The Organized Librarian

Library Programs/ Displays Read Local !

2022-11-11T11:51:00.002-05:00

I saw this on a FB post and thought to myself- Why didn't I think of that! It was a book store that was highlighting the local authors and illustrators.

For the school librarians, I would do a display, a book talk or read out loud to the students.I would make sure they knew who the local authors and illustrators were. In my area,(NEPA and upstate NY Catksills)

We actually have a lot of authors and illustrators so I could do a lot! I might highlight / read them according to the level of the books- Picture books for elementary/ Middle,. Ya for upper elementary/ middle and high school. Nonfiction depending on levels of book / or the content that fits in the curriculum.

Our local libraries have special sections in each area , that have the local authors, and illustrators. They sometimes host readings of the author with their work. If they have funding, they also host book signings, readings, and special programs!

2022-11-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

The Toe Snatchers is a delightful book! If I wasn't retired I would read it to all my students! This is a book about the Frools that can be read over and over again! The story is told in rhyme,and is so much fun to read out loud ! Children ages K and up will love listening to and reading this book.

The Frools favorite food is fresh picked human toes. At night they go out looking for toes. In one house, they have quite the adventure in tying to figure out how many toes they each will get. Frool #5 comes up with a plan , and they set about counting the toes. And then they have to figure out how many toes they each will get. But Frools don't go to school, so they have trouble figuring it out.

The illustrations are outstanding and very detailed. The Frools and their surroundings are done in comic style. As you read it over and over , you will find interesting details on each page.

This is a book that parents and children can read over and over and come up smiling every time

This is a book Marileta Robinson wrote and Ron Zalme illustrated. Marileta , prior to retirement was an Editor at Highlights magazine. Ron did the illustrations for "The Timbertoes "(Highlights) and "the Adventures of Spot" ( HighFive)

Going back to work?

2022-10-21T15:02:00.003-04:00

I am officially retired for going on 3 years , but recently have been " helping out ' in my local public library. They had two people out on medical leave, and now two more staff on vacation. So I am Temporary Manager for a 5 hours a day when I am most needed to cover lunches / dinners. ect. It is a 3 minute commute so it is really a dream to go to work. ( I only ever once before had a 3 minute commute when I worked at my school ( where I went to school) before it was closed.

So I am getting used to all the circ programs ( which I had done before when I was Branch manager at another location - a 25 minute commute) . It is great to be where all the books are- I have been going there for my books which I have done for years! And best of all I got to order the children's /ya books which of course is my specialty!

Book Club- Middle School

2021-08-09T13:58:00.001-04:00

I held the first meeting for both 7th and 8th grade this past week. The students are really interested and ready to read.

I put out books that I had multiple copies of , and let the students select what they wanted to read.

My 7th grades all boys. They selected to read Chains. ( I love this book) So they are up and running. The 8th graders will be reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian( Alexie)

Seventh graders will meeting after school. Eight grades during their lunch.

We are required by administration to take attendance and minutes which we hand in.We set a date for the next meeting which was good. So now I can prepare a mini poster with dates on it to hang around the school. Last year I never thought to schedule the next meeting so I feel super organized.

I will still announce each month when the book club is over morning announcements. Usually I start announcements about three days ahead of time.

Does anyone else do Middle School book clubs? I would love to hear from you!

Building Better Libraries- Public Career Centers

2021-07-27T14:10:00.004-04:00

At the Public library level ,building better libraries means building career centers for patrons. Yes , there may be books on different careers. But more importantly at the public level are databases on careers and staff to assist instruct on its use Adults may not have the background on how to use these.

Also at the public level, development in career programs such as college information and application, government agency assistance, resume writing workshops,business/ entrepreneurship resources and career counselor are just a few programs that could be provided .

Patrons could use these resources to assist themselves in better positions and better careers,

Building better libraries- career resources

2021-07-12T11:46:00.003-04:00

Libraries both school and public provide valuable resources for career research and job services, At the school level, many middle and high school have career resources, both print and digital,

There are also countless websites to assist students in determining what career they might be interesting in There are also book resources oh specific resources , Several teachers did career research with students . One year when the goal was thinking about careers, our administrator promoted the career resources in the morning announcements.

On our website we had a career section that had career surveys ( to help students figure out what they would like to do and what they would be good at doing) We also had databases and websites that highlighted careers and what was necessary to enter in the career.

Career Resources:

CareerQuiz.com -

https://careerquiz.org/?msclkid=3b3adcedaea11285ac38bc01cc2599ff

Occupational outlook

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/

ProQuest\-

https://www.proquest.com/

Factcite.org

https://www.factcite.com/texis/user/login.html?to=/

Building Better Libraries-II (Books and digital resources)

2021-07-02T10:51:00.005-04:00

Years and Years ago, when we first started with bar-coding and computers, my principal said to me,"We won't need books anymore" And I strongly disagreed with her, saying "Not in my lifetime!"

And I still feel that way today! Say you want a particular book- do you just order it online? You could, but say you go to your library , do they order it and then give it to you? No . But if the library has it you can borrow it for free, And other patrons can also borrow it. The book is stored at the library,

If the library does not have the book, then in most cases, they can get it for you on inter library loan.They even track it down for you , if you can't do it yourself.

Card holders can borrow digital books to read on their devices( computers, phones, tables) This is the most basic common goal of the library. Acquiring books and resources that benefit the community of their patrons. A good library system saves money and builds community.

Building better libraries !

2021-06-15T12:06:00.005-04:00

Librarians and Libraries, both public and academic, are the center of building a new future in their schools and communities. We serve as librarians is to promote reading and learning to all users. In our society today is it most important that all continue to learn and grow as technology and information is ever expanding.

We need to showcase what librarians have to offer . Within the pandemic , I think more and more school and public libraries have done just this. I am totally amazed and impressed by my local public libraries and how they have innovated programs and services during this time The dedication to services and information and the connections to the patrons have been outstanding.

The community has responded to the new online programs and also the way we get books and materials, I will highlight in future posts about some of the things they are doing. , I also am searching for ways both public and academic ( schools k- college) have in the past year to answer the need for more up to date, innovative and exciting ways that libraries can bring their importance to the whole community .

What has your library done that is innovative and draws patrons in? If you know of an exciting program , please leave a comment below!

Summer reading!

2021-06-03T10:43:00.006-04:00

What are you doing for your summer reading lists this year? Does your district want a list attached to the website? Is your library open during summer school( if you have it) . I am going to do a little research and see , so let me know what your school/district does. In the last district I was in we had to have a list on the website .

Bookopolis- on line book-site for teachers and students

2021-04-22T11:19:00.006-04:00

Bookopolis is a wonderful website to assist teachers and students in their love of books and reading. It is used for students in grades 2-7. Bookopolis give new ideas for reading .Students can also connect with other students about what they are reading.

Students can explore new books, make a bookshelf, recommend books and invite friends to join,
Teachers and librarians can use Bookopolis to build a team of readers in their classroom and libraries. Students can produce book reviews and they can give book recommendations to their classmates and peers ( While doing this they are practicing their writing skills and typing skills) Students can keep a reading logs online.

Bookopolis offers badges and points for students who use Bookopolis to keep book logs, write reviews and report, and invite friends to use the site.

Earth Day activities!

2021-04-14T11:38:00.000-04:00

Earth day is Thursday April 22. Here are a few sites that have activities that engage students and bring awareness of Earth day and global conservation!

Education. Com

https://www.education.com/resources/earth-day/?msclkid=72ef303863821bc8cebd504f6a6c81cf&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search%20-%20Spring%20Holidays%20-%20BMM&utm_term=%2Bearth%20%2Bday%20%2Bactivities&utm_content=Earth%20Day

This has some good worksheets and activities for students to celebrate earth day

Tinkerlab

https://tinkerlab.com/fifty-earth-day-activities/

Another site using natural materials for students.

Project Learning tree

https://www.plt.org/educator-tips/earth-day-activities/

Some more interesting activities!

Online story creators

2021-03-30T11:48:00.001-04:00

.https://studentreasures.com/s

Student treasures is an online book creator that student will enjoy. It looks to be fairly straightforward and it is free to create. They do sell classroom books and parents can buy their child's books for $20.00.

There are many resources for teachers : lesson plans, writing work sheets, and ideas for projects. Check this out!

https://storybird.com/

Story bird’s claim is that anyone can produce visual stories in seconds. Illustrators and artists around the world have their art work available for use by creators of stories. Families, student’s & teachers, and authors use story bird to create & publish their own stories.

Visitors to the site can read books from their favorite writers. They can create their own stories and share them with friends and families. Teachers can help their students use Story Bird to have them learn the art of writing and have them produce their own books. (This encourages reluctant writers and readers) Authors use story bird to give them a growing audience and connect with more readers,

Library Web Page-What is on it?

2021-03-17T12:06:00.003-04:00

I think it is a good idea to periodically check your Library Web Page.

1. Are all the links working? Check the databases or give student helpers a job and check them. Check other links as well. Sometimes students or teachers may tell you, but more than likely they will just turn to something else on the page or go to Google.

2. How does the catalog look? is is up to date-sometimes just changing the background if you can , will grab some more attention.

3.If you have a place for comments or questions, check those at least weekly. Or if you have a place for student comments, that needs to be checked.( Glogster, Library Blog, ect)

4. If you have a review section, add reviews weekly. Some catalogs let students review which is a great tool.

5. If you use Google Classroom- make sure it is linking up correctly and looks right.

Wide Open School

2021-03-08T13:54:00.002-05:00

https://wideopenschool.org/ ( Wide Open School) is a new resource provided by Common Sense Media. It looks to me to be a wonderful site for students, teachers , and parents ,to assist students in learning and growing and furthering their education.

There are a multitude of learning activities that will work for students. There is of course, Math, Science, and core school subjects with activity links- there are also off line activities, arts and crafts, digital activities,physical fitness, emotional well being,life skills and virtual field trips.

The neat thing is also a a daily planning page where a day of activities / lessons are laid out. They also provide planning sheets for teachers/ parents/ caregivers to plan their own depending on the student. The plans are based on grade levels so students just pick their grade levels and complete the activities.

The activities ( games, lessons, ect) are shareable with Google Classroom , so if you are a teacher you can send specific activities to your student. The plan lays out each day of the week and activities to go with them, The students are even given a screen break and ideas on what to do!

I think this site will be invaluable to teachers and parents working on virtual learning . The activities would also be doable in the school setting.

StoryJumper.com

2021-02-16T11:43:00.006-05:00

StoryJumper.com is a great site ! A few years ago I did a very brief post about StoyJumper. It has come to my attention again , so I decided to really look and see what they had to offer.

I think teachers and librarians would really like to use StoryJumper with their students. There is information on the site for teachers . They give examples of projects for student activities in each subject area.( even Math & Science!!)

There are also ideas for different types of writing: nonfiction, expository, collaborative projects, and creative writing ideas. And there is opportunity to use student art work or use the StoryJumper art work.

Students can have their book published online for free; Of course , there are options for the publication of the book in both hardcover or paperback for a fee.

There is a wide selection of student work,that can be read online, which will also give students a chance for reading and a spark to create their own work,

https://www.storyjumper.com/school

Virtual learning / read aloud ideas

2021-02-10T11:25:00.004-05:00

Here are some sites with read alouds and ideas for story times.

Storytime with Ryan & Craig: These two guys have a ton of read alouds The site is easy to use . You can also search for specific titles .

Emily Arrow: Librarian Emily Arrow shares singalongs with music and stories on her YouTube channel. This will give you lots to use if you are doing storytimes this is a good place to look for ideas and songs.

Story Time From Space: This site has stories from space . Astronauts read the stories

These may be helpful if you are doing in person or virtual learning. Do you use any others? I am really looking for more for the middle school age level.

Author Presentation for Second graders~

2021-02-05T11:33:00.005-05:00

Author Presentation

This came up on Face book and I thought I would share. As librarian , you get to provide many extras for your students. This was from a time at school when I gave the Second graders a presentation about the story that had just been published in Highlights. I talked about how I got the idea, how I wrote the story, and then did revisions, I showed them my writers notebook. ( at the time they were working on writing stories and they we keeping a writers note book , so it really fell into place.

So any time you are asked to do something not on the ordinary, make every attempt/offer to assist This particular event earned me a lot of brownie points with my teachers,

World Read Aloud Day!

2021-01-31T14:53:00.000-05:00

On February 3rd, there will be a World Read Aloud day with several author volunteers doing a quick virtual read aloud with classrooms around the world to share the joy of reading.

Some of the authors are Tracey Baptiste, Debbi Michiko Florence, Hena Khan, Meg Medina, Ellen Oh, Dawn Quigley, Rajanni LaRocca, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Linda Urban, Anne Ursu, Kate Messner and Renee Watson.

Each author will read a five-minute sneak-preview from one of their upcoming books for readers in grades 3-7. The whole segment will run about an hour.

The link to the video will be on Kate Messner’s site and she will post it a day early so that teachers / librarians can embed in Google Classroom if they want . You could also use it in classrooms or share with parents.

The presentations won’t be long, Kate’s site has the following information.

1-2 minutes: Author introduces himself or herself and talks a little about his or her books.
3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
5-10 minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
1-2 minutes: Author book-talks about a couple of other books they love.

https://katemessner.com

Library bulletin boards for February

2021-01-26T11:51:00.000-05:00

Now it is time to think about February and what to do about the bulletin boards. Here are some ideas :

We love to Read!- Give pink or red hearts to students and have the write their favorite books. Students can write I Love... and give the title and their name. Place on BB with letters of slogan on top in black letters - Can use a light background and heart /scallop edges.❤

Black History Month- Place pictures of famous African Americans . You can number them, Give some clues under each one. Students can use references or online sources to find out . Students can give guesses in to you- At the end of the month, place names under each one.

Tech tie in- Tweet a sweet Book! Give students an enlarged note. Place a cute bird on each side of the BB- Students can write their favorite titles on each note and then placed on the BB.💻

Presidents Day- You can do this similar to Black History Month.( Use presidents that students do not know) Or you could place some presidents and have students find little know facts on each person.

Fiction to Film: Scan covers of books that you have in your library that have been made into movies. Place the slogan in the middle and the covers around. A slogan to add would be: Have you read these?📺💟💟❤

Quizizz.com- another tool for library and classroom

2021-01-19T12:15:00.019-05:00

Here is another on line tech tool that students, teachers, and librarians will love to use. It is perfect for virtual learning and compatible with Google classroom.

There is a lesson and quiz creator. But there are also numerous lessons and quizzes already created that you can use . Some lessons use power point. The Quizzes are self check.

There are tutorials to help you set up lessons , which I did not go all the way through, But the steps seem to be easy. Teachers can assign lessons and quizzes. There seems to be a lot of information to assist teachers in using this with their classes.

There are quizzes in English/ Language arts, Math, Science , Social Studies, World languages,

Creative arts, computer skills, and career/ tech education.

Check this out , I think it will be helpful!

https://quizizz.com/teachers?ref=header_tab

JeopardyLabs- great tool for library & classroom

2021-01-12T13:42:00.003-05:00

You are going to LOVE JeopardyLabs! The site was created by Matt Johnson, while working on his undergraduate degree at Washington State University, Vancouver.

JeopardyLabs makes it easy to create jeopardy games to use with your students. Building one is easy with the template provided. The games can be played online and students will love them!!

If you don’t want to create your own, you search for games made by others. There are over 2 million games on jeopardylabs. You can also keep track of points during play, add more than 3 teams if needed, and edit the games to fit your specific needs.

This is a really useful tool for review, or post/pre testing of skills, vocabulary, or topics.

If you go to the site and search for library skills, reading skills, or literature you will find many games that will be useful for you and your students.

https://jeopardylabs.com/

Online sources for Internet safety

2021-01-06T11:43:00.004-05:00

If you are looking for additional information and activities for student online safely, here are some links to check out . Parents, teachers, and librarians can use the information to

FBI Inerent safety-Information ,games, activities for students and teachers to promote on line safety

https://www.fbi.gov/fbi-kids

US Department of Justice- Links that lead to information for teachers and parents

https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/keeping-children-safe-online

https://www.ojp.gov/feature/internet-safety/online-safety-youth

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Consumer Information look under Privacy,Identity &o nline security for resources

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/topics/protecting-kids-online

U.S. Dept of Education-

Ways to keep students safe online

https://www2.ed.gov/free/features/cybersecurity.html

Homeland Security

Resources to keep students safe when at home

https://www.dhs.gov/blog/2017/06/12/five-tips-keep-your-kids-safe-online-summer

Library /Reading Bulletin boards for January!

2020-12-27T14:56:00.003-05:00

Here are some ideas that I have used in January for displays and bulletin boards

    Let's read til we get snowed under- snowflakes with book titles in the center. Blue sky in background. Bottom can be a silhouette of the town or school building.

   Sink into winter reading- student/ teacher in a cozy chair reading, book jackets surrounded the chair.

   Hibernate with a good book- bears reading ( in a cave or in the snow)

"READBOX"- a redbox( movie rental box) with titles around that align with popular books that have been made into movies.

Snow's the time to read - Make large snowflakes, place blue titles in the center- These can be put all around the shelves and walls in the library, by the computers, on the tables, ect.

Books For Snowy Days~

2020-12-16T15:00:00.001-05:00

I have some books I like to read during the winter months- Some our old favorites and some a little newer!

1) The Snowy Day/ Keats. This is a classic . Peter goes out into the snowy day and explores his neighborhood. When he is cold and tired , he goes home and his Mama warms him up with dry clothes and hot chocolate.

2) The Snow Man / Briggs. Thin is a wordless picture book that the young students love to study the pictures and tell the story

3) Bear can't Sleep/ Wilson. All of Wilson's books are excellent. This one , Bear is having trouble going to sleep for winter!

4.Katy and the Big Snow/ Burton- What can I say? Students love to hear the story about Katy. The illustrations can be explored over and over.

5. Christmas at Long Pond/ George. This is another of my favorites to read. The illustrations are rich and the story is a simple one about going to cut down a Christmas tree.

The Girl Who Lived in a Shoe- Book Review

2020-12-14T13:22:00.003-05:00

The Girl who Lived in a Shoe ( and other torn up Tales) is an independently publication written by a group of authors. ( L Smith, B. Seward, M. Rietz, J. Quist , & B. Warren) They are actually a writer's group who collaborated to produce this body of work.

The book is written at a 2nd / 3 rd grade reading level. But it could be used with other grades also. The stories are updated and fractured for the 21st century. Students will love them!!

Each author takes a fairy tale and makes it her own. The stories are geared for today's students and beyond. Each story is catchy and invites student discussion and engagement.

My personal favorite story is Rita Van Winkle ( Loreley Smith) and Tara and the Wolf ( Jesse Quist). They are fractured but still retain enough of the original story. They have updated and unique items incorporated into the stories.

The illustrations are also unique.. The authors used torn paper to build the illustrations which are extremely well done and very appropriate. On the verso, they also provide a link for free printable activities and information about creating your own torn up tales, which is great in these times of virtual lessons/

The book can be found on Amazon. This would be a great addition when you are introducing fairy tales and fractured fairy takes to students . It can be used for 2 and 3rd grades , which is when I introduce both, But I can also see it used in the upper grades! It would work well up to Middle school and could be a story starers for student writers to produce their own , just to analyze differences and similarities , or just enjoy!