Another Monday

I finished grading the 5th graders' explorer projects. They did a really good job on their posters and presentations, but struggled with the bibliography. Maybe easybib.com will help with that problem.

The 3rd grade has been working on a project about the local community for several weeks. Today we used Movie Maker to begin our final presentations. The project is called the 8 Wonders of LaCygne--patterned after the 8 Wonders of Kansas. The students interviewed several people from the community in regard to the art, architecture, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history, and people of the area. If I can ever get all the bugs worked out of things, maybe they can get their presentations done! Anybody know anything about converting video from a Flipcam so it can be imported into Movie Maker?

At LaCygne, we are in the middle of our Book Fair. Lots of neat titles to choose from. I got copies of 3 books about the library. One is called Library Lion. I read it to the kindergarten class and had them predict what was going to happen. They really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it!

Week 2--Online Communities

I chose Facebook because I already had an account and I have enjoyed using it since last May. I also have an account on Plurk, but I don't use that one much anymore. I like to keep in touch with family & friends. I've reconnected with friends from church & friends from college that I haven't seen for years. And, I have to admit, that I do enjoy playing some of the games on Mindjolt also.

For this class, I have added a couple new friends and become a fan of the 23 Things Kansas page. It's been fun reading the posts other participants have made on this page.

I haven't really thought about how I will use FB in the future. Probably I will continue to use it much like I have so far. Unfortunately, this is one of the sites that is blocked for students on our school network, so I don't see much possibility of using it at school. We have a huge issue with bandwidth.

Learning New Things

I keep learning new things about this blog. I figured out how to add a Shelfari Bookshelf on my blog, so now I can showcase some of my favorite titles. I also discovered that I haven't explored all the features of Facebook. There are so many applications on there and I've used it mainly to keep in touch with family and friends. The possibilities are endless!

LaCygne Elementary is having a really neat activity on Friday to celebrate Kansas Day. Several people from the community are coming in to share with the students on various topics relating to Kansas history or Kansas products. We did this last year and the kids loved it!

It's Good to be Back!

I spent Sunday and Monday fighting the flu. All aches and fever, but luckily nothing worse. Missed the teacher in-service on Monday, too.

Today, most of my classes were learning about Kansas. I always read Climbing Kansas Mountains by George Shannon to my 1st graders. They think it's neat because the illustrations in the book show a small town similar to the ones they live in. And, of course, they have all seen grain elevators before! My 2nd graders watched a Sunflower Showcase video titled Symbols of Kansas. I read a book called Kansas to the kindergarteners and we looked at pictures of the various symbols of Kansas. My 5th graders have been working on writing puppet plays, but we took a break from that to review how to do a bibliography. I introduced them to www.easybib.com and they were excited about having an easier way of constructing a bibliography.

A Learning Experience

I figured out how to upload pictures to my blog. The more I experiment, the more I discover!

Finally wrapped up a project I started before Christmas. My 1st graders do a unit on Christmas in Mexico. We compare their celebration & traditions to those in the USA. Part of the Mexican celebration of Las Pasadas involves breaking pinatas. So to culminate the project, we have a pinata party. Planned to do it closer to Epiphany (Jan. 6) on the last day of Las Pasadas, but a snow day prevented that.

Library Lessons

This week we have been working on some interesting projects. The 2nd grader are working on a KWL project about Kansas. Kindergarten & 1st grade are learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. Immigrants in Kansas is the topic for the 4th grade students. The 5th graders are wrapping up their research project about explorers. And 3rd grade students are learning about technical text--what it is, how to write it, and how to follow it.

Week 1--Blogging--A Little About Me

I am the elementary school librarian for the Prairie View school district. I service 3 elementary schools--Fontana, Parker, and LaCygne--and conduct library skills classes with all students in grades K-5.

Some of my hobbies are music and photography. I enjoy singing, writing music, and playing piano. A friend has a recording studio and several years ago he helped me record some of the songs I have written. I enjoy taking pictures of God's creation, as well as the various historic landmarks in Kansas and Missouri. One of my favorite subjects to photograph is old iron bridges and covered bridges.

Although I do not have children of my own, I enjoy spending time with my nieces and nephews. My nephew, John, is my photography buddy. We love to travel and take pictures. We also like to cook. Our specialty is meatballs!

My First Post

Well, I made it this far. It's not so intimidating when it walks you through the process step-by-step.