Santa and reindeer and our funny little elf

It's the last week of school before Christmas break and the kids are bouncing off the walls.  Well, the little ones anyway. Most if my 5th graders still retain their sanity.  We've spent the week playing with QR codes again. Ingave them Santa and a cool reindeer set so they can pick (or do both).  

I love the little one's drawings they make with the how to draw codes:

We had a lockdown drill Monday and we only knew it would be "in the morning," so I ended up with some free time. I had kinder classes scheduled, but they didn't want their kids to be in a scary situation outside their classroom the first time. As a result, I was finally able to change out my bulletin board in the hall.  

How's that for a quick throw together?

We've been having fun with out elf, Charlie, this week too.  

He hung from a map with a candy cane in the nonfiction section, and today he's waaaay up high over my office riding on "Stuffy the guard-duck."

Guess the fun and games will be over (wink, wink) and we'll have to get down to business when we come back in January.  I've gotta get cracking with my EBOB team, teach CyberSafety, and research skills.  

For now...  I'm just ready for a break!

'Tis the Season

So, with Christmas coming, the kids have been pretty wound up. We have some "required" CyberSafety lessons we have to do each year and I had planned to start on those, but then I realized I have no idea which are required for 5th grade. I was at a K-4 school prior to this year, so it hadn't mattered to me. They used to be listed online for us, but it's not there anymore. I asked other media coordinators, but no one knows (really???). Then I emailed the head of our instructional technology for the county, but she didn't respond. So, at any rate, I put it off and did some more QR code activities. I cheated this time and just bought them on TpT.  It's a K-2 set, but even the 5th graders are loving them!

Speaking of which...  I was using them with some kinder sand this one adorable little boy is usually very rambunctious. He's the wiggliest, most interrupting friend in the class...  Usually.  I sat him down with an iPad and he turned into a dream. Just sat there on the couch with his buddy and did exactly what he was supposed to do. I told him he was doing such a great job and I loved that he was sitting so quietly. He said, "Yeah, we're just sitting here relaxing...  You know, it's man things."    Love him!

Here are a couple pics I snapped of some kids working with their iPads:

The kids are so excited to use the iPads and I figure this shows the teachers how easy it is to implement them in fun ways, and how well the kids do when they're given the opportunity.  It's so quiet when they use them.  

We're going to do another QR project this week with reindeer -- then it's Christmas break!

QR Codes!!

I was looking for something cool and exciting to keep the kids entertained in the library as they're wound up about the upcoming holidays. We've got all these iPads sitting around not being used, so I thought of trying QR codes. I figured it would thrill the kids and would let me introduce them to the teachers, as well.  Guess what...   It worked!  Teachers who never use the iPads are coming to get them.  A couple asked for my centers so they could do them too.  The kids don't have time to do them all in the library, so it's great!

To see what I did, just grab your smart phone, touch, or tablet and scan this!

That should take you to my Google Drive file. It was mostly just an intro to using the iPads and the app to the K-1 kiddoes.  Second graders liked scanning the codes, but it was like pulling teeth to get them to actually do the accompanying tasks. The 3rd through 5th graders were awesome though!!!

Time to sit down with my mug of mulled wine and browse Pinterest for some holiday ideas.  

Centers!!!

With the way my library is currently arranged, the way traffic flows, it's been an issue for me this year to figure out how to keep the kids busy while they wait for their turn to get books, as well as what to do with the kids who've already gotten theirs.  So today I took some inspiration from "The Centered School Librarian" whose blog I follow and whose book (The Centered School Library) I read last year, and whose pins I've been following lately on Pinterest.  Does that make me sound like a stalker??

I started simple today.  Just a last-minute decision to give it a try.  So, I googled "Halloween bookmarks" and printed some off.  I was reading The Haunted Hamburger just for fun this week, so I found an accompanying activity. And then I visited the Centered School Library blog and found a cute "how to draw bats" sheet. I ran some copies, set out some crayons, and put my plan in place.

When the students came in, I sat them on the carpet and read our story:

This is such a fun story!!   The kids (k-5) are all loving this book.  It's a ghost story with 3 other ghost stories within it.  But they're funny, not scary.

To go with the story, the kids could do a Haunted Hamburger activity:

All they had to do was make a haunted face of some sort on it and color it in.  I thought it was gonna be a "lame" center, but it was by far the favorite!!

Another option was for my kids who like to draw or don't like to color.  I had this cute, easy "how to draw a bat" paper.  Holy cow, some of these kids are really good at this!!

The next 3 tables were just bookmarks they could color -- no biggie.

So, after he story I explained the centers and the rules.  I let 6 kids start getting books and sent everyone else a few at a time to pick a table.  The kids who were getting books went and got books instead of just wasting time on the computers searching so they could get to the centers.  The kids who were in them were happy to wait.  There was even a class where the kids didn't want to get their books cu they liked he centers so much.  So...  We'll keep this up this week and I'll get some more centers ready for next week!

Cleveland, the Disco King

My school just purchased a subscription to Accelerated Reader Enterprise, and as a result, I have been pulling the books shelf by shelf to look them all up at www.arbookfind.com  to record their info inside the back cover, and put the dreaded dot on the spine. I'm coming across some interesting titles...  Like this:

So funny!   And no, there isn't an AR test. 

Family Night

 It's family night at the book fair and I have one of the coolest teachers in the universe here who dressed up for me.

 

She and her tiger are posing for pics with the kids, who also get to dress up in pharaoh attire.

Book Fair

I set up my book fair Wednesday. It's 12 cases!!  I only had 6 at NDE.  It took all day Wednesday with a parent (I loooove her!!) and was still finishing up today as classes were previewing. Sales start tomorrow. Here's what it looked like:

More processing...

I spent most of today processing more books and a couple boxes of video tapes. They were $35 a piece when she bought them and were still in the shrink wrap.

This is most of them.  And yes, that one in the front is a video about his to use a card catalog. Needless to say, I didn't add it to my collection.

Here's another find:

It's an old Webster's dictionary from the 40s. Check it out!  $23.75 for a book that's 3,208 pages long!!  It's falling apart and yucky, but it's so cool!  My principal wants to find a glass case so we can protect and preserve it.  Obviously I didn't barcode that either, but it would be a cool display.

Other than that, today was slow. I only had 2 classes scheduled, and only one of them showed. We had a constant stream of kids checking out though. Operations still haven't come for the crap taking up 1/4 of my library and the book fair should be here Wednesday. It's crunch time and I'm starting to wonder if I'm gonna have to set up in a hallway instead. :(   My sister-school does it that way, but how do you secure anything?  There are after school programs.  Maybe I'll call her tomorrow to ask about it.

Busy, busy, busy!!!

I have been busy, busy, busy... To say the least!!  The teachers are bringing their classes, and there are always random kids in (swarms!) checking out books. My assistant and I are struggling to keep up with all the books!!

We had a media meeting last week and out Follett representative, Karei Swift, was there. He was talking about how important it is that we focus on our Nonfiction collections because that's what the Common Core calls for. I do definitely see the need, but it's not what they're choosing to read.  Other than football and animal books, they mostly gravitate to the fiction. 

This is my return cart from the last class of the day. The top shelf is fiction -- chapter books and picture books.  The bottom shelf is nonfiction -- easy and regular.  So...  More of the fiction they love, and I'll keep plugging away on the nonfiction, but I don't want to focus too heavily on it. 

And!!!  My book fair, which was scheduled for the 7th -15th of October, is coming on the 2nd so I'll be selling longer than usual. Scholastic must be looking to make more money, too.  Still don't have the mess cleared out of the library to be able to fit this stuff in there though. My principal called Operations herself to see if she could hurry them along and found out our person never submitted the request. Grrrrrrrrrr!!

Oh!  And iOs7 just came out last week.  I had to push an update to the iPads, but it triggered that to install. I didn't have it on the MacBook to push, it did it on its own. That crashed an entire cart of 30 iPads. I haven't touched the other two carts for fear they'll face the same tragic demise...  And we wait for Diagnostic to come reimage the ones I messed up. It kinda sucks that we spend so much time waiting on outside entities to make their way in. It would be nice if the schools could be a little more self-sufficient. 

I've been busy with tracking who has/has not signed their responsible use policies, lining up book fair volunteers, cleaning out the back workroom which will be open as a mini computer lab by Monday, and reshelving books like there's no tomorrow.  I feel a little swamped. But I'm also scouring the net looking for lesson ideas and things to try with the kids.  

The layout of the library is just so frustrating.  There isn't a good way to keep the kids who have found their books.  If I sit them in a line by the doors, they're in the way.  If I sit them back on the carpet, they read magazines or friends' books and aren't getting handed shelf markers to get their turn. There are so many people coming in to use the library I can't use it myself.  I can't seat the kids who found books at tables to read silently. And I couldn't even teach my Dewey lesson yesterday because the ESL teacher was using that side of the library for her groups. And they all love to look in the catalog for books instead of browsing the stacks so it takes them an eternity to choose books. 

I'll get it all figured out eventually, but for now it's kinda irritating. 

Check this out!

We are off and running in the Media Center.  We hosted a school-wide hearing screening Tuesday, then I had pretty much back-to-back orientation classes the rest of the week.  THIS is how I'm used to doing things:

My plans did end up varying somewhat.  Kinders heard Book!  Book!  Book! and Manners in the Library.  First graders heard a the additional story The Library Doors by Toni Buzzeo and had a lot of fun.  I was able to show both grades the Can you teach my alligator manners at the library? video as well.  2nd and 3rd went as planned...  4th and 5th only got the scavenger hunt -- there wasn't time (or need) for a story, as well.  But everything went really well.  The kids are great and eager to get books, and did a great job in class.

Today is the first day of all-day open checkout, and my assistant's not here.  They all come from their classes as the same times that I have classes signed up.  It's been a little noisier than I'd like, and the kids have had to be patient, but it's going fairly well.  I'm not as solidly booked so far this week, as you can see:

And I have to find out where the grade levels are going to be meeting so I can attend their PLCs and find out what they want/need from me.  Other than that...  I'm still processing new books, cleaning up, and trying to get things straight in the media center in the downtimes.  

Wish me luck!  I'll have another class of kids swoop in soon!

Happy Hump Day!

(Insert camel here...  Haha)

I spent the day processing even MORE books...  Yet again. These are all older "new books" that have been sitting on shelves in the office and workroom for years (I've seen them dated as far back as 1994!).   However, I did snap some pics before heading home today.

My fiction section is essentially ready to go. I just have to wait for operations to come collect the overheads that line all my walls...

Still haven't rolled out the carpet...

You'll notice that the library is very compartmentalized at the moment.  I need some graph paper and measurements to figure out how to rearrange it. 

The "easy nonfiction" area...

Two cases of purchase orders that were accidentally taken when my predecessor left were returned at the end of the day today.  

Nonfiction....  Ugh...  I see boxes I missed....

 

Under all this mess is my reference section...  Someday I hope to be able to see it, but first operations has to come for all these discards!!

Another computer station (there's another along the back wall).

Nonfiction...  And have no fear -- that pile of boxes are empty, but the custodians haven't taken my trash out since open house. 

The circulation area is a mess from all the processing we've been working on.

My office...  I'm working on clearing these shelves so I can use the space and the kids can read the books!

This is the workroom.  It was floor to ceiling junk.  No one could walk through here, let alone use this space. I've been working on clearing it out. They want to turn this into a mini computer lab.

Another wall of the workroom...  There was sooooooo much junk piled up with brand new books going as far back as 1994!!!  Such a waste!!!

But, with a little luck, we'll be done soon.  I'm still hoping to get it done "enough" this week to be able to start having the kids come in next week for orientation.  I can always do it in little bits here and there if need be.  :)