This year we are developing our maker curriculum to incorporate units of study for each grade level from K-4. Our team consists of the media specialist, the educational technologist,and the director of technology working together and we meet monthy to collaborate.
I started with grade 3 which studies simple machines. To kick off the unit, I made up a story with a building/design challenge. Using a pumpkin and ghost as my guests, students had to design a way to get them to the Halloween party on time. Working in groups and using a box for their building along with the supplies provided at each table, students needed to design a safe way to move the guests from the bottom floor to the top floor where the party was being held. It was very exciting to see how each group and each class tried to solve this challenge. At the end of the class period, each group demonstrated how their design worked and also discussed what did not work.

In K, I used another design idea of creating the tallest pumpkin tower using candy corn pumpkins and toothpicks. They also worked in groups and had rulers to measure the height and width of their structure. It was amazing how many different approaches were used and watching the students work together to build one structure. Each group presented their final design and it was recorded.

First graders enjoyed their time in the maker space as they individually created pumpkin launchers using real “small” pumkins as their base. Each child worked at a station using a bag of rubber bands, a plastic spoon, a real pumpkin, and a bucket of various size pom poms. I made targets and had yard sticks for them to shoot at to measure how far their pom poms would launch. They also had to test different size pom poms and track if their size was related to the distance they traveled. Each child was recorded as they did a demonstration and reported on what their tests revealed.

I  started with grade 3 before they started their unit on simple machines. To kick off the unit, I made up a story with a building/design challenge.  Using a pumpkin and ghost as my guests, students had to design a way to get them to the Halloween party on time. Working in groups and using a box for their building along with the supplies provided at each table, students needed to design a safe way to move the guests from the bottom floor to the top floor where the party was being held. It was very exciting to see how each group and each class tried to solve this challenge. At the end of the class period, each group demonstrated how their design worked and also discussed what did not work. 

In conclusion, I love working this into the curriculum units and believe that the students learn so much more with a "hands on" approach. When some of the students left the room they said,"This was fun." Isn't this the goal we are all trying to achieve??? Continue to make the learning fun...

May all of you enjoy the holiday season ahead with good health and surrounded by those you love.

Last year during COVID, the library was closed and I brought the books to the classrooms. Students could request books online and they were delivered. The book talks and trailers for the Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award was all done on Zoom and very impersonal. But despite all this, 35 students in grades 3 & 4 participated in the voting at the end of the year. Our classes could not mix with each other, so when it was time for me to recognize all the participants in this state contest, I had the ceremony outside and the 3rd and 4th grade classes sat together while keeping far apart from each other.

Then we fast forward to this year….I was so excited that the library was finally open and students were face to face, even though we were all wearing a mask. I actually went into their classrooms with the books and did my book talks, showed the book trailers and handed out the lists of books they could read, if they wanted to participate. This month, we voted and I was so proud and excited that there were 56 students who chose to participate! That is the most third and fourth graders I ever had that voted!
We planned to hold the award ceremony outside again, but this time we invited all the second grade classes to attend. I felt it would be great for them to see what lies ahead for them in third grade. I also invited the MD/UD media specialist, since the fourth graders would be working with her next year, to help hand out the awards All students were given “gold reader” medals and certificates with their name and the seal of the school. Additional awards were given to students who read more than 6 books. Those prizes included “brag tag” necklaces with all 15 books, little stuffed animal book marks, new paperback books, and special reading tee shirts. This year I had two students who read all 15 books and one of them actually read all 30 books from both lists. (3-5 and 6-8)
Some parents showed up to see their student get recognized and it was a very proud moment for all. Group photos were taken and shared on social networking.

This week I had my regular classes and when one of the second grades came in, they immediately wanted to know what program in third grade would get them a gold medal? I was so impressed that they remembered and were already interested. This made me think of the “ripple effect” starting with the earlier grade instead of only focusing on the battle of the books which is done with the older students.

We had our battle with a fifth grade team this year and I also attended. I was so proud of our team and I am sure there will be continued interest with the present fourth graders. Some of them have already asked for the new list of books and one student has purchased some of the titlles on Amazon already. Isn’t this a great way to start off the summer reading incentives?

The “Battle of the Books” fifth grade team with both of us.

Finding creative ways to expand curriculum is always foremost on my mind as an educator, teacher, and “maker” media specialist. Recently, while going through my files I found a great connection for extending our yearly celebration of Dia de los Muertos, The Day of the Dead. Last year our art teacher used our “closed” media center to display the offering table and classes were scheduled to come in to view it. This year the media center is open and the art teacher has a new display area. So when I approached her with my idea, she was immediately willing to add this “maker” feature into the student’s artwork.
I found the idea on makerspaces.com/paper-circuits. By creating a light -up paper circuit the eyes of the sugar skulls would be able to actually light up and give the artwork a totally different appearance than just a colored skull. We decided to use the projects of the fourth grade students to do this and I used part of their library check out time to do a mini lesson on circuits. I have a LED Puppet that I had purchased from adafruit named Gus the Green Led to demonstrate the positive and negative charges.

We also purchased the Paper Circuit Starter Kit from Makerspaces.com for the cooper tape, LED’s and CR2032 batteries. The students were very excited to learn the simple circuit basis and soon their colorful sugar skullls actually came to “life”. Here are some of the finished projects.

Another “maker” connection occurred when the MD/Upper division media specialist and myself collaborated about 3D book posters involving books that the 7th grade students were creating in the maker space. We decided to invite students in third and fourth grade to visit the display in the MD/Upper division library. They would bring their ipads, headphones, and a writing tool with them for their visit. Each poster was displayed along with the actual book and it had a QR code for the students to listen to. After viewing all the projects, students used 2 different post-it-notes which were provided to write down their favorite 3D element and which book would they want to read after looking at the posters. Their answers were to be placed on the appropriate parking lot posters. Here are some of the designs:

This was a very beneficial project for all the students since it definitely supported our literacy program while giving feedback to the middle school students. Our hope is that the lower division students will share a similar project with the middle division student in the future and continue this “maker” connection.

It all started this summer, June 2, the day after school ended for the summer. Our curricululm dean forwarded me the results of a survey she made and that she sent to the classroom teachers regarding their library schedule. Granted that the media center was closed all last year due to COVID, I was not surprised at the results. I also was not aware that a survey was even being conducted??? You can imagine my surprise reaction, but I do want to share the replies:

*Visit each classrrom once a month to share a book with the children

*Visit the media center every other week instead of weekly check-out

*Afternoon classes for 30 minutes with story time and check out

*Integrate into ELA/Book Clubs

*Visit each classrrom once a month to share a book with the children

*Visit the media center every other week instead of weekly check-out

*Afternoon classes for 30 minutes with story time an dcheck out

*Integrate into ELA/Book Clubs*Weekly visits (like we have done before COVID)

*Classes scheduled right after lunch or recess to cut down travel time

*Allowing the students to openly visit the library (sending them during reading time)

*Library is not the best use of time – it would be great for actual instructional time (how to identify text features, how to identify reliable sources, choosing books for research, etc.)

*Books need to be leveled with the GRL on the spine so children can easily identify the Just-right-book

*Meet with groups that need more support (perhaps during Reading Workshop time)

*More time for the media specialist to spend with small groups of students for book recommendations

Before I tried to wrap my head around all of these comments, I need to let the reader know the number of classes I would be teaching weekly and the duties assigned to me. There are 25 classes of students weekly from Alpha (3 years old) to grade 4. I have a daily AM and PM duty for the entire year and 2 lunch duties a week. There are only volunteer parents who help with the shelving and check out.

I prayed all summer about this dilemma – how can I be everything to everybody and meet all their wishes while still staying calm and professional?

Through divine intervention, I came up with the idea of giving the teachers chocies! As in the past, they could choose the time they would like to visit the media center, but this year they could use their slot of time in 3 ways:

(1) They could bring their entire class to the media center

(2) They could send small groups of students and I would meet them at the door

(3) They could invite me to their classroom to work with PBL (Project Based Learning or reading or ????)

I asked for a 3 day notice if they wanted me to teach a lesson in their classroom so I could have time to plan.

I start classes next Tuesday, since we had volunteer training this week….so I will keep you posted.

However, I will leave you with a smile on your face with this last comment. Today, at the weekly meeting by the flagpole, a teacher approached me and asked, “Since we are off Monday (Labor Day) we will miss our first library class. Is there anytime during the 4 day week you can make it up?”

As you can see…….I have a long year ahead of me and I definitely need to keep on praying!

I am not sure if this has happened in your neighborhood or not, but in the early days of Covid 19, when the gyms were closed I did a lot of walking the streets of my St. Petersburg neighborhood. As I walked different routes, I began to notice little houses popping up within a few miles radius. Inside their doors were books and I said to myself, “How nice of someone to put books out since the libraries were also closed at the time.”

I never took a book, but just looked and noticed that book positions changed.

This fact led me to believe that they were being used by some people for sure. This brought a smile to my masked face and my librarian heart.
Now we fast forward to a time when the gyms and libraries are open again…these little houses are still up and running, but one in particular has blossomed into this.

I decided it was time to investigate and do some research about LittleFreeLibrary.org
and some of the information I found was so amazing I decided I needed to share it, just like good media specialists do everyday.The first one popped up only 11 years ago in Wisconsin, a tribute by Todd Bol to honor his late mother. Mr. Bol’s little unlocked box where neightbors could take and leave books was so popular, he teamed up with a local professor to establish the non-prodit Little Free Library.

Besides providing 24/7 access to books and encouraging a love of reading, did you know…

*There are Little Free Libraries on all seven continents…they just established the first one in Antarctica at the South Pole

The South Pole Little Free Library was Russell Schnell’s 37th installation. His first one was built for his daughter’s home in 2013 in St. Louis. He has also created libraries for locations like Mount Fuji, Japan; an Aboriginal area in Warrnambool, Australia; and a First Peoples Cree reserve in Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada. His use of recycled materials whenever he can needs to be commended. His passion for these libraries was inspired by not having books of his own growing up.

*They can also be found in all 50 United States and 108 countries

*They just launched the world’s 100,000th Little Free Library book-sharing box?

*They work with authors, publishers, and distributors that share their vision of inspiring readers and building community

*Their library models are weather-resistant, low maintenance, and are all built by Amish craftsmen in America

*Millions of books are exchanged annually

*3 out of 4 people report they’ve read a book they normally would not have read because of a Little Free Library

*73% of people say they’ve met more neighbors because of a Little Free Library

*92% of people say their neighborhood feels like a friendlier place because of a Little Free Library

*They are announcing a new initiative entitled Read in Color to distribute diverse books that provide perspectives on racism and celebrate BIPOC and LGBTQ voices

*They granted more than 1,000 little libraries through their impact Library Program, including 100 speciality libraries since many school and public libraries closed

*Little Free Library was honored to receive the 2020 World Literacy Award from the World Literacy Foundation

*They are a top-rated nonprofit by the Great Nonprofits organization and received Guidestar’s Platinum Seal of Transparency

* They offer deeply discounted books and giveaways for stewards and fans

*They have a shop with a variety of handcrafted library models and accessories

*They are a recipient of the Library of Congress Literacy Award, the National Book Foundation’s innovations in Reading Prize, Library Journal’s Movers and Shakers Award, the Women’s National Book Association’s Second Century Prize, and the Force for Positive Change Award

*Their blog is for Little Free Library Stewards and fans… You can visit it to share ideas, get advice and be inspired by Little Free Library experts posting on a broad range of literary topics.

In closing, I like to share this quote I found on their site. “There’s a growing body of research that shows when you focus on being kind to others, rather than doing things for yourself, you feel happier and more positive. Its’s like the kindness you put out into the world comes back to you!”

You can get involved by starting a Little Free Library of your own or support little libraries full of books to underserved communities.

I wish all of you a very happy, positive, and healthy new year ahead and may your kindness to others make this year the best one of your lives!

This school year has been challenging for all of us, for sure, so when it was my turn to write a blog I definitely needed to think outside the box. We have all been so busy with curbside checkout, boxing up sets of books to be taken to the classrooms for the students, as well as supplying materials to any of our students learning from a distance. I am also a “distant” Language Arts teacher for second graders and am responsible for making the daily slide show for them to keep up with their “in school” classmates.This has definietly been a year like no other that I have not ever experienced in my 48 total years in education, both as a classroom teacher for 10 and maker media specialist for 38. A couple of phrases that kept repeating in my mind was that “this is not forever” and the “show must go on.” So when the art teacher approached me and we collaborated in planning a celebration for the Mexican holiday Dia de lost Muertos, The Day of the Dead, we felt this was our chance to make it happen….even during a pademic. One of the traditions in celebrating this day is to erect an ofrenda (altar), as a place of honor for the departed souls of our relatives. Sometimes people put out the dead person’s favorite foods and drinks, as well as candles and incense to lead the “spirit” back. When they return for their yearly visit, they will find things on the altar that they remember-a photograph, a well-loved article of clothing, a hat, or perhaps a favorite shawl.
As soon as all the students in the lower school completed their study of this Mexican holiday, an ofrenda was constructed in our Lower School Media Center. It featured the art work from students in grades Kindergarten to Grade Four, including any students learning from a distance. The offerings included food, fruits, flowers,and photographs to honor the dead. In Kindergarten the students used the resist technique to paint their lively versions of the skeleton and a fiesta. Grade One students learned about the esqueletos (sketletons), sculpting them with pipe cleaners, Model Magic and paper. This art activity also complemented the curriculum alignment of their body unit. Students in Grade Two sculpted calaveras (skulls) and decorated them to represent the sugar skulls. They also cut the calaveras our of colored paper and collaged the facial feaures to create masks. In third grade, the students made coil pots, which served as candle holders for their handmade beeswax candles. They also made small esqueletos (skeletons) with clay to add to the ofrenda. Artists in Grade Four used clay, paints, markers, and ink to create their own interpretations of the sugar skulls.

Our Spanish teachers also were involved by teaching the children the history of the holiday and giving the children in first and second grade the instructions to make paper Cempasuchil (marigold flower) to decorate the ofrenda. Real flowers actuallly would be used by Mexican- Americans families celebrating this day. In fourth grade the students colored their calaveras.

Making sure all the senses would be experiencing this holiday, our SAGE Dining Room provided a treat at lunchtime, too. All the students even tasted the Pan de los Muertos or “bread of the dead”, a sweet bread made especially for this holiday. Sometimes the loaves are even shaped like people and decorated with bright pink sugar. Traditionally, the dough is made without sugar, fat, or salt.
Below are the colorful results of this total collaborative endeavor. Every student was scheduled with their Spanish teachers and Art teacher to walk by the altar and see their work on display. They did an excellent job of practicing social distancing and not touching anything. Hand sanitizer was readily available just in case, too.Their excitement was so evident, especially since it was the first time they had been in the library since last March. I could see their happy faces, even under their face coverings and I know every time I walk by this colorful display, I smile under my mask….even during Covid!

Recently there have been many articles on evaluating our collections and adding to them so diverse voices can be heard. In the last edition of Booklist 2/1/20 (pp. 36-37) they listed all the book awards that ALA gives out to recognize books devoted to some form of diversity. In addition, a more expansive list of these children’s book awards can be found here: ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/childrens-book-awards-other-organizations

So in our school we decided to start focusing on various PLC (Professional Learning Communities) and one of them is to develop a bibliography, as well as individual lesson plans for teachers on a variety of topics. I am on a group of third and fourth grade teachers as weel as a Spanish teacher. All of the information we collect will be available on a Google Drive so it can be continually updated and easily accessible. The topics we chose include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Poverty
• Disability/Special Needs
• Small Acts of Kindness/Inclusion
• Immigrants/Refugees
• Civil Rights
• Gender Stereotypes

We decided to focus only on using picture books, since they could be read in one class period. We are using  books that we have in the library, as well as in individual classroom libraries. The titles will be listed under those various topics along with the location, ( Dewey Number) or classroom number, for easy access. They can also be found by searching the actual keywords (topics) in our Destiny catalog. We also developed a form for the lesson plan, so teachers can have an easy access lesson to use at their fingertips. It includes the title, author, a focus skill, opening, read aloud, discussion, vocabulary and extension (enrichment).

The focus skill could be:

• Inferring
• Visualizing
• Questioning/Evaluating
• Making Connections
• Determining Importance
• Synthesizing
• Symbolism
• Cause & Effect
• Plot/Theme
• Identifying Main Idea & Details
• Compare & Contrast
• Classify & Categorize
• Draw Conclusions
• Determine Fact & Opinion
• Describe Figurative Language
• Identify Genre
• Identify Point of View
• Make Predictions
• Sequence Events
• Describe Story Structure
• Identify Explicit Information in Non-Fiction Text
• Summarize

As librarians we can also take it a step further and add our information literacy skills:

• Brainstorming and webbing
• Questioning
• Keyword searching
• Skimming and Scanning
• Determining Information Gaps
• Making Notes
• Analyzing Text for Perspective or Bias
• Citing Evidence
• Summarizing
• Synthesizing From Multiple Sources

The goal is to enrich the collection with materials that will cover all topics of diversity and make lessons easier for teachers to access. Perhaps some of these ideas can work in your schools and libraries, too. It is one way collaboration is working for me!

Do you have an ample multicultural collection as well as enough diverse literature for all the children and young adults who are visiting your libraries?
I recently attended a very informative lecture on this topic by Alicia Long, a librarian and supervisor at State College of Florida, an ALA Spectrum Scholar and ALA Emergng Leader. We need to have a plethora of books on social justice and stories on our shelves that can relate to our audience. Whose voices are missing? We need to have bilingual books in addition to bicultural volumes. The books need to create empathy. We, librarians, are curators of stories. As such, we have the power to influence whose stories are represented in our shelves, whose stories are featured in our programs, and whose stories we recommend and promote. We need to constantly ask ourselves why we have stories about whom and by whom? Whose stories are told in children’s books? Who wrote and illustrated those stories?

As you take time to analyze your own collection try  to think about it using these 3 terms:
Mirrors – books where the reader sees themselves – characters like the reader
Windows – books where the reader sees other worlds – characters not like the reader
Sliding Doors – books where the reader enters that world – the reader gets to live the characters’ experiences.

Here are some charts of diversity in children’s books from 2015 and 2018. As you compare them ask yourself if we are there yet?

Another interesting comparison is “Who tells the story? …”By and about”.

Ask yourself whose voice is missing?

Some of the suggestions that were discussed included the following:

*Instead of Heritage Months (Hispanic, Black Histry, Asian-Pacific, Native American)…

             Include #OwnVoices Books – year long displays and programs

*Instead of bilingual stories…

           Include bilingual and bicultural stories or multilingual and multicultural

*Instead of translated popular and classics…

          Include original stories

Instead of representation only in the collection…

          Include representation in programming, staff, performers, outreach

Instead of being defensive (“I try my best”)…

          Include input from insiders and accept criticism

Follow the experts and insiders (see chart) and award winners like ALA, YMA, and more.

I would like to share this powerful quote from Jessamyn West from the USF School of Information, “Understand when you are coming from a position of power and use that power graciously and for good.” We, librarians, have that power….how are we using it?

Some challenges to our readers could be:

• Read about a character not like you
• Read a book with a setting not like the one you grew up in
• Read a book from a genre that you never choose

“All our stories are important and when we share them, we begin to understand each other”…Margarita Engle (2016 Belpre Author Award Acceptance Speech)

I recently was discussing developing relationships with a close professional in the medical field and she recommended that I read the The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. She informed me that even though it was originally written specifically to married couples it would be very worthwhile to read it to help people in all of their relationships. The original book entitled The 5 Love Languages: The Secret in Love that Lasts sold more than 10 million copies. Each year the book has sold more copies than the year before. It has been translated into fifty foreign languages around the world.The author feels the the phenomenal success of this book was that its message focuses on our deepest emotional need: the need to feel loved. For married couples, it provides the insights and practical tools for keeping emotional love alive in a marriage. Thousands of couples have indicated that the idea of the five love languages brought “new Life” to their marriage. He never anticipated that numerous single adults would also read it, but they did and told him how it helped them in all of their relationships. He therefore, wrote the copy I read which is The 5 Love Languages SINGLES EDITION.

According to the author, “Married or single, young or old, every human has the emotional need to feel loved. Nothing has more potential for strengthening one’s sense of well-being than effectively loving and being loved. He reaches out to those never married, divorced, and widowed. He believes our deepest emotional need is to feel loved, and our greatest successes will be obtained by loving others.His book is designed to hlep you do both of these things effectively. The five love languages are:

Words of Affirmation

Gifts

Acts of Service

Quality Time

Physical Touch

Our jobs as media specialists, expose us to many people from various walks of life. Besides all the administrators, faculy and staff we interact with, we also need to relate with all the sudents, as well as their parents. On a personal platform, we also have relationships with our spose, family members, their extended family, neighbors, friends, and other significant people in your life of various closeness. It is not always easy to understand their primary love language and also to recognize our own. The author helps us do both by giving the reader examples of dozens of adults and explaining their journey into their personal lives.He gives us ways to observe our own behavior, observe what we request of others, listen to our complaints, ask the right questions, and provides an actual love language profile that you can take and also give a copy to have others take as well.

The author feels that by discovering your own love language it will help you understand why you feel more loved and appreciated by certain people than you do others. After reading the book I did make a ccipy of the profile to take and give to my own husband. It can be a very helpful tool in explaining relationships, as well as strengthening them.

In closing, I also wanted to add another note about the graph published in the August 21st edition of USA TODAY in case you did not see it. It was entitled : Print is not dead to Gen Z students:

85% say reading physical books helps them learn about history

76% prefer doing reading tasks on papger vs. online

34% say they use physical planners

I always feel information like this is powerful data when justifying our need to keep print a vital part of our collection.