Podcast Obsessed

I, Ms. Reynolds, confess that I cannot STOP listening to podcasts. I listen ALL the time. I listen mostly in the car, but sometimes I listen when I'm cleaning my house.
I am addicted!

I listen to all types of podcasts. I listen to parenting podcasts, comedy podcasts, librarian/book loving podcasts, mystery podcasts, etc... The greatest part is downloading and listening to a podcast is absolutely FREE!

Two weeks ago I was able to go to an educational technology conference in Austin called TCEA. One session I could attend stood out to me...how to create a podcast! Duh! I had to take it! Fast-forward two weeks and we have created our Little Black Library Podcast! 

I chose two students (4th graders) to be my co-hosts and we will interview other students and teachers about reading, writing, book reviews, favorite books, and so much more!

My co-costs are ecstatic to say the least! Our plan is to plan the podcast one week and record the it the next week. Therefore, publishing our podcast every other week. 

I'll admit, it is a learning process for me. I'm still playing around with it. My prediction is the students will love it, because they love listening to play-aways from our library. Our 4th, 5th, and 6th graders all have 1:1 ipads in the classroom and should be able to access it there. I hope to somehow find ways for the primary grades to listen as well.

My goal is to promote reading and writing! So, with out further ado, I present to you Season 1, Episode 1 of our very first podcast. 

P.S. We were nervous...

Little Black Library - "Our First Podcast" Season 1 Episode 1

Drama, Drama, Drama

My students are SO into Raina Telgemeier's graphic novels. I decided I would read at least one and see why they love them so much. So I started with Drama. So far, I like it!

It looks like she is in the process of writing another one! It's called Ghosts. It will be out in the Fall of 2016. 

Here's the link to her blog where Raina talks about her new book. 

http://goraina.com/2015/07/my-next-books-title-will-be/

I know some of my kiddos will be excited! 

Have you read one of Raina Telgemeier's books? What'd you think? Is there another graphic novel author you love?

I met a STAR!

Almost every April I go to the Texas Library Association's annual conference. There are tons of authors signing books, vendors (like book companies) giving away free stuff, and learning sessions. I particularly enjoy meeting authors and taking their books back to my students. I think it's beneficial to show the students that authors and illustrators are REAL people. I like to tell them that our writing and artistic abilities go further than school. In fact, I tell my students about how it is such a rush for me to meet authors and illustrators. They are like movie stars to me. Only...really they are book stars! All the same in my book. As I wait to meet them, my palms get sweating, I try and figure out what I am going to say to them (usually repeating it in my head over and over). By the time I reach them, after standing in line sometimes longer than a Six Flags ride, I end up just saying Hi! Thank you!, and I love your books. I'm a dork. A Starstruck dork at that.
This past April I met a few authors...one being my all time fave! You can imagine how much I DIDN'T say to him! lol (enter Starstruck Dork)

My all time favorite has to be Jon Scieszka. He's a genius when it comes to picture books and middle grade novels. A classic and my all time fave...Stinky Cheese Man and Fairly Stupid Tales. But, I also loved his Autobiography, Knucklehead. I brought my personal copy to TLA and had him sign it. When you meet an author they will also take a picture with you! You bet I did that!

This week I have been telling the younger students about my meeting with Sarah Weeks at TLA. I bought her book Glamourpuss and it was such a cute and fun experience meeting her, I of course had to share it with the kids. She brought fancy and glamourous glasses for us to wear  in our picture with her. The kids love the book of Glamourpuss and Bluebelle!

I can not wait to see which authors will be at TLA this year! Who is your favorite author? Would you be able to speak to them if you met them?

Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony

We are into the 3rd week of school! I can't believe it! I started it off with a bang and had our Scholastic Book Fair on week 2! It was a whirlwind, but HALLELUJAH! it's behind me! Orientation is done too, so I can now get into the nitty gritty of library land! I read such a cute book to my kindergartners, and I have to share it with you!
Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony is great for discussing manners to students! Mr. Panda offers doughnuts (spelled the old fashioned way, I might add) and to a variety of animals. He offers and when they request what the kind they want, he ends up saying, "Never-mind, I changed my mind". Until he asks the upside-down lemur! Lemur uses his manners and gets the WHOLE box of doughnuts!
What's amazing is I even had some kindergartners figure it out! That's a success in itself! All the other animals had NO manners! We had terrific discussions! It goes along great with our campus focusing on Ron Clark's Essential 55 rules! I plan on reading it to a few other grade levels because of it's terrific message and cute illustrations! Please, Mr. Panda is great for young and beginning readers.

March Book Madness

I have discovered that I am not a creature of habit. Not in the way of "library events". I like to mix it up. Maybe I get bored? Maybe I like the element of surprise for the staff and students? For instance, last year I dressed up as a "different person" for a day. I made up this character. I called her Opal Hughes...or Mrs. Hughes, my second cousin twice removed.  (I think I was in the middle of watching Downton  when I came up with Hughes). It flowed and brought question to my student's eyes when I stated I was "Mrs. Hughes, Ms. Reynolds 2nd Cousin Twice removed." I adored their wondering expressions, especially on the little one's faces as I spat out my broken British accent. I even startled myself a little when I would look in the mirror. If my words don't give enough description I guess I'll let you peek.

All that to say, I did it once. (Had Mrs. Hughes sub for me that is) and the kids ask all the time when my second cousin twice removed will be back to sub. But, this dog is not fond of old tricks. I need something new all the time. Something unexpected. So, I decided to unveil March Book Madness. A world wide event (but not my invention). There is a weebly and everything. 

Found here ---> March Book Madness

It was a lot to put on alongside of the Mockingbird Book Program we do with Kinder-2nd through MISD. But, we managed and the whole school was involved. I didn't have all of the new books in my library, but between Amazon and our inner-school library loan system I was able to obtain them all rather quickly. I only had to order 3 from Amazon so it worked out quite nicely and didn't break the bank.

I only did the picture book bracket. Next year, I am considering the middle grade book bracket. That, is if I decide to forgo the event again. I created a bulletin board bracket on a large wall space in my library. Here she is:

On the left are books that were published in 2014. i.e. the new books. One the right are books published before 2014. Many classics! In the end, a new book will go head to head with an old book. 

Students voted by every Tuesday through the weebly site. I usually emailed the teachers a picture of the bracket and a QR code for the kids to and teachers to vote. 

How did I get all the kids to read all the books in a short amount of time? Well, I didn't. I left the books on my desk and had the teachers read them to their class at their leisure. They just had to read it right away and return it right away. Some participated and some did not. Honestly, I just wanted to expose the kids to new and old books. I read some to older grades when they visited the library. I read Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen to the entire school I looooooved their expressions and comments as I read it. Good book, read it! not the winner, but a great read!
The final two are shown in the picture above.


 Have you participated in March Book Madness on your campus? What were your strategies to get students and teachers reading the books? Maybe you just like to dress up as people you are not?

Love is in the Library

"Love is in the Library" was the theme for February this year. I geared all of the Library centers around Valentine's Day. Here's what we did!

Our Felt Board Center was all about LOVE!  Kindergarten LOVED it, too.

Here are some Valentine's Day themed bookmarks being made in the Book Mark Center.

Here are Valentine's Day Cards being made by 3rd graders.

Puzzle Center...the Frozen puzzle is a LOVED by everyone!

 The 3rd graders are listening to a playaway matched with it's book in the Listening Center.

The third graders naturally LOVE helping each other out!

Digital Bookshelf

I LOVE goodreads.com and keeping track of the books I have read, want to read, and books I am currently reading. I am also fascinated with seeing what other people are reading. I, like many other librarians have my digital bookshelves displayed in a window of my library for my students to see. I am toying with the idea of creating a way for students to share their digital bookshelves. Students must be at least 13 for goodreads and sites like Biblionasium can be tedious with having parents confirm their accounts. (Which isn't a bad thing, just tedious for teachers)
Today, I had an idea! It was a Staff Development Day and we we learned different ways to use padlet.com. I though this would be a cool platform for teacher, librarians, AND STUDENTS to create their digital bookshelf.
They can be as creative as they like and can show it on Edmodo and other social media outlets.
Here is mine. I took a screenshot that is a little fuzzy. But, you can click the link to see it full on!
http://padlet.com/lereynolds/bookshelf

I think I am going to try it out with a class this week. I'm still playing around with it and haven't learned all the quirks with using it on an ipad. I'll post an update soon!