Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving

1st graders had the opportunity to make it @ the library!  There was no technology involved, only origami. After reading the story Pete the Cat: The First Thanksgiving by, James and Kimberly Dean, we worked as a group to identify the following story elements: characters, setting, problem, and solution. The students then made an origami Pete the Cat. We use origami to make the head and body of Pete and then used other paper and markers to accessorize and put the final touches on Pilgrim Pete the Cat. The first grade students had a blast and they turned out super cute.

Turkey Call Number Hunt!

3rd grade students have been working hard at learning the organization of the library. We have been talking about everybody fiction, genre fiction, and nonfiction. Recently, students had the opportunity to organize turkey feathers based upon their call number.  Students worked in groups of 4-5 and had 3 sets of turkey feathers to organize. In addition, when students had the everybody feathers in the correct order, they had to take one feather and find the matching Thanksgiving/Turkey book on the shelf.  It was a great learning experience for all and they did a great job.

Halloween STEM Challenge

Bone Bridge Building

This past week students worked together during TEAM time, to construct a 'bone bridge'.  Groups of students were given the set materials needed to build a bone bridge that would sustain a brach's pumpkin candy to go across without collapsing the bridge or falling through.  Thanks to two of our educational assistants they were able to guide the students in doing this great activity.  The students were highly engaged and building many 21st century skills, such as problem-solving, collaboration, engineering and math skills!

Fall Book Tasting

The beginning of the school year brought a Fall Book Tasting for my 5th grade students.  We spent time talking about what a Book Tasting was and why we were going to be doing a book tasting.  I had several new books for students to sample.  This helped them to get an idea of what was new to the library, as well as find any new books they may be interested in checking out.  As the students, rotated through tables they had a book tasting menu to fill out. They had to fill out their menu for at least 3 books.  I set a timer and the students had 6-7 minutes for each rotation.  During their time, I played some background music to help set the mood of the book tasting.  I wanted them to be relaxed and calm and they were!  It was so quiet and the students loved this activity.  Students were wanting to check out books right away!

Welcome to the 2016-2017 School Year!

We are on our 3rd full week of school for this school year and I have finally seen all of my classes! I have high hopes for this year, especially with the roll out of the Makerspace at both libraries.  I have been working hard to get it all ready for students to come and use without needing to have it planned in one of my lessons.  One of the new things I'm looking forward to using with the students are the Ozobots!  These tiny robots move by coding them with markers and colored lines.  Both schools also have LEGO walls that are up and ready for the students to build, create, and inspire.  If you want to see more of what is in the makerspace take a look at the website.

Spring Road & Clayton Makerspace

Summer Reading Program

Makerspace Stations

Recently, grades 2 through 5 had the opportunity to explore makerspace stations.  The students worked in small groups to collaborate, problem-solve, and tinker to help promote 21st century learning skills. The students were so excited to be able to participate in stations and they were very engaged in their own learning.  Many students were very disappointed when the time was up.  The stations included:
1. Dash - a robot controlled by apps on the iPad.  Younger students explored with xylo, go, and path.  While the older students worked with blockly to program Dash.
2. Cubelets - cubelets are also little robots.  Each cube has a different job and when connected together the students are able to create different things, such as a flashlight.
3. OSMO - students worked with the tangram app to match the image that was displayed on the iPad.
4. Snapcircuit Jr. - students used the project book to create different circuit boards.
5. Littlebits - students used the Littlebits to explore with circuits and electricity.
6. LEGO Wall - students built and added onto the lego wall.

Adobe Voice App

This past week two of my kindergarten classes were learning about Oviparous Animals.  Together we worked to build a list of oviparous animals and then each student created a page for a class book.  We then worked with the app Adobe Voice to take a picture of their page and record their voice, so that their worked could be shared!  The students loved doing this and Adobe Voice was super EASY to use!!  Click here to watch and learn about Oviparous Animals!

Clayton Lego Wall

I am excited to announce that the Lego Wall is up and ready to be used by students.  In fact, there already have been students working on the Lego Wall.  In looks great tucked away in the corner and provides the students with a great place to imagine, build and create.

If you are interested in making your own LEGO wall it is pretty easy.  Here are the materials that I used: plywood to glue the baseplates on, Brick building base plates, and construction adhesive.  I first had a 42" x 42" piece of plywood cut and screwed to the wall.  I then used construction adhesive to glue the baseplates to the plywood.  I let the Lego wall sit for a day and it was ready to be used!

Here is the link to the baseplates that I ordered.  These have worked great and are compatible with all types of Legos!
http://www.amazon.com/Brick-Building-Base-Plates-SCS/dp/B00R3VU3NI/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1459795891&sr=8-8&keywords=Lego+baseplates

Spring Road has Author Visit

On Monday, March 14th, the Spring Road students were greeted by children's book author Katie Mcky.  One of her books is titled Pumpkin Town, in which she acted out for the students. Ms. Mcky spent the day at Spring Road teaching the students about writing.  She started our day with an all school performance in the gym and ended the day with another performance.  During the school day, Ms. Mcky had writing workshops in the library for students in grades 3, 4, and 5. Ms. Mcky set the stage for them with a camping theme and even had tents for the students to write in.  It was a great educational experience for the staff and students!

Clayton Winter Family Night

A little over a week ago I was involved in planning a family night for one of my elementary schools. Considering my interest to integrate the makerspace idea into my libraries, I decided to have a LEGO Robotics station.  I had ordered materials for my own library makerspace; however, knew that there wouldn't be enough, so I was put in contact with a local community organization that runs a LEGO club.  They were willing to let us borrow their equipment for the night.  The families LOVED working with the lego robotics and I was amazed at how much engagement I saw between the parents and the children.  At the end of the night, I was not sure who had more fun the children or the parents!  It was exciting to see the amount of problem-solving, higher-order thinking, and engagement from all involved.