December Highlights

December was pretty awesome as the LMC Director at JRT! All of my students participated in Hour of Code. Some classes signed up for an extra 30 or 60 minute session with me in addition to the activities I did with every class in the library. I co-taugh some lessons with a fourth grade class using PowToon to share what they learned while researching their state. I assisted a teacher beginning to use Google Forms to substitute her typical paper/pencil weekly reading tests. I helped with a weaving craft project  in a second grade class that was leaning about Christmas in Sweeden. I even survived administering a practice PARCC reading test on our new Chromebooks with 3rd/5th grade classes that activated their GAFE accounts. Alice B McGinty skyped with my 5th grade reading group. Jena Ball did two GHO's with a second grade class. I even did the reindeer pokey with my preschoolers!! Wow! Busy month! I know I did other things, but these were the highlights! No wonder I'm a little behind on my shelving! Can't wait to see what January brings ! 

#whylib

 
All the librarians I follow on Twitter are sharing their story of how / why they became a librarian. I tweeted that becoming a librarian was the best mix of books, technology and working with kids. But.. my story is really a little more than that. 

I LOVE books. I have always LOVED books and I will probably LOVE books (the paper ones the most) until the day I die. 

When I was little my mom stayed home with my sister and I. When my sister entered kindergarten she went back to work as a teacher. (I paid attention to what my mom did for a living even at a young age.) I remember my mom taking my sister and I to the library A LOT when we were kids. We always participated in the summer reading programs and always read more than what was expected to get our prizes. Our local library began in 1974, the year I was born,  in two portable classroom "trailers". The children's librarian was name Pat Chandler and she was wonderful. I wanted to be just like her. My sister and I did all kinds of activities at the Bloomingdale Public Library. It was our happy place. 

I loved the idea of the library so much that my neighbor, Lisa, and I started our very own library in her dad's garage one summer. He helped us make some shelves. Then Lisa and I collected all of the books that we weren't reading anymore and placed them in our library. We had fun checking out books to the younger patrons on our street that summer.

My first summer job was at the Bloomingdale Public Library. I was a Page, and I LOVED working in the library. In my family, I was only allowed to work in the summer. My job during the school year was to go to school. The following summer I was not able to get my job as a Page back because someone who was able to work year round snatched it away from me. 

I finished high school and went to college to be a teacher. Remember, I paid attention to my mother growing up. I knew that I wanted to be a mom, so I needed a job that I liked that gave me the life I wanted. I knew that I wouldn't be able to be a full time mom, so being a teacher was the next best thing... a job I loved and the ability to raise my kiddo. I spent 9 years in the classroom teaching Early Childhood, Kindergarten, and Second Grade. 

During my last two years in Second Grade I began working on my Masters in Technology in Education. I loved really integrating tech into my lessons. Even as far back as 2006, I knew that I wouldn't leave my school. I LOVE my school, but I wanted more than the classroom had to offer. However, I knew that I would never be a Tech Specialist because my district doesn't have Tech Specialists assigned to one building at the elementary level. So... I started soul searching... what could I do? What could I do?? 

Just as I was finishing my Masters, our Librarian was retiring. I JUMPED at the opportunity! What better job to have in the school I loved? The best of all my loves... books, technology, and kids. Since I wasn't a certified Librarian,  I was given two years  to complete my Endorsement in  Library Science. I loved my library classes. I think of all the classes I took, and have taken, my library classes were the ones I worked the hardest in and they were the most FUN I had in school.  The minute I stepped in the JRT Library for the first time as the Library Media Director, I knew I was home! Full circle, first job in the library, last job in the library. I don't think I will ever leave the library. I LOVE my job.

I branded myself "Erin the Librarian"about two years ago during a book signing. I went through a divorce and learned that not everything is permanent. I had a hard time looking at old books with my old name in them. When I walked up to Al Yankovic, I asked him to sign my book to "Erin the Librarian" because my first name was not going to change and I LOVE being a Librarian. It was the first time I called myself that. He smiled and that was it,=... I had become the new me!  Sure, I am a lot more than a Librarian, I'm also a techie, but "Erin the Librarian" sounds really cute!

On a side note, it is really hard as a librarian when you kiddo doesn't like reading. What?? A Librarian's kid doesn't like reading? My son would listen to me read at bedtime and he liked listening to me read. I'm great at changing my voice for different characters. Anyone want to hire me to read a book on tape? That would be my next dream come true.  However, when it came to him reading it was a struggle. He would read what was required but not a second longer. We set a timer and FORCED him to read. However, since I'm pretty good at my job if I do say so myself, I kept pushing and trying new things with him. As many wise people say, there is no kid that HATES reading, they just haven't found the right fit. My new husband is a FANTASY reader, so he suggested we try Deltora Quest. Thank you Emily Rodda. It was his "just right" genre. From that moment on he couldn't devour enough FANTASY. From Rodda, to Mull, to Riodian. The kid can't stop reading. And.. the moment his school district went BYOT and I could load books on his iPhone he was in HEAVEN!!Now this Librarian is a happy momma.

So that is my story. 

Gingerbread Men Loose in the Library

I've had the best week at work! 

http://www.vvsd.org/news/index.php?id=3841

This is what I did- first i created 21 places/stuffed animals  for the kids to "visit" on their search. In addition there was a starting code on their table(me holding the speech bubble with the QR code in it) and an ending code on their gingerbread man. I wrote a script for each code.  Each table scanned 5 codes, so that was 35 script items. I used http://vocaroo.com to record the audio because it has a "save as QR code" option. Super easy to use! I used a google doc to save all the codes in one place. I labeled the codes, which comes in handy when kids get "lost". I tell them to make sure they are only scanning codes with their table number - this was really helpful for 2nd & 3rd grades. Then I cut and mounted the codes on construction paper, and hung them around the room.  I also had my 5th grade shelf elves make foam gingerbread guys.I read "Gingerbread Man Loose in the School". Then I told the kiddos that 7(1 for each table group) gingerbread men were lost/loose in the library. They used the iPads to scan the codes to find the gingerbread guys (that were hiding under the crayon baskets all along). They started with a code on the table, went to 3 locations and back to their table. The hunt lasted about 7-10 minutes. I borrowed 5th & 4th graders to help kindergarten. (Huge help!!!) It was like MAGIC with the little ones..."how did he get there??" Prep time was about 3-5 hours, but that is for 22 classes. It has been so much fun...can't wait to create something for 4-5 with the Bluestem Award Books. 

5th Grade Story by Disney App Success

  I wanted to share the project I did with a group of  5^th graders yesterday afternoon. We used Story by Disney – a FREE app to create a digital storytelling project of library rules. It took 27 minutes start(brainstorming rules) to finish(watching what we created). I did not do it during a regular library time (we are atill on a fixed schedule), the teacher came in with his class during one of my open times. The teacher stayed with the class and handled the management of the class while I did the tech teaching part. It was a great collaboration. The kids had a great time and I can already think of “a million” other things to do with the app. My next mission… to get the app on ALL of the iPads in the library AND to get us new adaptors to use our iPad 4s with the projectors. **watching the finished project is DIFFERENT in the app vs on the computer with the link- the link “show” is MUCH better than watching it in the app!!! 

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

If you haven’t picked up a copy of “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” by William Joyce, you should!!!!!!!!! It is awesome. There are two apps from Moonbot Studios that are awesome that go along with it. Today I’ve been playing around with these two apps with the kids. The IMAG-N-O-TRON app (app 1) needs the physical book to work. I believe it is an app that works with augmented reality. (Wish I would have went to more sessions on this at IETC, but I was too busy listening to Kevin Honeycutt.)  I have the iPad hooked up to the lcd project so the kids are seeing what I’m seeing. You act like you are taking a picture of the book page and then things start to happen like words jump off the page and books fly around. The app also knows which page you are on and reads the page to you.  There are pages that tell you to “look around” and you angle the camera around the room (at the kids) and all of a sudden they are part of the page with books flying around or Mr. Lessmore flying through the room. The quick animoto video shows screen shots of what it looks like with the book expanding off the page and into the library with the kids.

 

The other app, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, is very similar to “Rocket Learns to Read” app that many of us used last year with the Monarch book. The app will read the story to the kids and there are things to do on each page to make it interactive – you can make the tornado swirl, play a song on a piano keyboard, open books, make books fly, etc.

 

William Joyce’s “short” film inspired by the book won an Academy Award, and the film is part of the second app (you can watch the short on youtube, but this one is commercial free).

 

The first app is.99 and the second app is 4.99. Well worth EVERY PENNY I paid for them. I’ve been using it with all grade levels today and every class LOVED it!

 

 

 

App 1 - IMAG-N-O-TRON: "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" Edition by Moonbot Studios LA, LLC

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/imag-n-o-tron-fantastic-flying/id534396897?mt=8

 

 

App 2 -The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by Moonbot Studios LA, LLC

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fantastic-flying-books-mr./id438052647?mt=8

 

One last plug for William Joyce – book 4 of his Guardians of Childhood book came out last week, is called Sandman and the War of Dreams ( I think). Can’t wait until Friday at my B&N bookfair to pick up a copy. I LOVE the series and highly recommend it to ALL!!!!!

 

So Many Books...so little time to Blog about them!

It has been way too long since my last Blog post! I have been reading like crazy and am happy to FINALLY update all of my readers!

What I have finished reading since my last post:

Dark Hills Divide - this was a book that I put down for about a month. I finally picked it back up, and boy am I glad I did! I really liked it, and can't wait to read the other books in the series! 

Spirit Animals by Brandon Mull- I LOVED this book! I really liked the 4 main characters, and I really enjoyed the story. I'm looking forward to book 2, but I'm a little worried because it is by a different author. 

Stranded by Jeff Probst- Many of the girls had been chatting about this one after the book fair. To be honest, I was a little skeptical reading something that the host of the hit tv shoemw "Survivor" wrote. Wow! This book was pretty great. I really enjoyed it!

The Girl & the Seven Theives- this book was given to me by my favorite book vendor. It was a book I was thinking about, and was glad I read it. It is a modern day Snow White story set in New York. It is a great read for girls in higher grades that might not be reading at grade level. The overall story is familiar with a twist. 

Cheesie Mac is not a Genius or Anything- I was finally able to check this out from the JRT library! It is a great book that is on the Bluestem list this year. I think boys will love this book! It is filled with humor, and laugh out loud moments! :) 

Words in the Dust- A student suggested I read this one. I'm so glad I did. I saw the author speak at an Anderson's Author Breakfast. I loved the story he told, and I enjoyed talking about the book. 

Emily's Fortune- LOVED this! I'm going to  have a really hard time picking my favorite Bluestem this year! Boys and girls will really enjoy this fast paced adventure! 

White House Christmas Mystery by Carol March- I ordered this with my Scholastic Dollars after my book fair. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it. I like that the author has a website for a technology tie-in. 

What I'm reading now--- I'm so excited that I'm finally reading Terror Cove by Christopher Krovatin!!! This is the second book in the Gravediggers series. I was "dying" to read it! :) I'm already three chapters in and I love it! The action starts on page 1. I think readers would be ok if they didn't read book 1 first because the author reminds the reader of what happened in book 1. 

What I'm still reading to my son- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We are over 75% through it, hope to finish by Christmas and move on to book 6. 

Well, there you have it! That is what I have been busy reading since my last update! :)  

Another Great Week of Reading!

Oldies but Goodies that I read since my last post:

Shakespeare's Secret -Elise Broach- Loved this book! I really liked all if the twists and turns as Hero tries to solve the mystery of the missing diamond. 

Loser by Jerry Spinelli

I really liked this book until the very end. The end was a bit lackluster for me. I can think of many other ways I would have liked this book to end instead of the way that it did end. 

Out of  my Mind by Sharon Draper

Loved this book so much that I read it in one day. I even brought it with me to Longhorn and read while I waited for my dinner to be served. It was fantastic! Opened my eyes to new possibilities that I didn't think of before! Awesome book! 

Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan

Such a sweet book!  I loved the animals  in this book! I know this is going to be a hard book to keep on the shelf at my school. It is on the Bluestem list this year and it is a pretty quick read! 

What I'm reading now:

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy 

I saw Trent Reedy speak at an Anderson's Breakfast a few years ago about this book. It didn't end up on my "must read" list until a student came into the library and book talked it to me. I'm about three chapters in and I'm enjoying it. This book is on the Caudull list, and I'm sure my 4th & 5th graders who want to participate in the Caudill program will want to read this one! 

What I'm reading to my son:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

We have just gotten to the part where Umbridge has banned Harry from Quidditch FOREVER! Oh my!!!! I "almost" forgot how much I dislike that woman!