Pegboard in the Makerspace

As our elementary school library makerspace develops, I am constantly on the look out for new ideas. I LOVE the idea of using golf tees in a pegboard for students to design their visions!

 I am lucky that my father-in-law gave me his pegboard, which I used at home for my crafting space for a long time. When we moved, it moved to the basement. Now I'm glad I didn't throw it out! This makes it it's third life!

My fabulous custodian built a box around the existing frame, which is important so that it stays far enough away from the wall for the pegs to both stay in and to not poke the wall. He then hung it in our library.

 The golf tees are 2 3/4 inch and were ordered off of eBay in a variety of colors.

 I made this instruction sheet to hang alongside it and as students create designs, I plan to take pictures of them and post them around the area for others to take inspiration from!

I can't wait to see what the students create!

My Instagram Feed!

Rooftops of Tehran {Book Club}

Hello! Over the summer months, we had another book club book to read! This time it was Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji. 

I must be honest and tell you that when this book was announced as the pick I was not interested in reading it at all. But I was a good little girl and got it from the library. I attempted to start reading it but the due date came and went. I gave it a second try when Megan reminded us that the deadline for reading was coming up. I am so glad I did! I ended up REALLY enjoying this book! 

Pasha's love for Zari is thankfully nothing I have ever had to go through. 

Pasha and Ahmed are wise beyond their years as characters. Yet I love that they are still believable as teens. The author does a great job of educating the reader about the culture and history of Iran while not boring the reader or over saturating the text. 

I thought the ending of the book was very fitting for the story. Of course I would have loved a happy-go-lucky ending but that is not realistic for this story line and I love that the author stayed true to the times and culture of the book. 

After a failed first attempt, I am very glad that I went back to the book and I would definitely recommend it to others! 

Thank you Megan at Cardigans and Caffeine for another book club rotation! 

Golden Archer 2015 winners!

And the 2015 Golden Archer Award winners are...

Primary:

Drew Daywalt   @DrewDaywalt

Intermediate:

R.J. Palacio   @RJPalacio

Middle/Junior High: 

John Green   @JohnGreen

Find out more about the Golden Archer Awards by visiting WEMTA's website! 

Golden Archer Award 2015 - The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

What a fabulous last book for the Golden Archer Awards! 

Our last title and activity was for Drew Daywalt's The Day the Crayons Quit. 

A major thing that helped me with the success of reading this book, as I was finding it was going over the heads of my first few classes, was to discuss what it means to quit before reading the book. Then as we read, I paused every few crayons and asked why did that crayon want to quit? As students summarized why that color wanted to quit, students were really connecting to the crayons and wanting Duncan to fix the problems. I highly suggest this method for reading this book! 

When we finished reading, students were asked to write a letter back to one crayon "explaining" why they did not want that crayon to quit. I used this freebie from Peace, Love, & Learning.

This student first drew this...

Then he had extra time left so I asked him to add more detail. Look how awesome his picture looks now! 

And yes, we did have the classic mis-spelling happen. I had to take this pic! 

We vote next week! I have a feeling I know which book my kids will like best but I can't wait to see for sure! 

Golden Archer Awards 2015 - That is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems

Week four of the Golden Archer Awards! This week was SO much fun! Although, perhaps the shortest book I have ever used as a read aloud, the look on students' faces at the end of the book was priceless! 

We read Mo Willem's That is Not a Good Idea. 

After reading the book, we talked about all of the surprise elements and about the chicks who continue to scream, "That is not a good idea!" Students then got to do their own activity of making their own unique chick! 

The activity for That is Not a Good Idea was really a great way to let kids' creativity flow!

Golden Archer Awards 2015 - Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses by James Dean

It's week three of the Golden Archer Awards! 

We read the much anticipated book Pete the Cat and his Magic Sunglasses by Kimberly and James Dean this week. Students are very familiar with Pete the Cat so they couldn't wait to hear this story. My perception was that they were not as impressed as they thought they would be but they did still like the story. 

After reading this one, we made our own magic sunglasses! I used this fabulous template from Picklebums.

Check out these cool cats! 

On to book four!