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!

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!!

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!

Read Across America and WRAD14 "Read It Forward"

For World Read Aloud Day 2014, this is my week four post. I am very behind in my blog posting due to spring break and very busy with pet sitting, planning for digital citizenship lessons, and on and on and on!

Anyway, the final post for WRAD was to be a video of yourself reading aloud. Well, I am very self-conscience about being video-taped, but I did it. Then I accidentally ;0) deleted the video. So, here is a picture of me on WRAD 2014 reading aloud a book from one of my favorite series for young girlies, Silverlicious! I dressed as Pinkalicious that day at school and had a blast reading to many littles during the day. I chose to read Silverlicious because I knew that I was going to dress as Pinkalicious, the main character, that day.

I love to dress up, and so for every day we were in school that week (Sadly, only 3 days.), I dressed up as a book character! I've included pictures below of all of my fun costumes. 

Fly Guy!

 

Kids and adults alike love to try and figure out who I am dressing as when I decide to do it. I think it adds to the story as I am reading and it makes people laugh and be entertained. I did get some funny looks driving to and from work!



Miss Viola Swamp

The two days I didn't dress up, my costumes were to be of Harriet the Spy and Amelia Bedelia. I will just have to save them for another time! I hope you enjoy my pictures. If you like to dress up as book characters, please tell me about it in the comments below!
 

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!

 

World Read Aloud Day 2014 Week 1

The question posed to bloggers in the reading community is "What do you think is special about reading aloud"? This post was meant for the Week of February 10-16.

I believe what makes reading aloud special is the intimacy that is created between the reader and the audience, whether it be one person or many. Some of my favorite memories as a child were of my mom and dad reading aloud to me and my sisters. I felt cherished in these moments as I sat on their lap and later, next to them on my bed or in a cozy chair.

Me, my Dad, and my sister with our cat, Pretzel.

 



A great thing about reading aloud a book in your classroom is the shared vocabulary that you can create with your students. Over the years, my classes have gotten to know characters like Charlotte, Harriet, Brian, Miss Viola Swamp, and Clifford. Read aloud books have helped us become a community by learning how to get along with one another and supporting one another just like Brother and Sister Bear; being scared together reading Skeleton Man; learning about death in The Tenth Good Thing About Barney and Bridge to Terabithia.

As a librarian, I am lucky enough to get to share read aloud books many times a day. It is my very favorite thing about being a librarian. I am planning to celebrate World Read Aloud Day 2014 by simply reading aloud to all the classes that I can. This is the first WRAD I have actually celebrated in my library, so I am looking forward to it very much.

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.
 

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!

Red White and Read

Red White and Read is our reading theme this year at Central Oak Elementary School.  We are promoting books about patriotism, American History, Oklahoma History, and any other books related to American studies. We came up with this theme because our year started out with the Olympics, which always brings about feelings of pride in our country(ies). Our Fall Book Fair theme is All Stars. We are all proud of being All-Star Americans!

Reading to Grandma

Mrs. Tinney's mother visited us in the library for several months this spring. She enjoyed listening to many students read stories to her while she was here.

Proud of You!

We are so happy and proud when kids increase their reading levels and get to choose books that they have been wanting to read for a long time. Here's a good example!

National DEAR Day

We had an awesome DEAR Day here at Central Oak! In the library, students were encouraged to read silently while they were waiting for testing opportunities, listened to Ms. Sloggett read stories, and even got to lay on the floor and read their new books. Here are some fun pictures of our kids!

Babymouse books are some favorites!

Ahhhh, how comfortable you look!