get to sit in cozy chairsStudents get
to listen with mp3Students get to check out booksIn the past this
was probably the least favorite center. Now I have mp3 players that
I purchased with a tiny bit of funds last year and four cozy chairs
I purchased with BookFair money. If you dont have access to mp3,
there are several ideas on Pinterest on having parents donate old
iphone, ipods, or old mp3s. So where do you get the files. First,
search youtube for titles you have in the media center. There are
so many read alouds that are of pretty good quality. Then I find
some that I have books to, or I use bookfair money and purchase
some paperback popular ones like Pete the Cat and copy the youtube
link to the coverter and vwala, you have a mp3 file that you can
add to the player. There are simple to use, up down for volume,
side to side play pause and thats it. At clean up time, I do stress
that I will check to see if the mp3 is in the bag (sticky fingers).
I also have dotes in the bag and a matching dot on the mp3 so I
know which one goes where. If you dont have access to mp3 you could
create QR codes and have students scan the QR code to listen to the
book via the ipad.16Read to a Book BuddyStudents get to hold those
stuffed animals they are dying to touchPractice Reading
This center is great because students get to practice reading
and fluency but they also get to touch those stuffed animals that
they are dying to play with. Students must hold and read to them,
they must put them back when they are finished and these students
check books out first.17Read to SomeoneStudents check out books
firstStudents use an ipad to record and play back readingBuilds
fluencyStudents may record a retelling of the story as wellIt
promotes engagement from both students
18colARMixAugmented RealityOlder students could create a story
based on their AR creation
This center allows students to be creative which is part of the
4 cs Collaboration, Creativity, Communication and Critical
Thinking. This app is very engaging for the students and allows
them to really be creative.19How toStudents may draw or
createIntroduces the 700s of the media center!
Again the students are being creative, helps with fine motor
skills and keeps them engaged. This center also introduces the 700s
to students so now they are looking for how to create, draw,
origami and so on.20ComputersStudents log onWe have a wiki
organized for each grade levelGreat for using and exploring Wake
County or School funded programs and websites.
21App of the weekStudents get an ipadWork on only that appCan
rate the app
I have starfall on my app of the week right now because my
students really need practice with letters and reading. You can use
this center for students to explore new apps. You could also have
them try out apps and rate them. Create a rating sheet. This would
be great for the older kids.22
Other ideasTinkerspace, makerspace or whatever space!
There are many different opinions and ideas about a makerspace,
tinkerspace or whatever you want to call your creative space.
Eventually Id like to have an area with legos so students can
create, maybe a lego wall and add to other creations.I also saw an
idea where you take a dollar store electronic toothbrush, put it in
a pool noodle, tape or band markers around it and that is an art
bot center, there is also ideas about stop motion animation where
students use Stop Motion App to record frozen frames of objects
then the app creates a motion movie out of those frozen frames.
Students could do this using characters to retell stories or create
stories using different figures. 23
Other ideas
Connecting CentersI have also used the same centers but
connected them to an author we are studing..So Mo Willems, I may
have them listen to the pigeon stories in listening to reading,
draw the pigeon or a seen from the book in How to, Read about Mo
Willems on the computers or listen to books for lower grades, Read
to Someone a Pigeon book and so forth. Or if I know ahead of time
the theme the classrooms are covering I can create centers based on
that theme. 25
28I Wonderhow we can help the Earth??
My principal was nice enough to allow me a few minutes to go
over eWise. I always tell the students that Wondering is what
drives our purpose for searching for books. I try to tie it in to
something they are doing in the classroom by asking what they are
learning, wonder, and then how could we investigate. We dont always
get through all parts of eWise but just expose them to the
wondering and investigating gets the younger grades started. When
students need help finding books, you can ask them, are you
wondering about anythinggetting the students use to that vocabulary
of wonder, lets go investigate Here are sine ways my students
expressed what they learned about Earth Day. They wondered how they
could help, we investigated and took notes on what was important
and then they used chatterpix to Express what they learned. I
uploaded them to a youtube channel so they could watch them and I
could use them as samples in the future.29
Great way to introduce to staffPromotes higher level
thinkingPromotes wonder and investigationClassrooms can submit
their investigationClassrooms can submit wondersLook for wonders on
what you are studyingClassrooms can create their own wonderwall
Teacher Librarian EvaluationGet out the notebook and show them
how I organize what I do.32
I keep a notebook that is organized by each standard in the
evaluation. Behind each standard it broken down and then an
evidence log with date, artifact and description.33
Advocate
Collaboration FormsThe Georgia Department of Education has a
website that is devoted to collaboration forms. Some of these might
be handy to you, you can download them or upload them in docs and
share with your staff. This is just one website of many that have
such tools. It has not been beneficial to me to join PLTs because
those are meant for data and although I could fit statistics from
destiny into their data, they usually have their own agenda and
arent very interested in that. Trying to attend their planning is
impossible if you are on any type of fixed schedule. I know my
staff is bombarded with everything they do so the best way I
collaborate is36
Word of mouth. Our school is working on creating themes this
year and so I ask in the hallway, what theme are you guys working
on? Or I ask students, what are you doing in class now. When I
catch wind that a class is working on the farm, then a shoot an
email to the teacher and ask, Can I have some of your students to
create a project on the farm? Or in media class I think we are
going to research animals, will that tye into what you are doing,
and how can we add to what you are doing in the class. This has
been the best way to collaborate for me. Then I print the email and
put it in my evaluation binder or jot down that I spoke with Mrs Z
when she picked up her students from media and next week I am going
to show them nonfiction books about pumpkins. When you are
constantly doing that, the teachers really see your value and when
they see things the students are doing in media that connects to
what they are doing, the word spreads.37
SCHOOL GARDENAnother way to collaborate is start a garden, then
everyone wants in. There are a lot of easy grants out there for
beuatification and gardens. This was funded by two small grants.
This project allowed me to bring in the AIG teacher and she did the
work with the kids, we researched together what to grow, first
grade used it during their insect unit and dropped worms in our
garden to help it grow, 38
A Few of My Favorite Things39
Mrs ReaderPants is a librarian in China who serves children all
over the world. She has some great ideas for the library like
genrefying for those who are thinking about it. She also has some
great ideas for Book Fairs, Book Reviews and this is where I got
the idea to work the fine off by reading.
40
http://bit.ly/1X2D5Pe
What are you going to take away from this session?
