Back to School Book Fair

We are so excited to have the book fair here this week! There is a wonderful selection from the Scholastic Book Fair company this time. Students are coming in all day long searching for just the right book. Parents are bringing their little ones in to purchase something fun to read at home.

The students enjoyed watching the author video prior to the book fair and were exclaiming in joy when they saw their favorite author or book series was going to be represented at this week's book fair.

Be sure to come to our Family Night on Thursday evening from 4:30-6:30. If you would like to order from our online book fair, you can go to this link.

A Summer Hiatus, Back to School, and Lesson Plans!

So, this was quite a summer, the Summer of 2014. If you get grossed out by pictures of scars or stitches, please don't scroll down!

Surgeries
I spent the summer either in the hospital having surgery, laying on a bed or couch, and/or sitting in a recliner recovering from total knee replacement on both knees (8 weeks apart)! I am still recovering while working as a librarian here at Central Oak Elementary School. My recovery is going extremely well, considering that this type of surgery is one of the most intrusive you can have. I go to physical therapy three times a week and just try to take it easy on work days.

New Book Allocation
I am so incredibly glad to be back at work and yesterday I found out that our library is going to receive an allocation of $9.00 per student again this year! We will quickly put together a purchase list and I am trying a "preview box" from Smart Apple Media for the first time this fall. If you have had experience with that company, would you please let me know what you liked or disliked about them.

Lesson Plans
Every week, I ask that my teachers send me a copy of their lesson plans for the following week so I can prepare materials and books to enhance what they are teaching in the classroom. After I received them from the first teacher, I sent out a reminder email to the entire staff. I also included that the teacher who sent them to me first was going to receive their choice of bagel from Panera. I've never received lesson plans from our counselor, and I received plans for every other grade except fifth grade within 10 minutes! Oh, the power of food!!!

I hope you are having as good a week as I had! Enjoy your new school year!

Fiesta Book Fair!

Though I didn't take any pictures of kids at the book fair, I would say this one was one of our better book fairs. We outdid ourselves in selling books, and every kiddo that came to the fair bought a BOOK! We had the highest total sales of any book fair at Central Oak Elementary, and raised almost $200 in our All For Books donation buckets. We did that by having students vote for their favorite cat book character and put their change in the bucket designated to each cat. Pete the Cat was the favorite of the school, so he will be spending the summer with me!

Usually, I go on a fun vacation, but this summer I will be having two knee replacement surgeries. Pete and I will have some fun reading lots of books and watching movies this summer. I'll be sure to keep you updated on the blog! Here are the buckets and our most favorite cats!

Bookmarkapalooza!

It's no secret that bookmarks are very expensive. That's one of the reasons why I enter every contest and talk to authors and illustrators on Twitter and Facebook! Authors and illustrators are very generous in sending free bookmarks and stickers to give to students in the library. I am so grateful for every one of them! Recently, I made "Twitter friends" with Ame Dyckman and Corey Schwartz. Both of them sent me gobs of stickers and bookmarks for my students. I also entered a contest on Twitter and won a bunch of bookmarks from @ScholasticTeacher! Woo hoo! My kids are now stocked up for quite a while!

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!!

A Snapshot of My Reading Life

This is Week 3 of the World Read Aloud Day Blogging Challenge. We are to post a picture that gives readers a glimpse into our reading lives and share a short narrative explaining why the picture is meaningful. Honestly, the picture isn't all that meaningful, but the books certainly are!

Here I am in my school's library with a display of books that have, in one way or another, shaped my life. Some of them are by favorite authors, some are books that helped me see another's point of view, some are from my childhood, and some are books I have come to love just recently.

Someone once said that every book you read helps to shape the person you become. I truly believe that. I have tried to instill this type of "book love" to all my students (and other teachers and friends) for the 23 years that I have been a teacher and librarian. I really wanted to take a picture of me completely buried by books. I didn't do that, though, because I didn't want to re-shelve all those books!

Please share your favorite book or books with me in the comments below!

World Read Aloud Day Week 2 "Now & Then"

This post was meant for Week 2 of WRAD14: February 17-23

This week's post:

Answer the following questions twice. The first time, answer how you would have when you were 10 years old (or any age from elementary school that you remember clearly) and the second time, answer in the present.

1. I think everyone in the world should read ... (because they teach you how to treat others)

When I was 10: Harriet the Spy
Now: The Hundred Dresses

2. If I could listen to anyone in the world read aloud to me it would be...

When I was 10: Mrs. Shuck, my second grade teacher
Now: My grandma

3. When I read aloud, my favorite character to impersonate is...

When I was 10: Violet in The Boxcar Children
Now: The little bird in Are You My Mother?

4. The genre that takes up the most room on my bookshelf (or e-reader) is...

When I was 10: Realistic Fiction
Now: Nonfiction on all subjects: gardening, crafting, life lessons, etc.

5. The last book I wish I'd written or inspired me to write my own story is...

When I was 10: Follow My Leader (About a boy who becomes blind. I wanted to train seeing-eye dogs after reading that book.)
Now: The Happiness Project at Home (I actually began a blog after reading that book, but I don't have time to keep up with it.)

This was a fun post! I had almost forgotten about a few of these books!

 

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?

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!

Tammi Sauer comes to visit!

Central Oak Elementary Library hosted auther, Tammi Sauer, on November 9th. She did four programs for our students and signed autographs in her books that students purchased.

 She taught the kids songs and had students participate in several different skits and performances during her presentations. Ms. Sloggett even played the part of Oprah in one of the skits!

Students were encouraged to dress in "cowboy gear" and many took the opportunity to do so.

 

 

Mr. Larry Miller, a CO Alumni purchased a copy of every one of Mrs. Sauer's books for the elementary library. Here he is with the purchased books and Mrs. Sauer:

 

Thank you so much Mr. Miller, for the wonderful new books!

 

Thank you very much to Tammi Sauer for doing such a wonderful job teaching our students about her job, sharing her job, and books with our students.

 

The library cannot keep her books on the shelves in the library since Mrs. Sauer's visit! The students check them out just minutes after someone else has returned them. That is a testament to having an author visit a school. Not only do students get exposed to books by the author, but they get to actually see how authors do their job. Mrs. Sauer shared with the students how she comes up with ideas for her books, how she writes them, and then how she gets them published. We are all looking forward to her new book, Nuggett & Fang, which comes out very soon. Look for that book to "float" into the library soon (It is about a shark!).

 

 

 



 

Third Graders Receive Their Dictionaries

COE third graders were presented with student dictionaries today by the Midwest City Rotary Club. This club is very generous to include our school in donating the dictionaries. The students were very excited to learn what other things were included in the dictionaries aside from definitions. Each student was presented with their own dictionary to keep and use for their studies in and out of school.

In addition, the Midwest City Rotary Club donated some much-needed books to our library. We are very grateful for these donations and I'm sure the books will be used by many students and teachers in the years to come.

Thank you for your committment to education and your generosity to our school, Midwest City Rotary Club!

Thunder Up Central Oak!

Our school was privileged this week to welcome two of the Thunder Girls and the Thunder Bus!














The top two readers in each classroom were able to board the bus and choose a free book donated by the Thunder.

Mrs. Cindy Tinney, our Library Assistant and I welcomed the Thunder Girls and were able to view the wonderful books that our students would be receiving.

Thank you Thunder! We are so glad you support schools in the Oklahoma City area!

OTA/Encyclomedia Conference - Oklahoma City, OK

Last week I spent two days at the Oklahoma Technology Association/EncycloMedia Conference held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. What a wonderful opportunity to share with and learn from many other library and technology experts from our great state! Several people from our school district were representing Crooked Oak Public Schools. The COE Library Assistant, Cindy Tinney, the CO high school librarian, and a couple of others attended.  I was there with a 4th grade teacher (Laura Knight) from our school to give our presentation called "Classroom Bloggery." Here is the presentation link: http://bit.ly/PPP4gJ
 

In addition to presenting, we were able to attend other presentations about technology tools, great books to share with students, and also looked around at vendor booths. At one of those booths, I got to meet Katy Kelly, the author of one of our school's favorite books, Melonhead! Katy signed our school copy and I got to have my picture made with her (picture above).

EncycloMedia is a great way for librarians to re-charge and reconnect. Thank you, Oklahoma Technology Association for the great conference, and thank you COPS for paying for our attendance this year. It will be beneficial to our school district in ways we can't even imagine yet.

Have you attended a workshop or conference in the last year that was awesome? What was something you learned about your craft? Please share in the comment section below.
 

Captain Underpants Interview

Three fourth graders did an interview with Captain Underpants about one of his books this morning. The students posted the interview video on their blog through Kidblog.com. I am hoping to add the video to this blog as soon as it is published.

What a cool idea, Mrs. Knight!

More New Books!

Central Oak boys and girls are going to go BONKERS when they see the new books that Mr. Roger Short, CO alumni purchased for our library! Tom Angleberger has written some very creative books for upper elementary and middle school students about a bunch of kids who know a lot about Star Wars. One of the boys creates origami characters from Star Wars and they play an integral role in the plot of the series.

Felicity is an American Girl who lives in Jamestown during the late 1700s. Since the 5th graders are studying that time period, I thought it would be nice if the girls could read about a girl their age that lived during the time.

Thank you so much Mr. Short!

Outstanding Alumni Support

Our library received a wonderful donation from a couple of alumni this afternoon - the entire series of two of our most popular books and two American Girl - Felicity books! Thank you so much!!!

Weekly Weed Number One

I think I'm going to try to keep up with a new weekly post on my web called the "Weekly Weed." This is my first year in my library, and in a brand new library building. My assistant told me that when they moved into this new building that they weeded the collection and brought what they had left over. I am a diligent and determined "weeder" of library books; in other words, RUTHLESS! If the book is old, worn out, out of date, or otherwise inappropriate for our developing collection, it is not needed in the library. I learned in librarian school ~smirk~ that if your shelves are full of unused books, no one will know that you need new books! Fortunately, for our students and faculty, the administration is pro-library and has given us funds to purchase many new books this year. We've also had some donated by retiring teachers, family members, and other faculty members. I am always on the prowl for new books to show our students and teachers.

Our students are heavy AR users, so if a book isn't AR, they practically won't even look at it. Sad, but true. I've weeded the fiction, everybody, and finally, nonfiction sections of the library. I found so many interesting books during these weeds that I decided to feature some of them. Unfortunately, I decided this AFTER I had already distributed most of the fiction and everybody books. Here is a picture of my nonfiction weeds:

Here is my first Weekly Weed:

Crackerjack Halfback, by Matt Christopher, has a copyright date of 1962. Catcher with a Glass Arm, by Matt Christopher, has a copyright date of 1964. Both books were last checked out in 2005. Both have AR tests! Both books have sewn bindings, and both had their spines taped at some time. I'm amazed at the shape they are in. Unfortunately, the way they look is why students aren't checking them out. They look too "old fashioned and old," according to my boys.

I hope you enjoy my weeds as much as I am! Check in next week for the next highlighted book from our former collection!

COE Spring 2012 Book Fair

We are in full swing here at COE Library! Kids are donating to One For Books, choosing wonderful books for their summer reading, and generally enjoying everything there is to see at the book fair!

Students and teachers are enjoying the Luau theme and voting for which book character will accompany Ms. Sloggett on her trip to Colonial Williamsburg and Washington DC this summer. All the change donated by voting will be given to One For Books so that the library can purchase even more great books for our students to check out from the library.