QR Codes

For the past year or so, I've wanted to do something with QR Codes.  While at the SLATE 2012 conference earlier in the week, I was inspired by another educator to finally make the move.  We have a new  IMC/Library website in the 7-12 building and what better way to promote it than with a QR code.

The process was simple...
I took the url for the "Research Tools" page of the IMC/Library website, plopped it into Kaywa, which is one of many QR Code generators, and hit "copy" on the code that was created.  From there I went to Word and pasted the code on a new document.  I added some text, then Sue made copies and put them up around the high school.

We are anxious to see what the reaction is from the students.  Will they scan the code?  What about the staff?

There are free QR Code Scanner apps for all kinds of devices.  Download one and give it a try.  QR Codes are found on all kinds of things.

Here is the poster that was put up today at the high school.

Working on a research project?

Scan this code for some great resources.

QR Code Scanner apps are free.  Download one on your handheld device.

Library Centers Are a Hit

Over a month has passed since the start of our Library Centers at DES.  The students come to the library excited to find out what centers there are each week, and they are actively engaged in the activities.  There have been positive comments from the staff.  At this point, we feel implementing centers has been a great move educationally.

The two most popular centers, which we are thinking about having out on a regular basis, are the Doodling/Coloring Center and the Puzzle Center.  I've been doing some research on the benefits of having these types of activities available for students AND adults.  All my findings lead toward the belief that these types of activities are often times very relaxing and can provide some much needed "down-time" in our busy schedules.

A few of our most recent centers included...

Classic Card Games (Go Fish, Old Maid, etc)

Playaway Instructions (grades 3-6)

Whispy Reading

Library Center Ideas

Doodle/Color (snowflakes and winter mittens)
Read to Self, Read to a Partner, Read in a Small Group

 

Changing Things Up - Part II

As mentioned in a previous post (Changing Things Up...) we are reorganizing our non-fiction/informational area of the DES library to be more like a book store, with books arranged by specific topics on the shelves based on high traffic areas and hot topics.

Making this change during the school year has been "interesting" but well worth it, even though we have only just begun.  In the past week, we (Maggie, Kelli, and our two high school helpers) cleared off the shelves where the 0.001 to 200.00 Dewey books use to be.  They weeded the animal books, which we decided would be the first books in this conversion,  to get rid of the extremely old, torn, beaten, and battered, and then started to move them over to the open shelves.  All the "Big Cat" books are together in an area labeled as such.  All the "Shark" books are together, etc, etc.  We then began to place colored dot stickers on the spines of the animal books (all animal books will have a red dot on the spine).  As the sections grew, it was time to start creating the blue shelf makers; each included the animal word (Big Cats) and also a picture of the animal.  This visual will be so helpful for our students.

This week, the 4th graders were the first to actually realize that all the caution tape and construction signs were not decorations left over from Halloween.  They discovered the new blue shelf markers and all of the animals books that had been relocated (there are still more animal books to be moved to this area).  The students were excited and one young lady exclaimed, " Hey, Scott, look at all the wolf books we have!"  The two kids dropped to their knees to grab a bunch of wolf  books they never knew we had!

Next up, when the animal section is done....science related books (insects, dinosaurs, rocks, minerals, etc...)

It's a process....one that will be well worth it in the end.  

A great big thank you to Maggie, Kelli, James, and Kyla!!!!

For more information about others who have made this change, here are a few resources...

Van Meyer Library Voice

School Library Journal October 2012

Scoop It! Dewey Free Library

Library Centers - Open for Business

Our Library Centers opened for business this week!  What fun!  When students were done checking out, they then had time to explore the centers.

Our centers this week included:

• Information Station - books about Presidents, First Ladies, and Pets at the White House
• Puzzle Center - Earth's Animals puzzle and books related to animals
• Onomatopoeia - Explore this literary technique and find examples in books
• Vote for Your Favorite Book - Grace for President, Duck for President, and My Teacher for President
• Coloring Center - Color by number turkey

On Wednesday, with the help of many hands earlier in the week, a group of students from 5S finished the Earth's Animals puzzle.  They were so excited!  About an hour later, KC came to the library, and they started the puzzle all over again!!

The results for Vote for Your Favorite Book will be tallied at the end of the week.  It's going to be a close race.

R.I.F. October 2012

Reading Is Fundamental

On November 3, 1966, Margaret McNamara and a group of local teachers and school volunteers in Washington, D.C., launched a book distribution and reading motivation program called Reading Is Fundamental. From that pilot project at three elementary schools, the program quickly grew and, in just a few months, was reaching children in 60 of the city's public schools. Two years later, with a grant from the Ford Foundation, RIF created a model program and began replicating it across the country.

By 1975, the U.S. Congress had taken notice of this effective program and created the "Inexpensive Book Distribution Program" (IBDP), which provides federal matching funds to sites that qualify for RIF's national book program. With this federal support, RIF's expansion continued, and by 1977 we were serving more than 1 million children in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. That total saturation continues to this day, with RIF now serving more than 4.4 million children a year. RIF has also been a model for literacy programs in Argentina and the United Kingdom.

Since that first day in 1966, RIF has given away more than 380 million new, free books to children who might not otherwise have any to call their own.

For more information go to: http://www.rif.org/

DES students were beyond excited this week, as they were given the opportunity to select a R.I.F. book of their choice to take home as their own.  Funding for this was provided by the Deerfield Lions Club and the Deerfield Community School District.

Below, 4th grade students take a moment to give their Mad Lib Junior book a try.

   

Multi-District Inservice

On October 25, 2012, several school districts (Cambridge, Deerfield, Johnson Creek, Lake Mills, Marshall, and Waterloo) combined efforts to hold a multi-district inservice in Lake Mills.  The keynote speaker was Will Richardson.  Educational Law Attorney, Tom Shorter, also spoke during break-out sessions.  We had the opportunity to meet with educators in our content areas.  There were seven other library media specialists in attendance.  What a pleasure it was to meet with this group to share ideas, challenges, and what the future holds.  **It was an extra special bonus that I got to catch up with some of my teacher friends from JC!

I took away several things this day...

• innovation in education can occur without lots of fancy technology (Will Richardson recommended reading Bringing Innovation to School: Empowering Students to Thrive in a Changing World by Suzie Boss)
• schools are the only place where kids are asked to power off - why??
• kids need to see how teachers learn
• seamless approach k-12 when it comes to information literacy
• by graduation, every child in every district should be found via full name google search
  "I want my own children to be found by strangers online". A must. Online I can engage in conversations around the world.  Digital footprint. 

Fall is in the Air

I came back to school after being gone for a couple of days to a library filled with the signs of fall!! Maggie, Kelli, and our high school helpers had been busy!!  I especially like "The Witch Is In" door covering!!

Non-Fiction Section

This is a straight-on view toward the non-fiction section in the DES Library.
There are three rows of double sided shelves and large windows
on two sides of this area of the library.

All areas of our non-fiction section at DES are in need of weeding.
A pic before weeding.

After weeding!

 

These shelves will be next.

Changing Things Up....

We've decided to change things up a bit in our non-fiction/informational section of the elementary library.  Yippeee!!  We're moving Dewey out and going to create more of a book store model, which will make it so much easier for our students and teachers to find what they are looking for.  Our inspiration came from following Shannon Miller's blog, Van Meter Library Voice, as she traveled through the process this past year.

Maggie and Kyla unloading boxes from DEMCO and Follett.

Our treasures from DEMCO include blue section dividers, labels,
label protectors, and lots of colored dot and star stickers.