Today was my last day at Rawson Elementary School. I did a little bit of re-shelving of materials and helped administer some A.R. tests but the primary focus of the day was preparing and teaching my lesson on tall tales to third graders. I pulled six different tall tale books from the 398.2 section. The six main characters were John Henry, Mike Fink, Paul Bunyan, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett, Pecos Bill, and Johnny Appleseed. Five of the six books were written by Steven Kellogg.
The lesson consisted of breaking down the classes into six groups of 3-4 students. Each group would be given a book and would need to read it together and answer questions that I gave them in a handout. I wanted to emphasize the exaggerations that are mentioned in the books and generally in tall tales. I asked them if they knew what an exaggeration was and in each class a student was able to explain it and give an example. The questions I asked them in the handout were: Who is your tall tale about? What is their job? What is one exaggeration from the tall tale? and Do you think your character was a real person? Toward the end of the class I brought everyone back together and they shared their findings with the rest of the class.
I was a little worried when putting the lesson together that some of the information might be a little bit over a third grader's head, but for the most part they did pretty well and were able to answer the questions logically. I had to structure the groups a little more strictly toward the end of the day because a couple of the earlier classes misbehaved a bit. I gave them the freedom to choose where in the library their group would work, but I ended up scrapping that and then telling each group where to work. Of course, the last class went the best.
elementary hours today: 7
total elementary hours: 41
Monday, May 17, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Day 5
Before I get into today's activities, I would just like to share that last Wednesday, I interviewed for and was offered a library media specialist position at River Valley Middle School in Spring Green, Wisconsin. I accepted the position but I actually had a visit at University Lake School in Hartland this morning to discuss their librarian position. It went well and I hope to hear back from them soon. It's closer to home but it doesn't seem like as great of a position. It's less money and benefits and it is technically a "librarian" position, and I don't even need a certification to do the job. I also have an interview this coming Friday at CESA 6 in Oshkosh for their Library Media Specialist position. I definitely have options and I am very happy with my decision to pursue the LMS certification. I have a lot better application sent to interview received ratio and I have already received an offer. I have interviewed more than 15 times for teaching positions over the last 4 years and haven't received on offer.
Because of my visit this morning at ULS, I got to Rawson a little later than usual, but I was still able to accomplish a lot. I attacked the cartloads of books that need to be shelved and made a small dent in them. I worked with a couple students who were in the library taking AR (accelerated reader) tests. Then the third grade classes came in. They worked on making book marks for the upcoming Children's Book Week which is the second week in May. The theme is "Make a Splash With Books" so they tried to make their bookmarks with that theme in mind. I also promoted the upcoming event on May 11th at the South Milwaukee Public Library to celebrate Children's Book Week. There have been a couple changes in the guest list since our initial meeting with the folks at SMPL. The lineup now includes authors Janet Halfmann and Joann Early Macken and the illustrator Bonnie Leick. The flier states, "An evening of stories, poetry, and artwork, selling and signing of books, creative activities, refreshments, and prizes." I'm looking forward to the event and I'm glad I can play a small part in the planning of it. The students worked well today and came up with some pretty good looking book marks. They were given the option of donating them to be disbursed to the younger students in two weeks, or they could keep them. Most of the students donated them.
elementary hours today: 5
elementary hours total: 34
Because of my visit this morning at ULS, I got to Rawson a little later than usual, but I was still able to accomplish a lot. I attacked the cartloads of books that need to be shelved and made a small dent in them. I worked with a couple students who were in the library taking AR (accelerated reader) tests. Then the third grade classes came in. They worked on making book marks for the upcoming Children's Book Week which is the second week in May. The theme is "Make a Splash With Books" so they tried to make their bookmarks with that theme in mind. I also promoted the upcoming event on May 11th at the South Milwaukee Public Library to celebrate Children's Book Week. There have been a couple changes in the guest list since our initial meeting with the folks at SMPL. The lineup now includes authors Janet Halfmann and Joann Early Macken and the illustrator Bonnie Leick. The flier states, "An evening of stories, poetry, and artwork, selling and signing of books, creative activities, refreshments, and prizes." I'm looking forward to the event and I'm glad I can play a small part in the planning of it. The students worked well today and came up with some pretty good looking book marks. They were given the option of donating them to be disbursed to the younger students in two weeks, or they could keep them. Most of the students donated them.
elementary hours today: 5
elementary hours total: 34
Monday, April 12, 2010
Day 4
It's National Library Week! I did a couple of different activities with the third grade classes I worked with today. First of all, the theme this year is reading is a treat, and Deb, my cooperating LMS got a large poster from the higher ups that work with NLW. The poster is divided into 96 perfect squares with a number on the back of each square that is then matched up to a big poster with the 96 numbers on it. It is put back together by matching up the the numbers square by square leaving the students guessing as to what the big picture is. It's actually a large banana split sundae that looks like a smiley face, has jimmies in the background, and has the phrase, "Reading is a Treat" on it.
Each class today played library word bingo. Each student was given a card with 25 squares with library words on them, (bookmark, video, Melville Dewey, non-fiction, etc.). I, or a student would then pick one of the words out of the basket and read it aloud. The students would then mark the word on their card with a macaroni noodle until someone got a bingo. When a student got a bingo, they would then come up and pick one of the 96 cards and then tape it to the large board and begin putting the picture back together. Each class was limited to 6 squares because every class in the school will eventually have a shot this week to add to the picture. I also gave away NLW bookmarks once all the classes' allotted cards were picked. For the most part, the classes did well, although in one of the classes a few students had problems with the macaroni noodles. The noodles were being thrown around the room, broken into pieces and eaten. However it was only a select few students and they didn't ruin the experience for everyone else.
I also helped shelve books today during down time before, in between, and after the third graders were here. No matter how many books I put away, there always seems to be an endless supply of books on the carts ready to be re-shelved. I thought the activity I did today was a great way to inform students about National Library Week and to get them excited about libraries and all the possibilities libraries present them with.
Elementary practicum hours today: 7.5
Elementary practicum hours total: 29
Each class today played library word bingo. Each student was given a card with 25 squares with library words on them, (bookmark, video, Melville Dewey, non-fiction, etc.). I, or a student would then pick one of the words out of the basket and read it aloud. The students would then mark the word on their card with a macaroni noodle until someone got a bingo. When a student got a bingo, they would then come up and pick one of the 96 cards and then tape it to the large board and begin putting the picture back together. Each class was limited to 6 squares because every class in the school will eventually have a shot this week to add to the picture. I also gave away NLW bookmarks once all the classes' allotted cards were picked. For the most part, the classes did well, although in one of the classes a few students had problems with the macaroni noodles. The noodles were being thrown around the room, broken into pieces and eaten. However it was only a select few students and they didn't ruin the experience for everyone else.
I also helped shelve books today during down time before, in between, and after the third graders were here. No matter how many books I put away, there always seems to be an endless supply of books on the carts ready to be re-shelved. I thought the activity I did today was a great way to inform students about National Library Week and to get them excited about libraries and all the possibilities libraries present them with.
Elementary practicum hours today: 7.5
Elementary practicum hours total: 29
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Day 3
Today was a very action packed day. First of all, it's the last day of school before spring break so all the kids are a little wild to begin with. As if that's not enough, the weather outside is beautiful so all the kids are anxious to get out of school. Throughout the day I saw 9 total classes in the library; three fifth grade, three first grade, and three kindergarten classes. This was the second library meeting of the week for everyone so it was book checkout time for all the classes. I spent the majority of my day checking in, renewing, and checking out books to students. When I had a spare moment, I was able to help some of the younger students find the books they were looking for. I also shelved some books during the break between two of the fifth grade classes.
The fifth grade classes were working on state projects in which they needed a library book on their particular state. I was able to help some of the fifth graders find information on their states and listen to what they already had done and answer any questions they may have had. I was very impressed with how helpful some of the first graders were. I had two first grade students in one of the classes not leave my side the entire time their class was in the library. They were helping me with names of students, looking on the computer, and putting books on the cart. Overall it was a good day and I am very much looking forward to my spring break.
elementary hours today: 7.5
total elementary practicum hours: 21.5
The fifth grade classes were working on state projects in which they needed a library book on their particular state. I was able to help some of the fifth graders find information on their states and listen to what they already had done and answer any questions they may have had. I was very impressed with how helpful some of the first graders were. I had two first grade students in one of the classes not leave my side the entire time their class was in the library. They were helping me with names of students, looking on the computer, and putting books on the cart. Overall it was a good day and I am very much looking forward to my spring break.
elementary hours today: 7.5
total elementary practicum hours: 21.5
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Day 2
It was an action packed day at Rawson Elementary School in South Milwaukee. I started out checking in and out some books from students and then re-shelved a bunch more but I didn't have a lot of time. 4th graders were coming in first thing in the morning for their library instruction. I assisted with the instruction for two fourth grade classes. They were working on haiku's.
After that I got to go with Deb over to the South Milwaukee Public Library and sit in on a meeting with Deb and the two heads of the SMPL to start planning events for the upcoming Children's Book Week, which is the second week of May. We discussed themes, promotion, and their big evening which is on Tuesday, May 11th. They bring in children's authors and illustrators to talk to children and their parents. I forget what the official name of the event is but they were hoping to get the author Janet Halfmann who lives in South Milwaukee, researches at the SMPL, and donates a lot of her books to the library, to come in again this year. They also were hoping to get the illustrator Jeff Miracola to come back. I guess both of them were there last year and did great jobs presenting. I think Jeff lives in Greenfield too. It sounds like a great experience and I'm glad I could be a part of the planning process. I think we're going to have one more meeting before the event takes place.
After the meeting at the public library I headed back to Rawson. I then started teaching the first of six consecutive classes that come in the afternoon. I had a kindergarten class, two 3rd grades, and three second grades. There was no break whatsoever between them. By the time one class finishes, the next is waiting in line at the door. Classes come into the library twice a week at Rawson for two 30 minute lessons. The first meeting is designed for a lesson and the second is intended for checking out and reading books. The two third grade classes were only checking out books today, but I learned it's hard to keep an eye on the whole class when you're sitting at the computer checking out books to a long line of students for a majority of the meeting. I spotted a few students doing things they weren't supposed to be doing and corrected the matter. For the kindergarten and three second grade classes, my lesson focused on bears and music because March is "Music in the schools" month. I asked what they already knew about bears and then we looked at non-fiction books about bears. I finished the lesson by reading them the story about the bear and his orchestra who's wagon gets stuck in a pot hole on the way to a concert. I can't remember the title of the book, but the main character has a bee stuck in his bass and it eventually flies out and stings the mule pulling their wagon, which leads to the mule pulling the wagon out of the hole and getting the orchestra to the concert in time. Some of the students had some questionable behavior during the lesson but overall it was a great experience. I learned a lot today and I think I got a good taste of what it's like to be a elementary school Library Media Specialist.
Elementary hours today: 7
Elementary hours total: 14
After that I got to go with Deb over to the South Milwaukee Public Library and sit in on a meeting with Deb and the two heads of the SMPL to start planning events for the upcoming Children's Book Week, which is the second week of May. We discussed themes, promotion, and their big evening which is on Tuesday, May 11th. They bring in children's authors and illustrators to talk to children and their parents. I forget what the official name of the event is but they were hoping to get the author Janet Halfmann who lives in South Milwaukee, researches at the SMPL, and donates a lot of her books to the library, to come in again this year. They also were hoping to get the illustrator Jeff Miracola to come back. I guess both of them were there last year and did great jobs presenting. I think Jeff lives in Greenfield too. It sounds like a great experience and I'm glad I could be a part of the planning process. I think we're going to have one more meeting before the event takes place.
After the meeting at the public library I headed back to Rawson. I then started teaching the first of six consecutive classes that come in the afternoon. I had a kindergarten class, two 3rd grades, and three second grades. There was no break whatsoever between them. By the time one class finishes, the next is waiting in line at the door. Classes come into the library twice a week at Rawson for two 30 minute lessons. The first meeting is designed for a lesson and the second is intended for checking out and reading books. The two third grade classes were only checking out books today, but I learned it's hard to keep an eye on the whole class when you're sitting at the computer checking out books to a long line of students for a majority of the meeting. I spotted a few students doing things they weren't supposed to be doing and corrected the matter. For the kindergarten and three second grade classes, my lesson focused on bears and music because March is "Music in the schools" month. I asked what they already knew about bears and then we looked at non-fiction books about bears. I finished the lesson by reading them the story about the bear and his orchestra who's wagon gets stuck in a pot hole on the way to a concert. I can't remember the title of the book, but the main character has a bee stuck in his bass and it eventually flies out and stings the mule pulling their wagon, which leads to the mule pulling the wagon out of the hole and getting the orchestra to the concert in time. Some of the students had some questionable behavior during the lesson but overall it was a great experience. I learned a lot today and I think I got a good taste of what it's like to be a elementary school Library Media Specialist.
Elementary hours today: 7
Elementary hours total: 14
Monday, March 1, 2010
Day 1
Today was my first day in an elementary school library. I was at Rawson Elementary School in South Milwaukee. I started my day with a tour of the school and the library and then started to re-shelve books because there were two full carts of books. I only made a small dent in the load because I quickly moved on to other tasks. Deb showed me how to import new records into Alexandria. She had an order of about 13 new books that just came in. The MARC records were included electronically with the order so it was fairly easy to do. I just needed to change what the spine label would say to make it universal with the rest of the books and then import the MARC records into the system. She also showed me how to print the barcodes and spine labels and also the color dot process to help students pick books based on reading ability levels. Accelerated Reader is also very popular at the school, however I have not really worked with that yet. I also imported some new books that were recently donated to the library so they did not have any MARC records. I had to input information such as title, author, call number, subject(s), publishing location, publisher, and if it is part of a series. I then updated lexile numbers for the books in the collection by importing the data.
Next I started to prepare information for the lesson I was going to teach to two of the classes. With tomorrow being Dr. Seuss's birthday, I focused the lesson on him and his books. I taught two third grade classes and I thought it went pretty well, especially since I really wasn't expecting to get thrown right into the mix by teaching classes today. I'm glad I did though. It was pretty fun. I gave the students some background information on Dr. Seuss and asked them to name how many of his books they could think of. Then I focused the discussion on "Green Eggs and Ham." There are only 50 different words in the book, which was a dare from Suess's editor, (he bet him $50 he couldn't write a book using only 50 words). In small groups, I had the students create a list of words they thought were in the book. Then I read off the 50 words and had them see how many they got right. The winning groups got some small prizes. Then with the time I had left, I read "Green Eggs and Ham" to them. Once the classes were done I continued to re-shelve books until it was time for me to go.
I had a very enjoyable day today. I learned how to import new books into the system and got to work with elementary students again. I also got to re-shelve books!! Nothing like crawling around on the floor trying to find where each books goes. I think I'm going to be spending all my elementary hours in Rawson School which I'm happy about because it's a pretty modern school and it has a great library.
Elementary Practicum hours today: 7
Elementary Practicum hours total: 7
Next I started to prepare information for the lesson I was going to teach to two of the classes. With tomorrow being Dr. Seuss's birthday, I focused the lesson on him and his books. I taught two third grade classes and I thought it went pretty well, especially since I really wasn't expecting to get thrown right into the mix by teaching classes today. I'm glad I did though. It was pretty fun. I gave the students some background information on Dr. Seuss and asked them to name how many of his books they could think of. Then I focused the discussion on "Green Eggs and Ham." There are only 50 different words in the book, which was a dare from Suess's editor, (he bet him $50 he couldn't write a book using only 50 words). In small groups, I had the students create a list of words they thought were in the book. Then I read off the 50 words and had them see how many they got right. The winning groups got some small prizes. Then with the time I had left, I read "Green Eggs and Ham" to them. Once the classes were done I continued to re-shelve books until it was time for me to go.
I had a very enjoyable day today. I learned how to import new books into the system and got to work with elementary students again. I also got to re-shelve books!! Nothing like crawling around on the floor trying to find where each books goes. I think I'm going to be spending all my elementary hours in Rawson School which I'm happy about because it's a pretty modern school and it has a great library.
Elementary Practicum hours today: 7
Elementary Practicum hours total: 7
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