Time to Renew

NJEA Classroom Close Up

2011-04-26T16:03:00.001-07:00

This film was made by NJEA Classroom Close Up about the Literature Links program that we created to help parents read with their children strategically. The producer, Adam Bauser, wrote his thoughts about the Literature Links program and how it changed his own reading time with his kids in a post entitled, Unlocking the Keys to Reading with Your Child. His post was the "ripple effect" I was hoping for when I sought out the Target grant over a year ago!

Race To Nowhere

2011-02-11T03:24:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share a link to a film, Race to Nowhere, I watched with some friends last night at Haddonfield High School. It was a powerful film about the effects of the demanding educational standards parents, teachers, colleges have on some kids. It looked closely at what kids are doing to their bodies to keep up with not only their academics, but also their religious classes, sports and community work. Stating that kids don't get into good school just because of academics. They need to be almost perfect at everything in order to be considered at some colleges.
A large part of the movie was devoted to the research that did not support hours and hours of homework. Yet, homework seemed to be the single thread that was stressing the kids out and causing them to take stimulants, not sleep and cheat. The film also looked at what these kids were learning. Many kids pointed out they can't remember what information they learned on tests or homework because they just needed to "cram it in and then let it out". Doctors and lawyers spoke about how the young adults coming into their profession can't think. They are so used to being "coached". This was a scary thought for them because who will be the leaders in their professions if no one is thinking.
I took a lot away from this film as a Mommy. "What homework do you have tonight?", will not be the first thing out of my mouth when I greet my 2nd grader anymore! As a teacher, I am looking into my homework practices. Two books about the homework topic in the film.
Librarians have a role in adding inquiry into their collaborative projects. Leading the way to show the importance of critical thinking for our students not simple recall.
It was quite a powerful film. Please leave a comment if you have seen the film and it moved you as well.

Literature Links

2011-01-19T03:58:00.000-08:00

The MHA library was the recipient of an Early Childhood Reading Grant from Target stores this summer. Whoo hoo! With budgets shrinking and programs being cut, the grant was welcomed news. The grant allowed me to create a program called Literature Links. The goal of the program was simple: To Help Parents and Kids Connect with Books through Strategic Reading. Research shows that when parents become involved in their children reading their children reading achievement grows and stronger families of readers are built. (Darling, Westberg 2004)

The Literature Links parent book club studied the book 7 Keys to Comprehension by Susan Zimmermann. In the book, 7 comprehension strategies were examined to help readers make meaning from the texts. At the Literature Links Book Club, parents learned about these strategies each week. Through interactive activities parents were encouraged to “Try It!” with their own children.

In order to help parents continue to utilize the strategies they learned in the book club and to reach out to other families unable to attend, a library backpack program was developed. The MHA library now offers 30 backpacks to circulate among K-2 students. Each of the 30 backpacks contain two library books based on a theme. The backpacks also include a prompt sheet that should be used when families are reading and discussing the theme’s literature. Parents are able to use these prompts before, during or after the reading of the literature.

The program has been so successful at our school. Parents have been quite vocal of how much they have learned from this program. Literature Links will even be featured on an upcoming segment of the NJEA show Classroom Close Up! I am presenting this idea to other NJ librarians this Thursday at our local Barnes and Noble. I have included the website that I will be sharing with them. It contains resources that librarians could use to begin a similar program in their library.

http://web.me.com/amylking/BN/Welcome.html

Happy Reading!

Colaboration in the Real World

2010-12-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

I am thrilled to be co-presenting at the NJASL fall conference on Friday with two amazing ladies. Jackie Albright Pugh and Katie Eagen-Casale are two librarians that work in my district. This year they have the daunting task of maintaining not one, but two school libraries. I am in awe of how they daily meet many challenges and yet still aggressively seek collaboration opportunities in both schools! Our presentation provides many strategies for librarians that are struggling to keep the collaboration part of their library program and those who are looking to start collaborative efforts within their district. We share many examples of what has worked for us. The Power Point and other resources are available here.
I will be honest and say it was wonderful to collaborate with other librarians and to participate in conversations surrounding the happenings of school libraries again. I am looking forward to a great conference. At the top of my NJASL list is getting the opportunity to hear and meet Buffy Hamilton finally! My former professor and friend Shayne Russell will be presenting “New Technologies for Program, Promotion & Productivity @ Your Library.” Look for my tweets!

The End of the Year

2010-06-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

This year's annual report will be almost entirely digital. Once again I have been inspired by Buffy Hamilton. Mine is not as fancy, but I think the opening movie is a perfect way to sum up our year.

I love the idea of the annual report. It allows me to look back and see all the learning that has taken place not only by the students and teachers, but myself! The library in my school has made such a transformation in the last two years and I feel honored to have been a part of it. The administration, teachers, parents and students have been so willing to allow change to happen!

This year will be my last year in the library. Due to the dramatic funding cuts in New Jersey my district will not have a full time librarian in each building. I am fortunate that I will be returning to the classroom. (2nd grade!) Although I am embracing this new opportunity, I will miss this position terribly! I have only been a librarian for two years, but it has been the most rewarding two years of my 16 year career.

This is the link to the report. As always, I welcome any feedback.
http://web.me.com/amylking/EOY2010/Welcome.html

Sandwich Board Research

2010-06-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Many classes have been collaborating with me in the area of Reading Workshop. Some classes come to the library once a week to have their reading workshop time in the library. The kids love the change of space and the teachers love the team teaching opportunity. Some classes focused on non fiction texts at the end of the year. After reading Collaboration and Comprehension by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels, I was so excited to try out some of their suggestions. Mrs. Demski was one of the teachers who shared her class with me for a non fiction unit. In the book, there are specific lessons about instructing children to code the text, take notes and write summaries from what they learned. We used these lessons over several weeks with much success. The kids were truly engaging with the text. They were writing notes in their own words unlike the straight copying we had observed in the past. We were so excited about their learning we wanted them to share it with other classes. In the book, it had mentioned the idea of a sandwich board to convey your message to others.

We thought it would be a great visual to go along with the oral information the children would provided the visiting classes. We had her class be creative with their art supplies and decorate the front with the factual information they learned. The back was to be an advertisement to encourage children in other classes to approach them. We decided to just invite the other 5th grade students due to limited time. Mrs. Demski's class was positioned around the library ready for the approaching students. It was amazing listening to the students explain their research and answer questions from the other classes. The visiting classes were impressed with the knowledge of their friends. Some even checked out books about topics that were discussed because they wanted to learn more! How exciting! This text is our teacher book club choice for next year, so stay tuned for more posts about this great book.

End of the Year Survey Questions

2010-06-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

I am knee deep in data right now compiling the library's end of the year report. As I am sharing some funny statements from the kids on Twitter, some of you have asked for the questions I asked them. I felt that the easiest way to share the tools was a quick blog post. I created a quick Google site to share the word document that I used for grades one and two. (I use some of the drawings to jazz up the report.) I included a link to my website that has the Zoomerang survey questions I use with grades third through fifth. I also have attached the results of the Zoomerang survey I gave to the teachers. These questions are specific to my school, but please feel free to use them as a springboard for your own survey questions. I will post the final report soon.
http://sites.google.com/site/endoftheyearforms/

Family Literacy Night

2010-03-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

Long before I became the librarian at Allen, I wanted to have a Family Literacy Night. This year, as the librarian, I was able to make it happen. Literacy nights are a wonderful way to spread the love of reading with your school families along with promoting the your libraries services. This year we connected the Family Literacy Night to our year long Geek Campaign. Here is the website I created to be used as a "How To" guide. I hope others will be ready to create their own Literacy Nights in their libraries. I welcome your comments and suggestions!
This is the url:
http://web.me.com/amylking/Family_Literacy_Night/Home.html

My Trip to Second Life

2010-03-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night, I participated for the first time in a Second Life meeting. I had received an email from the Teacher Librarian Ning I belong to that read “Make plans to join your colleagues on Tuesday, March 16^that 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for a very special event, “A Chat with Sara Kelly Johns”. Sara is a candidate in the election for ALA President and she will speak to librarians about her platform and her vision for ALA.” I thought this would be a great opportunity to try out this environment and hear Sara's platform. I had to create an avatar for myself first and got my husband to help. Shopping in second life was just as frustrating as in my real life even with a thin avatar! I didn’t want to spend any real money, but there only seemed to be inappropriate outfits for free. I couldn’t possibly meet the future ALA president looking like a “lady of the night”! We eventually got an appropriate outfit and Tuesday night I transported to the location of the meeting. I was able to sit right next to Sara Kelly Johns. My cyber friend Buffy Hamilton was there for a bit too. Sara’s power point was available for us and a chat box appeared so we could ask her questions. I went back in forth between Twitter and the meeting so I could share some of Sara’s message. I loved her push for more collaboration between the public libraries and school libraries. She stated, “strong school libraries make stronger public libraries.” It would be a huge boost for school librarians if Sara is voted in as ALA president.

I have to be honest and say I am not really sure about the whole Second Life thing for use in education. I know that some schools have purchased islands and students create things in Second Life as projects. I am not a fan of video games, so the whole set up was uncomfortable in that way. I will say it was great “seeing” people while we chat. I feel isolated in the postings of my online Rutgers class because it is just words. I am visual and enjoyed watching the others participate in Second Life. Sara had a mic and spoke about her power point, which made the meeting more personal. I could also hear the passion in her voice something that would not have been achieved through just typing. So maybe teachers could have kids go to a class in Second Life even though they would be in the same real room in real life? Is anyone using Second Life in their library? Does anyone have any experiences in how this could be used for projects? Any examples they would like to share with me?

I am not sure if I will attend another Second Life event, but I am glad I had the experience. I feel if a parent or administrator questions me about the Second Life environment I will have a small background to answer. I enjoy trying out these new tools and seeing how the can benefit our students.

Prezi - Dr. Seuss

2010-02-20T05:35:00.000-08:00

I have been looking into a new site called Prezi. This site allows you to create more visually appealing presentations rather than just a standard PowerPoint. I saw one that Dianne McKenzie created on her blog. It was so cool! The upcoming Dr. Seuss biography lesson seemed like a great time to try this out. I found the site a bit confusing at first. Their online tutorials were not as helpful as they could be, but I was able to figure it out. There are some parts of my presentation I would like to improve such as layering more artwork under the text and adding my talking points in a note section. I feel this is a good start. The presentation will be used with all of my classes this week when they come in for a book exchange. One of the ways we celebrate Read Across America is with a daily triva question read over the loud speaker of our school. The first homeroom to buzz in with the answer wins a book from the library for their classroom library. This year, we will use the information in this Prezi to create the questions for the kids. The embedded version here does cut off some of the words in the show. If you click the Dr. Seuss link directly below the show it will take you to the Prezi site where it can be viewed full screen.

Dr. Seuss Biography on Prezi

Promeathean Board Workshop

2010-01-22T03:25:00.000-08:00

Our district has always been wonderful in professional development for the teachers. I feel they listen to our needs and find excellent presenters. This week was no exception when we had a two hour delay for an in-service. Our presenter, Ms. Susan Eley, provided a valuable workshop for us on practical tips for using our Promethean boards.

I came up with 12 new things I learned and have listed below.
1. "Drop a copy" feature
2. Placing obj into "My collection" instead of recreating them from scratch
3. Locking and unlocking obj
4. Making objects translucent
5. Using a camera tool to make a worksheet a picture and paste it into the flipchart
6. Attaching sound to an obj
7. Use the paint bucket to change the font color
8. Creating a hyperlink
9.Selecting multiple obj and clicking the trash can throws them away!
10. Create a "ticker tape" message
11. Changing the colors in my toolbar up to 24
12. Using the ink drop tool to create new colors

I am planning on turn keying this new knowledge with the staff in a morning workshop. Susan provided valuable handouts and was flexible with her agenda when we stopped to ask questions. She created a wiki space that shows videos that she created for us to refer to in the future! Amazing! She was a wonderful resource! You can tell that she put a lot of thought into our needs and set things up for continual learning. As a bonus she works close to my district so it will be nice to actually see her face to face!

Resources:
Promethean Board Information
Promethean Planet
Susan's Wiki
Susan's Website

Dr. Joyce Valenza

2009-11-14T07:20:00.001-08:00

Keynote speaker this morning at NJASL was Dr. Joyce Valenza. What an amazing woman! She provided us with her first singing keynote presentation down the yellow brick road to search for the Wizard of Apps. She led us on the road to many online resources to provide our students with tools to build their digital citizenship, information literacy and foster their creativity. As she provided examples through video of her students living out their research, I was in awe of her work and wanting to move to her district for my son. Her presentation will be on Slideshare and her Wiki is a path of resources that she discussed. I was brave at the end to ask for a picture. She obliged with a kind smile.

Dr. Valenza is such an empowering woman in our field and I feel fortunate to have been one of the lucky ones in the audience. Last year, it was her annual report that inspired me to write my own at the end of my first year. I am trying to slow my brain down to one thing to take away from her keynote, besides the Wizard of Oz theme song that is still playing in my head. I think what I am walking away with today is the message to be a leader in my school for the benefit of the children. Be knowledgeable of the tools that they will be using and get them to dig deeper in their research process. So much to think about!

Collaboration - A Journey

2009-11-03T18:09:00.001-08:00

The library has been quite a buzz this year! We have hosted our book fair, begun our "Geek" campaign, started our morning book club "Book Chomp" and continue to be knee deep in many collaborative projects. At Allen, I have the benefit of having a both a fixed and flexible schedule. This assures, I meet with each class for an isolated library lesson and have open spots for collaborative lessons during classroom teacher's content times. Isolated library lessons would include book talks, Destiny instruction or lessons on the Dewey Decimal system. Collaborative lessons include the classroom teacher's content area being infused with the research process. When this happens, students benefit from a team teacher model and are able to make real world connections to the content. I am thankful that our school's technology teacher, Maureen Schoenberger and I work very closely. In most of these collaborative projects, Maureen is the facilitator of the end products that make us all go WOW! There are many librarians out there that also fill the tech teacher role. Not having to wear this hat all the time, allows me to dive deeper into the research process and continue to make sure meaning is in the front of our research goals.
Collaboration has not always been a part of our curriculum at our school. We have experimented with different models, created a planning form and had some bumps along the way. Our school is not at the point of true collaboration, but we are definitely headed in the right direction. We have a supportive principal, who makes collaboration a priority and a knowledgeable staff, that seeks ways to improve student achievement. Maureen and I were asked to clarify our collaborative journey with the staff at a past faculty meeting. We wanted to share our presentation to others on this collaboration journey.

Collaboration: A Journey

View more presentations from mschoenberger.

I geek mha library

2009-10-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

When I moved into this position, I was unaware of the amount of marketing came with the job. I was so amazed with the amount of literature and conversations in the library community about how important it is to promote your resources. I really thought people just knew about the library and of course they would come. So naive!
In August, Buffy Hamilton brought the geek campaign to my attention. I have been thinking "geeky" thoughts ever since! It is a brilliant campaign that I have tried to embrace at my school. I slowly started to use the term, hang signs, place "geek" stickers around and definitely created a buzz. We officially unveiled the geek campaign this week and it was the talk of the school.
Here is an outline of the geek lessons
1. Shared why I geek mha library.
2. Led them to define geek using geekthelibrary.org site.
3. Viewed a slide show of what their teachers geek from my geek website.
4. Students then created black signs to display in the library to share what they geek.
5. Challenged them to find their geek at our library!
The kids were excited about the geek idea and were proud when they found what they geeked on our shelves. It was such a valuable way to gain insight into their interests! Teachers told me that the students were coming up to them and saying, "I didn't know you kayaked." or "You geek bats?" "Why?" It created a lot of dialogue and excitement. Some students reported talking about it at dinner with their parents!
I am thankful the the library community at large is creating these tool kits to help librarians like myself. I feel that even my little school is doing its part to promote the importance of libraries on a larger scale. My hope is to carry the theme throughout the year and keep the excitement going! So look for more "geeky" posts.

Kathleen and I finding our Geek @MHA Library this Halloween!

Making a difference

2009-10-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

Throughout my teaching years, I have had the experience of feeling I made a difference in a child's life. I have to say it is one of those things that keeps me going when I am frustrated with the "details" of being a teacher. When I was a classroom teacher, I had parents tell me their kids constantly talk about my class, loved a lesson or were so happy their kids could read now. I am finding you don't always get that immediate feedback from parents as a specials teacher. Recently I did and I wanted to share!
Kate Fitzgerald is my contact at the public library near our school. We collaborated in June in hopes of increasing the number of students participating in the "Be Creative @ your library" summer reading program. Two students from my school logged over 124 hours of reading and were honored this week for their accomplishment! Kate and I were thrilled for many reasons. We are both looking at the success of our collaboration and making plans to continue the relationship between the school and public library. We also have formed a relationship with these girls around the love of reading. Getting to discuss books with kids is a perk of the job! Kate and I love to hear their thoughts, opinions and suggestions about books. One of the girls is even interested in "working" in the library for a girl scout badge!
This little interaction has helped me to see the stepping stones of making a difference in kids lives one book at a time.

Library Goody Bags

2009-08-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

I am always impressed by the creative ways librarians get the word out about what their libraries have to offer. A request on Twitter is met with so many replies from generous librarian willing to share their ideas in hopes it will help others reach their patrons. Two such people from my PLN have been instrumental in helping me prepare for my upcoming year. Fran Bullington is a librarian in South Carolina. She sent me a pamphlet example of what she distributes to her teachers. The layout was simple and clear, just what I wanted. Fran outlined resources the library could offer, along with how to schedule a class, and where to find materials. With her permission, I tweaked it to meet my needs and could not be more pleased with the results. Buffy Hamilton is an amazing librarian in Georgia. Recently she wrote about goody bags for her teachers. As soon as I read her post I knew I wanted to do this for my staff too. However, Buffy had started collecting in May from her vendors, I had two weeks. Before I even finished gathering items for my bags, Buffy introduced me to the Geek The Library campaign happening in the Georgia libraries. So I did my best to combine the two.

The Goody Bags contain:
My pamphlet about the library
Lanyards from Britannica Online - New for us this year!
EBSCO stickers and magnets
Apple candle in a reusable wicker basket
Hersey kisses

I followed Buffy's packaging with brown bags with self adhesive book pockets on the front. I created stickers from avery labels that said I geek mha library. In the pocket, I created another label with our contact information to affix on our old library cards. My six year old son was such a trouper! He helped with the stickers and loved filling the bags.

Thanks to Buffy, Fran and all of the many librarians who share ideas through their blogs, twitter and nings. Look for more GEEK stuff soon.

End of the Year Report

2009-07-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

I was encouraged to complete an annual report from my Rutgers classes. Joyce Valenza shared her report through Twitter and I was just amazed. Dianne McKenzie wrote about the importance of creating these reports on her blog. I wholeheartedly agree with her reasons. She asked for other librarians out there to share there reports, so I am bravely answering her request. At the end of her blog post is a site she set up for all librarians to post their reports.
For my annual report, I collected student and teacher data from surveys I developed through Zoomerang. Questions for the surveys were based on research articles from my Rutgers class and conversations with classmates. I used my Destiny software and Titlewave resources to help gather collection statistics.
The process was time consuming, yet so beneficial. I feel I have a strong foundation on which I can build from year after year. Thank you Dianne for creating this valuable network tool. I already see things that I will include in my report for next year. Learning from each other will make our profession stronger and will benefit our students.
My report can be found at http://web.me.com/amylking/Report/Welcome.html

Evidence-Based Practice in the library.

2009-05-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

I am ending my class at Rutgers this week. No surprise the last topic is assessment. How do we document the learning that takes place in our libraries. One of the many interesting articles I read this week comes from the Library Media Connection "Can You Find Evidence-Based Practice in Your School Library? (Geitgey & Tepe, March 2007). The authors discuss the turn from statistical collection data to data that documents student learning and achievement, Evidence-Based Practice or EBP. They outline three steps for beginners, like me, to realize about EBP. I want to share what those steps are and how I plan to address them in my library setting.

#1. Know the research that demonstrates how school libraries affect learning. Being in the middle of finalizing my library certificate I am surrounded by library research. Will this always be the case? I have set up a google reader account to ensure that I continue to follow blogs that discuss library issues and assessment. I have key journal alerts set up through EBSCO host that bring library information to my inbox. I also follow librarians like Christopher Harris, Joyce Valenza and Michael Stephens on Twitter that provide links, ideas and transcripts from library conferences. Surrounding myself with current research is a must for this profession.

#2. Mesh this knowledge with your own wisdom to build student learning. The authors point out that the data that is collected must "relate to instruction much more than the program." They encourage the librarian to view the item analysis from the state tests to look for correlations from the content standards tested to the library standards. By meeting with my principal later this year to review this data, I will be able to make collaborative unit recommendations that will allow me to focus library instruction on those standards that are tested.

#3 Work with your own school library to collect edvidence that shows you do make a difference. I was already planning on having library skills be included in collaborative project rubrics next year. However, after reading the authors' suggestions, I am now designing student reflection sheets, surveys, exit slips and checklists as well.I will start with a student reflection sheet before this year ends about how students felt the library helped them this year.

The authors do not stop with encouraging librarians to gather data, but to create a plan to share that data. They encourage us to share the evidence with teachers, administration, parents and the community. I will start small this year and present this the data I have from reflection sheets and teacher surveys to my principal. At the meeting where we discuss the test standards, I will share next year's plan to show Evidence-Based Practice in the library.

I welcome any suggestions you may have to guide me along this path. I promise to post my plan as soon as it is outlined.

New Furniture!

2009-03-15T16:53:00.000-07:00

The couches from Ikea arrived not too long ago. It really helps make the room more cozy! The kids love them.

Brandon Mull

2009-03-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

When I found out that Brandon Mull was coming to my school, I quickly went to read his books to prepare my students. I am not a fantasy reader at all. My feet need to be on the ground. Therefore, I bypassed the book with the witch on the front and began The Candy Shop War. I finished it in two days and my appreciation of Brandon Mull and his craft began. I told everyone I knew about this book! To me, Brandon's writing was J.K. Rowling with a dose of Stephen King. The characters he created were so lovable and realistic you felt as if they were your friends. The idea of magical candy was just comical to me. What kid wouldn't do anything to have some candy with magical powers? I then moved to Fablehaven. The concept behind the book is that the magical creatures, like fairies and dragons, do exist but they are endangered and now live on wildlife preserves. There are strict rules that must be obeyed and in this way all is kept in order. Enter two children Kenrda and Seth, whose curiosity over their grandfathers property soon threatens to overturn that law of order. Wow! I am in awe of imaginations that can create entire worlds but even more in awe of the visual images that are created through Brandon's words.

Brandon is continuing an extensive New Jersey school tour promoting the fourth book of the Fablehaven series. He made an appearance at our school today and the kids went nuts! Brandon's message for kids was just as inspiring as his writing. He encouraged all of them to use their imagination. Brandon pointed out that when children watch TV or video games they are using someone else's imagination, but when they read they are using their own! He outlined two ways to make your imagination stronger. 1. Read 2. Create Simple yet powerful! Brandon also encouraged the kids to write about their lives, pointing out that they can be more descriptive when they write from what they know. Brandon explained that even in a fantasy book, such as Candy Shop Wars, the town where the story takes place was based on a real town that he lived in as a kid. It is this personal connection, he said, that allows his writing to be more descriptive and believable to his readers. I agree! Brandon also encouraged the children to value the feedback they receive from their teachers and peers. He displayed a copy of a page from Fablehaven with all of the revision marks from his editor. The children gasped! Brandon shared that it is this feedback makes him a better writer.
I was so impressed with the powerful messages he gave to our students today. I feel that his message came from his true passion for wanting children to read and create using their imagination. It was an honor to meet him at what is certainly the beginning of a long creative career.

EBSCO Search Engines for K-5 students

2009-03-01T15:23:00.000-08:00

By exploring EBSCO’s Searchasaurs, Kids Search and Student Research Center a definite developmental continuum between the three search engines emerged. Not only does the amount of information found increase through each database, but the features grow to meet student’s needs as well. Each search engine layout builds upon the previous site. This guarantees that children will locate information with confidence and a sense of familiarity. Searchasaurus is a great place to begin with second and third grade. Young students are able to navigate through the pages easily and they will be able to read most of the content. The topic search feature helps to further visualize the concept of sub categories. Having children visualize the relationship between topics and subtopics is so important in building a solid searching foundation. The children will click on the animal dinosaur to learn about animals. The screen then reveals several sub topics like birds, mammals and habitats. The children will then be able to choose birds to narrow their search. Once on the bird page several topics are listed. At the top of the screen the pictures of the source choices are shown. Teachers are able to show how to reduce the number of results by asking the students what information they want to know about birds. By selecting animals at the top the results go down to 1,078. The children will also see specific birds listed. With Searchasaurus, teachers are able to begin search strategies such as terms in quotes, and Boolean terms. Third graders will find more information is needed as the year progresses and will find by the end of the year that Kids Search meets their needs more than Searchasaurus.

Kids Search contains more advanced searching options to help narrow a topic for fourth and fifth graders. There are now side tabs as well as filters on the top. The Detailed Search option allows the children to see how Boolean terms are added as well as filtering results before hitting the search button. Primary Source documents have been added to the sources as well as folders to save the search results and documents. In this way, children can access the documents from their library, classroom or homes. The Primary Source documents allow for more discussions to take place about the different kinds of sources students come into contact with and how to evaluate those sources. The folder feature takes into account the growth of the searching process. It acknowledges that children at this age need more than one source for their research and provides a tool to help keep the children organized. Students are also able to see the title list of the databases and search exclusively from one periodical if they desire.

Right away, Student Research Center looks more grown up. The cartoons have been replaced with photographs and the screen is filled with type rather than pictures. Student Research Center allows students to filter and narrow their topic from the homepage. Their choices are now more reflective of a middle school environment. Title lists reveal that Health Source - Consumer Edition, MAS Ultra - School Edition, Biography Collection Complete, and TOPICsearch have all been added to provide more “grown up” results. The topic of Animals is replaced with a sub-topic Wildlife under the science heading. The topics such as literary criticism, current events, and careers also suggest articles that stimulate discussion and points of view rather than simple fact-finding. Within Student Research Center, students still have access to sharing, printing and saving the information they find. When students save the articles, they are able to choose the proper citation format they need, greatly helping them document their sources properly. Taking the time to view these search engines side by side reveals how powerful searching instruction could be when Searchasaurus, Kids Search and Student Research Center are used as a developmental continuum with students.

African American History

2009-02-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Today we had a celebration in the library to end the 5th grade Famous African American unit of study. The students learned about accessing information from the biography section and the EBSCO databases. The children took the information they found into the computer lab where they created booklets. They were really amazing! Today the three classes mixed together to share their findings and enjoy some hot coco.
Our students live in a suburb where there is not a large amount of cultural diversity. I wanted to give the children a sense of the discrimination the people they researched went through without putting a negative slant to the celebration. I read the book Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles. It is a beautifully written story about a little boy realizing some people feel others are different because of their skin. After the story, I showed a movie created by students at Skyview Elementary.
It was quite a day! I love my job!

Boolean Searching

2009-01-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

To kick off my new class at Rutgers. Our professor directed us to this funny and informative look at Boolean searching.

7 Things You May Not Know About Me

2009-01-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

I was "tagged" by a friend, Christy Tvarok Green. This list will be hard to come up with because I share everything all the time. But I will give it a try.

1. This is my first year as a Media Specialist. I was in the classroom for 14 years prior and loved every day!

2. I once worked for Apple computers as a student rep. I loved it! I even worked when they didn't pay me! I still have one of the Apple Logo shirts they gave me.

3. I have a step daughter who is 20 and a son who is 6. Both keep me busy parenting at both ends of the spectrum.

4. My husband has a film company, Stomping Bread Productions. I work with him sometimes shooting video and stills. I really LOVE taking pictures with the camera. I am much better than I use to be. I make my own movies for my family and school on my mac.

5. I recently started running. I have run several 5ks and this summer ran a 5 mile race! This is huge for me because my whole life I avoided running. I even faked having asthma in high school so I would not have to run the perimeter of the field. I wrote many reports for gym class.

6. I really would like a tattoo. I will not reveal where or of what. I think they are neat but a huge painful commitment. I am waiting to loose some more weight before I take the plunge.

7. My husband is my true love. I dated him in high school and college. I knew before he did that we would get married. He is my best friend and partner. I often refer to him as my puzzle piece.

I will "tag" Jill, Maureen and Jo.

New Media Center Space

2009-01-17T14:39:00.001-08:00

These are some of the pictures of our new space.

What Is Library 2.0 ?

2008-12-07T03:59:00.001-08:00

Knee deep in Library 2.0 tools. I absolutely love this slideshare.net! This presentation has Ms. Greenhill's narration as well. It's just like being there! Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

What Is Library 2.0 ?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: queensland unconference)

Embracing Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 for Quality Library Service

2008-12-07T03:39:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Embracing Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 for Quality Library Service

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: service quality)

New Badge!

2008-12-07T03:14:00.000-08:00

View my page on Library 2.0

Election Day Workshop

2008-11-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

My district sent us to a web 2.0 workshop and the presenter was Ms. Shayne Russell from Kenneth R. Olson Middle School. What a knowledgeable lady! She provided an engaging workshop with many ideas. We participated using a wiki as she explained the 2.0 tools. It was great to be in a room with other librarians!

Teacher Librarian Net

2008-09-22T14:38:00.001-07:00

View my page on TeacherLibrarianNetwork

Checking In

2008-09-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

I am almost at the end of the first month as a LMS. I am LOVING my job! I thought 1st grade was busy! I am ALWAYS moving! My job description changes within the hour sometimes. I have a wonderful assistant Kathleen O'Hanlon. She does everything! I taught classes this week from Kindergarten through Fifth. WOW! It is amazing to see the first graders that I taught to read bloom into these independent readers and thinkers. I also totally forgot about how Kindergarteners always need to use the bathroom and squirm all the time. They love story time and they let me sing with them! Yes, we have been singing in the library! I am so happy that I was able to make this move. Volunteers start next week along with the book fair!

First Day

2008-09-02T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today was very exciting and strange at the same time. I sat in my office and watched the staff gather in the Media Center. It was odd not being in my former classroom, not stressing over name tags or bus lists. I was ready with my Units of Study outline and magazine sign up sheets. The meeting, filled with new faces, was short but informative. The staff seemed receptive but unsure of this new direction that I was asking them to move toward. I was able to meet my assistant and plan with a few teachers. I am hoping to have my schedule solidified by tomorrow and start planning lessons.
I began my next class at Rutgers tonight. I love going to class in my PJ's! My instructor is Alice Yucht. It's the first day of class but you can already tell that she is extremely organized and knowledgeable. We already have a lot of homework!
I am ready to begin this year. I know there will be bumps in the road but I am ready to strap into the jeep and enjoy the ride!

September

2008-08-31T04:29:00.000-07:00

I was finally kicked out for the summer! I feel I have been living in the Library this summer to get it ready for kids this September. On Tuesday, the staff will see the new arrangement of the library and hear about my curriculum goals for my first year. I want them to enjoy the new open space that is now in the library and to be excited about bringing their children into the library. Here are some pictures!

Podcasts

2008-08-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

After reviewing other blogs, I came to find three Podcast that I will now subscribe to. I found the podcasts very interesting. However, I am a visual learner and have difficulty just listening. I will do my best to keep up with the podcasts but will not be surprised if I end up reverting back to reading the information.

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
Great article about Multiple Intelligence followed by a video.

http://mediasnackers.com/report/podcasts/
The MediaSnackers podcast focusses on individuals, organisations or companies who are simply impressing us and crying out for more discussion.

http://www.teachersteachingteachers.org/
A weekly webcast on the EdTechTalk channel of the WorldBridges network

Check them out and let me know of any others that you think I should be listening to.

Also I created a Podcast for my upcoming Library website. I used Garageband and uploaded it to iweb. I added sound effects and page turn signals so kids can follow along. Take a listen.

http://tiny.cc/6YWtP

Happy Listening!

Promethean Board

2008-07-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last two days at a workshop about this new tool I have in the library called a Promethean Board. It was an extremely valuable workshop that was packed full of ideas. Thank you Lisa Thumann! I can not believe how interactive the lessons are going to be in the media center this year. The options that the board has are endless. Lisa created a wiki full of valuable resources! There are many flip charts ready to be borrowed on Promethean Planet. I was so happy to see at least 20 lessons for the library! I can't wait to get started. If anyone out there has lesson or ideas to share, please let me know!

Podcasts

2008-07-29T18:41:00.000-07:00

I started to search around the web for interesting educational podcasts. Once again I was amazed at what goes on out there on the web. I found this site that SLJ recommended extremely useful. Look for a future post about my favorites soon.

I made a storytime podcast on my library website for a class I took in the spring. I used Garageband to make the recording and sound effects. I plan to put a new story up each month with an activity that the children can complete and bring into the library. I found it was quite easy to create and so much fun!

Web 2.0

2008-07-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

I am trying to learn as much as I can about web 2.0 technology. There is a coworker who has really motivated me to learn more about it. She has an entire blog devoted to web 2.0. Recently School Library Journal put out a challenge to learn more about web 2.0 this summer. I have taken up the challenge! The first task was to create a blog. So I was already ahead of the game! Love that feeling!
The second task was to look into Google Reader. The idea being that instead of going to many sites to get information you set up an account with Google and subscribe to different sites. That way you can go to one site and all the things you'd like to read about are right there waiting for you. Wow!
So far I still feel like I am looking everywhere and spending much time reading everything. I think over time I will become more selective about what I subscribe to. Right now I feel like this huge room of wonderful ideas has just been unlocked and I can't waste a minute not reading something!

Inventory

2008-07-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on my library. I still have not had the meeting about the floor plan. Hopefully it will happen next week. Instead I put my energy into completing an inventory of the entire library this week. God bless my mom and dad and even my son for their help! My dear dad spent two whole days, one without air, scanning books! (I love that he is retired now!) We needed to scan everything with a bar code so that certain "filters" could be turned off on the system. I was told that this would allow me to import new titles with the "next available bar code" instead of creating my own. I was really upset about the process at first and no air conditioning didn't help. However, after the inventory was complete I felt that I really got to see what was on the shelves. I made some notes about books to use for lessons, great authors that I didn't know we had and how many copies we had of certain subjects. I think the process of physically touching almost every book in the library was more valuable than looking at the titles from the computer screen. I was proud to have run the inventory by myself! All and all I was very pleased with the last three days. I have my librarian mentor coming on Tuesday to help set me up to import new titles. Ed from Follet is coming on Wednesday to help set me up to order books from Titlewave. Wow! I feel like I am making progress. I am giving myself Monday off!

The Layout of My Library

2008-07-10T02:52:00.000-07:00

I love my school's library! The wood furniture, cream walls and green carpet compliment each other nicely. There are some beautiful murals on the walls of story book characters, season murals on support polls and quotes about reading on the walls. There are these beautiful skylights throughout most of the ceiling that let in amazing light. However, the circulation desk is directly under the sunlight and this causes some problems.
#1. It's too hot sitting under the skylights.
#2 The computers need to be covered by a patio umbrella because the sunlight casts a glare on the screens.
The other problem with the circulation desk is that is faces the entry of the media center. This is welcoming, but you are not able to see children behind you as you check out and return.
So, I set about getting the circulation desk moved. My husband came out and measured the entire library and its contents. He then created a foam board map of the library with cut outs of the furniture. This way I will be able to visually present the new layout to my principal and key administration.

These are some articles and books that I have been reading that I found helpful in what a Media Center should look like.

OELMA Ohio Educational Library Media Association

New on the Job: A School Library Media Specialists's Guide to Success by Ruth Toor and Hilda K. Weisburg

Designing a School Library Media Center for the Future by Rolf Erikson and Carolyn Markuson

I will be "selling" the idea next week. Wish me luck.

Why the blog?

2008-07-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

I am now a Media Specialist! For 14 years I have worked as a classroom teacher in the same building. I have loved every minute of it! I wasn't sure I would ever leave. Yet the love of reading, technology and kids has turned me in this direction. It just seemed like a natural progression for me.
There is a huge task ahead for me with many challenges. One of my downfalls is that I try to move too quickly and try to accomplish too much. The program that I want to build in my school library will take at least 5 years. There is so much to be done and I already have a huge support team including my principal, friends, co workers, classmates and family.
I thought that extending this journey to the world wide web would help me reflect, learn and gather information. I am looking for suggestions, comments and of course support.