Back to School in the Library

Here we are - Friday! These first two weeks back in school have been all about introducing the library and the computer lab. 

My absolute favorite classes of this week are the Kindergartens! The kids are so excited to come to the library and get to check out a book! (In my schools, Kindergarten checks out 1 book, 1st-3rd grade gets 2 books, and 4th graders may check out 3 items.) "Do you have princess books? LEGO books? shark books? dinosaur books?"... on and on and on! Their enthusiasm is amazing. 

Taking them into the computer lab is fun as well. The biggest challenge for our Kindergarten students is the logging in process. The first step is to press Ctrl+Alt+Delete all at the same time. I teach them to hold up a one with their right hand and a two with their left. Press and hold the two hand down first and then press the one hand on Delete just once. Of all the things I have tried, this seems to be the easiest for them to understand. We use a generic username for elementary students so we don't have the trouble of usernames and passwords thankfully. 

For Kindergarten, we use a freeware program called Sebran to get them started on practicing mousing skills. They love it and you don't have the added steps of getting them out onto the Internet before they can actually do anything. 

I hope you had a fabulous week at school! 

Teacher Book Club? Yes please!

Hello! I am excited about a new book club getting started up over at Cardigans & Caffeine! 

The book club is being started because as teachers we have time to read during the summer but barely any of that time once school starts! I completely agree with Lucy Calkins when she says to teach reading effectively, you have to be a reader too! And of course in my line of work, I have to read elementary titles all of the time but I don't end up with a lot of free time to read the YA and adult that I love. So when I saw this opportunity, of course I joined!! 

We are in the process of picking the first book now and I would bet that you could still join if you wanted to! 

September Currently

I'm late but I'm here! :) It's time for the September Currently hosted by Oh Boy 4th Grade! 

I am happy to be back to school. There are so many exciting things happening! A few additional words...

Loving school supplies! I visit OfficeMax especially way too often in August! I cannot pass up all of the 25 cent deals! Of course now I have to find a place to put all of those things... 

Thinking about my daughter starting Kindergarten! She is so excited but yet she also gets anxious about things she doesn't know about. She went to a different school for 4K so she is nervous about being in a new school. I am sure she will do just fine!

Wanting to start my TPT store. I've had an account there for awhile, now I really need to start contributing my own products! 

Needing fabric. I ran short of my fabric and I can't find it in a store anywhere! Boo! 

My three trips - Australia has always been on my bucket list. Montana just sounds cool. I don't know exactly why but I want to go there! And lastly, I don't really care which island, I just want a tropical beach vacation sometime in my life! Is that so much to ask?! Ha ha... 

I hope you have a great school year! 

July Currently...

I love the Currently posts hosted by Oh Boy 4th Grade.

I hope everyone has a fantastic fourth!

Technology Training - Show Your Work

Kindergarten Animal Research Projects

Kindergarten students all across our District have been busy creating narrated pieces of writing.  Most often I used VoiceThread as a way to record and share their work. Below is an example of one class's animal research:



Feel free to leave a comment on the VoiceThread if you see a piece you particularly like!

Kindergarten Spring Videos using Explain Everything

One Bulldog group of Kindergarten students created videos with a spring theme. During Bulldog Time, students are given work that challenges them, whether that be relearning things taught in the classroom, pushing them further in their knowledge, or supporting their special area of need. This group of students worked in the library to research a spring topic.

First we read a few books about Spring to get our ideas flowing. Students were broken into groups and then decided what they would like to focus on. After that we found books in the library that suit their needs and they began planning what they were going to use for facts. 

We used the Explain Everything iPad app for the first time. (In hindsight, I would stick with a simpler app such as ShowMe for Kindergarten students who really don't need all of the awesomeness that Explain Everything offers.) 

Students loved using the iPads for video creation: 

One final project looked like this: 

To see more videos, you can check out our YouTube channel.