Everyone means well, but there are so many unintended consequences of not understanding poverty.
When Elite Parents Dominate Volunteers, Children Lose – The New York Times
Category: education
NC Senate panel to hear K-3 class size flexibility bill Monday | News & Observer
The Senate Education Committee will consider Monday night a bill that school districts say is needed to prevent thousands of potential teacher layoffs and cuts in art, music and physical education classes in North Carolina elementary schools.
Source: NC Senate panel to hear K-3 class size flexibility bill Monday | News & Observer
I’m all about those Books
This is great!
Donor’s Choose Project – My Mom’s Ears and My Dad’s Nose: Heredity Stations
Please check out my Donor’s Choose project, here. It’s called My Mom’s Ears and My Dad’s Nose. I’m asking for resources on heredity for the 5th graders. I would greatly appreciate any help you can give. Any donations made by November 22 will be matched up to $100. Use the promo code SPARK during checkout to double your donation.
Thanks so much for looking at this project for our school and library!
Epic for Educators
This gem came across my facebook feed. It’s only an IOS app. BUT I’ve read several books already on my iPad that I don’t have in my library. Some of the books have a read aloud feature and there is a timer on the books so kids can’t go through them too quickly. I’ve mainly examined the picture books and have read some that I would not have otherwise.
The only thing they ask in return is for you to let parents know about them. That can easily be done on our school webpages. If you have an apple device, give it a try!
See my other recommendations on where to find books.
The Teacher Librarian
NC Politicians rewriting the past year
I mentioned a few posts ago that Thom Tillis and Pat McCrory were featured in a ridiculous ad about a brighter future for our children. This is the beginning of the election season’s rewriting of educational history – especially those who are in office and would like to be seen in a favorable light. Claims will be made that they teachers one of the largest raises in NC history. I wrote about those raises earlier.
To get this raise, they had to take the money from other places.
- NC budget pays for teacher raises from reserves, lottery, cuts to programs
- Critics say pay claims in NC budget not accurate
And the budget is a mess.
The NCGA has treated teachers poorly. I could list all the ways again, but I’ve already done that. As wonderful as the start to this year has been in the school house, apart from the job itself, this has been a demoralizing year for educators.
The NCGA needs some fresh faces. Faces that support public education.
First week of school!
I guess this is actually week 2, but it is week 1 with the kiddos. We reviewed procedures and everyone (but K) got to check out a book! I worked about a day a week this summer in the library. I wanted it to have a different feel this year. Changing schools in the middle of the year has some limitations (even with a smooth transition). There is just not enough time to learn the library and move things to where you want them. We did make lots of changes last year. I had great assistance from Kim, Bobbie and Stephanie. I couldn’t have picked 3 better or tenacious workers if I’d advertised! There were unused shelves and unclear division lines between sections. We made some displays and reorganized some labeling. We used index cards in places to help identify popular books and sections. All that helped with students finding what they needed. And we weeded and weeded and weeded. I was a little surprised this summer that I still found books to weed.
This summer though, I worked on a theme and got some displays made for the theme. I color coded the sections. Picture books are red, fiction chapter books are yellow, and nonfiction is green. I’ve already seen a difference this week in the helpfulness of this. Also, to be able to say that the space books are under the rocket or the sports books are under the athletes has been great. I had almost no students come back and say they couldn’t find the section they were looking for. We moved computer tables so there is more floor space. Tables are grouped differently and in a U which allowed for even more floor space.
We started open checkout 2nd semester last year with 2nd – 5th grades. I only had one checkout station which was fine for when kids came to the library independently, but was a bit arduous during class. This year, I set up two more checkout stations and assigned specific tables to them. Oh my goodness! Why did I not think of this last year? Not only did it speed up checkout, it spread the students out. We are starting this year with open checkout for 3rd – 5th, and then 2nd will start 2nd semester.
Our schedule has changed slightly this year. I see 28 40-minute classes (k-5) in 5 days. That leaves 7 periods open including my planning at 2:30 – 3:10. Last year I saw 30 classes in 6 days which left 12 open periods. That doesn’t look as bad in writing, but it does leave us with 5 fewer open times in each cycle. I’ve also got lunch time – only 30 minutes, but it will add back in 5 time slots for classes. The great news about this shift is that it will allow me to plan consistently with 4th & 5th grades this year.
I do more talking the first 2 weeks of school than the rest of the school year. Lots and lots to review before classes can be independent users. This is all new to Ks and 1st & 2nd graders graduate to whole new levels of library use! Pretty exciting if exhausting!
Book fair is coming up September 18-26! We’ve been doing preliminary work for that too.
To end my week in the best way possible, I had a Levi date! Isn’t he the cutest!
Professional Meetings
Today was the professional meeting for Library Media Coordinators for WSFCS. Mixed emotions on these. I’d always rather be at my school – this week is a tough one regardless of how ready I’ve ever felt walking into it. To many things to do! However, it’s valuable to meet with others in the same job listening and talking with them about what we have in common and how our schools are different and the things we do.
I got lots of ideas from today. Some I’d already been thinking on and some were new. I’d been planning on doing stations this year, but I heard some other ways librarians are using stations with students. We talked about different ways to do literacy, maker spaces, gaming, data uses. We had a gal from MackinVia come to speak with us. I haven’t been able to log into that, but based on what we saw today, I think it could be great! We talked about county things that are not so exciting but that are good to know like evaluations.
Tomorrow, I have to hit the library thinking about Thursday’s open house. I need signs and signups for volunteers and the book fair. I need to find out about a drawing I’d like to have. I’ve got some ideas for signs.
And not to change the subject to abruptly, but did you know Dot Day is coming up?
Day 1 of 14-15 school year!
I love the first day of school! It’s great to see everyone and start getting things in order. I love making plans with others and trying to figure out how to make them really happen. Going out for lunch is fun. We don’t get to do that very often! I moved tables and chairs trying for more floor space. I think I’ve got it but won’t know for sure until all the extra tables from today’s meeting. Tomorrow I’ve got a workshop. Thursday is open house.
Whoosh! Week will be over before I know it!
Jack Of All Trades 
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