Extended Day

At my school, the scheduled specialists (art, music, library, PE, computer) are assigned to a class at the end of the day for 30 minutes of "extended day" special.  I lobbied to have the same class at the end of the day that I saw earlier in the day so I could actually "extend" their learning.  It has been working out GREAT for us in the library, and I LOVE IT!

Unfortunately, the other specialists do not love it.  I can imagine that it would be hard to teach PE in the classroom (since they don't have enough time to pick up the kids, take them to the PE room, and return them before dismissal).  But I bring my classes back to the library, and those 30 minutes are priceless! We have used them all so well--I am easily able to extend whatever our lesson was that day for the class, and I manage to make it a little fun, too.

Yesterday, for instance, we were reading this VRC book called Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature. With this extended class, we drew lots of spirals on our scratch paper and watched a great video about Fibonacci numbers and how to make swirls with them.  It was way harder than it looked on the video (isn't it always!!), but the kids loved it.  It was something they'd never heard of before.  That is the beauty of extended day!

I love the extra time with the kids, even though the other specialists don't.  Sure, it's one more class to prep for, but in the library, it's not a chore at all.  There's always stuff to learn!

Oh no, George!

I have been reading this VRC nominee book to the kindergartners, first graders, and second graders.  It's really funny and the kids have really been enjoying it.  For the K and 1 students, we vote on what we think George will do at the end of the book (the ending leaves us hanging!!).  Today, one of the classes I read the book to voted 19 students thinking that George will dig in the trash and only 3 who thought he would walk by it.  Wow... these kids are cynics!!

Here's what the voting looked like for us:

This was early in the voting process with a class.

Since the second graders are a little better prepared to write, I created a little half-sheet activity where they would write what they thought George would do and why.  The kids did a really good job with it; some kids even colored the picture on their paper.  This one below, though, has been my favorite.  It's just SO FUNNY!!

It reads, "I think George will dig in the trash because he has that look."

Just how cute is that?!?! Love these kids!

Virginia Readers' Choice 2014

I do love the Virginia Readers' Choice program.  It allows me to create new lessons every year, discover new literature, and get kids excited about reading. Using the primary list, I study each of the books, troll the Internet for ideas, and create some of my own ideas for teaching the books.  Even though the mission of the program is for the children to enjoy these books as read-alouds, as a librarian, I cannot simply read a book out loud without doing some sort of literacy or comprehension activity afterward.

Usually,  I present my ideas for the books at our state librarians' conference, but last year, I was really disappointed in the quality of the conference and decided I needed a break.  I did not attend this year (it just ended yesterday), and I'm still glad about my decision.  The other morning, I received an email from a fellow librarian that just made my day:

• You may not remember me, but I sure remember you.  I cannot tell you how disappointed I was that you were not here to do your Virginia Readers' Choice session at the VAASL conference.  I sooooo look forward to it every year and this year has been particularly stressful for me since we have adopted a new catalog system and the budget cuts get worse and cause us to be swallowed into other areas so our supervisor is stretched to the max.  I have no idea what I would do without my volunteer since we have no aides.  And these SMART goals are just ridiculous.  Well, anyway...I missed you and just wanted you to know that.

I know that my sessions are well attended at the conference, and I get really good reviews, but for someone to take the time to write just shows that librarians are truly special people! 

Since I am teaching the books anyway, with or without the presentation at the conference, I have done the work for the books and compiled everything on a livebinders page (my new favorite way to organize my online life!!).  I sent the link to this librarian, and I am happy to share it with the readers of my blog (are you out there?!):  

VRC 2013-2014 Ideas

Lots of great ideas for teaching the books, along with comments as I teach the books and discover how my plans worked (or didn't).  Check it out!