Because we often forget to celebrate life: Celebrate Good Times!

Kids are the best at embracing life.  I was lucky enough to be in @MrsNetolicky 's classroom when students greeted her the first time after learning that she beat cancer.  My eyes were not dry but my heart was full. 

Here's to a New Year of Learning and Reflecting!

Happy New Year!

When I began my new job at Prairie Creek, my goal was to create a blog.  A longer term
goal was to write and reflect on that blog regularly--ideally once per week.  After my first
two posts I dropped the ball.  It is not that there was nothing to reflect upon, but
rather so much.  (*See list below) Since I love learning new things, I will to add to this list
as the year goes continues and also to reflect on tools and experiences.  

The very first item on the list below involved so many people so I feel it is the most
important to share first:

I held my very first book fair. 

With the expert help of the super library para, she coached me through.  There were
several little details that neither of us were aware of so I am very grateful for people
in our main office and business office (as well as Scholastic) who were kind and helpful
as they helped me fix my errors.  Those lessons will remain with me.

Shoppers at the Creek Scholastic Book Fair in November

For staying open only one evening during conferences, the book fair was a
success! With great thanks to students, teachers, families, and friends who visited
and supported the Prairie Creek Book Fair, the profits allowed us to get almost
$2000.00 to spend in the Scholastic store.  But more importantly, 670 new books
were placed in the hands of eager readers!  

With the Scholastic profits, the library has ordered almost 200 new books for its collection!  
Some books were hot off the press such as the newest Dork Diaries and Diary of a Wimpy
Kid books.

We purchased completions to popular series such as Triple Threat.

Other books replaced worn out old favorites and we added many student-requested titles to
the library.  

We do have another book fair coming in March during our spring conferences.  

I look forward to seeing excited readers and to making less mistakes in the procedures
this time!

*Here is a snapshot of a few of my new experiences since August:

Library management:

Having a book fair

Mackin as a library management system

Genrefied fiction collection

Blogging

New experiences/procedures as a classroom teacher:

Atlas Rubicon

Aligning standards based curriculum vertically

Having a teaching coach

Planning for personalized learning

Library Tech classroom & management:

Using Google Classroom

Digital Passport and Digital Compass from Common Sense Media

Coding

Grading on a standards based report card

Creating Memes and having students do so

Creating Google Maps and having students do so

Teaching students about the difference between CC, Public Domain, and Copyright

Tools:

Creating and implementing a FlipGrid activity

Blogger
Book Creator
Classroomscreen.com

Code.org
CoSpaces
EdPuzzle
Listenwise.com

Making podcast listening a regular part of my practice (I use Podbean)

Google Expeditions

Taking a 3D picture

Taking 3D video

MakerSpace:

Using a 3D printer

Designing with Tinkercad

Designing with Cricut

Using a Cricut machine

Little Bits

Organizing a space for multiple activities

Hopefully more frequent blog posts will allow me to share more about some of the items

above. If you have read this far and have a request for me to share about any of these,
I will be glad to take those requests.

Enjoy creating, making and reading!

Sharing Work with a Global Audience

     Today I was going to blog about some great activities that went on last week at Creek.  However I have also been meaning to share (and create) some of the platforms where student work from Library Tech class, which is taught by both Marija Musselman and myself, and in the Maker Lab during out building's WIN (What I Need Now) times.

     A way for students to share video creations with a global audience is with the Creek Library Tech Youtube Channel.  Right now it features stop motion video creations by 5th grade students.  The video collection (as well as types of videos) will continue to grow as more video content is created.  A shout out also to the Prairie Creek News Channel where students stream the Creek News live every morning.
     Another platform is our new Creek Library Tech Flickr account where we will share student creations using the CC0 licensing.  Currently posted are some of the memes students created using Public Domain images with the purpose of sharing back out their remixes for others to enjoy or use.


      It is with great pride in these students that I share these platforms today.  Seeing their published work allows students to reflect on their learning while also allowing me to reflect on my practice.  I am excited to share these with students tomorrow.
     Happy creating and sharing friends!

Fall is here!

The library is off to a great start!  All classes have been in the library for orientation, to get their hands on some great reads, and enjoy the comfy seating! Many have returned--a total of 6,553 items have been checked out since the beginning of the school year through the end of September. Hats off to Mrs. Johnson for her superhero library skills! How awesome is it to have such a community of readers and teachers who support that passion? Pretty awesome!

Keep on enjoying those books.  A new order of over 100 books is currently on its way.

Above: A reader enjoys the Gazette in a comfy chair

Right: Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Geers -- the library team.