This week in the Bethel Media Center we focused on our first check out.  I have a few favorite titles I love to share.  My kindergarten book was We're Going on a Book Hunt by Pat Miller.  It is a library version of the old story of "going on a bear hunt" that is published by Upstart.  I have the kindergartners repeat each line after me which keeps them interested and makes it a lot of fun!  I read A Library Book for Bear by Bonnie Becker to first grade to review library rules and then talk about check out.

My second grade book is a new favorite of mine that I discovered while serving on the SC Picture Book Award Committee.  It is If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano.  I absolutely love that it connects so well with the idea that you have to focus on what you need to accomplish - in our case we use it to talk about what we need to look for library books and what we need to ignore, but it could be easily used for any goal setting in the classroom. 

2nd Grade Library Orientation with Kahoot!

       The first week of school in the Bethel Elementary Media Center has been a blast!  It has been so nice to see all of the familiar faces back in the building and also to start getting to know some new faces as well.
      My second grade classes this week enjoyed library orientation Kahoot!-style.  I had tried Kahoot! last year with a few classes who really enjoyed it.  Kahoot! is a game-based learning program which lets you set up a quiz,  discussion, or survey and then have students respond using devices.  My school PTA bought the library 10 iPad minis not long ago and I have been having so much fun finding new ways to use them!
       I set up a quiz of 20 questions that I would usually ask my second graders during orientation - What is your librarian's name?  What kind of voices do we use in the library?  What do you do after you check out a book?  Who is the person who writes the book?  When the 2nd graders came in, each table of students got an ipad and joined the game.
     

       The students were very excited about this form of library orientation.  Instead of the groans and "We know this stuff" that I usually get from my older students, I got a lot of energy and smiles.  I read the questions and answers from the Promethean board and the students used the ipad at their table to answer.  They were very competitive and couldn't wait to see which table was in the lead after each question.  We discussed any wrong answers and they left ready to come back next week and check out a book! 

Starting the school year 2015-16

I am excited to be starting my third year at Bethel Elementary School!  This is my ninth year of being a media specialist.  The teacher workdays are almost over now.  The classrooms are looking like classrooms again, all decorated and ready to go.  My library is not quite there, as the painters came to paint the ceiling this week.  It currently looks like the scene from E.T. where the entire house is covered in plastic!

I can't wait to see all the students.  I have new books I want to share.  I am looking forward to getting to know the new kindergartners and my new team of 5th grade news broadcast students.  We start the morning news on the first day of school bright and early!  Our school theme for this year is Learning is Our Superpower.  Mrs. Lynch has been busy with her paintbrush over the summer and has created a beautiful bulletin board for outside the library to start the year!