You must love your job when you smile this big! A special thanks to SLMC Shanna Leonard for this blog post about their book fair. Great job, Shanna and the "Wild West" crew, for all you do to get students (and teachers) excited about reading! We are saddled up to read a good book this week during our Wild West Book Fair. With the help of my assistant, Dru Davis, we created a Wild West theme in our media center. We treated our staff to a special preview party that included cowboy snacks providing an opportunity for them to complete teacher wishlists. Decorations: Covered wagon, cowboy campfire, hay bales, saddles, hats, and western music. Dress: We dressed as cowgirls wearing boots, jeans, hats, belt buckles, and bandanas. Snacks: Happy Trails to you trail mix (trail mix) Cowboy Beans (jelly beans) Cow Patties (fudge rounds) Hay (stick pretzels) Watering Hole (bottled water and sodas) Cactus Juice (green punch) Classroom teachers were given their One Book One School copy of We’re All Wonders during the preview party. Teachers were directed to read the book first and then send it home with one student each night until all students are able to take the book home to share with their family. After reading the book, students were also asked to sign the inside cover of the book so we can remember the students who took part in the We’re All Wonders One Book One School initiative. Our 3rd Annual Book Character Pumpkin contest entries are being displayed for parents to see when visiting the book fair. Grade level book character winners were awarded with a gift certificate to the book fair.
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A very special kudos goes out to SLMC Kate Lewis and principal Dr. Kelsey Greer from Denton Elementary for the putting together this super amazing kickoff for their One Book, One School event. This dynamic duo are clearly pros when it comes to helping to build a reading culture. Last year´s inaugural One Book, One School event at Denton Elementary was by all accounts successful. SLMC Kate Lewis launched a Donor´s Choose campaign to purchase a copy of Crenshaw for each classroom. Kate and principal, Kelsey Greer, wanted to build upon the concept and raise the bar this school year. Not only were they going to give a book to each classroom, but they were determined to give a copy to every single student in the school to keep for their very own! The ¨top secret" event took a lot of planning. In order to give a copy to each and every student they looked to local leaders for support. Thanks to a grant from the Town of Denton Council for $1000, and grants from the Denton Lions Club, Theresa and Kirby Matthews, Briggs Funeral Home and an extremely generous ¨anonymous¨ teacher the project was completely funded! A high energy pep-rally was held in the auditorium where the title of the book was revealed through a book trailer and sneak preview. Cheers abounded when students learned the story was about a boy that befriended a tiny talking mouse names Ralph that enjoyed the boy´s toy motorcycle as much as he did. This book is the one and only The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. Students were then escorted outside to line the circle drive for the big surprise. Students erupted joyously when they spied a fleet of motorcycles rounding the corner escorted by Chief of Police Mark Hicks. The cyclists circled the driveway and after parking, distributed copies to each and every student at Denton Elementary. The energy was contagious! Many students opened their books straight away while others stopped to shake hands and pose for pictures with the special guests. Charlie, a custodian at Denton Elementary, led the processional of about 10 cyclists. A special thanks to the Davidson County Sheriff´s Office, Riding for the Son Christian Motorcyclists Association and the Guardian Nomads, a group of retired law enforcement and other public health and safety professionals for generously donating their time to come and get the students at Denton Elementary excited about reading. After the event, sponsors and cyclists were welcomed into the school library media center for refreshments and their very own copy of the book. Students will be encourage to read a chapter per day either independently or with a parent for the next few weeks. Special dress up days, trivia questions and student interviews are anticipated to increase engagement and build enthusiasm for the event. A ¨Design a Helmet for Ralph" contest will take place, where students can enter their creative designs to potentially win a gift certificate for the upcoming book fair in November. YouTube videos will also be available featuring Denton staff each reading a chapter a day. Copies in Spanish were also provided for ESL students to share with their families. Events were streamed on Facebook Live and can be found on the Denton Elementary Facebook page. To see more moments at the One Book, One School event unfolds, follow Denton Elementary on Facebook or Twitter (@DentonRaiders). With the wildly successful NC Kids Digital Library having been released last February, DCPL director Ruth Ann Copley proudly announced just yesterday the addition of the newly created Teen eReading Room that is part of their NC Digital Library collection specifically for teen content. Students can access this digital content using their Student Access ID when available and with their Davidson County Public Library cards.
Davidson County Schools has been working with the the public library, along with the School Board and our legal team, to develop guidelines for collecting student data to give students opportunities to access these online resources through the DCPL StudentAccess system. Students will be able to gain access through an OPT-IN form with a one-time permission form signed by a parent or guardian. Once entered into the system, students will be able to access a host of digital resources from the public library by using their student ID numbers. Guidelines, parent letters and permission slips will be provided to SLMCs and site technology staff through a Google Drive folder. More information will be forthcoming at the SLMC PD on Monday, Oct. 30th. Permission slips will need to be collected and student data added to the upload file by Thursday, December 21st in order to give students access to the StudentAccess system using their student IDs in early January. If you have any questions, please don't hesistate to reach out to Sedley Abercrombie ([email protected]). Thanks to Libby for this great post about digital badging. If you are interested in getting teachers more excited about integrating technology into instruction, then reach out to your ITF to learn more about the Digital Learning Challenges! With the anticipated roll-out of the Digital Learning Competencies in our district, several schools have adopted a flipped professional development model through the use of a Digital Learning Challenge website. The idea behind this flipped model is that teachers have a choice of what and when they learn, with a variety of teacher-approved tools to choose from. When a teacher selects a challenge to view on the website they have access to video tutorials, step-by-step guides, and lesson ideas for using the tool. One of the main objectives of the Digital Learning Challenges relies on the implementation of the tool.
Robin Snider and Sue Tobin were the “pioneers” of the App Challenges in our district some years ago, and I am so glad other schools have taken notice of the power of gamification, or using a rewards system for teachers. The idea is that once teachers submit evidence that they have completed their challenge they then earn a badge that is displayed on a poster outside of their classroom. This badge represents a lot more than a completed challenge, as it also provides teachers with the opportunity to mentor others to help them earn their badges. This gives teachers a chance to be Digital Leaders in their school, and they have something to show for it! Friedberg and Southmont Elementary have both adopted the Digital Learning Challenges to motivate teachers to “amp up” their digital teaching and learning for the 2017-18 school year, while giving teachers credit where it’s due! Teachers earn .1 CEU of technology (Digital Learning) credit for each challenge they complete. If your school is looking for ways to increase the amount of digital learning and teaching happening in your building, or if you’d like to find new ways to motivate teachers to try to new digital tools, I highly suggest adopting the Digital Learning Challenges for your school! Contact your school’s ITF to get started. Thanks to Shanna Leonard for this awesome blog post about their One Book, One School initiative. I chose the book We’re All Wonders by R.J. Palacio to read as a school. This is the picture book that allows younger readers to discover the Wonder experience. Our 5th grade students are currently reading Wonder with Mr. Martin during their reading time. This book will allow us to connect as a school in an effort to #choosekindness. Wonder will be in theaters starting November 17, 2017. After viewing the movie to ensure the language is appropriate, I would like to invite 5th grade students to meet at the theater to watch Wonder together. Other Wonder activities that we will include are:
“Look with kindness and you will always find wonder.” R.J. PalacioThanks to NCSLMA President, Brene Duggins, for a job well done! Last week's conference was a big success. A number of DCS SLMCs, media assistants and ETSs attended last week's NCSLMA conference. Here are some of the takeaways: "The conference was great- my favorite moments were Lisa Yee's address, and Mr. Beatty's heartfelt story about his life. Kudo's for the committee for getting these two incredible authors to share with us!!!" - Joanie Williams, Midway "Came back with a reading list a mile long, and several purchases for weekend reading. What amazing author presentations and one-to-one conversations! Wish I could bring students who love these authors to hear them speak." - Rhonda Florence, Hasty "As a first-year librarian, I walked away from the #ncslma17 conference feeling rejuvenated, refreshed, and empowered by all the wonderful things I learned from fellow librarians and teachers. I cannot wait to go back to school and determine the best ways to incorporate the awesome ideas in my school. My two fabulous assistants also attended the conference, and I am looking forward to speaking with them about what they learned as well. It was a great experience, and I can't wait to attend the conference next year! (and maybe present? who knows!)" - Carly Smith, Wallburg "As a Media Assistant...I received several great ideas to mainstream media check in and check out for the students. EmPOWERING Elementary Library Patrons by Stacy Darwin was a wealth of information! Also, on the technical side of my job as part of the Enrichment Team, Caren Long's "Tech Integration to Get Your Spider-Senses Tingling, was very inspirational . She gave us several ideas and websites to visit for some great ideas. I had a great time!" - Lisa Hill, Wallburg "At each session I attended I learned something practical and relevant that I could apply to improving the media center for my students - from tech tools & fundraising tips to literacy strategies & inspirational messages from authors. The Super Hero theme was fun and it was neat to see librarians walking around in their super hero attire!" - Kristi Allred, North Davidson Middle "Make Your Ebooks Fly - Learned marketing strategies for ebooks since many teens still haven't come on board:
Megan Shepherd - The Magic of YA Fun discussion of YA tropes (orphans, instalove, etc.) as well as a brainstorming exercise that could become a creative writing assignment. Those who attended are eligible for a 20 minute free skype visit with Megan! My ETS also really enjoyed "More Than 28 Days" - which focused on doing more than just celebrating "heroes & holidays" when recognizing black history contributions." - Lorie Steed, CDHS |
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