The Spartan Librarian

Just like on Monday, pick a word from the vocabulary envelope.    Find a reference in the text where that word is represented.    DO NOT USE THE SAME WORD AS MONDAY, AND DO NOT USE THE SAME ANSWER AS YOUR CLASSMATES!    Put it on the  padlet  for the correct chapter! So the race has begun, and Little Willy needs to win the race to save the farm. How do you think Little Willy is feeling as the race starts? Look at this  list  of character traits and pick one that best describes the feelings Little Willy has!  Put your answer on this  Padlet .  Give a reason why you picked the word you did. Use your headphones to listen to me read  Chapter 9 - The Race . In this book, the author John Reynolds Gardiner, uses a lot of figurative language. Find and example of each type below, and add to our  Figurative Language Padlet .  Be sure to put the page number on which you found it....

I have been reading Innovator's Mindset by George Couros. In the book, he explains how he taught an educator how to use twitter by having her watch a Twitter in 60 second video.  She was inspired to have her students create 60 second videos of their own to teach science concepts. I showed my 5th grade students the Mitosis in 60 Seconds videos I found on YouTube and explained to them that we would be making our own videos using Science Vocabulary! I learn so much from my students, and with a lot of trial and error using white boards, dry erase makers, and iPads to video, one student asked if they could use the Zing  Stikbot  Stop Motion app !  Genius!!!  So much easier for my young students! After a little more experimenting, my students created their own videos (not quite 60 seconds, but it is a work in progress)!  We will be using WeVideo and iMovie to edit and clean up our videos during next week's class! Let my students know what you think by le...

I saw this post by Tricia Fuglestad on Twitter !  She is an elementary school art teacher, and tech integrator extraordinaire!!!  I found lots of inspiration on her Twitter page and her Weebly! I was so inspired by her whirligigs, I had to do a lesson with my 4th graders!  We also have a Whirligig Park in our state, and we watched this video to explain to the students what a Whirligig is!  We just finished our Maker Faire, so they were intrigued by these moving contraptions! Wilson, NC Whriligig Park Tarheel Traveler Segment, WRAL By the end of today's lesson, we used our research skills, learned new science terms, reviewed polygons, and drew a plan for our own whirligig. I gave each team of two kids a card with a science term on it.  They had to research the term and come up with an animal that fit their category:  nocturnal, amphibian, reptile, a bird, a mammal, etc. Once they decided on an animal that fit their category, they had to dra...

This is my favorite read-aloud of the year!!  I love the message Ashley Spire's portrays in her book The Most Magnificent Thing! It is a great book to teach children about having a growth mindset, and that mistakes are part of the process, and sometimes you have to try, try, and try again to be successful. After reading the book, I share this wonderful stop-motion animation of the book by students at Elmwood School.  That gives the students a second chance to hear the message. We then watch this video about  Ormie  and his attempt at getting a treat! We then compare and contrast the two main characters in the films!  (Tie in those reading skills) We talk about what message (moral/lesson ) the two stories were trying to teach us, and how we can use what we learned at school and in real life! Then using postermywall.com , I have students create posters with inspirational messages and ideas to show the growth mindset!

Mrs. Long 'somehow' locked her lesson in her toolbox.  The students had to solve clues to help her get her lesson out and save her job!! This was a modified #breakoutedu activity! Using several re settable locks purchased through Amazon and Walmart, I created clues that helped the kids decipher the combinations. (These are some of the locks and hasp on Amazon.) I knew my Digital Safety lesson wasn't going to take my entire 45 minute block and I wanted the kids to be excited to find out what was in the box, so I created the clue activity to fill some of the class time. I created simple clues that could be solved in a matter of minutes.  Each table/group was responsible for deciphering one clue.  I gave one person at each table mardi gras beads, and they were the only person that was allowed to approach the box and attempt to open the locks.  (This saved my sanity and kept 25-30 kids from fighting over the locks and box!) My clues for this activity:...

I fell in love with Auggie in R.J. Palacio's Wonder !  Several of my teachers plan to share the novel with their classes this year as a read aloud!  I loved the message it sends to treat everyone with kindness! If you have the choice to choose between being right or being kind, choose kind! As soon as I saw the picture book We're all Wonders , by R.J. Palacio, I knew it was one I would share with my library classes!  The message was right on point,  that each one of us has something about us that makes us special and unique, that makes us a wonder! I used the book to talk about being ordinary, perceptions, and how we need to look at the inside of people before we jump to assumptions. We discussed how R.J. make the character exaggerated (hyperbole-tied some figurative language in there), and how boring life would be if we were all exactly the same! As a follow-up, I had kids think about what it was about them that make them unique.  We used Flipgri...

Although our attendance numbers were low, Technology Night Was a huge success! Union Intermediate School students, staff, and administration came together to celebrate Digital Learning Day  Thursday, February 23rd. Teachers and students were excited to show our parents all the digital tools we are using this year to make Union Intermediate School 21st century ready! Following a hot dog (Bright Leaf of course) dinner cooked by our principal, parents and students visited a variety of stations set up around the school.  Parents got to see students demonstrate different learning programs, creative tools, and presentations that teachers have been using in the classrooms. Parents were shown how to access student grades and given instructions to sign up for Accelerated Reading Home Connect Program. If you missed our event, here are links to the programs and resources we used! Power School Parent Portal   (Contact Glenda Estrada for student access codes) Accelerat...

We had the best time today SKYPEing with Kenn Nesbitt today!  The kids had so much fun, and Kenn was so engaging and entertaining. Kenn talked with the kids about writing, figurative language, and inspiration - write about things you see! Kenn helped each group start an original poem and assigned homework for each student to add a stanza to the poem.  I can't wait to see what they come up with! To schedule your own visit with Kenn which I highly recommend, check out his webpage . You still have time to order an autographed copy of one of Kenn's books, print out this order form and return to Mrs. Long by May 18th! 4th Grade My b unny makes b urgers. My m ouse makes m ac and cheese . My p uppy makes p izza. My p arakeet makes p eas .     I never eat their cooking. Not even on a dare . Because it’s always covered With slobber and hair . 5th Grade Football with French fries. Soccer with tacos . B aseball with b ananas. Nasca...

I missed doing poetry activities with the kids in April (poetry month) because of the time it took to write and publish our ABC books!  I had so much planned, Poem Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems  by J. Patrick Lewis, Fold Me a Poem  by Kristine O'Connell George, and our Kenn Nesbitt SKYPE! So, this week, we did a Poetry Scavenger Hunt using Ms. B's printable  (freebie here!)   I had kids visit Kenn Nesbitt's website, and read or listen to his poems.  While listening, they were looking for figurative language, rhyme patterns, and phrases and words that appealed to their senses.  They had so much fun!  Mr. Nesbitt writes on topics that are engaging and fun for the kids!  Can you say --Poetry Love!!! It was so inspiring to see kids sharing poems as they discovered them, and discussing figurative language, and talking about the "pictures" the poems were painting in their heads! We finished the lesson by using padlet to come up with questions to ...

I finally found two minutes to sit down and write my first blog post for the school year!  It has been a whirlwind! My PTO president and I, did a little redecorating in the library, painting an accent wall, adding a canopy, and some cool over sized candy decorations.  My theme for the year is "READING IS SWEET!!!".  I have a little more work to do under the canopy I picked up at IKEA, but the kids have gotten a kick out of it!   My daughter and I used masking tape to create these fun patterns on some bargain canvas' ($4.99 a two pack at Michael's).  We had them taped off and painted in about 30 minutes.  I then cut vinyl letters using my Silhouette machine and ta-da, cheap wall art!  Some construction paper flags had been hanging here for the last four years, and who knows how many years prior to us moving into this building!  It was time for them to go!   Starting my second year as Teacher Librarian, I am finally...

I love when kids find things at home and bring them to share with me, but this was a little creepy!   Santos a 4th grader, brought this complete snake skin in for us to see.  His dad does insulation and found this skin under a house he was working on.  The skin measured 6 feet and 6 inches LONG!!  I do NOT want to run up on this snake! If you are interested in reading more about snakes check out the 597.9 section!

I think I have a social networking problem (but I think I can call it work)!! My new love is  Twitter and I have found a great group of librarians, teachers, and technology users that I follow (stalk) all the time!! @Barrowmc and @WESmediacenter are two of my favorites!  @Barrowmc shared a Crowd-Source poem she was doing with her students.  She created a Google form with sentence stems about the media center and had the students complete the sentences.  Sounded like a lot of fun and a great way to get insight into what our students really think about the  media center! I didn't use Google forms, but created a Quiz in edmodo and assigned it to the kids.  They completed it today during computer class.  The responses were predictable, funny, heartwarming, quirky, not-what I expected, and touching.  The following are actual responses from my actual students! P.S.....if you want to follow me on twitter my name is @read...

The 4th graders have been learning all about pourquoi stories in their ELA classrooms.  After listening to several stories, the students wrote their own original pouquois.  The writing process was completed in the classrooms, and they came into the media center to publish their work. They used our new iPads and the Scribble Press app to write and illustrate each story.  The kids loved seeing their work online in a digital ebook format! Check out some examples: How some Dogs Black and White Fur by Izaya n. - read the free ebook now from Scribble Press! Why Cat's Hate The Rain by Leonilla Garcia - read the free ebook now from Scribble Press! Chameleon and parrot by Written and Illustrated by Cody C. - read the free ebook now from Scribble Press! Why the Cheetah Runs So Fast by Written and Illustrated by Kevin W. - read the free ebook now from Scribble Press! How a Shark Got Its Sharp Theeth by Written and Illustrated by Emmanuel C. - read the free e...

Mrs. Shepard, a fabulous fifth grade teacher here at UIS, had her students write poems about the Civil War as a cumulating project.  She had them share them with me----all I can say is AMAZING!!!!!  These kids did a faboulous job and you can tell that learning had taken place! I had her send them in to me in the media center, and they used  Audacity to record their poems in their own voices.  I then uploaded them to Sound Cloud to share with the world! Check them out!!

April is National Poetry Month To celebrate the students choose original or published poems to share with the school each morning during the announcements.  Visit our link below to hear all the wonderful poems.  Be sure to check back often, as we will be adding a poem daily!

During a recent staff meeting, the administration put us into groups to dicuss the results of our Spring Benchmark, and what we could do to improve on our scores as a whole.  At this time, the teams discussed which items and objectives the students did not do well on. Using the information gleamed from this meeting, I, along with a 4th grade math teacher discussed creating math centers for the students to work on in the library.  The seed was planted! We created math centers focused on the objectives that the students had shown weakness in. Center #1 - Using Edmodo and EdCanvas , I created a lesson to review lines of symmetry.  The students logged into their accounts and completed the activity. (Objective 4.G.3) Center #2 - Using our New iPads, the students explored fractions using BraningCamp's Fraction app.  The students completed activities on equivalent fractions, common denominators, and adding and subtracting fractions. (Objectives: 4.N...

I have the most wonderful parent assistant any librarian could ask for!! I gave her the idea of what I wanted my bulletin board to look like for National Poetry month and she came through with flying colors, a 3-D tree, and paper flowers!!! In computer class today, the kids used some online poetry creation sites to write their own poems. Following Easter Break, each morning after the pledge, a student will read an original poem or recite a favorite! Can't wait!

OMG!  That's all I can say!  Our principal purchased 12 brand new iPads for the students to use!  They arrived the end of last week.  Today, we did our first little mini lesson using them!  These kids were engaged!  That's all I know to say! Every single one of them, got started quickly, stayed on task, and even did the assignment more than once, just to get to use them! Our kids just recently took our Spring Benchmark and 5th graders scored poorly on questions dealing with multiplying and dividing fractions.  We used Fractions by BrainingCamp .  It started with a video lesson, followed by questions, then ended with a challenge mode! I can't wait to share this with our other teachers!!

Today I started an enrichment Civil War activity with my 5th graders. I read aloud Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco. As I read, I introduced actual Civil War images that correlated with the story. The Library of Congress has a huge selection of period images and artifacts. We viewed images of the colored troops, burnt out buildings, Andersonville Prison, and more. Following the story and a discussion about how Pink and Say must have felt and the impact the Civil War had on these young men, the students competed in a Civil War challenge using blubbr.tv! Isreal, Cesar, John, & Carlos from Mrs. Peterson’s room have the highest score of 385!!    They were beat!!  German, Tyquan, and Ryan from Mr. Allen's class scored 424!!  Can you beat that?