Library Week 2014

Library Week occurred during testing time at my school, so I didn't feel like we could make a loud celebration of libraries. I did put up this (plain and boring) bulletin board for students to participate by writing book quotes on it:

It turned out to be quite a hit with teachers and students who found quotes from their favorite books to write on the Book Graffiti Wall! Here are some of the quotes that were written:

This bulletin board turned out to be so popular, I will most likely put one up like it again next year. Thank you teachers and students for writing your favorite quotes on the wall!

Some teachers had their students make cards for me and the preschool teachers donated a bunch of books to the library in my name! Thank you!!

World Record!!!

Right before our state tests, our 4th and 5th graders joined middle school and high school students in an attempt to break a Guinness World Record for hula hoop passing.

We had over 550 students who participated. The kids had an awesome time and everyone participated correctly: holding hands the ENTIRE time!

We will find out the final results in a few weeks or so. We are so proud of how our students participated!

The Postcard

I have been discussing authors with students all year long, and we have been privileged in the last two years to have two wonderful Oklahoma authors visit: Tim Tingle this year, and Tammi Sauer last year. I tell my students that authors love to hear from readers of all ages, especially students, who love their books. Some students have taken on writing letters to their favorite authors, and today, one of my little girls received a postcard of Kate DiCamillo! We were all blown away! Here is the letter Rosalba wrote to her:

She even included a small purse to contain the letter - so sweet! 

Here is the postcard that Kate DiCamillo returned to Rosalba:

And here is the happy recipient! I presented the postcard to Rosalba in front of her whole class and teacher. She was so excited that she almost burst! We took a picture together with two of the books that are her favorites:

Kate, you'll never know how much happiness you have given to Rosalba. She will never forget how important she felt because you took the time to write her back. Thank you so much!

Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Winner

We had several classes and students who read the required number of books and were able to vote for their favorite Sequoyah nominee. Here is our voting booth:

Students were very excited to make their own choice! At our school there was a near tie between Saving Audie and this book, which won our school's vote:

Sadly for Kate Messner, her book didn't win the state vote this year. Since I had so many kids vote this year, we decided to celebrate the actual winner with a small celebration. I made an information slide show about him, and the students learned all about...

Dan Santat, and his book that won, Sidekicks! Here is a link to his wonderful website. He has written many different books and even done some work for the Disney companies!

We watched book trailers for Sidekicks and Beekle, as well as snacked on juice and cookies!

All of the students wanted to check out Sidekicks after the presentation, so we had a drawing and this kiddo won! He was so excited to be the next person to check out the book! Dan Santat even Tweeted his approval of our drawing with a fun comment for Alberto!

We are all ready for Dan Santat's new book, Beekle, to come out so we can read some more of his books. Congratulations, Dan Santat!

EdcampOKC

I attended my first EdcampOKC this spring. An EdCamp is a type of education conference designed to provide professional development for educators focusing solely on conversations about education. Attendees gather informally to share ideas and to attend a variety of sessions, run by colleagues and fellow educators. The sessions are conversational events featuring discussions, demonstrations, interactions between participants, discourse about all things education.

There are all kinds of educators who attend, including teachers, administrators, technology directors, librarians, and parents. If you have never attended an EdCamp, I highly suggest doing so. Here is a link to a wiki created to list all the EdCamps which are being held across the world, as well as hints to use if you would like to host one.

It was great to meet the faces behind the names of many people who are my Twitter pals!

Here are some pictures of the event:

 

 

Going to the Capitol

Oklahoma State Capitol Building

Central Oak teachers on the bus

On March 31, 2014, around 25,000 teachers descended upon the capitol grounds to show support for our legislators who are working toward better education in the State of Oklahoma. We were also there to represent our students, future teachers, and ourselves. Teacher pay and spending on students in Oklahoma are nearly last in the ranking for the United States. I think Oklahoma can do better than that!

My school superintendent made it very easy for the teachers in our district to attend. He closed schools for a professional day and was able to procure buses to deliver us to the capitol and pick us up again.

It was so exciting to see so many educators standing up for our students and each other in solidarity for better funding for schools! There were some great signs and shirts as seen in my pictures.

I couldn't believe how many people were there. I saw my old Superintendent at Glencoe Schools and his wife. I shook his hand and congratulated him on yet another state championship in basketball. Here are some pictures of the inspirational crowd.

Me in front of the capitol building

It was difficult to hear some of the speakers at the rally, but I was excited that a couple of students were there and spoke on behalf of education in Oklahoma. I hope that the legislators heard us and will do something about the sad state of affairs in Oklahoma education. I'm hopeful!

The only thing that made my experience less than special was the socializing and loud talking done by a group of teachers and their administrators who were standing near me. Even after giving them my extra-special disappointed teacher look, they continued. Too bad they weren't there for the same reason I was there. They even had their school shirts on, identifying themselves! I won't say the town's name, but I was ashamed of them. I would write a letter to their superintendent, but he was one of the ones participating in the shameful behavior.

Questions for a Soldier

My niece, Kelsea, is an Army Lieutenant serving our country in Afghanistan.

She asked all of her family members to write letters to her. Of course, I couldn't stop at that! I invited all the teachers in my school district to have students write letters to her and make cards for the soldiers who go through her medic station there in Afghanistan.

Two fifth grade classes, led by Ms. Bordine and Mrs. Wells, wrote well-thought-out letters with probing questions. Kelsea wouldn't have time to respond to the letters by the time school is out, so I asked her if she would be willing to Skype with the classes and answer some of their questions. She agreed and we set up a time. I read through each of the letters the students wrote and chose about 20 questions for Kelsea to answer, including the students' names with the questions. I sent the questions to her ahead of time so she would be prepared with answers.   Boy, were those kids excited to hear their names from far across the world! It was very late for her - nearly 11:00 PM for her, and just after lunch for the fifth graders. The teachers even gave up part of their lunch time to escort their classes to the library for the big event!

We had a few technical difficulties at first, but soon we were talking face to face with my fabulous niece! She answered questions, showed us her quarters, her snack drawer (completely full of goodies sent from home), the outside of the buildings where she works, and most importantly, her gun! It was exciting for us to see her and realize that she was waaaaay across the ocean in a war zone! We found out that her favorite subject in school was most likely science and that she didn't like math. She has to carry her gun with her all the time. She works in the same room in which she sleeps. The soldiers who are injured in the field are only at her workplace for around 2 hours where they are stabilized so that they can be moved to a hospital. She will return to the USA sometime next fall and then be trained to be a MEDEVAC helicopter pilot! I got a little teary-eyed when she said that she missed her family very much - WE MISS YOU TOO, KELSEA!

Here are a couple of pictures from the Skype visit. I loved using Skype and hope to use it again in the future. After all, a bunch of second graders made cards for some of the soldiers Kelsea and her troops treat! ;)