Biography, Autobiography & Lexile

Three classes back to back today all leaving the library with a biography or autobiography for their project.  They had a ditto they needed to fill out to turn into their teacher that included some information about the title and the Lexile level. Did a short talk with two classes on searching the catalog, how to look for their Lexile level of their chosen title and other ways they can search the catalog to find a biography or autobiography to fit their needs.

Each time this assignment is given at every school I have worked the student choice is super varied. You have the regular rotations of Walt Disney, Anne Frank and Albert Einstein but more recently Steve Jobs and David Bowie since his passing plus the resurgence of a few kids asking about Jane Austen and other female authors. It is always interesting to see what they gravitate towards.

921 is the place to be today. 

The thing I love is when the kids are open and ask for suggestions. Generally I do a little chat about what they are interested in and can sort of gauge what they might like. They want options and then generally will choose from the smaller pile. You end up getting the kids interested in someone they would have never picked - someone like James Dean or Marilyn Monroe. Maybe 10 years ago these two would have been chosen first up but they aren't really in heavy rotation. Either way this gives you a chance to see the collection more clearly and see which publishers and titles have timelines, photographs or other little tidbits that engage the kids. The most important is the one on one interaction with the kids and to be helpful and kind. This keeps them coming back to the library.

Some of the choices. 

Today was my last official day at the Laguna Middle School Library as an intern. I will still be coming in once a week after spring break on my own to work on a Lexile project and whatever else Ms. Schwoerer needs. I was there before the internship and will be there after. I was lucky to get such a great school site.

St. Patricks Day & March Madness

Took down the cupcake display and put up a quick, springy St. Patricks Day display!

Lots of Green! 

Interesting Irish Realistic Fiction.

March Madness has come to Laguna and I pulled some Basketball books to replace the Medieval display. I was careful not to pull any basketball biographies because we have classes coming tomorrow to pull biographies and it is unwise to split them up. I have a feeling some of the basketball ones will get checked out tomorrow. 

March Madness! 

Hoop Dreams.

I faced out some more books in the biography section anticipating the classes tomorrow. Also some supplemental biographies came from the IMC to support  students that need materials that are at a lower reading levels so they can still be engaged in the assignment. More to come on this assignment tomorrow  - when I see who the kids decide to choose for their assignment..........

Teen Tech Week Kickoff

As you can see the entrance to the Laguna Library was sign ready and the kids came streaming in for lunch ready to take apart computers, create some origami out of vintage book papers and finger knitting going as the day went on. Books were pulled and the cart set up for grab and go maker titles. 

The computer and scanner dismantling was a hit. The computer tech was there to answer questions and help the kids with anything that came up and to keep things safe and smooth. It was so great to see boy and girls going to town on these devices and learning about how they are created and what each of the parts do. 

Before and AFTER!

Tinker Time Laguna Library Blog - more photos!

Ms. Schwoerer was also in engaging the students outside the library by sending one short Common Sense Media video out to the teachers that they can play during homeroom. This goes in tandem with a short video she is doing with some of the students. 

Cyber Bullying - Common Sense Media VIA LAMS Library Blog.

The students are telling Ms. Schwoerer what they think is something that they need to be aware of when using the Internet. The responses were super varied and I can't wait to see the video on Friday. All this outreach to the school, having these type of events in the library and help them engage the library space in a new way is really what the best lesson for me is. Also working with other SLCUSD staff (in this case the technology department) is really how this is a true success.  I have a feeling a few maker type books will get checked out next week. 

Next week is my last week at Laguna Library. Looking forward to finishing up tech week Thursday and setting up a St. Patricks Day display and get some lucky green books faced out. Who knows what my last week will bring. 

Tell Them Again .....

Ms. Schwoerer made 3 minute video slideshow to send to all the classes after the Operation Discovery research talk. The presentation graphics and slides were more simple but the main part was the narration done with Screencast. This is a great tool to add voice to presentations and is another tool that you can use in the library or even to help newbies practice a presentation.

Started a project with the fiction collection. They are all not labeled with their lexile measure.  Today began the project of getting that rectified. Although a simple project it really gives me a chance to get more connected to the collection and see what books are at which level. I am surprised by some of the lexile measures and how high and low they are. Here is more information about this specific way of measuring texts and why some schools are adopting this as a way to better focus on at what level the students are reading.

What is Lexile measuring?

Also next week is Teen Tech Week. Who will sign up to Create It a the LAMS Library? More on that next week......

Busy Tuesday

Tasked with " springing up" the library, finishing up the medieval book section ( just waiting on all the cool student artwork to go with it!) and faced out some new books around the library.

Spring It Up! 

Medieval Titles

I was involved with two classes who needed autobiographies at lower reading levels. Ms. Schwoerer did the first presentation and I got to do the second. She was emailed by the teacher about 5 days before the classes came in. She got some books from the IMC and pulled some from the LAMS collection. It was good to visit the IMC and then see how the LMTs use the resource and get the titles as needed. 

Graphic Novel, Picture Book and Easy Reader Autobiography Options.

Ms. Schwoerer found two great short videos from YouTube about the authors. We read aloud from "A Boy and a Jaguar" by Alan Rabinowitz. He is now Dr. Rabinowitz who overcame his stuttering to be an advocate for animals. Then we heard from Patricia Pollacco. She discussed her learning disability and how it led her to art and writing all while working on a very intricate form of Ukrainian egg art. 

These students are in reading resource so it was great to focus on two autobiographies that are not only in a lower reading level but are really well written  and read more like a story. Plus both of these people overcame learning and stuttering issues to become leaders in their respective fields. 

Lots of kids coming in and out choosing titles for other assignments too. It felt good to get so much done in such a short time today. Plus I had fun doing the presentation and I think that at least of few of the kids were excited about some of their autobiography options. 

San Luis Obispo High School Library - Field Trip

Just a quick note to stay thanks to Jennifer Sawyer the Library Media Tech at SLOHS. She met with me today and let me pick her brain about a myriad of things but truly she loves her job and her library is the place to be on campus.

We had a chance to talk about the California School Library Association  and how she took some media literacy lessons and implemented them with all her 9th graders for the first time this year. It really cements in their minds how to look for trusted sites, use the ETC Portal and give them face time with her so they know where to come for school support. Also on site is Mary Dornish a library assistant there 6 hours a day.

She is a huge fan of Library 2.0 tools and is a real advocate for the library and it shows with her interactions with the kids. Her main advice when coming onto a new school site is to really utilize your space, get to know the campus and make connections. Also with so many different areas of  student interest you really need to make sure to not be afraid to try things and always ask students and teachers how you can help.

SLO High Website

SLO Library Display - Unwrap a new title. 

I wonder what title is inside the wrapper?

Cupcakes & Computers : Bonus - Field Trip!

We spent more time today talking tech. The library is the place where kids come for troubleshooting tech issues. Ms. Schwoerer is the go to troubleshooter and the liaison with the district if bigger issues arise. The district is moving to a 1:1 model and all the carts are being set up.

Ms. Schwoerer showed me her system and it's super streamlined. It makes it easy for the carts to get circulated and to know where the checked out cars are on site. I am lucky to be interning when the school is implementing and expanding their tech program. It is a big part of her work in the library and I have been able to help a few kids too. With all the focus on growing a collection, Common Core and other day to day issues of the library - effective technology implementation and troubleshooting is at the top of the list.

All bar coded, numbered and entered into the right sheets and programs.
Who needs to check out a Chrome book cart?

Another display? Why yes! Home EC is doing a cupcake challenge........ Heroes and Villains!

The students will be baking a cupcake based on the hero or villain. The costume and history of the character will be a part of the challenge. I can't wait to see what flavors and decorations they choose to showcase their hero or villains background and focus. This library display is another way to engage classroom learning and expand on it. 

Jabba the Cupcake - V is for Villain! 

Every Hero Has a Story. 

Cupcakes and Comics - Hey Little Ewok! 

Also a shout out to Kris Bell! She is the District Librarian for Atascadero Unified School District. She met with me for an hour and answered all my questions. Ms. Haupt the SLCUSD District Librarian sent me to meet up and I can see why. She gave me lots of insight on what it means to develop programs over many school sites, the importance of keeping your library up to date and how to handle site specific needs. It was really eye opening. No pics of her sadly, I dropped the ball on that. I did get some of the Atascadero High School library and it really is a very cool place on campus and she is lucky to have her office at a school site. Go Greyhounds! 

Library Visits the Classroom, Medieval Display and Photo Contest WINNERS!

Today Ms. Schwoerer and I went to the classes to talk about media literacy and finding credible sources. Ms. Schwoerer created a PowerPoint to show the students how to evaluate what they find. They had a blast especially with a funny video that has a rather silly but effective acronym to help them remember. She left the students with a bookmark that they glued into their history binders.

Everyone was so engaged with the material. 

C.R.A.A.P - funny and memorable

The next place the history class goes is ..... The Medieval World. I pulled some books and made a display. I pulled all the information for the visuals from the J. Paul Getty Museum and made sure to highlight that. This is a trusted site for the students to use too in their own research and a great library resource for displays.

The Laguna Library is also a community space and will be used on Saturday for a district technology training. The library is kept clean and tidy but it is always good to do a little tweaking to the space to make sure it is ready.  This is another reason to have space set aside for on going projects to keep the library tidy since it is a shared space.

Will continue with the medieval theme in another part of the library and hopefully get some of the student created artwork to go with it.

Also the winners of the photo contest were announced. The winners and all the photos entered were up on the board and voting began! The winners are below and all the pictures can be seen here: 

Laguna Library Photo Contest " Simply the Best" All Entries

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

IMC with District Librarian Sharon Haupt

Another FIELD TRIP! 

A visit with District Librarian 

Sharon Haupt

 at the Instructional Media Center.

Photo courtesy of SLCUSD website

Need a Skeleton? The IMC has some! 

Ms. Haupt showed me around the IMC and gave me a quick but thorough tour of how the IMC works with the school sites and supports all the school libraries and teachers. She is utilizing Destiny to it's fullest and was showing me some very smart ways of organizing using the program.

She showed me all the types of media they have and how the teachers or LMTs request materials. Ms. Haupt and her team have their hands in all sorts of requests each day. Sites can even check out skeletons or solar systems if they need to. 

The IMC is the go to place for class support materials. We also got a chance to talk about some of the projects she is working on. Most important to keep clean and organized records but also connecting the records to each other to make lesson planning or curriculum support even easier. It was super inspiring to see how it was all organized but truly the work is never done. I was inspired by the space and how they are using Destiny. 

Just a drop in the bucket! So many materials. 

Book sets just waiting to be used.

Japan to Medieval and the Bookmarks!

The focus on Japan is moving on to the Medieval world. The kids will be publishing books of their own after extensive research on medieval life and religions. The library has some great titles that I pulled to support this in class project. I am hoping to finish this next week.

I also finished the genre bookmarks. This is another way to help the kids grab and go with faced out titles. Plus some of the book covers aren't too self explanatory and this can be another way to engage the students beyond just the cover or inside jacket of the book. Some titles have won awards or cover a specific genre they are focusing on and need a title. 

The photography contest is in full swing. The cutoff for submission is today February 18 at 4PM. I did some die-cuts to help with a display so the students can vote. This so far has been another way to engage with the library and see the school through the eyes of the students. Next week we visit students in class.... will update on Tuesday! 

DNA display & Pacheco Visit

Switched the Valentines display for an update! The kids are learning about DNA in science class so we decided to spotlight our collection supporting this theme. 

Displaying titles in a curated way is a really important part of the library. It supports in class learning and can make it easy for the kids to grab and go when it catches their eye. Displays aren't hard to do but they can be time consuming. I have had luck with sites like Pinterest to give some good ideas. Plus you can use what you have on site. These letters are being held up with weeded books that I covered with construction paper. 

Worked on the genre bookmarks a bit more and helped quite a few students flowing in and out looking for books for their projects. Tried to help brainstorm some prizes for the photo contest. I really hope that the kids submit some photos. I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Field Trip! 

Visited Pacheco Elementary school to meet their Library Media Tech Ms. Shelly Stevenson. Pacheco Elementary is the dual language immersion schoo in SLCUSD. She has a very open, colorful and welcoming space. Ms. Stevenson is very knowledgeable about her very unique site specific library needs. She handles a very high circulation of both English and Spanish titles. I saw first hand how she involves the kids directly with the books and helps them to go deeper into their dual language immersion. The library is connected to the computer lab and the library itself has terminals for searching the collection. The back of the room has a nook for reading aloud. This is a very busy space, a hub of the school and really an amazing support to this unique program within San Luis Coastal Unified School District.

Photo Contest Part Deux and Helping Students

One display down, another to take it's place. The library photo contest is going on and we wanted to spread the word. I took a hint from Pinterest and made a display based on a paper camera invite idea. It did take me awhile longer than I thought it would but I guess that's true for most projects.

My Inspiration!

The Finished Camera and Display.

I also brought my Instax Mini 8 to school to take some pictures for the display and it was a hit with the students. Ms. Schwoerer snapped a pic of some photos hot off the presses.

We also had a discussion about swapping out some more titles in another part of the library to go in tandem with some stuff the kids are doing in science classes. Should be fun. I pulled some books for that. More to come on that next week. We will also be going in the classroom at the end of the month to talk about citing solid sources. More to come on that as it develops.

I also locked down a time to go to Pacheco Elementary and have a chance to see the library and speak with their Library Media Tech Shelly Stevenson. I am looking forward to being back in the elementary library space and I am hoping that after I get a chance to talk to her and see the kids and talk library strategy that I can shelve some books for her as a thank you.

We had a few students show up part way through the day that had not picked a book for in class literary project. It was fun to help the kids pick out books and luckily this library has a great selection so it wasn't terribly hard.

Non-Fiction & Photo Contest.

On Thursday last week we moved a small display case to be the new go to spot for new books. I covered a weeded book as the sign (flash back to the Graphic Novel display!) and when I came in on Tuesday - surprise! It looked really great. Ms. Schwoerer had started to set it up.

We got a chance to chat more about technology at LAMS and she walked me through some of the technology that LAMS uses and how it is organized on campus. It was really great to see the process and see how the library works with IT. Most important is planning ahead and as always be flexible.

Ms. Schwoerer and the LAMS library is hosting a photo contest!

LAMS Library Photo Contest "Simply the Best @ Laguna!"

Photo Courtesy of Cabinet of Curiosities 

I am going to do a display for the context on Thursday and I am hoping it helps spread the word. Plus the library has some really great photo books that I pulled and I think it will be helpful for the students and the school has a photo club so maybe they will stop by. Plus another idea for a display from Ms. Schwoerer and I am pumped to get that done this week but sssh! It's a surprise!

Finally it was time to tackle non-fiction and face out new titles. I went through the section entirely and swapped out new titles to face out and cleaned up some sections that were well loved. I was so happy at the outcome and saw some kids at lunch pulling some faced out titles and reading them together. Plus it gave me a chance to be even more connected to the collection. It was a busy day.

New Titles Facing Out.

Swap a Title and Everything Else

Today was full of short tasks that seem to make a huge impact.

I took down all the books that were on display on the tops of the shelves in the fiction section and switched them out with new titles or swapped from the shelves below. It gave the kids some new titles to pick from and it keeps the library fresh. Some students chose from the new books too and checked them out before I left so hey- it worked! I want to do the same for the non-fiction section on Tuesday. Plus thinking of a way to do a non-fiction display in the front were the Good Books with Ugly Covers display is. I need to hit Pinterest.

One of these got checked out just as I was done. 

After moving the graphic novels to their new space Ms. Schwoerer needed some signage so I used some of the deselected books and made some signs by wrapping these books and making them the signs. I haven't done that in awhile and it was fun.

I wonder what books are on these shelves?

Also the projects about Japan are taking over the library and really making the space super colorful and the kids really seem to like the artwork. Ms. Schwoerer pulled some books about Japan and before I could even get them up hands were grabbing to check them out. She is thinking of maybe doing a few curated spaces that cover specific countries, hobbies or genres and swapping them out because the kids really seem to like the ease of it. Plus it can be a really great way to support their popular in classroom projects and key into their interests in a new way.

Some of the books on Japan. 

We moved another bookshelf specifically for the new books to go and I will get a shot of how that turns out on Tuesday. Other than that the usual circulation duties and I had a chance to talk to some of the kids and helped them find some titles. It was good to see more checkouts today.

Technology & Valentine Book Display

Happy E Section.

Ms. Schwoerer and I got a chance to talk tech and how the School Library Tech position fits the schools needs in another ways. She deals with teachers and students directly on technology needs, coordinates fixes with IT and also is tech and test support when the school administers Standard Balanced Testing. She also handles her library website for the school via Word Press but also has admin privileges for the main school site. Technology is a HUGE part of the job.

I did a simple book display for Valentines Day and also cleaned up the Easy Reader book section. Doesn't seem like much on paper but those two tasks took up a lot of my Tuesday. I got a chance to help a few students and I am looking forward to doing more with with the classes in the coming weeks.

How they Croaked! 

All the Red Covers

New Books, New Artwork

The library was full of amazing new projects about Japan. It was so great to see what the students were doing in other classes and I think it is a great way to get more kids into the library so see some of their classmates projects. Also a math poster project was going on and it was so great to see the library being utilized as the hub that it is.

Moved the Graphic Novels to a new shelf space, helped out some students and wrapped a ton of new books. It was good to see what was coming in and Laguna Middle School is so lucky to have funds for this. The books that were coming in were all very diverse genres and it was fun to read the jackets while I wrapped them. Plus I had not wrapped a book in about a year and I needed to retrain my brain in the wrapping zone.


Also interesting aside about publishers changing/updating the covers of books. I noticed the popular H.I.V.E, Higher Institute of Villainous Education by Mark Walden has a new set of covers. The kids look older and is really repackaged to appeal to the YA audience who love Manga. It's interesting to see the choices that publishers make.

H.I.V.E Original Cover 

H.I.V.E Updated Cover