October 2015

October also has National Card Making Day which we decided to celebrate all month long.  We set up a collection of stickers, fancy scissors, paper, etc for kids to make cards and we delivered them to other students or teachers at other schools.  The poster I created is saved to Google Drive as Card.

We also celebrated Teen Read Week.  We created a calendar of events with daily giveaways and the following big events:

Teen Read Week (Oct. 18-24) -- Get Away @ Your Library…

It’s almost Teen Read Week! Get Away @ Your Library with...

--Book Swap -- During Teen Read Week, discover something new to read at the Book Swap.  Bring in a novel Monday, October 19 through Thursday, October 22 and receive an invitation to visit the Book Swap the morning of Friday, October 24!  Bring a book...take a book!

--Book-to-Movie Event -- Be ready for the upcoming release of Mockingjay: Part 2 by screening the first Mockingjay on Thursday, October 22! With your parent’s permission, stay after school, report to the library, and take in Mockingjay: Part 1. Movie, popcorn, and a drink are on the house! Additional drinks can be purchased at the event -- $1.  Stop by the library for a permission slip!

All Teen Read Week files can be found in Google Drive in the Teen Read Week 2015 folder.

We began working on our MakerSpace ideas -- turn the library office, area by "kitchen" and reading room into a MakerSpace (hoping to have that interior wall between the library and reading room removed).  Ordered several sets from littleBits (www.littlebits.cc).  Started off the idea with building structures with Solo cups.

We continued Grab & Go Mystery Books until new books arrived and then we used that area to display new books.

Held October's Bring Breakfast, Browse Books.

Began advertising for November's Film Festival -- all book trailer submissions must be turned in by midnight on November 30.  I created a handout with specifics and it's saved in Google Drive as PGM Film Festival.

Tried out Book Speed Dating with Dyess's class first and then with Clements' class.  Kids enjoyed it and it was an easy way to have the kids look at titles they might not ordinarily check out.  I made tents for each table, stacked up the books, and gave each student a Rate Your Date sheet.  I times 5-7 minute rotations where students would go from table to table, look at the books, and then rate the books.  Clements class checked out their "date" at the end of the class period; Dyess had her students come back to her room the next day to choose their dates.  Pictures are in the IFTTT folder in Google Drive.

October's Media Newsletter is here.

Some other ideas I screenshot throughout the month...

September 2015

We kicked off September with a few contests -- reciting the Preamble to the Constitution (in honor of Constitution Week) and Shelfies.

Students who could recite the Preamble -- anytime during the month of September -- received a piece of candy.  Students could also submit "Shelfies" - selfies of themselves with the book they're reading. Students either emailed it to me or shared with me via Google Drive.  All were posted to social media and added to the public folder "Shelfies" saved in Google Drive.

For future add National Comic Book Day -- celebrated September 25 -- and do a contest of comic book depictions of books for a prize.

Held Bring Breakfast, Browse Books for parents.

Conducted sessions on library/online resources for 6th grade parents during our Parent Night.  Copy of the presentation shared is saved in Google Drive as 6th Grade Parent Night.

Took TOME Society students to PGE to read to Ms. Raybon's class.  Each  girl chose a book to read to their student and each 1st grader had a book to read back to the TOME student.  Pictures of the event are saved in Google Drive in the folder TOME Visit to PGE.

In the last week of September, we kicked off Grab & Go Mystery Book.  We took scary/mystery fiction and non-fiction books, put them in a paper bag (or wrapped them in brown paper), put a tag on them, and displayed them on the rack.  Students would choose a mystery book, check it out, read it, and when they returned it, they'd rate their scare on a Google Form setup on an iPad at the check-in counter.  Here's the form -- Share Your Scare and Share Your Scare (Responses).  We had over 550 responses and towards the end we quit having students share their scare just because we needed to wrap it up.  When the students returned their book and shared their scare, we gave them a treat (ogre boogers, witches warts, jack o lantern teeth, ghost poop, monster scabs).  Tags for this and the other printables are saved to Google Drive in the October - Mystery Book folder.  Here's what our display looked like...



Taught lots of ELA classes about evaluating sources using CRAAP.  Posted the posters in the library and gave half sheets of paper with the CRAAP guide on it for interactive notebooks and shared this information:

Struggling to Help Your Student With Research Assignments… --Encourage your students to use C.R.A.A.P.-y resources to keep from relying on questionable resources.  Check out the CRAAP graphic organizer on the next page and use it to evaluate the trustworthiness of sources.  I encourage students to use GALILEO resources, SIRS Discoverer, and Britannica Middle; links are available on the Pine Grove Middle School webpage under Student Links.  To access these resources, you’ll need the current GALILEO password which is pottery (and will be the password through the end of this calendar year).  I also encourage using Newsela (newsela.com).  Students who have not created a Newsela account can do so easily by clicking “Sign-up with Google”.  Nearly all of these resources can be narrowed down to a specific Lexile level to make sure your student reads the appropriate article. --Encourage your students to use the EasyBib Add-On built into Google Docs (to add this tool, go to Add-ons, Get Add-ons, and find and add EasyBib).

September's Media Newsletter is here.

August 2015

At the end of last school year, students were given a reading log to record the number of minutes spent reading over the summer.  The challenge was that the homeroom with the most summer reading minutes recorded would win an ice cream sundae party.  Reading logs were sent home with rising 5th grade students as well.  The reading log is saved in Google Drive as Summer Reading Log 2015.

Summer Reading Logs were due August 14 -- the first Friday following the first full week of school. Mary made a display of teachers' favorite books out in the hallway:  Come Take a Look at Your Teacher's Favorite Book:

We kicked off Wonder as well.  Teachers were given their copy before summer, and each student received their copy at the Wonder kickoff event -- pep rally like event held during connections where they watched a book trailer and listened about the  "Choose Kind" theme for the year:  Random Acts of Kindness, school-wide art project...  The Wonder files are saved in Google Drive in the folder Wonder.  We ended the project with Tammy Eunice speaking to each group of students about Legacy and leaving a legacy of kindness.

I kicked off the TOME Society as well -- accepting up to 15 members -- to read the specified books: www.tomesociety.org.

Each ELA class came in for library orientation which was basically STAR test and make sure you can log into the computer and Google.  I gave each student a "yellow sheet" with their login information, Lexile score, and directions for setting up library apps.  That sheet is saved in Google Drive as Yellow Sheet - 2015-16 Online Resource Logins for Students.  As new students arrive throughout the year, their Viking Envoy student brings them by the library for their user name and picks up a yellow sheet and the following step by step directions for setting up AD login and Google accounts.

I held a parent Google class -- a session at 8am and one at 6pm -- to introduce parents to their students' Google accounts just prior to our enabling email for all students (restricted to within the Lowndes domain).  I didn't have a lot of turnout, but the parents who attended were positive about the information received.  Here's the presentation I shared (saved in Google Drive):  Parent Google Class.

Bring Breakfast, Browse Books -- a B4 School Event:  an open invitation for parents to stop by the library before school (7:30-8:00) to browse the library with their students and top off their coffee and grab a donut.  Here's the advertisement with future dates posted:

The editable file for this event is saved in Google Drive:  Bring Breakfast/Browse Books.

I also created a  Homeroom Library Representative committee -- one rep from each homeroom -- to provide feedback on student tech/media issues.  They met with their homerooms to compile a list of books they'd like to see added to the library.  I plan to meet with them once a month.

July 2015

So I spent July scouring the web for ideas for the 2015-16 school year to ensure that my AR-free year was a success.  I created a month-by-month calendar of events that I'm going to share below.  I've added to and tweaked some events as we progressed, but here's what I started with:

**As a note up front, I had included a "Book in a Bottle" contest where I'd take a damaged beyond repair book, shred it, put it in a large bottle and have kids guess to see what book it is.  We didn't have a shredder that would shred large enough that the print wasn't totally destroyed, so I opted not to do this at the time.  Would like to do it if I could find a shredder.

PGM Media Center Events for the 2015-16 School Year... August

• Summer Reading Logs Due August 14
• Summer Reading Ice Cream Sundae Party for homeroom accumulating the most summer reading minutes
• Teacher’s favorite books display outside library
• Introduce Year Long Reading Challenge
• Wonder & accompanying activities
• Kick off the TOME Society
• Student Media Crew nominations (8th grade)
• Student library orientation
• Parent Google Class - Aug. 31
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students - Aug. 27

September

• Shelfies -- students take pictures of themselves and the book they’re reading, post to social media, tag PGM; random pics selected for prizes (Shelfie-sticks)
• Book Speed Dating -- during September, when classes come in to checkout books, I’ll have a selection of books on tables for students to speed date.
• Readers’ BINGO -- a reading game centered around non-fiction, in-class reading, newspapers, magazines, online articles.
• Library/Online Resources for Parents
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students - Sep. 24
• Constitution Week September 17-23 -- memorize the Preamble to the Constitution contest
• Add National Comic Book Day -- September 25

October

• World Card Making Day (to celebrate the week of October 5) -- have scrapbooking supplies out for students (at PGM and around LCS) to create cards that I will deliver
• Teen Read Week: Oct 18-24 -- Get Away @ Your Library
• Book Swap
• Book-to-Movie Event -- afterschool screening of Mockingjay, Part 1 with popcorn and drinks
• Grab & Go Mystery book -- mystery, suspense, and other fall-themed books will be bagged up for students to choose randomly
• Lexile Training for Parents
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students - Oct. 22

November

• Book Fair November 9-17
• Social Media for Parents
• Origami Day -- have origami books on display, how-to videos streaming, and papers out for students to try their hand at folding
• No-Shave November: I Mustache You to Checkout These Books -- Mustache PhotoBooth
• Game & Puzzle Week - Nov. 16-20 (though really celebrated during Thanksgiving week) - will have iPads, board games, card games, and computers setup for gaming/coding
• I Am Thankful For…
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students - Nov. 19
• Announce PGM Film Festival (beginning of November)

December

• National Cookie Day December 4 - students who visit and checkout books get a cookie
• PGM Film Festival -- book trailer voting
• Book Exchange Party - bring a gift wrapped book to participate
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students  Dec. 17
• Book Quote Ornaments (11/30 - 12/4) - have cutouts and calligraphy pens out for students to write their favorite book quote on an ornament to hang on the media center Christmas tree
• Add events for Hour of Code during beginning of December

January

• Facebook Contest:  Find a Book with a face on it...Make it look like your face -- photo contest
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students - Jan. 28
• Minecraft Contest (Pinterest & and saved to Evernote)
• Add "Start the New Year with a Newbery"
  

February

• Digital Learning Day (date TBA) -- coding, robotics, etc...
• Blind Date with a Book
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students - Feb. 25
• World Read Aloud Day - February 24 - collaborate with other LCS and schools around Georgia to continuously read aloud
• Begin collecting titles for March Madness and setup brackets

March

• March Madness
• Teen Tech Week - app board for students to share their favorite apps, QR code scavenger hunt in the library
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students - Mar. 24
• Read Across America Day/Dr. Seuss’ Birthday - March 2

April

• National Library Week - April 10-16
• National Poetry Month
• Poetry Cafe -- setup in Reading Room for classes to participate in poetry readings
• Poem in Your Pocket
• Bring Breakfast & Browse Books -- a B4 school event -- open the library early one morning a month for parents to browse and have breakfast with their students - Apr. 21

May

• Wrap Up Year Long Reading Challenge
• Book Exchange Party - bring a gift wrapped book to participate

Still a work in progress, but so far (October 20) it's been really successful and we've circulated more books than ever before. -- HM

Two-Fold Purpose

I suppose I will start by stating my ultimate purpose in creating this blog -- to keep MYSELF organized after Mary leaves.  Already this school year has been the best, most successful year so far.  More kids are reading.  We got rid of AR. We are focusing on Lexiles and improving reading.  I'm looking to add Makerspaces.  My TOME Society is going.  

Since we are already to October, I will post separately for August and then for September before getting to October. That way I will have a record of what we've done so far and provide reflection on what worked and what didn't.

I guess there's another purpose -- there seem to be so few middle school-specific resources for media centers.  So...I'll create one!  We'll see how it goes.

HM