Make your library the center of your school
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back My old pal Yoda sounded off in my head as I contemplated my Monday morning struggle. I was out for a quick after school ski on the golf course, enjoying the fresh air, beautiful snow and feeling of exertion as I strode through the tracks, greeting other friendly skiers with a
In September, I had the opportunity to speak before a legislative committee to offer a glimpse of “A Day in the Life” of a school librarian. I believe it is important to let people know about the work we do in our schools, so I was honored to participate in this educational opportunity. Some of my key points: School Librarians are strongly committed to lifelong
It’s been on my radar for a while to make a box of emergency lesson plans – at least one plan for each grade level. It would be such a great idea to have this, especially since in the library these lessons could sustain a Guest Teacher for a whole week. You never know when you might be hit with a serious bout of the
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, that is! I’ve always loved watching this parade on Thanksgiving morning. This year I am thankful for Melissa Sweet’s book, Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade. This fun book was the winner of the Robert R. Sibert Informational Book Medal in 2012. This week I plan to use the book with all of my
88 1st Graders + 4 Teachers + 1 Principal + 1 Librarian + 1 Amazing Author = Pure Magic! Tuesday was a terrific day in the library because my first grade students, their teachers, our principal and I got to meet and visit with the inspiring Ame Dyckman! We had been reading her books, Boy + Bot and Tea Party Rules, which are fabulous friendship
I’m relatively new to blogging, Pinterest, Twitter and Teachers Pay Teachers. But I’m really trying to learn about becoming connecting in cyberspace! I have watched most of Charity Preston’s training videos on Teachers Pay Teachers and they have been extremely helpful – not just for TPT, but also for navigating some other areas of cyberspace as well! I follow some of Charity’s boards on Pinterest
A couple of weeks ago I had seen a tweet from Free Technology for Teachers about embedding an Instagram feed on your blog page. I had been thinking about starting an account for my library, so this gave me the push to get it done! The article tells how to use SnapWidget to get a code to embed your feed, and can be found at
Thanks to some colleagues who are lifetime learners, I got a great deal on a membership to Simple K12 and it has been a wonderful resource for me to use for professional growth. I love the concept: “PD in your PJs!” Just the kind of class I always wanted to take in college! Recently I viewed the on-demand webinar: Stop Repeating Yourself: Create Easy Student
I follow fabulous librarian Mr. Schu (@MrSchuReads) on Twitter. He always has lots of exciting and interesting things going on and if you haven’t seen it, his blog Watch, Connect, Read is an amazing source of book trailers and other terrific school library goodies. Mr. Schu and Travis Jonker (@100scopenotes) host an event each month called #Holdshelf, where everyone is invited to tweet or email
I am a pile person. Maybe you are too. When I have a piece of paper that I don’t have time to/want to/know how to deal with, I put it in a pile. Right next to my computer. This wouldn’t be a problem, except after a while if I haven’t dealt with the pile, the clutter makes me crazy and I put it “away.” Then
