Week of 6-10 September

I completed five hours this week at Blue Ridge Elementary.   Most of my time was spent reading to kindergarten and first grade students who rotated into the library.  I had come across The Library Dragon and purchased the puppet to accompany my reading.  Some of the kids were already familiar with the story but said it was a favorite.  They were fascinated with my ability to transform Miss Lotta Scales.  I also read The Keeping Quilt and A Bad Case of Stripes; one of my high schoolers recommended this book.  I thoroughly enjoyed these opportunities to read to such an enthusiastic audience.  It was fun to see how their little minds work and the questions and comments they make.

This is the first year that the library is included in the rotation.  Each class comes into the library for 45 minutes and it is the responsibility of the media specialist to have something planned for that group.  It can be a specific connection to their classroom instruction or it can be reading for pleasure.  We read a book together, they get to check out, and then we read  together again.  They do seem to love books and want to share. 

I also met with a 3rd grade teacher to begin talking about my informtion literacy unit.  We decided that writing would be my focus.  At the end of the 3rd grade, teachers have to submit samples of student writing in 4 modes (persuasive, narrative, informational, and responding to literature).  The class is going to wrap up their narrative writing in a couple of weeks, so they are ready for a unit on responding to literature.  We have decided to do book reviews and even try to connect with high school artists to illustrate book covers to accompany their reviews for the back of a book jacket.

I continue to shelve books to familiarize myself with their collection and actually received some instruction on cataloging this week.  I have located my 20 sources to accompany my reference review and am working to create an visually appealing page that the media specialist can link to her website.  I have found that the book companies Titlewave and Bound to Stay Bound have standards based links that are helpful in choosing books that focus on the standards and have reviews to accompany them.

Until next week...