TCEA Takeaways

Loading...

Parent Tech Tips

One thing that I want to be more purposeful about is how to communicate with parents about effective technology usage.  There are so many tools out there that many people just don't know about.  Here are a few of my Parent Tech Tip Newsletters from this year.

Loading...

Loading...

Loading...

Library Highlights

Nance Library by April Scott

December Library Newsletter

December 3-7 in the Library

September Library Activities

2018-2019 Beginning of the Year Library News

Cool New Tools

Letterfolk Virtual Board

Letterfolk came out with a virtual letter board and I am in love.  This has to be one of the coolest things I have found.  I'm going to be making lots of really cool pictures with quotes, book titles, etc.

I can see this being a great tool for kids to use to create quote posters as well.  It does not require a sign-in and you can immediately download what you created.

Check it out here 

Text Giraffe

Looking for cool text options? Text Giraffe has some great options. There is a limit to the number of letters you can use and it takes a few steps to download your creation but ultimately, I was pleased. Check it out here.

Lots of great books

I spent a lot of time reading some amazing books this summer!  Check out my video below to see what I read!  As always, check with me if you need a good book recommendation. 

You Go First

I loved absolutely everything about this book.  Charlotte and Ben may be separated by thousands of miles but this story shows just how close they truly are.  Both are struggling with family issues as well as middle school drama including friend problems, bullying and worrying about fitting in.  The novel covers a week in their lives and tells both of their stories separately.  Their connection begins as online scrabble competitors and then grows as they both struggle with deal with their separate lives.

The characters are believable and many young readers will relate to them.  They both navigate through some pretty catastrophic middle school episodes and they begin to understand more about who are they are and what it means to find a true friend.  I laughed and I cried and I truly felt like I was living this week alongside Charlotte and Ben.   Loved, loved, loved this book!!

Reading Can Take You Anywhere!

I am so excited about our library theme for this coming year!  One of my goals this summer has been to get in as many great reads as possible.  Here are just a few that I have enjoyed over the past few weeks. 

A Boy called Bat is one of our Ultimate Book Challenge books for this upcoming school year.   It has been sitting on my shelf for a year and I am so glad that I finally picked it up and read it.  I immediately feel in love with Bat. He is such a realistic character and gives a voice to many of our students who are on the autism spectrum.  His struggles and challenges are ones that students can relate to - problems at school, an older sister and divorced parents. 

The day his mom brings home a baby skunk, Bat knows that he is meant to take care of the baby skunk and maybe even have a skunk for a pet.  He even reaches out to a skunk expert to back him up in his quest to have a pet skunk.   This book was delightful and heartfelt.  Such a great story.  I can't wait to read more about Bat's adventures. 

I was lucky enough to get this book during our annual state library conference and had the privilege of meeting Jennifer Nielsen.  My 4th and 5th grade readers have read everything they can get their hands on about WWII so I was happy to see a new book.  Chaya is a Jewish teenager living in Poland who has decided to make a difference by smuggling supplies, food and forged papers into the ghettos.  She is determined to make a difference and as the war progresses finds herself more and more involved in resistance efforts.

This novel truly shows the strength that one develops when they believe in something completely.  Chaya and the rest of her resistance group are determined to show the Nazis that they mean business and will stand their ground regardless of the cost. 

Reflecting on 2017-2018

2017-2018 was a great year with many challenges and triumphs.  Starting a position at a new school, new library was more difficult than I anticipated but also rewarding.  There were days when I wondered if what I was doing made a difference and then there were days when I KNEW that all of my efforts were paying off.  I truly believe that the library program and the librarian directly impact student learning on a campus.  As a librarian, you are in a unique position to touch the lives of every student on your campus. 

My goal was to impact every student, to inspire them to read, to push them to think creatively, to show them that literacy is related to every aspect of their lives.  Most of all, I wanted them to understand that learning is fun and that there is wonder all around them. I know it's not a measurable goal but if you were to just come spend some time in our library, you would definitely see all of the above.  Kids are excited about reading and excited about all that they can discover and create in the library.  That, my friends, is what you call a successful year. 

Nance Library Newsletter - August/September

Habitat Collaboration

Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of collaborating with my 3rd grade and kindergarten bilingual classes on a great science research project. It just so happened the while 3rd grade was learning about ecosystems and food chains, kindergarten was also learning about animals. During an afternoon discussion with one of my amazing kindergarten teachers, she brought up the idea of having kindergarten engage in authentic research as opposed to the traditional full class research project that they usually completed.

 I knew from working with our 3rd grade bilingual classes on a regular basis, that they truly understood research and how to complete a research project at a high level of excellence. Our 3rd graders went through the entire research process beginning with coming up with good research questions and ending with presenting their projects to their peers and even creating an MLA formatted bibliography. These kids were so excited about their projects. I sat in class while they worked on giving feedback to each other. These 3rd graders knew how to give meaningful, specific feedback in a way that is helpful and not hurtful. They ended up with presentations that were truly excellent.

 Thus began a great collaboration experience. The 3rd graders started learning about their habitat and specifically about endangered animals within that habitat. They were then paired up with a kindergarten friend who chose one of the endangered animals to learn more about. The 3rd graders came up with the research questions to help guide the kindergarten students and then assisted them with finding the information online and in books. What they ended up with was an awesome google slides presentation created by the 3rd grader and a book created by the kindergarten student with assistance from the 3rd grader about the endangered animal. We scheduled time in the library for our students to present side-by-side. Administration, parents and other teachers and students were all invited. The outcome was amazing!

If you would like to see some of the presentations, go to this site: 

http://mrsgoregrade3.weebly.com/my-students.html

The presentations are embedded on their science page of their blog.  

Fifth Grade Book Trailers

As our fifth graders finished up their unit on Theme, I challenged them to create a trailer for a book that they had read that represented the theme of the book.  We talked about how music and transitions and design all contributed to the overall effect of the trailer.  Here are some of the great products that our students came up with

An Ethic of Excellence

At the beginning of this school year, a co-worker mentioned this book to me and suggested that I order it for the professional library at my school.  It took me a while to actually pick it up but I am so glad that I did.  Ron Berger definitely has a lot to say about educational reform and what true learning should look like.  The basic idea steams from the need for a culture change, a paradigm shift in our schools and in our classrooms.  Learning has become so prescribed and tailored to standardized tests that students are missing out on the experience of true learning and a culture that holds all students to high standards that transcend curriculum and traditional strategies.  

Berger teaches in a small public school in rural Massachusetts.  The culture of the school is one of excellence.  This excellence is seen in every part of the school day.  Students are taught to go through multiple drafts of work, give meaningful feedback and receive feedback from others.  All students create portfolios that are presented to a panel at the end of every school year.  The work included in the portfolio is evidence of true work that matters to the students and the schools.  Content is delivered through thematic units that include all core subjects and revolve around real world problems and activities.  

This has to be my favorite quote from the book: 

Imagine...Wouldn't that be amazing! 

Here is a link to the introduction on the book for you check out!

February Library Newsletter

TCEA 2016 - My Take-Aways

Perhaps my favorite part of TCEA was the privilege to represent my district and the library program by sharing all of the great MakerSpace collaboration that we have done in the library this year.

December Library Happenings!

I'm a little late in posting but we had a blast in the library in December.  We had our annual Winter Wonderland week complete with all types of great activities.  Here's a highlight of my two FAVORITE activities from the week.

How to Catch Santa 

If you did not discover this book during the Christmas Holidays this year, then you are truly missing out on some great fun!!  From the same author as How to Babysit and Grandpa and How to Babysit a Grandma, this book gives you a hilarious Holiday How-To.  After we read the book, we talked about procedural text and how it is organized step by step.  The students then created their own guide telling how they would catch Santa. 

Flying Elves 

Can you create an elf that will fly when attached to a balloon?  What do you need to take into account so that your elf is aerodynamic?  How do you account for friction?  Does weight make a difference?  These are all questions that our students had to think about while creating their flying elves.   They had minimal supplies and 8 minutes to create an original elf and name it.  Here are a few of our creations.  

Next, cam the fun.  We had a track set up across the library that was made from string.  We used a straw attached to a balloon so that the straw would travel down the track.  The elf was taped to the top of the balloon before we began.  As we allowed air to release from the balloon, the elf was thrust forward across the library.  Students timed each elf as it traveled.  

  

Rudolph's Nose Went Out!!

During December, our students worked on a very important challenge in the library.  We read Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer but then we learned that his nose had went out!!

We had kindergarten, first and second grade classes that participated in the challenge.  They were given a paper circuit with a break in the path of the circuit.  They had to find the right materials to complete the circuit and make Rudolph's nose light up.  

They had a great time trying different things and finally fixing Rudolph's nose.  There were lots of great connections made.