TV Studio Sign Ups and Planning

As part of my responsibility as the School Library Media Specialist, I am one of the facilitators of the Pine Road TV Studio.  Last year, with each class, I would have them sign up during class with me typing their names into the schedule.  This year, I streamlined the process.  Students can sign up for the studio on a Google Docs Form on our Library Website under the tab TV Studio.  From the spreadsheet I receive, sorted by Library Day, I fill in the schedule.  The master schedule for October is also linked on the website so that students can pro-actively see what day they are scheduled to complete each job.  Additionally, instead of sending reminder slips through homeroom, students receive their reminder slips in the library.  This helps me to ascertain if a student is absent and their job needs to be filled by a different student.  We have aligned the taping days with library days so that I can remind students the day of that they are taping in the studio.  Throughout the year, I will add more to our blog about the inner workings of our TV Studio.  Prior to beginning taping, we needed to complete some "behind the scenes" work.  Throughout September, I utilized teacher anchors for the morning show, which was fun for them and for the students and took some pressure off trying to get the students ready to produce a show during the first month of school.  During the last two weeks of September, students who volunteered to do so, came in EVERY DAY to help tape classes saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Pine Road Pledge; voice recording our different patriotic songs and poems; taking pictures with the document camera of some illustrations to accompany those songs and poems; taking pictures for our opening sequence, selecting a new song for the opening and credits, and putting it all together in Animoto; and learning more about the editing process.  We have an amazing group of students who are excited about the learning that is occurring in the studio.  Last year was my first year helping to facilitate the TV Studio and three students emerged to assist with the final editing and production of a morning show.  This year (so far) we have well over 20 students interested in learning all the nuts and bolts of putting a show together.  I feel very fortunate to have such an eager group of students and I know this year's shows will be even more dynamic as a result.  Last year, we were all learning.  This year, we are moving forward in bigger and better ways!

Book Talk: The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.

Wow! I had a tough time putting this book by Kate Messner down. I have been following Kate on twitter for a while now and I have always heard such wonderful things about her books but had not yet read any of them. I got both The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z and Sugar and Ice from the public library to see if these are books we should get for our school library. Sugar and Ice was due back and in high demand so I could not renew it, but I finished The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. just in time. I love the figurative language that Kate Messner uses in her writing. Teachers liking fir strong examples of figurative language should take a look at The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z.

• So many colors get thrown together here, like they're all shouting to be heard at once. (at the farmer's market) 
• Tiny little seashells in the stone. Ocean shells. On top of a mountaintop that feels like it's miles in the sky. (fnding fossils) 
• Especially snow that happens when you least expect it and just sprinkles down for a little while. It feels like a secret.

Kate's very realistic portrayal of a leaf project and one student's extreme procrastination hits close to home for many students. And offers the opportunity for many, many leaf jokes by Gianna's younger brother. The main character's very real obstacles makes the reader feel even more involved in the story and wanting to learn the outcome of what will happen to Gianna, Zig, Nonna, and all of the other characters.

Robert Frost and his poem, "Birches" bear special significance in this story.  Reading the lines of his poem interweaved with Messner's writing makes me want to climb, ponder, and hug a tree.  I would love to lay down beneath a tree and take a good, long gaze at the beauty of the branches reaching to the sky and the intricacies of the leaves we so often take for granted, or bitterly resent raking.  This book is inspiring.  Pick it up today.

Comin' Down to Storytime

Kindergarten students learn about some of the routines in our library as we read "Comin' Down to Storytime".  As we look at the pictures, we decide some of the activities that may be a part of a library lesson, like:

• Using puppets
• Reading funny stories
• Nursery Rhymes (our kindergarteners will have an entire Nursery Rhyme unit coming soon!)
• Fingerplays
• Songs
• Movement Activities
• Checking Out Books
• And, read, read, reading!

I enjoy reading books to our youngest students that involve a familiar tune.  "Comin' Down to Storytime" is sung to the tune of "She'll be Coming Round The Mountain". 

Find a "Just Right" Book with Goldisocks

First Graders learn how to find a "just right" book.  In Kindergarten, we focus on using the library, choosing a book, taking care of a book, and returning it.  First graders are really beginning to get into more independent reading, and to encourage their selections, we read "Goldie Socks and The Three Libearians" and learn about the five finger rule to choose a just right book.  We share the story in our story tower with students acting out the parts of Goldie, Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear with puppets.  I have instructional posters to accompany the book that discuss books that are "too hard", "too easy," and "just right" as well as a poster that describes the steps in the five finger rule. 

Students are also instructed that if they really (really, really) want a book that we consider "too hard" they can check it out along with our self created Read With Me bookmark.  This bookmark serves as an indication to adults at home that we are aware that the book may be too hard, but that we encourage the child to read the book with an adult.  This way, student choice is not too limited, but they begin to acknowledge appropriate books for their grade level and reading ability.  We have found this system to be a success in helping students to select appropriate books and also as a vehicle to communicate with home about student selections.

X Marks the Spot in the Library

Monday, September 19th was International Talk Like a Pirate Day and to celebrate in the library, third graders went on a Dewey Decimal System treasure hunt. First, we read "Edward and the Pirates" by David McPhail. "Edward and the Pirates" is always huge hit.

Throughout the library, I had placed an X in each Dewey 100's section. Partners received treasure maps to fill in with spine label information and the title of the book they identify in the 100's section with spaces to identify one book from each section. We will use this information to decide what kinds of books belong in each section as we learn about the organization of the library this year.

Squids Will Be Squids and Grasshopper Logic (Also Known as 4th and 5th Grade Projects Spelled Out for the Year

In third grade, students read and studied fables along with other variety of folk tales. When I discovered Squids Will Be Squids by Jon Sciezka and, more specifically, the first fable, "Grasshoppe Logic," I knew I would need to share it with fourth and fifth graders. Last year, as my first year in the library, I had a LOT of ideas for assignments to complete in library class to integrate with classroom curriculum and great books for kids. This year, I have a (slightly) more realistic idea of what to expect given the timeframe of the school year. I also learned to make those expectations clear. So I did. On our library website, I outlined the expectations for preparation, class participation, and assignments. I went over this information with each class following a reading of "Grasshopper Logic," Jon Sciezka's take on "The Ant and the Grasshopper.". In "Grasshopper Logic," the young grasshopper has waited until the very last minute to complete a rather large homework assignment. And his mother is none too pleased. We talked about people we know (some students recognized themselves in this fable) who wait until the last moment to complete assignments. This fable lent itself perfectly to discussing our expectations in the library for the year. Hopefully we won't have too many procrastinating grasshoppers this year.

Fifth Grade Expectations

Fourth Grade Expectations

Friday (Wednesday) Tech Tip for Teachers

Since we have a long weekend (wahoo) and don't have school on Thursday or Friday, I thought I'd post my tech tip today.  Today's tech tip will point you in the direction of an image creation site I default to often.  Big Huge Labs has many different photo editing options including, but not limited to:

• Magazine Cover Creation
• Create your very own magazine to feature:
• a famous person for a biography assignment
• a current events topic
• an animal research assignment
• just about anything...
• Movie Poster
• Fourth graders created movie posters last year to "advertise" our author visit with Debbie Dadey.
• Captioner
• Want to add speech or thought bubbles to a picture?  The captioner will let you do just that.
• Students can create a cartoon speech bubble to show character's conversation from a book
• Dialogue between two famous individuals from history
• Billboard
• Ever wanted to convey a BIG idea?  Why not do so on a billboard?
• Framer
• Put a fun frame around your photo.
• Trading Cards
• Again, great for a biography to sum up the traits of a character.
• Badge Maker
• If you need an official "press pass", this is the place to put it together.  Fun for students as part of a news team or any nametag-worthy event.
• And others that are just plain fun!

Check out Big Huge Labs today!