Category Archives: Uncategorized

Awesome Blogs I Follow!

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Librarians love to share knowledge with others, so today I want to share with you some blogs that I follow.  These are by other school librarians, and they are filled with great information.  I hope you will find them as helpful as I do!

The Busy Librarian, Matthew Winner, is an elementary school mover and shaker.  He is full of wonderful ideas for lesson plans, book titles, integrating technology, and now has started posting podcast interviews with authors and other librarians.

Julie Greller is a media specialist that has an amazing assortment of articles and resources for librarians at any level.  Her blog, A Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet, has resources broken out by grade level, subject, and her blog posts are timely and helpful.  For example, her August 29th post is filled with resources for free classroom (and library) posters, certificates, and many other items you may need.

Mover and shaker high school librarian, Joyce Valenza, writes The NeverEnding Search blog for School Library Journal, and her blog also covers a wide variety of topics.  Hers is a must read as well!

Another mover and shaker in middle school librarianship is Gwyneth A. Jones… The Daring Librarian…her website and blog are full of cutting edge ideas for research projects and integrating technology and her humor shines through.

Have a great week!

Welcome Back-to-School!

As we all start heading back to school after a productive/restful/exciting/too short [fill in the blank] summer, I wanted to share a few ‘book care’ resources that I have found.  The first is a parody of Mo Willem’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus – Don’t Let the Pigeon Touch the Books by Laughter in the Library.  Note that there are two versions, one by the each of the librarians that created the videos.   I pair this with the actual story, and my students loved it – so much so that they asked every couple of weeks to see it again and again, and on their last media day, I made sure to show them one last time for the school year.

This year, I discovered another video that is a parody of favorite children’s book character. This one: The 5 Book Care Rules starring Skippy Jon Jones is the one I plan to use this year, followed by a mini author study and book talks.

How to Care for Library Books at Home is another cute video about book care.  It features a big and little sister, and also encourages discussion about each event shown in the video.

The Shelf Elf by Jackie Mims Hopkins is another option for teaching book care to young children.  Children learn library etiquette from this book and will help make their library adventures much more enjoyable.

If you haven’t discovered Scooter Hayes AKA Melvil Dewey International Library Hip Hop Superstar – you need to!  He’s got some great rap songs about the library.  One of the new ones from his recent CD Papercuts is “Book Marky Mark.”     His CD is available on Spotify (free membership for 30 days), iTunes, and Amazon.  As a side note, there is a fun DDCS video – The Dewey Decimal Rap on YouTube (another much requested video by my students).

With Scooter Hayes’ songs, you’ve gotta get the kids up dancing – they love it!!

SafeShare.tv is a great way to block the pop-ups and extraneous information on the You Tube site….helps keep the students focused on the video instead of the ‘recommended’ ones on the side bars.

Penelope Popper, Book Doctor by Toni Buzzeo (one of the movers and shakers in school library world) is a sweet story about the importance of book care, and how one small girl rises to great heights as she learns to heal her library, one book at a time.  This print resource also has a set of lesson plans to go along with it.

What Happened to Marion’s Book? by Brook Berg is another great print resource – and also written by a school librarian!  Unfortunately, it is no longer in print, but still available on Amazon and in used bookstores, and has a set of lesson plans as well.

There are many book care Pinterest boards – click here for one that has a nice assortment of resources. 

Here’s wishing all of us an awesome school year!

Each Kindness

Showing kindness to others was an important theme the last few weeks of this school year.  At both of my schools, we read the 2013-2014 Black-Eye Susan nominee Each Kindness by Jaqueline Woodson.  Discussing the events as we read the book, every class I read this to sat quietly at the story’s end, not quite sure what to do when I closed the book, and there was not a happy ending.  “Wait, Ms. McDonald, what happened to Maya?’’  “Why didn’t Chloe fix things with her?” “That is not how a book is supposed to end – it has a sad ending!” were repeated comments. After reading and discussing the story, each class gathered around a table with a large pot of water to drop in a small stone as each student shared a kindness they had shown others.  I was impressed with, and touched by, the kindnesses – both large and small – that my students shared with each other.  Many also wrote a note on a Post-it and hung it on our wall of kindness – at each of my schools, the wall was covered with sweet notes.  I have included some pictures below.   If you’d like to read more about Jacqueline Woodson and view lesson plans for Each Kindness, click  here.ImageImage

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Poem in Your Pocket Day

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At my two  Montgomery County, Maryland elementary schools, we celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 18th and 19th at Brookhaven ES, and April 19th and 22nd at Clopper Mill ES.  We had the opportunity to share some wonderful poems with each other, and were able to Skype with several schools throughout the USA.  Using templates from Homeschool Creations and Scholastic, my students wrote original poems or copied a favorite  poem to share.

 

We Skyped with elementary schools in Iowa, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Howard County, Maryland (thanks, Matthew – The Busy Librarian).  Each video chat was filled with  enthusiastic students, teachers, and media specialists.  We learned facts about the states and shared many original poems, riddles, and also two voice poems “Cricket” and “Grasshopper” from Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman.  We read together selections from Poem in My Pocket by Bobbi Katz, “Whistling” byImage Jack Prelutsky (we whistled together at the end, Imageof course)!    When one of our video chat sessions fell through because of a scheduling glitch, one of my Clopper Mill 5th grade classes stepped up at the very last second to to share poems with one of my 1st grade classes – and it was a treat for both classes!  My students shared a wide variety of poems — from silly poems about hot dogs and messy bedrooms to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. What an awesome three days!    Can’t wait for next year’s Poem in Your Pocket Day!ImageImage
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A Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet: Coping With Tragedies

As we try to understand why tragedies happen, and how to help our students cope with their fears and uncertainty, there are many resources available to assist us.   One of the blogs I follow, A Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet, has a comprehensive set of resources to help educators help their students.  I hope you will take a look at them.

A Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet: Coping With Tragedies.

April is … A Celebration of Neurodiversity!

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April is a month full of celebrations, including the celebration of neurodiversity with Autism Awareness Month.   In fact, April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day – a day to “Light it Up Blue!”   For more information, visit Autism Speaks. I want to share with you a few Autism Spectrum resources; first is a LibGuide I created –  “Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Resources”   

Second is a wonderful website I discovered a couple of years ago – Disability is Natural – I highly recommend reading Kathie Snow’s monthly articles which encourage People First Language. 

Lastly, I’ve included  a list of elementary and middle school books that have a protagonist or secondary characters that are on the Autism Spectrum.  I have read and reviewed all of the books on this list, and am happy to share my research paper if you are interested!  Click here for a printable list, including some non-fiction resources as well.

Elementary School Fiction:

Hoopman, Kathy. (2001) Of Mice and Aliens: An Asperger Adventure. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Peete, Holly Robinson. (2010). My Brother Charlie. New York: Scholastic Press.

Tourville, Amanda Doering. (2010). My Friend has Autism.  North Mankato: Picture Window Books.

Welton, Jude. (2008). Adam’s Alternative Sports Day: An Asperger Story. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Middle School Fiction:

Baskin, Nora Raleigh. (2009).  Anything but Typical.  New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Brenna, Beverley. (2005). Wild Orchid.  Calgary: Red Deer Press.

Crowley, Suzanne. (2007).  The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous.  New York:  Greenwillow Books.

Dooley, Sarah. (2010). Livvie Owen Lived Here. New York: Feiwel and Friends Book.

Dowd, Siobhan. (2007). The London Eye Mystery.  New York: A Yearling Book.

Ersking, Kathy. (2010).  Mockingbird. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated.

Houtman, Jacqueline. (2010). The Reinvention of Edison Thomas. Honesdale: Front Street.

Roy, Jennifer. (2010) . Mindblind. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish

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On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells

8036437My Cougar Book Club 5th grade students really enjoyed reading On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells — the poem If  by Rudyard Kipling touched them in amazing ways.  While some students e-mailed Rosemary via her website, three others created book trailers — take a look!

http://animoto.com/play/0UX0Fr10r4To1JsHJuvcvg

http://animoto.com/play/vVFlGVSPJxV3b9jUwBxcgw