First Book Fair

I have been busy with grad school, a Holiday program, and my very first Book Fair.  The day after my last class for the semester, the truck arrived with my Book Fair.  In order to prepare for the fair, I showed the preview video, met with the representative (who set up the online Book Fair), made Book Talk QR codes (I wish there was a student voice on the picture that I chose to use for this post), and displayed posters throughout the school.  The Music teacher, Art teacher, PE teacher and I also produced a Holiday program to promote the Book Fair.

Try It!

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'm in an old school, and the library is in a separate building.   When I heard the truck, the butterflies in my stomach started fluttering like crazy.  Sitting there alone, looking at the cases and boxes, I thought, "how will I ever pull this together?"  I had to recruit help from my sister. The only person who knew anything about setting up the fair was doing the job of two people, due to staff changes, so she was not able to help.  My sister, a kindergarten assistant, and I arranged the book cases and unpacked as many boxes as we could.  I was not happy with the way it was looking.  The next day, three students helped me, until the rep came.  He must set up Book Fairs in his sleep. He helped me fix the things that I was not happy with, and we finished setting up.  He was probably there for about 30 minutes, and we were done.

The Fair was ready for a Teacher Sneak Peek, that afternoon.  The spread included some of +Lisa Shively's Kitchen Helper dips, hot chocolate, and fudge. The Mexican Mambo dip was a hit.  The teachers made their wish lists, chit-chatted , and sampled the treats.  Teachers also entered for a chance to win a Book Fair gift certificate.  The winner was a new teacher.  The students had a sneak preview the next day.  They also made their wish lists.

I don't know what I would have done without my volunteers (two retired teachers and one parent).  The night of the Holiday program was crazy busy.  One of the retired teachers stayed the whole time.  The parent volunteer only planned to pop in, after the program, and leave.  When she saw how busy it was, she stayed.  I met the goal that was already set.

Now that my first Book Fair is out of the way, the Spring Book Fair should be easier.

Hip and Happening

On Monday, November 26th, we celebrated the 70th Day of School by taking a trip back into the 70's.  This was exciting for me, because I was in elementary school in the 70's.  I didn't have to do too much research for this day.  The teachers and staff had more fun than the students. One class tie-dyed their own shirts to celebrate the day.  I played 70's music in the library.  The students' favorite was ABC by the Jackson 5.  Monday was Outta Sight!

Can You Dig It?

Far Out

Right On

...For President

I've been so busy with school and my new duties as a media coordinator, but I've had fun with the election lessons.  For the K-2 classes, I read My Teacher for President by Kay Winters and Vote For Me! All About Civics by Kirsten Hall.  For the 3-5 classes, I read Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio and Vote by Eileen Christelow. 

Citizenship is the Character Ed Word for the Month

 

Before reading My Teacher for President, I asked the students what they thought the President does.  "He runs people out of the country."  "No! No! He runs in the country."  "He gives us gas." "He tells jokes."  

I love my job. <3  

Then I asked them why their teacher would be a good President.  The first four reasons on the chart below, were generated before I read the book to some 2nd graders. My favorite; "She's bossy."   The teachers loved seeing what their students thought of them.  After reading Vote for Me!..., to a class that tattles on each other all the time, I had them tell something nice about another student in their class.  I paired students so they would have to say something nice about someone they fight with all the time.  The smiles and attitudes were priceless.

My Teacher for President

The next day I read a "Pete the Cat" book and a "Pigeon" book to refresh the students' memory about the characters.  Then they voted for which character they wanted for President.  The kindergarten ballot had a picture of each character.  After voting they got a sticker that read, "I Voted". 

Kindergartners Vote for Pete the Cat or Pigeon

 I listen to the news on tv in mornings while getting ready for work.  One morning they were trying to explain electoral votes.  I was still confused.  Grace for President explained it so that I could understand it. My plan to have students research the number of electoral votes that NC has was ruined in one class, when a student noticed the illustration of the map with the numbers on it.

While two students at a time voted for Greg Heffley or Junie B. Jones, the other students watched Word Girl: A Vote for Becky.  They made connections between the book and the video.  It was interesting to see what connections each class was able to make.  Every class was able to connect the most obvious similarities, but they surprised me with their higher order thinking. 

5th Graders Vote for Greg Heffley or Junie B. Jones

The next day, I read Vote and we had some serious discussions about the history of voting and the voting process.  One fifth grade class made the observation that if we lived 130 years ago, nobody in one fifth grade class would be able to vote.  Only two students in that class would have been able to vote.  Although two other students looked like they would have been able to vote, one student pointed out that he would not have been able to vote because he is biracial.  Another student's last name would have kept him from voting.  I explained that's why every American should vote. They were surprised that the laws ("back then") would have prevented them from voting.  I hope that our discussion will come back to these students when they turn eighteen.

I Voted!

Browsing Sticks With Bar Codes

We call them Browsing Sticks, but you may know them as Shelf Markers.  The idea to put the students' bar codes on them came from Mrs. B at 180 Views from the Library Desk.  Cari from The Centered School Library highlighted a comment that Mrs. B made in a post.  The Browsing sticks have been a hit in our library with teachers as well as students.  We still need to work on how to use the sticks to mark their place, but it will come with practice.

Ignore the books to the left.

I had several Pringle's cans from previous projects, but I still needed donations.  I decorated each teacher can differently so the students could recognize their can at a glance.  The cans are stored on a book cart, so it can be moved when we have staff meetings or get-togethers. The cans are divided by grade levels.  Since this picture was taken, directions for using the sticks are posted on the side of the cart and in front of the cart. 

Decorated Cans and Sticks

A good friend got the paint stirrers for us.  She is an angel.  We let the students decorate their sticks with crayons and markers.  We encouraged them to make their stick an original, so they can tell their stick apart from their peers' sticks.  They wrote their name on the back, and we put the bar codes on the handle of the stick. The students will keep their stick as long as they attend our school.  The fifth graders will take their sticks home as souvenirs, when they graduate from elementary school.  I am holding on to the the sticks of the students who have left, because our school history has shown that many students return eventually.  We have extra sticks for new students.  In the future, only kindergarten students and new students to our school will need to decorate a stick. 

An Original

We practiced using the Browsing Sticks, and plan to make a video for the future and for review.  The teachers like the sticks because they often forget to bring the cards with the bar codes.  The sticks make checking out books faster.

This Is How We Use the Browsing Stick

When I was in the classroom, I had a can with the students' names on craft sticks.  I used the sticks to call on students for games, responses, making random cooperative groups, etc. It made it fair and kept the students alert because they did not know when their stick would be pulled.  Recently I discovered that I could use the Browsing sticks for the same purpose.

I can't thank Mrs. B and Cari enough for sharing this brilliant idea.

Good Fit Books

Since I blogged last, I've started taking Foundations of Library and Information Studies, finally got AR up and running, and published my first school newsletter.  The following is an article that I wrote for the newsletter.  I changed the names of the students.

Students had fun learning about picking books that interest them, are on their level, and is just right for their purpose. To make it fun we compared “Good-Fit Books to picking out shoes.   We read Pete the Cat: Rocking in His School Shoes, and we talked about our school shoes.  Students agreed that wearing skates to school would not be a good idea.  We read other books about shoes, and talked about how choosing a book is like choosing shoes. 

Do I like it?  Does it interest me?  My pig slippers interest me, because I like pigs.  I have a small collection of pigs.  I would enjoy reading the Olivia books that we have in the library.  One of my favorite books is Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini.  Just because I like my pig slippers, and stories about pigs, does not mean that my best friend will be interested in pigs.

Does it fit? It is not too easy or too hard.   My pig slippers fit me.  They were not too small or too big.  When Ray tried on my slippers, they were too big.  Although Ray might like books about pigs, he probably would not be able to read Charlotte’s Web about Wilbur the pig. A “Good-Fit” book for Trey might be If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff.  Choosing a book that is too easy or too hard will not help us become good readers.  My pig slippers are comfortable to me, but my granddaughter’s tap shoes were too small.  I would not be comfortable in her shoes.

Does it help me?  Is the book right for what I want to do?  Duncan tried to play basketball in my fancy high heels.  It did not work.  My pig slippers did not help me play basketball or tap dance.  Fourth graders are not going to read Good Night Moon to learn about the moon phases. 

I hope the shoe lesson will help students remember to pick books that interest them, fit, and help them with their purpose for reading.  The lesson was adapted from The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades, by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser.

The students have been decorating "browsing sticks".  I will share how we plan to use the sticks in a later post.