Christmas Ornament Contest

Greetings!
I told you about my ornament contest a few weeks ago. Students who wanted to enter the contest could make an ornament for the library Christmas tree. The directions were to make or decorate an ornament that fits the theme of Books and Reading. Well, last week I got the ornaments in and had only twelve students enter. All the entries were from grades 5 and under. I thought you might like to see the entries I got. A few were quite clever.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Audrey

Christmas Display

Greetings!

This is the time of year to pull out all your Christmas books and make a great display. Put them in like categories and display them together. For example, put all the ones about Jesus’ birth together with a small Nativity set. You can put a small Christmas tree on a table and books about Christmas trees or even just trees around it.

Maybe you have a lot of books by one author such as Patricia Polacco. Find a photo of the author on Google Images, (don’t forget to copy the source ) print it out and put it in a Lucite frame or laminate it so students can know what the author looks like. You can also put some biographical information there, too. This helps students realize that authors are real people.

Even with a wide variety of Christmas books, you can still put some kind of Christmas decoration or even just some garland around the books. If you put some snowmen around, you can even leave those up for a month or so afterwards! (I told you that I do not like to decorate!)

I hope you have a great week. Don’t overdo or you’ll get sick.

Audrey

Christmas in the Library

Greetings!

I hope you got some much needed rest over the short Thanksgiving break. Now we turn quickly to the coming Christmas holiday. I will tell you a secret. I don’t really like decorating for Christmas. I have a large space and it is full of books and shelves and tables and adding even more stuff in there looks cluttered at times. Plus it only lasts for a couple of weeks, so it seems like a waste of time.

HOWEVER – I do decorate for the following reasons.

1. The children love to come in and see the Christmas decorations.
2. It makes the library look inviting and festive.
3. I have helpers to put it up and take it down!

I haven’t really started much decorating yet, but we will put our library tree (artificial) up today. And that brings me to my post for this week. I have a contest going. Students who wish to enter the contest can make an ornament for the library Christmas tree. They need to make or decorate an ornament that fits the theme of Books and Reading. Their ornament needs to have a tag with two things on the tag – the title of the book the ornament represents and the student’s full name. These ornaments are due next week and winners will be chosen from each grade level. The ornaments will be theirs to keep and they can take them home just before vacation.

Two years ago I did this same contest and got exactly 12 ornaments. All from grades 3 and under. My intention was to choose three from each wing which would have been 12 in all, so I just declared each of them winners. I gave them a gift certificate for a book from the Scholastic Book Fair that would come in the spring and one of our teachers who is a wonderful photographer took their pictures which we made into posters and put up on the empty wall above the stacks. All in all it was a success. This time I made the change to specify that the ornament must have a tag with the name of the book on it because one ornament looked like a bead string and I simply could not guess what book it was supposed to represent!

Wouldn’t this be a great idea for a classroom to do a book report ornament? They could make an ornament to represent the book they read, tell about it in class and then hang it on the tree. Or you could keep track of the books they read over the next few weeks. They can hang an ornament for each book they read.

Here are the posters we made and put on the wall. Each student is holding a favorite book similar to the posters that ALA Graphics puts out. These posters are 16 inches by 24 inches, so they really are fairly large, but look much smaller up high. Keep that in mind if you decide to do something like this.

Well, I need to go pull down my Christmas decorations and get started or the holiday (at school) will be over before I get going!

I hope you have a great week. Take your vitamins! You will need the energy.
Audrey

Andrew Clements books

Greetings!

I just read the newest Andrew Clements book called About Average. Jordan is in sixth grade and is neither tall nor short, not blond nor brunette, not fat, nor thin – but average. Her grades are average. She sings OK, but is not good enough to have a solo. It seems to Jordan that others in her class are much more talented than she it.

Jordan has a crush on a boy but this does not take over the story. She also is a really nice girl and I love how she handles a bullying situation when it occurs. Jordan throws away some papers and one of the girls finds them and then begins to read them aloud with exaggerated expression to make fun of Jordan. Jordan thinks and decides that no matter what that girl does to her, she will be nice. My first thought was that Jordan was heaping coals of fire on the girl’s head, but that term was not mentioned.

Jordan does eventually do something that is above average near the end of her sixth grade year. She performs a heroic act when a tornado comes and the orchestra director is knocked unconscious. She quickly organizes the students to action and they take refuge under the grand piano surrounded by music stands and covered with the velvet curtains from the stage.

Andrew Clements is a good writer and his books are very popular. He always has a lesson buried in the story so it doesn’t sound preachy. If you don’t’ have any of his books AND you are in an elementary school, I would strongly suggest you purchase some of them. The ones I suggest you purchase are:

Frindle
Trouble-Maker
No Talking
Lunch Money
The Report Card
The School Story
Lost and Found
Extra Credit
A Week in the Woods
The Landry News
The Last Holiday Concert
Room One: A Mystery or Two
The Janitor’s Boy
The Jacket

You might want to stay away from Things Not Seen, Things Hoped For, and Things that Are. Even though the titles sound a bit religious, they are not. Read the blurbs or the books before you decide to put it in your library. I have chosen not to put them in ours.

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving vacation. I’ll be in Seattle visiting my son. I’m looking forward to the break.

Audrey

Books for your Library

Greetings!

This week I have some more books to interest you. I just pulled some random titles off my cart. There is no theme here, just books that I think will be good additions to an elementary school library.

Mrs. Harkness and the Panda by Alicia Potter is about a real person and how she and her expedition team braved the odds to bring the first panda, Su Lin, to the United States in 1936. There is a timeline, an author’s note and photographs to support the watercolor drawings of the story.

If your school is like ours, you have students who love Legos. We have a few Lego books and they never seem to be on the shelf very long. Here is a new one published in 2011 with ideas from Lego fans. I have a feeling that I should have bought more than one copy! The Legos Idea Book.

It’s difficult for children to understand about chronic illness. When Pete’s Dad Got Sick by Kathleen Long Bostrom is a great way to open up the conversation for children and families. The book is written from a Christian perspective and Pete asks his dad why God would give him fast legs, then take them away. His father replies that God didn’t take them away. Sometimes people get sick or hurt. He continues to trust that God wants what is best for us and claims the Bible promise “I can do everything by the power of Christ.” The illustrations are realistic drawings. At the end of the story are a few pages of parental helps from a clinical psychologist. This is one of the books from the series Helping Kids Heal published by Zonderkidz.

Do you have a student with autism? My Friend Has Autism by Amanda Doering Tourville helps explain in a simple way what a child with autism may act like and how students can understand more about them and the disorder. On certain pages a box titled “Did You Know?” gives more information about the characteristic described on that page to help further understanding.

We have a young student that loves Poison Dart Frogs and when I saw this book in a preview box, I had to get it. The Life Cycle of a Poison Dart Frog by Anna Kingston shows the wide variety of these frogs and the bright colors they have. It is truly a beautiful book. I love that the illustrations are photographs rather than drawings.

Bird Talk by Lita Judge is subtitled What Birds are Saying and Why. Twenty-eight different birds are mentioned and what their calls and actions mean. One example is the North American Killdeer who feigns a broken wing to attract enemies away from her eggs. The author’s lovely realistic pen and watercolor illustrations support the text.

I hope you have a great week.

Audrey

Holiday Books

Greetings!

The holidays are fast approaching and will be here before we can turn around. Pull out your holiday books and decide what you want to read to the students and what you can put on a display. I pull out the books that I am planning to read aloud weeks before so they can’t get their hands on them and I know they will be ready for my lesson.


Here are a few that I love to share with the kids.


If your kids watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, read this book to them about how the balloons of the parade began. This is the true story of the man behind the balloons – a puppeteer named Tony Sarg. I didn’t know that the reason the puppet/balloons began was because Macy’s put live animals in the parade which frightened the children. So they asked Tony to think of something spectacular. As we all know, he certainly did. Read Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet.

Emily Arnold McCully writes a great story and has taken an incident from history and embellished it. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid along with some other outlaws hosted a Thanksgiving banquet at Browns’ Hole, Utah. McCully has taken Ann Bassett’s account of this banquet and has added two fictional guests to the table. All ages will enjoy this exciting story about the Wild West and outlaws. Read An Outlaw Thanksgiving by Emily Arnold McCully.

Cranberry Thanksgiving written by Wende and Harry Devlin is a story about a little girl named Maggie and her grandmother who has a secret recipe for cranberry bread. Maggie invites the scruffy, uncouth neighbor, Mr. Whiskers, for Thanksgiving dinner even though Grandmother does not like him or trust him. Grandmother has invited a handsome stranger from the town who is quite dapper. Of course, the handsome stranger ends up being the one who is trying to steal the secret recipe and Mr. Whiskers saves the day. I plan to make some cranberry bread from the recipe in the back of the book and have small pieces for the students to taste when I read this one. If your kids like this story, read Cranberry Christmas. Mr. Whiskers’ sister is coming to visit and to take him back with her because she thinks he can’t take care of himself properly. Also, a mean neighbor, Cyrus Grape won’t let anyone skate on his pond and all the children are unhappy about it. Things work out so that Mr. Whiskers doesn’t have to move away and the children get to skate on the pond after all. Included is a recipe for cranberry cookies, too.

If you like books where you can share a treat, you’ll love The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg. We have used this book a couple of times in our school assembly near Christmas and at the end all the kids get a miniature candy cane. The candy cane can be turned curved end down to make a ‘J’ for Jesus, the curved end up to make a staff to remind us that the shepherds were the first to learn of Jesus’ birth, and red stripe to remind us that ‘by His stripes we are healed’. The illustrations by James Bernardin are lovely paintings that add richness to the story.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski and illustrated by P. J. Lynch is another beautiful book . A widow commissions a gruf and gloomy wood carver to replace a crèche which had been lost. She requests that her son be allowed to watch the carver as he works. The wood carver lives a hermit-like life and doesn’t want to be friendly, but as the days and weeks progress, he slowly puts his personal sorrow aside and lets the friendliness of the child and his mother bring warmth to his cold heart. There is a movie made from this book that is really special, too.

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving or Christmas story that you would like to share with other teachers through this post? Send me the information and I’ll be glad to pass this along.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Book Swap

Hello,

I’ve mentioned the idea of having a Book Swap previously, but it has been a while and I thought you might not mind a repeat. One student came to me at the first of the year and asked if we were going to have a book swap this year. We talked about it and his recommendation was to have two book swaps; one in December and another one again in May. I told him that he had a good idea and to remind me about it the first of November. This morning he came to my desk, and reminded me. I guess it is close enough to the first of November to remind me, so I thanked him and he went on his way.

Here’s what I do when I have a book swap.

A few weeks before the swap I make an announcement letting students and parents know about the swap, what kind of books to bring, and what to expect. I put this in our newsletter and I put up posters around the school. I also announce it during library classes for a week or two before the swap.

I hold the Book Swap for only one day and a Wednesday works best for me. I don’t have it on Thursday or Friday since that would interfere with my library classes. Students bring their books to swap on the Monday and Tuesday just before the swap and I give them a ticket for each book they bring. The first year I carefully checked each book as it was brought in and would not give any tickets for books that did not fit the guidelines. I didn’t have too many, but the disappointed faces I saw were too much for me. I now don’t worry about subject matter or condition of the book; I just give them a ticket for each book. The reason I don’t mention subject matter or condition is because I don’t want any student to feel hurt or upset. Later, I weed out any inappropriate books and quietly dispose of the few that may show up. I have extra books that I put in the swap which help make up the difference. I print out tickets as needed so I don’t waste paper. You can easily make your own ticket.

I put twelve tickets on one sheet of paper and cut off the amount a student needs. Students are responsible for their own tickets and if they lose them, that is unfortunate. I recommend they keep them in their desks or lockers so they will be here for the swap.

Only students with tickets are allowed into the swap until after the lunch period is over. Then, any student may come through and ‘buy’ books either with a ticket or for the nominal price of 10 cents each. Money goes to the library. After the school day is over, any books left over belong to the library for me to do with what I want.

On the day of the swap, I let the older students come through first. I learned this reading about another swap at a school. That school’s first swap had the younger students coming through and choosing thick novels that were appropriate for the older students and by the time the older kids came to the swap, only younger picture books were left. They changed the order the next year and their swap went much better.

If you have any questions, please let me know. I hope you decide to have a book swap and that it is fun for you and your students.

Have a great week.
Audrey

Library Displays

Greetings!
Do you pull out books for displays in your classroom or your library? If you don’t, why not? It is a great way to get some books noticed. You can use the top of the shelves, a table, a desk, a box, a bathtub, or anything that will hold some books. Use a crate or bookends to help books stand upright.

We have a display in our library right now on bears. We have informational books and stories about bears from all sections of the library. We have stuffed bears on the tables and shelves to supplement the display. It has been great and the children are enjoying the books.

We used a Paddington Bear and a Smokey bear along with a Winnie the Pooh to bring attention to stories about each of them.

The center of the table has the tallest books. You can also cover a box with a tablecloth and put books on the box to give them height.

This swing has been in the library for years.

We have a panda lover on our team and a part of her collection is prominently displayed. A number of our panda books were near this, but were promptly checked out.

The child-sized chair was donated to our library a couple of years ago and all ages love to sit in it.


We have another display on survival and have pulled both stories and information for this, as well.

I bought a number of these Lucite signs at Staples and a piece of regular paper fits in there well. We put a piece of construction paper in to give some color and draw attention to the display.

This set of books called “Survive Alive” by Neil Champion is a great addition to your library. There are three more in the series that aren’t shown in the picture: Finding Food and Water, In An Emergency, and Tools and Crafts.

Look at the calendar for ideas for displays. Pull books for the major holidays and the minor ones as well. When National Popcorn Day (January 19) comes around, pull books on corn, popcorn, and cookbooks with popcorn recipes in it. Make bookmarks with a flavored popcorn recipe on it for the students to take home. If you google “national popcorn day”, you will also find fun activities to do. You can find oodles of ideas on the internet.

Don’t forget school subjects, too. What are you teaching that can be supplemented from the library? If you are a classroom teacher, check out books for a display in your classroom.

Display books by color or size. Check with your students for props to borrow to enhance the displays. Pick and choose the displays you want to do. Have students help hunt for books that fit the theme of the display. If they find the books, they might also actually read them. Have a goal for one display a month and have the display last for a week or two unless it is so popular you decide to keep it up. No display in between will also promote interest when a new display goes up.

I hope these ideas have spurred your interest in putting up some displays in your school. Send ideas and pictures so I can see what talented readers I have.

Have a great week.
Audrey

Read Alouds, part 3

Greetings,

I will continue my previous two posts regarding books to read aloud.

Suzy Kline writes some great stories. She was a third grade teacher and her students were trying to find chapter books that they could read on their own. She started writing a series about Horrible Harry geared for readers in about second grade. But that’s not the series I want to tell you about. Herbie Jones is a third grader and the funniest things happen to him. Kids love to hear about his adventures. Try the one where he is invited to Annabelle’s birthday party and takes a can of salmon as a gift. Then make sure you have others in your library in the series including Herbie Jones and the Class Gift, and Herbie Jones and Hamburger Head.

You probably know Beverly Cleary best for her books about Ramona Quimby. All of Beverly Cleary’s books are great read alouds, but she has other books that are maybe not as well known. Dear Mr. Henshaw is a favorite of mine and I love this gentle story told in letter/diary format. Leigh writes to an author as a second grader and again in third and fourth grades. When Leigh is in sixth grade, his parents divorce, he and his mother move, and Leigh ends up writing a diary and we learn how he adjusts to his new life and how he comes to terms with his absent father. There is a sequel to this story also called Strider.

You may know Robert McCloskey for his famous book, Make Way for Ducklings. This man has a tremendous sense of humor which shows up in his books. Take Homer Price – extra ordinary things just seem to happen to an ordinary boy who has a pet skunk and an uncle who owns the town’s donut machine. After this book, you can read more stories about Homer Price in Centerburg Tales. These two books are a collection of stories. Each story is fairly long and may need two or even three days for reading each story.

If you like Homer Price, you may also like the set of books by Bertrand R. Brinley called The Mad Scientists Club. A group of boys aged 12 – 15 call themselves the Mad Scientists Club. They hatch up some wild plans among themselves and try to hatch a dinosaur egg, build a sea monster on their canoe that fools the people across the lake, find something hidden inside the cannon on the town square, and much more. Granted, the stories were written in the 1960s, and the technology is old fashioned, but the stories are still fun to read. I hope some of you know about these books, but I would guess that most of you have not. There are three other books in the series. The New Adventures of The Mad Scientists Club, The Big Kerplop, and The Big Chunk of Ice. Enjoy.

It looks like this week has a little theme of books that are old fashioned. One of my very favorites is Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Elizabeth is being raised by an overprotective aunt who has very specific ideas on child raising. Circumstances arise that send Elizabeth to live on a farm with other relatives who call her Betsy instead of Elizabeth. Betsy learns to be independent and to think for herself and I cheer for her as she begins to grow up. One thing I love about this book is that Elizabeth is first referred to as Elizabeth, and at some point in the story, she is then called Betsy rather than Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the frightened dependant child, and as she becomes more independent, her personality and name changes. This would be a great book to read aloud and ask the children about the name change. The book is in print, but I got it free on my Kindle.

Robert Burch wrote a book called Ida Early Comes Over the Mountain, a story about a woman who cares for the children in a family. The children’s mother had died and a stern aunt is caring for the family. Ida is tall and not very attractive, but the children grow to love her and the fun she brings with her. A sequel to this book is Christmas With Ida Early.

If you like Ida Early, you will probably like The Year of Miss Agnes, too. A small school in Alaska has a hard time keeping teachers. Life is very hard and no one seems to want to stay around. When Miss Agnes comes along, the children expect she will be the same as the others and leave as soon as she can, but Miss Agnes surprises them all. She throws away old textbooks (Yea!) and reads exciting books to them. The children start to enjoy their lessons and are learning, but keep wondering if Miss Agnes will leave or stay.

Ruth Redding Brand loves to write Bible stories for children. Charles Mills loves to write for children. Together they have written a series of books that your children will love. Call them either Amazing Stories from the Bible or the Professor Appleby and Maggie B tapes series; it doesn’t matter. They are fun and the students will beg for more. Other titles are Miracle Stories from the Bible, Heroic Stories from the Bible, Adventure Stories from the Bible, Mysterious Stories from the Bible, and Miracle Stories from the Bible. If you are going to read these aloud, it would be helpful to read them in order.

I hope you have enjoyed these read aloud ideas. Maybe we’ll do some more later in the year.

Have a great week,
Audrey

Read Alouds, Part 2

Greetings,

I got responses from a few of you enjoying the read alouds I told about last week. Since I didn’t nearly finish my own favorites, I will again continue that same thread. But first . . .

Karen wrote that she likes to read Secret of the Cave by Maxwell. Most of you probably know that this is by an Adventist author and that there is a DVD movie of the book that was made by students at Southern Adventist University a few years ago. Note: I bought the DVD and began to show it to my library club members 15 minutes at a time during our lunch time. I told them that we were previewing it to see what ages it would be best for. My library club members are usually in 5th grade or above. After the first ‘episode’ one girl asked if she had to watch the rest because it was so scary. I didn’t think it was scary, but you can judge for yourself.

If you have students who want to read an adventure book, or an exciting story, just send them to Will Hobbs. He writes adventure stories and I have never seen any language issues in his books. Many of his books are historical fiction, but all are good reads. Jason’s Gold is a survival story about a young man who stows away to find gold in Alaska and gets a little help from a guy named Jack London. I happened upon this book in our local public library a number of years ago, read it, then went back to the library and proceeded to read every Will Hobbs book they had. Then I ordered a bunch for our school library.

Continuing the adventure theme we go to Stone Fox by John R. Gardiner. Take a young boy, money problems, a sled dog race and you are set for adventure. This book is also only 96 pages so is not as intimidating. It would be a good book to read before the beginning of the Iditarod, and then follow the race via the internet. Talk about bringing the book to life! There is also a movie of the book for those who are interested.

Since we are on an adventure theme, don’t forget Swift Arrow by Josephine Cunnington Edwards. This is an old favorite of many of us. If you haven’t pulled it out in a while, go find it and start reading it to the students. Then, when you have finished, pull out Spotted Boy and the Comanches by Mabel Earp Cason. Both of these books are about white boys taken by Indians and how they were able to make their way home again. As a child, I used to imagine what it would be like to be captured by Indians.

I now see that I have a theme of historical adventure and they are all about boys. So balance that out a little by including Caddie Woodlawn, a feisty redhaired girl back at the turn of the century. She makes friends with the Indians and has other adventures that are really interesting. Carol Ryrie Brink writes this true story about her grandmother who was the real Caddie Woodlawn. If you enjoy this book, try the second one called Magical Melons. (Spoiler alert: The watermelons had been hidden in sawdust to be saved for later and not knowing this, the children happened to discover them and decided it must be magic. There are no magical or supernatural things in these books.)

One more adventure story to read aloud is The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare. Thirteen-year-old Matt and his father journey to their claim and begin to build a cabin. Father leaves Matt to finish the cabin and guard it while he returns to bring back the rest of the family. As problems arise, Matt learns some much needed survival skills from the Beaver clan of Indians nearby. Matt teaches Attean to read and Attean teaches Matt much more. Elizabeth George Speare only wrote four books, but those four are stellar. The other three are The Witch of Blackbird Pond (NOT about a witch and in my top ten children's books of all time),Calico Captive (about a girl captured by Indians), and The Bronze Bow (a young man bent on revenge in Roman times, and learns some lessons about love and forgiveness from the carpenter Jesus of Nazareth.)

Have a great week!

Audrey

E-Reader Policy

Greetings!

Last week I talked about the importance of reading aloud. I got a response from a teacher telling me about the books she enjoys reading aloud to her students and hoping other teachers will share their favorites, as well. So, you are invited to send a quick email to me listing books that you love reading aloud. I will share the list in the near future and we can all enjoy them and maybe even find some new favorites.

This week I want to talk about e-books and e-readers in the school. I know that many of your schools do not allow Kindles or Nooks at school. However, many of you do allow these and those that don’t allow them YET, may find that you will need to do so in the next year or two. The e-reader is here to stay. That being said – you may consider having a contract or policy for the e-reader. I hope you have a Computer User Agreement for the computer use in your school. (If not, then that is another post.) The e-reader contract would be similar. In your e-Book User Agreement here are some things to consider including. I took the following items from http://www.pointpleasant.k12.nj.us/Forms/Policy2361_eReaderAgreement.pdf

1. All e-readers must be labeled with the student’s first and last name.
2. Each student is responsible for his or her own e-reader and is strongly cautioned not to lend it to another student while in school.
3. E-readers can be used in class only when the teacher gives the student permission. If a student is using an e-reader at an inappropriate time, the teacher may revoke student permission to use the e-reader during that class.
4. E-readers are to be used for reading and teacher-approved school work only. Any student found to be using his/her e-reader for unapproved activity or Internet access during school hours will lose his/her privileges.
5. E-readers may NOT be used for audio books, music, or movies in school.
6. The privilege to use an e-reader can be revoked at any time.

I googled e-reader user agreements and was quite surprised at some of the restrictions that public schools and other church schools put on the e-readers that are brought to school. Some stated that ALL material downloaded on the e-reader must be appropriate for the school. I was surprised at this, but it isn’t a bad idea. Others said that if students bring an e-reader to school a teacher may at any time look at the material downloaded to make sure that nothing is inappropriate. Others said that while the e-reader is at school, the wireless must be disabled. The list goes on. Do a search for e-reader agreements and see what you can learn.

I am now going to admit that my school does not yet have a policy or e-reader agreement. I have mentioned to the administration that this may be something that we need to do, and we are likely to either have a policy or consider a policy at some point this year. When we have a policy, I will certainly share ours with you. I just feel like it is good to be prepared for the coming of the e-reader rather than have to hustle to catch up.

If your school allows e-readers, I would urge you to consider a policy before any problems arise. If you are considering allowing them, then a policy ahead of time would certainly be appropriate.

I hope you have a great week. Don’t forget to send me ideas for good read alouds.

Audrey

Reading Aloud is Important

Greetings!

I certainly hope you are reading aloud to your students. It is my belief that we should read aloud to students of ALL ages. Yes, I know that older students can read for themselves and you high school teachers or librarians probably don’t read aloud to them. Still, I think you should. Here are my reasons.

1. Everyone enjoys a good story and we should not leave anyone out. I know that I listen to a preacher better if the sermon is illustrated with stories.

2. Speaking of listening, many children today need to improve listening skills and stories are one way to help improve that skill.

3. Reading aloud and sharing books models how important this skill is. When I read a book to a group, the book I read is the exact book that students ask for over and over. Years ago I read a story called “Mailing May” (see note below) to a group of 1st and 2nd graders. One little girl checked the book out repeatedly for years. She graduated last year, but that book was special to her for many years.

You may not realize what kind of power you have at your fingertips. You can influence the reading material of your students. There is such a plethora of reading material and much of it is just trash. If we can find good wholesome books for our kids to read, what a blessing it would be.

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey

Note: Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell, Illustrated by Ted Rand. Greenwillow Books, 1997.
Summary: May is a small child who wants to go visit her grandmother across the Idaho mountains, but the family does not have enough money to pay the $1.55 fare. May tries to earn money, but she is just too young. However, Ma and Pa come up with a plan. Ma’s cousin Leonard is working on the mail train from Grangeville to Lewiston and May is ‘mailed’ to her grandmother. What is the best thing about this book is that the story is true. You can read the whole story in the back of the book.

Check out other books by Michael O, Tunnell if you like this one.

Greetings!
Since the school year has just started, you have money that needs to be spent on your school library. I’ll be happy to help you spend this. 

Throughout the school year I will give you ideas for books that you may either need or want for your library. This week I have some great ones for you.
If your library is like many libraries, you need to update your astronomy section.

Here is a great one titled A Black Hole is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano published by Charlesbridge. She does a great job of explaining what a black hole really is. The book is just about right for elementary libraries. Students from middle to upper grades will all be able to read and learn from it. Teachers can use it as a great supplemental resource for science, too.

Since election time is right around the corner, putting out some books about elections, governments, and presidents will help stimulate some interest in the subject. Here is a set of books from Searchlight Books published by Lerner about Judges and Courts, The Congress, and The President, Vice President, and Cabinet. These are appropriate for primary and middle grades.

I found a set of books that address certain issues that come up at school such as being kind and honest with others. This set is called Positive Steps published by Smart Apple Media and each book in the set addresses a particular kind of behavior. The titles shown are Dealing with Differences, Being Honest, Caring for Others, and Dealing with Bullying.

If you have horse lovers in your school like I have at mine, you can’t have enough horse books. Kingfisher Riding Club is a reputable source for all things horse and this one about the different breeds from around the world is really great. I learned that there are hot-blooded, warm-blooded, and cold-blooded horses. Who knew?! Read Horse and Pony Breeds by Sandy Ransford to learn more.

Last week I answered a question about outdated textbooks and asked for any suggestions from you regarding them. Jennifer H. responded with some great options. She said that older math and reading textbooks can be used as a resource for extra practice. You can sell them at yard sales. Student missionaries who will be teaching may welcome them. Contact the WWU student missions to see if there is any interest for them. Thanks, Jennifer, for your great ideas.

I hope you got some good ideas for books.

Have a great week.
Audrey

Outdated Textbooks

I got an email from a teacher wondering what I tell people to do with outdated textbooks. She wondered what the best way is to take care of them and wondered if there was a place that needed them.


This is a great question. I am not sure what people do with them actually. I know that most schools simply do not have the storage space to keep them. I would say that if they are in poor condition, to recycle them if possible. If they are in good condition, I would expect that there are schools somewhere that could use them. I don’t know where to find these schools, but I think that the conference office may know more about this than I do.


If the old books are from the old reading series, I would recommend keeping a set or two of each level in the library as a library book. It may be that you have students who need more reading practice and having a book that is on his or her level to read will really help. This is especially true for the younger grades. If you have any of the old Dick and Jane books or even the really old Alice and Jerry books, you have a treasure. Keep them in the library and let students check them out to read.


Now I will turn the tables on to my readers. What do YOU recommend schools do with outdated textbooks? I’ll compile ideas and let you know what others suggest.


I hope you have a great week and a Happy New School Year!
Audrey

Summer Plans

Greetings!
This week has been so hectic that it only just occurred to me that I had not sent a post this week! I am sure that many of you are in the same situation and maybe did not even notice that you didn’t have an email from me! This summer as you are working or thinking about next year, send me any questions or ideas you may have for my weekly posts.

If you are moving and no longer wish to be on my list, please send me an email to that effect and I will take your name off the list.

If you are moving, but want to continue to receive posts, do nothing. If you have a new email and wish to have the posts sent to that email, please let me know.

If you have an interest in organizing your library or just want to get some ideas, come to one or both of my sessions at the NAD convention in August. I’ll be giving one on “How to Organize a Small Library” and another called “ShopTalk for Librarians”. You don’t have to be a ‘librarian’ to come to these. The Shop Talk session will be discussions about subjects you bring up or want to talk about. Never fear. I have plenty to talk about, but it’s more fun if it is a discussion rather than me talking on and on for an hour.

I look forward to seeing you in August. I hope to actually meet some of you rather than just know you by name and email! Have a great summer! Audrey

Library Policies

Greetings!
If you have thought about making a change in your library procedures, this is the perfect time to do something about it. You can decide what you want done differently next year and write up the procedures you want to change or include so you are ready for a new year next August.

This last year I tried something new at my library. In the past I have limited students to three books each check out period. Special circumstances would allow four books. This year I threw caution to the wine and decided to let students in third grade and above check out as many books as they wanted. During their first library class I asked them how many books they had been able to check out last year, then I said that this year we were going to try something different. They could check out as many books as they could be responsible for. I gave several scenarios to help explain what I meant about being responsible for books. The students were thrilled and have done very well with this new plan. Here I am at the end of the school year and I have about the same number of books that are lost or damaged as I had previously. I count our experiment this year as a success. This did not apply to the lower grade students. Students in first and second grade still were limited to two books and Kindergarteners to one book. I have talked before about policies and encouraged you to have some of these in place. If you don’t have these in place, I strongly encourage you to do so.

This is also a good time to plan for next year so you are ready to put policies in place. You should have a policy for selection of library materials. Who chooses books for the library? What criteria do you use for selection? What do you do if a parent challenges material in the library? Do you have community patrons? Do you let the church members check out from your library? I can hear some of you saying to yourself, “We’re a very small school. We don’t need those policies at our school.” It is my belief that ALL schools need these policies. I believe it is better to have a plan or policy in place BEFORE we need it rather than afterwards. Having policies ahead of time also keeps us from appearing to target a particular individual. No one can point to any individual and claim that it is a specific individual’s fault. No, it is just our policy. If you are a very small school and you feel you need support, consider having the Board help establish these or vote them in. What policies do you need? You need a selection policy (a statement of how materials are chosen to be placed in your library and how they will be removed), and a reconsideration policy (a statement of what the procedure will be in the event someone challenges some material in your library.) You might want a policy for community patrons, homeschoolers, or church members that might choose to use your library. I tell the community patrons that they are welcome to check out books, but if a teacher or students needs the particular item they have, I will ask them to return it right away. I have only had to do this one time, but my policy was in place and the patron was very cooperative. You can look up sample policies on the internet or contact me and I will send you our policies to help you draft your own. I hope this has been helpful to you. This is not something that is fun to do, but one of those necessary items. Once it is done, then just check it every few years and update it as needed. Have a great week! Audrey

Summer Library

Greetings! School is winding down quickly. Soon it will be summer. Do your students read over the summer? Where are they getting their books? Do you have a public library in your town for them to use? If you don’t have these resources for your students to read, what are they going to do? At my school we open up the library for a few hours once a week in July. We call it Summer Library. We do this for a few reasons. Our school is located in College Place and many of our families live in College Place. The public library is in Walla Walla. College Place residents must pay a large yearly fee to use the Walla Walla Public Library, and very few are willing and able to do this. Another reason we open our library is simply because a number of families prefer our more conservative collection over the public library’s collection. The public library has some wonderful books, but most parents do not have the knowledge of children’s literature to make appropriate choices for their children and it can be overwhelming. It is much easier and less stress to come to our school library and check out. A third reason we open the library is that I have an assistant who is willing to be here on those days and operate Summer Library. We have a few students who come with their families on a regular basis, but when no one is in the library, we can get a lot of work done. What about you? Is this something that might happen at your school? Maybe this is not an option at all for you. But many teachers do go work at school in the summer. If you do, would you be willing to be at school on a particular day each week and let students come in to check out? I have no idea if this idea would work for you, but I thought I would give you something to think about. Holding Summer Library may sound good, but not be feasible for you. Here are some other ideas. 1. Consider making a summer reading list. Parents can easily find the books at the public library and may even check out books for themselves while they are there. 2. Challenge students to read a certain number of books over the summer, or to read a certain number of minutes a day. Provide reading logs for them. 3. Hold a book swap so students can get ‘new’ reading material for summer reading. This is really pretty easy and also FREE. 4. Send out a weekly email to your families with book ideas and reading activities for summer. Maybe you can sneak in a few fun math challenges, too! I hope some of these ideas sound interesting to you. If you are interested in holding a Book Swap, you can get more information on the internet, or go to my blog – sdalibrarian.blogspot.com – and you will find a post or two (March 2010 and January 2011) about Book Swaps. Have a great week. Audrey

New Books

Greetings! I found a wonderful book that you will want to purchase for your library. It is called “If You Lived Here: Houses of the World” by Giles Laroche, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children 2011. The illustrations are done in cut paper relief which gives shadows and a three dimensional feel to the pages. Each two page spread is on a different type of house that people live in. There is text to explain the type of home, and below is smaller text to give more information about the type of house, the materials used for building it, the location of the home and other interesting facts about the house. One fascinating fact about cave dwellers is that children growing up in villages with cave dwellings believe everyone lives in caves and are surprised to learn that most people live in houses with four walls and roofs! You might be as surprised as I was to learn that there are 45 million people living in caves today and they are often quite modern in their interiors.

The kinds of houses we learn about in this book include dog trot log house, mountain chalet, pueblo, connected barn, cave dwelling, palafitos (houses on stilts), Venetian palace, chateau (looks like a castle with a moat), Fujian tulou, half-timbered town houses, whitewashed village in Greek islands, decorated houses in Ndebele, South Africa, yurt, Airstream trailer, floating house, and tree house. The back page has a blank map of the world depicting where the different houses are located. Do you have students who are interested in nature and love to learn about it? What if they could be part of a scientific experiment and contribute to scientific studies? How cool is that? “Citizen Scientists” by Loree Griffin Burns, published by Henry Holt and Company 2012 is a book that explains how citizens are already helping scientists and how you can get involved. Four different activities are described, one for each season. Fall Butterflying, Winter Birding, Spring Frogging, and Summer Ladybugging. The last six pages are resources for more information. This book will excite the nature lover and even be interesting to indoor types.

If you teach about the body and particularly the heart, one new book is called “Henry’s Heart” by Charise Mericle Harper published by Christy Ottaviano Books, a division of Henry Holt and Company. The illustrations are drawings that are a little childish, but still attractive. A lot of information about the heart is given in a fun way. When Henry runs, the heart beats faster, and slows down when he slows down. Henry’s heart even falls in love – with a puppy! On each page there is the main text and other thought and conversation bubbles to read.

I hope you enjoy these books. I really love finding new books and am happy to pass them on to you. I love my job! Have a great week. Audrey

Greetings! I am sure that most of you are getting your summer plans in order and on the list is the convention in August. I want to let you know that I will be giving two presentations on library at the convention. One presentation will be on how to organize a small library. Most of you have small libraries and if you are interested in organizing your school library and/or getting your library on an automated program, I hope you will find the time to come to my session. For the past two summers, I have been part of a team to visit a small school and work for a week in the summer to get the library cataloged and automated. At the convention in August I will be presenting our system and how it has worked. Another session I will be presenting is a ShopTalk for Librarians. In this session we will be discussing any topics that concern our SDA schools and libraries and books. I will be moderating this session. If you have questions or concerns or just wonder how other teachers handle library situations, then come and talk with us. This will be fairly informal and we will talk about the subjects that you want to talk about. I am collecting ideas for the ShopTalk session. If you have any questions, I would love to put it on the list of subject ideas. I’ll try to remember to send out a reminder again this summer about the sessions. I hope to meet some of you face to face at the convention. Have a great week, Audrey Sdalibrarian.blogspot.com

Videos and DVDs

Greetings! Usually I talk about books and other reading material, but this time I thought I’d talk about other media. Recently I bought a number of DVDs for school use to supplement the curriculum. I sent an email to all the teachers and asked them to let me know what subject areas they would like to have DVDs for use in their classrooms. I wrote down the responses I got and made a list. Then I went looking for these subjects. First I went to Library Video Company. www.LibraryVideo.com I have a print catalog and I started paging through. When I saw something that fit a need at our school, I highlighted the item and put a post it flag on that page then I marked it off my list. Many of the subjects have multiple videos and DVDs for it, so I had to choose the ones that would be best for our school and the grade level that needed the DVD. If you search online, you can watch short clips of many of the DVDs in order to help you get a better idea of the appropriateness of the movie. You can also sort the lists online and filter them to get your choices down to a more manageable size. If you need a particular subject and cannot find something at Library Video, check Amazon.com. I was looking for a DVD for study skills for junior high next year and could not find what I wanted. I did a search on Amazon.com and found just what I was looking for. At our school, we have videos and a few DVDs for students to check out. This is the first year we have done this and it is working out well. We also have videos and DVDs for teacher use only. The ones that support our curriculum do not get checked out by students, only teachers. The two sections are separate from each other and marked differently, too. I hope you consider purchasing a variety of other media for your library. Think about videos, audio books, maybe even some CDs for check-out. Have a great week. Audrey

Andrea Davis Pinkney

Greetings!

This morning all the students in grades 1 through 4 had the opportunity to hear Andrea Davis Pinkney speak. She is a petite Black woman who gave a dynamic presentation to a few hundred students from area schools. She spoke about her writing style and how she gets her ideas. Andrea’s day begins at 4:00 am with some silent meditation on something beautiful and lovely or something that she loves. She said that she sits with her cell phone on her knee so she knows how long she has been sitting and thinking. She invited the children to sit quietly with their hands folded in their laps, close their eyes and think of something they love. Then she puts on her swim suit and goes to the YMCA in her neighborhood in New York City and swims. Andrea said that she takes her notebook with her everywhere she goes. She walked down the steps to the audience level and walked along the side showing her notebook and asked the students if her writing was neat. It was not. She then commented that it was a bit sloppy but that it was her notes and not meant to be neat. She uses her notebook to write down her ideas as soon as they come to her so that she won’t forget them.

Since I knew that our students would be attending this session, I bought two of Andrea’s books and shared them with the students. I bought “Dear Benjamin Banneker”, and “Sit In. How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down”. Andrea shared parts of the book “Sit In” along with other books of hers. The “Sit In” book is the story of the Greensboro sit in that occurred in February of 1960. It tells the story of a nonviolent protest for equal rights. Andrea uses Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words in sections of the story.

She did not mention her book about Benjamin Banneker, but that was one of my favorites. Benjamin Banneker was born free to free Black parents. They owned a small tobacco farm that he eventually took over when he was an adult. He studied the stars and wrote his own almanac, but was unable to get it published because he was Black. A group of people who fought for the rights of black people helped him eventually get his almanac published. Benjamin also wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson reminding him that he had written in his document “The Declaration of Independence” that all men are created equal but at the same time he – Thomas Jefferson – was guilty of owning slaves. Jefferson answered and said that Banneker was right. This book shows that all people are able to learn and achieve their dreams no matter the color of their skin.

Andrea’s husband, Brian Pinkney, illustrates many of her books. He uses scratchboard – white covered over with black – for his illustrations. He scratches away the black part that he doesn’t want, and is left with black and white. He then paints color where he wants color. After sharing Andrea’s books, you might incorporate an art lesson and let the children try some scratchboard art for themselves. For those children who are ‘lefties’, you can tell them that Brian is also left-handed.

If you are unfamiliar with this author, you might want to get some of her books. The two that I have mentioned are two that are certainly appropriate for our SDA Schools and there are most certainly others. Andrea also writes picture biographies about famous Black people. Check them out of your local public library and see which ones will be best for your school.

Have a great week!
Audrey

BYOD - Bring Your Own Device

Greetings!

I believe that we as educators need to be either on the cutting edge or at least aware of cutting edge practices. At the NCCE convention there was a lot of talk about BYOD – Bring Your Own Device. The rationale is that students are already using these anyway, so let’s put them to educational use. A Smartphone, an iPad, a net book, or personal computer can be a great educational tool, and our job is to educate students to use their devices as a learning tool rather than a texting or game tool.

BYOD has some positive elements.
1. Students already own them, so the school does not have to provide them.
2. Students are also responsible for any repairs or device problems that may happen. It is a personal device, not a school one.
3. Students know how to use it already.
4. It provides a 1:1 student to device ratio.

Of course, there will always be problems with students having devices. It is our job to teach students about internet safety and proper use of the internet. One presenter gave the following ‘proverb’ to us. “Filter a website and you protect a student for a day. Educate students about online safety and you will protect children for a lifetime.”

Now I certainly believe we need to filter our computers at school. But along with filtering the internet, we also need to educate students about internet safety, cyber bullying, and being safe with social media.

I do not believe that many of our SDA schools are ready to adopt a BYOD policy, but I thought it would be interesting to think about and at least know that there are many schools out there that are doing this right now. If you think that this sounds like an interesting option, I would encourage you to plan a special day with technology and allow students to Bring Their Own Device on that day. See what ideas you can come up with. If you do try this idea, I’d be interested in learning about your experience.

Hope you have a great week.
Audrey

NCCE part 2

Greetings!
I noticed an error I made in a web address last week. I mentioned Prezi – a program to use rather than PowerPoint, and I listed the website as www.prexi.com and it should be www.prezi.com. Please excuse my error.

Do you wish you could show short video clips to illustrate something you are learning or to enhance a unit? Go to www.teachersdomain.org and you can have access to thousands of clips. You may need to sign up for an account. I am not sure about this. I know that my school blocks streaming video so I cannot use it the regular way. I think that you could download the clips you want to use on a thumb drive and then show them on your computer. It is a little more trouble, but I believe it would work well.
Tammy Worcester is a presenter I can listen to over and over. She is very entertaining and quickly presents lots of ideas for technology. Her books seem a bit pricy, but the use you will get from them makes it well worth the cost. The following ideas are from her presentation titled “Fabulous Free Web Tools”.

Random Name/Word Picker - http://www.superteachertools.com/instantclassroom/random-name-generator.php. There are many tools out in internet world that have random name picker. You input student names and then the program spins or ends up with a particular student’s name. Sometimes you can remove them from the list so they will not be called upon again, but that is usually an option you can choose or not. Some look like a spinning wheel and the names all appear rolling around and around. The one I found above looks like a blackboard and the names appear quietly. Tammy presented one that acts like a slot machine at http://classtools.net/main_area/template_loader.php/?fruit_machine. I believe that you can choose other options rather than a slot machine, but in any case, it is a little more fun that using popsicle sticks with your students’ names on them. You can save the name list and reuse it over and over. Do you need a list of words? What about listing the states or provinces and students name the capitals? You can input any kind of list and use this multiple ways.

Online Stopwatch - http://www.online-stopwatch.com/ This is a large screen stopwatch or countdown clock or even a classroom timer. This works great on a smart board. Place the timer on your desktop by simply dragging the URL from the website to your desktop. Now you have the timer ready to go whenever you need it.

Classroom Management Tool - http://www.classdojo.com/ This tool can be very motivational. One criticism is that all students can see what everyone’s behavior is. This is true. The people who like to use this program state that all students already know who is behaving and who isn’t behaving anyway, so what is the problem? The program can be used to note participation, behavior, and other idea. Take a look at the demo and see if this is something that would work for you. It is kind of fun to give Brad Pitt a mark for class participation.

Newseum - http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/ - You can view headlines from newspapers across the country or world. You can go back in time for quite a few years. Please note that the front page is the only page you can access. Even so, it is great to have such a wonderful primary source available.
Science online activities – just go to http://edheads.org/ and you can let students actually do a knee replacement or deep brain stimulation or design a cell phone, or simple machines, or more. Very cool!

Traveler IQ Challenge - http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq - This site has a fun and addictive geography game. It isn’t as easy as it looks, but it is fun. Try naming the capital and clicking on the place it is located. I hate to admit it, but although I knew the capitals, I did not get the placement correct.

There is so much available on the web and most teachers simply do not have time to sit at the computers and search for sites. I hope these sites have been helpful to you. If you are interested in more next week, please let me know. I can go another week or two on just this information I learned from NCCE.
Hope you have a great week.
Audrey

What I Learned at my Conference, part 1

Greetings!
I recently attended the NCCE Convention in Seattle and had a great time. I learned some interesting information and will be sharing some of it with you for the next few posts. NCCE stands for Northwest Council for Computers in Education. I have some cool websites that may interest you and tips and tricks for computers.

Do you use PowerPoint with your students? I learned of a couple of FREE options to use. One is called SimpleBooklet. Templates are available to use. The word is that this was designed for business use rather than educational use, but is still a good alternative for kids. It is FREE which is a good thing. Be advised that you must use Chrome, Firefox, or Safari to create your booklets rather than Internet Explorer. www.simplebooklet.com

Another option for PowerPoint is to use Prezi. Go to prezi.com and click on the “pricing” button, then you should see a bar with “Student and Educator” pricing line. You can use this for FREE. The upgrade is only $59.00 and might be something you choose to do or not. www.prexi.com

If you have your students write papers and wonder why they don’t get the grade they thought they would, there is a program called ‘PaperRater’ which is a simplified version of Turnitin. Many colleges and universities use Turnitin to check for plagiarism, but this is a little different. This FREE service will analyze grammar, spelling, and originality along with a few other options. If the student is 9th grade or higher, it will even give a suggested grade for the paper. I tried it with a student’s paper and was pleased with the information I got. www.paperrater.com

If you are having trouble with students not citing sources correctly, there are multiple programs to help with this problem. Son of Citation Machine is a FREE website that makes this very easy to do. www.citationmachine.net For a FREE bibliography go to http://easybib.com and create a bibliography quickly and easily.

Need an interesting and fun journaling activity? Go to http://oneword.com and press go. A word will appear at the top of the page and a timer is at the bottom. Students have one sixty seconds to write about that word. They can type on the computer using the word that appears on their individual screens or you can project the word onto the screen and have everyone write about the same word. You may think of other things to do with this website, too.

Have you tried Wordle yet? It is such a fun website. You can input text and Wordle will then turn your text into a picture. The words that are used the most will be the largest words and the words that are used the least will be smallest. www.wordle.net Another site that is similar is Tagul. The good thing about tagul is that is does not run on Java and there are more options. http://tagul.com Please note that while both websites are free, you need to sign up for Tagul, but not for Wordle.

I do not want to overwhelm you this week. Try some or all of these sites and see what you could put to use in your classes. I’ll have more next week for you.
Hope you have a great week.
Audrey

Kindle Survey Results

Greetings!
I know you are busy people, and I thank the few of you who were able to respond to my survey regarding the purchase and use of Kindles or other e-readers. Here are the results of the survey.

Q. Have you thought about purchasing e-readers for your library?
A. One out of five had considered it. One response said that there were so many things that were needed for the school, and e-readers were not at the top of the list.

Q. Do you see these as circulating items or for library use only?
A. Most responses said that they would be used in the library or in the school building only. One respondent said that at first they would be used in the library, but possibly checked out later, and another suggested that it might be library use for lower grades with upper grades allowed to check them out. One person commented that some special needs students might benefit from the use of e-readers which is why they had considered purchasing them.

Q. What are the pros and cons of e-readers in the library for check-out purposes as you see it?
A. Pros: lots of cool features that students can use, might entice the technophiles who view books as “a bit prehistoric”, the price of e-books is often cheaper.
Cons: loss of the device, not enough for everyone to check out, checkout system at the school is consistent, damage to the device, expensive, hard to monitor, unsure students would respect the cost of the device to take care of them, no guarantee that students would read, students would miss the feel of books and the joy of turning the page, would hate to see the world turn its back on actual books and go completely digital.

Q. How do you handle students who bring their personal Kindle to school? Do you supervise their reading? Are they allowed to play games on them at school?
A. None of the respondents were at schools that allowed electronic devices at their schools. No students had them or brought them to school. One teacher said that students would be discouraged from bringing them to school. Another said that she would monitor the reading just she monitors books brought from home. No games would be allowed at school.

Q. Do you or your teachers feel that monitoring e-readers might add an additional burden to your life?
A. No – 1; yes – 1; Probably – 1, Students will usually monitor themselves if presented with clear directions and you have a no tolerance policy – 1; Worry more about damage of the e-reader than regulating them - 1

Q. Are your families ready for this step? Do you think it would be a positive addition to your program?
A. One teacher said that many kids had them already and it could be a positive addition, one teacher said that it would not be either positive or negative but just something the school does. They have some families who would be happy to have their children learning another type of technology and some families who would feel it unnecessary. Two teachers said that it would be a great addition of cheaper books, but did not think the families were ready for this step. One teacher said they have families that really appreciate the school updates the technology and would be impressed that e-readers were available especially if it encouraged their student to read more.

Q. If you did decide to purchase e-readers for your school library, what would you see as the ideal ratio of students to e-readers?
A. Answers ranged from 1:1 (ideally); 1:2; 1:4. One idea was to have one or two in the library for younger students to use and then have one for every 3 or 4 students.

Q. Which e-reader would you consider purchasing and why? Kindle, Kindle Fire, Nook, Sony, other.
A. Most respondents said they would need to do more research before choosing one, but one person replied that she felt the Kindle 3 was the best as far as options and price point.

I found this information interesting and I hope you did too. I do not expect any of us will run out and buy e-readers, but now we know how others feel and have a few facts to back up our opinions.

Hope you have a good week and enjoy your vacation time.
Audrey

Conventions

Greetings!
Do you like to go to conferences and conventions? I happen to love it. I get to see some new ideas and come back energized to work. There’s something about getting around other educators that is revitalizing and inspiring even if you don’t make any major changes in your program. Sometimes it is nice to just get assurance that you are doing something worthwhile and productive in your classroom.

I have been asked what conferences would be worthwhile to attend. I have some ideas that may interest you.

ALA – The American Library Association holds two major conventions each year. The Midwinter one is usually held someplace warm. This conference is popular because the Newbery, Caldecott, and other medal winners are revealed. The larger one is held in the summer months and is popular because the medal winners give a speech at a banquet. The attendance at these conventions is usually around 18,000 for the summer convention and about 9,000 at the Midwinter one. This convention is geared toward the librarian and more particularly, the public librarian rather than the school librarian. Of course there is plenty for a school librarian, but I did notice that as I walked around the exhibit hall, there were many free books for adults. Did I say ‘Free Books’? Yes, I did. I attended an ALA a few years ago and was amazed at the amount of books that were piled on tables just for the taking. Nearly all of the books were advanced reading copies and nearly all of them were not at all appropriate for a Seventh-day Adventist school library. I get a little thrill reading an advanced reading copy knowing that I am one of the first to read that book. Many of the exhibitors giving books away also have authors signing books. I picked up a copy of Jeff Shaara’s Gods and Generals for my husband and had Jeff sign the copy. For Free!

IRA – The International Reading Association holds one major convention each year held in North America either in the United States or Canada in early May. I believe there are years that they have had a convention in a more exotic place as well such as Australia. Attendees come from all over the world to this convention totaling about 16,000. The sessions are geared toward teachers and literacy. This is the convention that I prefer to attend over ALA. The exhibitors also bring in authors who are signing books. In order not to miss your favorite author, there is a small booklet listing the days, times, and booths where authors will be signing. It is advisable to arrive early and stand in line for some of the authors. At this convention, most of the books are for purchase, however, I noticed that in the last few years there have been quite a few more free copies available. At IRA there are so many sessions to choose from, you need to be quite selective. One year I decided to focus on a particular subject and went to a number of Reader’s Theatre sessions. Another year I focused on listening to authors speak. This is a convention where US attendees may also earn clock hours for attendance at sessions.

BER – The Bureau of Education and Research has excellent one-day workshops. I have attended a number of these and have thoroughly enjoyed each one. The workshops are small enough to receive personal attention and get answers to your questions, the presenters are qualified and entertaining and each attendee leaves with a book filled with the information that was presented during the day. I keep these and use them for reference.

Tips for a good convention:
1. Make out a schedule for yourself. I usually make this on a small card that can fit into my pocket. I list the time slot, room and the session title. I also list other options in case my first choice is filled when I arrive. That way I don’t waste as much time hunting for a second or third choice.
2. Wear a fanny pack. This keeps your arms free. If you must carry a purse, get a travel sized one or one with a long strap that can cross your body.
3. Join the organization. It is usually well worth the yearly dues in order to get lower convention rates. Members also receive other perks that may or may not intrigue you.
4. Wear comfortable shoes! You will be walking a lot.
5. Wear layers as some rooms may be chilly. I usually wear clothing I would wear for school and a lightweight sweater. I used to take a rolling canvas bag that can fold up, but those are no longer allowed at large conventions.
6. Have fun. Learn as much as you can.

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey