Shelving- the bane of a librarian's existence

Every day in our library, my library assistant and I check in and out an average of 300 or so books in the library. It doesn't occur to many people what happens to those books after they return them. I'll tell you: they stack up! On my lucky days, I have a most wonderful assistant who does the work of the "magical shelving fairy" and puts all those books back in their cozy little spots on the shelves. No! Book characters don't climb out of the books and drag their bound volumes across the expanse of carpet and place themselves between their shelf mates. Library fairies do that! It is the most thankless and least thought of job in any library.

I visit my local public library about once a month for various reasons and I've seen those fairies there, too. Pushing heavy carts full of picture books, adventures, mysteries, poetry, and thick novels bound for their proper place among the tomes. To these volunteers and employees, and especially to my assistant: I give a humble THANK YOU for a well done job. Your fairy wings and magic wand are deserved and we librarians and library patrons are grateful.

New Resources in the Library

I'm always excited to receive new books for our library. Mr. Larry Miller donated three new books to our library . He shared his love of the history of Harriet Tubman by reading Moses to a third grade class. It is already checked out to one of those students.

I have found that when someone else recommends a book because they read it and loved it, people choose to read that book. A case in point: I read Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper because it was on the Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award list for 2013. It is a fantastic book! I did a book talk on the book after I had finished it and several students checked it out. They recommended that their teacher read it aloud to the whole class and they returned the book today - many tears were shed for the main character and how she was bullied and a lot of good discussion was had in the classroom.

Our principal, Mrs. Templeman purchased sets of books that will be used with the school's math curriculum. They are very interesting and informative. They integrate reading with math seamlessly!

I just finished reading the first book in the Seekers series by Erin Hunter. It was wonderful! Now I feel confident in referring students and teachers to that series. I had read the Warriors series several years ago because a third grade student of mine recommended it to me. The fantasy stories are so creative and the characters are deep!

What are you reading?

Read Across America DEARathon

It has begun! The COE Library is hosting a Read Across America DEARathon this week. Every 10 minutes during the school day, a student is coming in for their own personal DEAR time! This is our third reader this morning! If you are in the area and would like to join in, please come by! A big thank you to teachers for allowing their students to miss a few minutes of the wonderful lessons they have prepared for this week! READ FOR YOUR LIFE!

Encyclopedia Inspiration

When I was a young girl, my parents purchased a set of encyclopedias one at a time from the grocery store when we made our weekly shopping trip. It was the Golden Book Encylopedia set:

This set is on sale on ebay today for about $50! I loved reading those things! They inspired me to want to learn about all different kinds of things, especially famous people. Mrs. Hall's second graders came in this afternoon for an impromptu lesson about encyclopedias, and they even went so far as to check to see if the sets were in order - what a great lesson! Thanks so much, Mrs. Hall and students!

In middle school, I read all the biographies that the school library had on the shelves. Many of our fifth graders have become interested in biographies in the "Who is/was..." series. I'm so glad to see them following in my footsteps! Here is a picture of a couple of books from that series:

Have a wonderful weekend, and happy reading!

New Books at the Library

We are so blessed to have Larry Miller in our school! He brought two new books for the library's collection. They are both very popular books with our students when they are studying China or reading fairy tales. Tikki Tikki Tembo is a personal favorite of mine. Thank you so much Mr. Miller!

Ground Hog Day Prognostications

Some students from Central Oak listened to stories about Ground Hogs and made their own predictions as to whether Oklahoma would have an early spring, or have six more weeks of winter. They learned about real ground hogs and about Punxatawney Phil from Pennsylvania. Here are their predictions:

Colonial Day at the Capitol

I was so honored to be asked to participate in the Colonial Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute. I was able to meet people who do interpretations of famous people from our history, participate in activities like dancing and debating, and be energized by others who love American History as much as I! There were many children there in full costume to participate in the day's activities. Here are some pictures from the day:

Capitol Dome

We had to outside for a bomb threat!

Meeting "Ben Franklin"!

Colonial Boys

Colonial Girls