Mother Bruce Uses STEM to Solve His Problem

To get students excited about the NC Children's Book Award Nominees, we will be doing as many STEM activities as possible.  The first book that we read was Mother Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins.  I love this book. The illustrations and the story made me laugh every time I read it. The students gave me the idea for the STEM activity, but we could have made airplanes too.

I prepared five kits with materials to build a catapult. One kit had clothespins, a popsicle stick, a spoon, and rubber bands.  One kit had seven pencils, a spoon, and several rubber bands. Another kit had certain LEGO bricks.  One kit had seven popsicle sticks and several rubber bands. There was a kit that had certain K'Nex pieces.  The K'Nex kit is the only one that was allowed to be modified.

Inspiration for the STEM activity

The students were put into five groups. They were told that they could only use the items in their kit. One person in the group used their Chromebook to research how to make a catapult using the items in their kit. We talked about what the letters in STEM represent. We also discussed the STEM process. I told them that once they were in their group, I would no longer be available to answer questions. They would have to rely on each other to solve any problems they might have. That was harder for me than it was for them. Any questions for me had to be addressed before they got in their groups.

As I walked around, taking pictures and recording different groups, I couldn't resist offering suggestions. Overall, the students had the best attitudes. Most of the groups worked really great together.

I Think I Can! I Think I Can!...

At a recent conference, Steve Spangler brought it to our attention that everyone is getting on the STEM bandwagon.  By adding art and reading to STEM, it just becomes school with a cool acronym. If STREAM makes school fun and cool, I'm all for it.

During the last few weeks of school, we had fun integrating science, technology, and engineering with some classic books.  The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper was given a 21st Century spin by attaching "boxcars" to my Dash robot, and having the students program the "train" to get school supplies across the library. Preschoolers and kindergartners were excited to know they could program a robot. 

Introducing students to classic children's books addressed the "Next Generation Science Standards" of the AASL Standards for kindergarten.

K-2-ETS1-1. Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool. 

It's wonderful when lessons align with the standards.

Engineering With Wild Things

The kindergarten students not only enjoyed listening to the story, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, they collaborated to make a boat for Max.

After listening to the story, I told the students that in another version of the story, Max’s boat sailed away before he could return home.  I asked for suggestions about how Max would get home. Some said he could swim home. Others said the Wild Things would get him.  I had to suggest that Max could build a boat.

Then I explained that they would work with a partner to build Max a boat. The tools they needed were in a bag. They didn’t have to use all of the materials, but they would only make one boat with their partner.  I explained that after they built their boat, we would test it. I told them that we would put the boats in the ocean to test them. :o  They were excited even after they realized the “ocean” was a plastic container with water in it.

The items in each bag varied slightly.

aluminum foil

modeling clay or Play dough

old cd

drinking straw

foam board (cut into about 4x6 pieces)

foam filler (that came from packaging for Nooks or iPads)

toothpicks

lids from Pringles cans

Students also had access to scissors and a hole punch.

Next time I will include craft sticks, different size lids, and masking or duct tape. I might also include fabric, string, and/or yarn for a sail.

A few students had to make changes in order for their boat to float, but they were not discouraged. They were determined to help Max get home. 

Thanks to Mrs. DeWeese’s Kindergarten class at Oak Grove Elementary for inspiring this activity.

Oak Grove Elementary, Roanoke, VA

http://oakgroveelementary.edublogs.org/2014/04/02/wild-thing-boats/

Poet-Tree

The month of April has so many observances that it was hard to pick just one to focus on in the library.  This year, I decided to combine Arbor Day with poetry.  Most grade levels focused on a style of poetry.  Kindergarten made Acrostic poems about trees. First grade did Haiku, third grade did Cinquain, and fourth grade did Diamante poems about trees.  It helped that they were familiar with the different styles of poetry.  Fifth grade had fun creating Book Spine Poetry.

ReadWriteThink is a lifesaver

Since third and fourth graders shared their Cinquain and Diamante poems with me on Google Drive, I was able to make comments. This gave helpful feedback to the students, which they liked.  It nudged them to ask questions about how to improve their poems.

Pre-K and Kindergarten helped list ways that trees are helpful after reading Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.

Persistence

I really must do better with posting to my blog.  Hopefully when I am finished with grad school, I will be more consistent.

So much has happened since October.  After our school participated in Hour of Code for the first time, I attended a Code.org training. The workshop was so good that I encouraged our district media and technology director to get the trainer to come to our district. The workshop equipped us with the confidence to teach computer science skills to our elementary students. It also helped us understand why computer science should be taught in every school. Over 600,000 job openings are available in computer science, but only 43,000 computer science students graduated to fill the positions, last year. The average pay for computer science jobs is triple what teachers make.

Each participant was given an instructor handbook with lesson plans. I am now integrating some of the Code Studio lessons into my library lessons. The most recent unplugged activity was Building a Foundation. I used it to help third graders make a connection with finding the theme in a story. After doing the activity, students shared what they learned from the activity. Some said that teamwork made the task easier. Others said they had to keep trying (persistence and perseverance). Perseverance happened to be our Character Ed word for the month. While some students said problem solving or trial and error was the theme. The next time I do this lesson, I will get the students to add their theme to AnswerGarden to make a word cloud.

Will it work?

Determination is also a theme for this activity.

I hope to share what I learned at the two conferences I attended recently.  The theme for the day is Accomplishment.  See ya!

Make It to the Library

I knew that I wanted to get on the Makerspace wagon, but I wasn't sure about where to start.  During our district meetings, there was discussion about using what you already have.  I was okay with letting students create with discarded books, recycled materials, and art supplies.  I even had some old boxy computer monitors for the students to take apart and some Legos.

Pinwheels made from discarded book pages

After I took my granddaughter to a Maker Day at our public library, I couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities in our school library.

Determination became the word of the day.  I submitted a Donors Choose project and bugged my family and friends for about a week.  Donors Choose matched donations for a week and I wanted my family and friends to take advantage of that.  Then NEA matched the donations that were already there.  I didn't want to lose those funds so more pressure was put on my family and friends.  In exactly one week, my project was fully funded.  I can't begin to tell you how excited I was when the items came in just a few days.

My excitement escalated when the students didn't want to leave the library.  A few of the teachers wanted to stay also.  I would love to have Maker Mondays or Tinker Tuesdays a few times each school year.

More books will be added to the collection to reinforce the students' curiosity in relation to the new materials.  I am anxious to see how the new setup will effect the students' thinking and learning.

Dr. Seuss Book Fair

I started preparing for a Dr. Seuss-themed book fair last year.  Although the snow has kept us from doing some of the activities that we planned to do, I still have high hopes that the rest of  our Read Across America/Book Fair events will be successful. 

My plan for the One Fish! Two Fish!.. All for Books fundraiser went great with the Underwater theme that Scholastic has for the spring book fair.

One Fish! Two Fish!..

We will be celebrating Read Across America during the week of the book fair.  I am looking forward to the main event when students and staff dress up as a favorite Dr. Seuss character.  I haven't decided which character I'll be.  I also don't know which character our principal will be, but donations will determine which character he will be for our Book Character Parade at the end of April.  The donations will fund our AR incentives. The original plan was to have a door decorating contest.  Students, staff, and visitors would make donations to the door of their choice.  The winning class would get a book fair gift certificate for each student and teacher.   

Who will our principal be?

I ordered posters and a stand-up from Upstart to decorate the media center.  I used a display board to make a Thing 1 and Thing 2 cut-out for a photo op.  I have seen some great props for Dr. Seuss-themed photo ops on Pinterest. Students will get one of the bookmarks that were also purchased from Upstart, when they buy books. 

Reading is Our Thing!

We Know a Thing or Two About Books.

You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.

Dr. Seuss

Arctic Blast

The kindergarteners, first and second graders have been busy doing research about polar region animals.  The kindergarteners learned about four different kinds of penguins.  First graders learned about polar bears.  Second graders learned about a variety of arctic animals. 

First, I shared the signed copy of the book, One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo with the kindergarteners. While a small group of students learned about a penguin, the rest of the class was able to practice sight words and math skills with penguin themed activities.  Life-sized penguins took over the media center so students were able to get a better idea of the actual size of these “proper” birds.  They were able to use nonstandard measurement to compare the height of the five types of penguins displayed. Students loved doing yoga with Pedro the Penguin.  After groups of 4-5 students learned about one penguin, using PebbleGo,  they typed what they learned in an Animoto.  Some students displayed what they learned beside the life-sized penguin. Students also labeled a penguin. Thanks to Kindergarten Crayons.

Letter Match/Alphabetical Order -Cricut Create a Critter

Polar bears were the topic for the first graders.  First we talked about the Super 3 research process.  For the planning step, they used an ARE, CAN, HAVE graphic organizer to take notes.  Students used the links on the K-2 Symbaloo that I created for them, PebbleGo, and information that we learned from the book Knut: How OneLittle Polar Bear Captivated the World by by Craig Hatkoff and others.  Some students were able to dig a little deeper using QR codes to find the answers to questions about polar bears. Look for the Polar Bear QR Code Webquest at Emily Gibbons Teachers Pay Teachers store.   While students used their notes to do a report, one student at a time experimented with blubber.  One sentence from the completed reports was chosen for the student to type into an Animoto video.  Some students will present their information in a ChatterPix.  The students viewed the presentations and we discussed what we learned and how we felt about each presentation.  The review concluded our Super 3 process.  Students were excited to tell their teachers what they learned.

Polar Bear at NC Zoo

The second graders learned about some interesting animals in arctic regions.  Using library books, magazines, links from our K-2 Symbaloo.  Students found as much information as possible to share with the class.  We did the same experiment as the first graders.  It was “cool” to see how blubber keeps the arctic animals warm.  One second grade class used the ARE, CAN, HAVE graphic organizer, while one class used a graphic organizer by Tiffany Reed, that required them to explain the anatomy (size, color, and appearance), habitat, diet, and interesting facts.  Some students used Animoto or Chatter Pix to present their information.  Others will present their information with a lapbook.   

Blubber Experiment

I might use the life-sized penguins and lapbooks in combination with the Animoto videos and ChatterPix via QR codes for Digital Learning Day.  What are you doing for Digital Learning Day?

Batman Returns...His Books

After learning that Bat Girl was a librarian, I decided to change the name of my "dwelling" to the Bat Cave.  For Halloween, I dressed up as Bat Girl.  Pinterest has inspired the bulletin board pictured below.  It has caught the eye of students and teachers.

Data! Data! Data! Data! Batman!

I quickly put up the data because I didn't want it to look unfinished.  I plan to display an updated infographic each month. There are some things that I need to figure out first.

The Weeding Has Begun

After getting some training, I am tackling my first weeding project.  While doing inventory, I noticed some really old and/or worn books.  I started wondering if these books were being checked out.  While helping a friend weed her library, I learned that by running a shelf list for the last three to four years, I could get a good idea of which books are being circulated.

When I got to the Hardy Boys series, I was stumped.  Because I don't remember ever checking out any of the series to students, I assumed nobody was reading the series.  I didn't even look to see if Hardy Boys was being circulated.  Since I hate to get rid of classics, I decided to keep them.  After someone on Twitter asked me if students are reading them, I reviewed the shelf list again.  A few titles were checked out at least one time.  When I looked at the history of those titles, I saw that students were checking out the books more than once.  That tells me that the students are reading the books.  The Nancy Drew series had the same stats.

The Hardy Boys Stay

In order to generate a renewed interest in the series, I will do a "Detective" display.  I will also get the students who have already shown an interest in the books do Book Talks.  I think I will use some of the skills, that I learned in my Media Production class this summer, to make the Book Talks fun by using green screen and props.

Other series that are not getting much attention are the American Girl, The Baby-Sitters Club,  Boxcar Children, and Little House...  There are multiple copies of some the titles in these series.  I will keep one of each.  One goal is to put all the American Girl books together.  I will gradually weed the Baby-Sitters Club as I purchase the updated Baby-Sitters Club and  graphic novels.  I haven't decided what to do with the Boxcar Children, and Little House...

I hope to see students checking out some of the Ol' School books more. They need to know that there was life before Greg Hefley.

Updated Library Centers

Among my many projects this summer, one is to update some Library Centers that a good friend gave me.  She is hanging up her Librarian Hat and gave me some goodies.  Some of the goodies were some that she created or bought, but some were created long before she became a librarian.  After going through the goodies, I realized that some of the activities are very helpful, but they would not appeal to today's elementary students. 

So far, I have updated two versions of the Alphabetizing Author's Names.  I updated one for the Easy section and one for the Fiction section.   I want the students to be familiar with the alphabetical order of their favorite authors, so they can find books on the shelves.

Inside the folder

Oldies, but Goodies

Updated List of Authors

 

 

I also updated the list of author names.  Students will recognize the new authors. 

21st Century Answer Key

I added a QR code answer key, but I also included the traditional answer key. You never know when the wifi might be down. Another reason for including the traditional answer key is currently we have one iPod for the students to use.  That leads me to another project that I will be working on - a Donors Choose project for an iPad.  Hopefully my first book fair will allow me to purchase one or two iPads also.

Get A Job, Chicken Little!

I am still here!  Grad school, Book Fair, Disney, Testing, Inventory, and a Leadership Institute have kept me busy, busy, busy.

One of my favorite things that I do is collaborate with the other specialists.  We did a Career unit after realizing that students really do not know enough about careers.  The art teacher helped students explore careers that involve art.  They also learned about some famous artists.  The music teacher and PE teacher also explored careers in their fields. We explored a variety of careers in the library. We made an ABC book and a "When I Grow Up" book about careers.

When I Grow Up

The most awesome thing we did, was produce a career program for PTA night.  The kindergarteners did a Community Workers skit.  The first graders did a Career Day skit.  Originally, I wanted each grade level to do an adaptation of a fairy tale.  I wanted lumberjacks, construction workers, masons, interior decorators, and insurance adjusters to be new characters in The Three Little Pigs.  You get the idea.  All the snow days made planning difficult.  I insisted that we do at least one fairy tale with a fox in it.  I think you see where this is going.  The second graders did Get a Job, Chicken Little.  Okay!  I modified a skit that I bought on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Chicken Little was a pizza delivery person, Henny Penny was a florist, Ducky Lucky was a landscaper, Goosey Loosey was a farmer, Turkey Lurkey was a billboard installer, and Foxy Loxy was a police officer. While delivering pizza to the school secretary, "something" fell on Chicken Little's head.  She needed to let the mayor know.  As she is joined by the other characters, they get pulled over by Foxy Loxy.   The principal came in at the end as the mayor.  The program ended with the cast and audience dancing to "What Does the Fox Say?"

Each specialist contributed to the program.  The music teacher provided music and songs.  The art teacher made most of the props.  The PE teacher taught the dance to every grade level.  I became a screenwriter and editor for a few weeks.  Each specialist played the role of director at some point. The students amazed us by learning the songs and lines in such a short time.  The only disappointment is that nobody recorded the program.

Where in the World Have We Been?

Our third graders read Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown.  We talked about what we would do and where we would go if we were flat.  I showed them some of the adventures of Flat Stanley that other students were able to witness.  The students decided to make flat versions of themselves, using the Cricut Everyday Paper Doll cartridge.  The students named the paper dolls after themselves. We had Flat Danny, Flat Amy, Flat Joey, etc.  They turned out so cute.

Playing With Paper Dolls

Flat Friends

Some students were able to get addresses of family members or friends.  We found addresses for some famous people. I also enlisted the help of some of my family and friends for the students who did not get addresses.   

This Flat Friend visited the White House.

We all got treats from Sweden.

The President told students that reading, writing, and math are important in his job and in other jobs.  He encouraged them to be curious and learn as much as they can.  We were thrilled to get a sealed letter from the President.

A friend of mine who lives in Sweden, sent our Flat Friend back in a big box along with postcards, flags, candy, chocolate, kronor, and other souvenirs. She also emailed me a slide show.  We learned that the students learn English in elementary school.  We also learned that a krona is equal to 15 cents.  Each student got a krona, some candy and chocolate.  I wanted to keep the chocolate for myself.  Our Flat Friend was not dressed for the weather in Sweden, so my friend made her a scarf.  Next year, we will choose our destination and then dress the paper dolls for the climate.

Some other places that our Flat Friends have been are; California, Arizona, Charlotte, NC (Home of the Carolina Panthers), Texas, Georgia, and Japan.  My friend in California took our Flat Friend to some exciting places. We got maps, brochures, and tons of pictures from California. He even got a chance to meet a Flat Stanley.  My sister took a Flat Friend with her to a real estate convention in Arizona.  He was very popular at the convention.  He was photographed with a group of super heroes and some "Things".  There was a request for our Flat Friend to start his own blog.  Another Flat Friend went to visit Cam Newton in Charlotte.  He returned with a letter, an autographed picture, and a fan card.  Our Friend who visited Japan, came back with postcards.  Our Friends who visited Texas and Georgia came back with pictures and post cards. We are still waiting for a few friends to return from West Virginia, Florida, Charlotte, and Belgium. I will be taking two Flat Friends with me to Disney World.

We will make a scrapbook after all of our Flat Friends return, and have a chance to be displayed.