Students will only be coming to the library once a week this year instead of twice a week. That is a BIG change for the students. I will be doing intervention instruction all day long 2 days a week and the last day is reserved for my RTI managers duties including data/tier meetings every 4 to 5 weeks.
My plan this year is to primarily focus on students choosing a good book to fit their likes and abilities. Students will be able to check out up to 3 books at a time. However, I plan on doing ongoing chapter book reading with grades 2 through 5. Students will be writing reviews, summaries, and predicting as part of these library visits. I feel my role is to help foster the love of reading and the excitement of getting to know characters, settings, and stories. Sometimes that will mean just quiet time to read. Sometimes that will mean discussion and debate.
Last year, the 4th grade created a TDS Library Constitution based on the United States Constitution. After reading the US Constitution, reading a book on it, discussing it, each table in both classes created what they thought would be a good library constitution. Then, the students went to each of the other tables and voted on which one was the "best." The next step of our lesson involved editing, debate, and discussion about each and every word. After the edits were made in both classes, the final version was presented and voted on. I had plans to post the finished product in the hall with the student signatures, my signature, and the principal's signature but somehow the document got lost in one of the classrooms. I plan on creating a second copy and having the signatures put on it then enlarged to post on the wall. The best part of the process was the day a few of the students sighed, rolled their eyes, complained about how long it was taking and how boring it was to these particular students, etc. We had a good discussion on how Congress actually is just like this tedious process and how long it took for the lawmakers to create the original Constitution. They agreed that our process was much easier. They gained a new appreciation for the role of the elected officials attempting to pass laws. It was a great few weeks of hands-on experience for them.
This year, the library will have a Chromebook for each student to use while in the library. Each student has a Google Classroom login that can be used anywhere. They can log onto their Google Classroom account at home, too. They can use the Chromebook to research, look up books in the library Destiny software, access myOn to read online, and work on Google Classroom assignments. My hope is that by the end of the year, 3rd through 5th graders will have become more comfortable with using these tools. Middle school teachers expect a certain level of proficiency that I hope to help students achieve before leaving TDS. If you have any questions about the Google accounts, please send me an email.
As many other teachers, I spend my summer scouring Pinterest for lesson ideas, bulletin board ideas, Google docs and Classroom ideas, and classroom management help. It can become an addiction! I am finding lots of things to create on my original Cricut machine and a borrowed Cricut Explore Air. I look forward to exploring more. Pam Artis Cricut for the Classroom board. Shannon Lee's Circut Classroom Uses. Cricut's School and Education Projects. The Kinderhearted Classroom
Hopefully, I will be posting how the school year starts soon! Keep reading Explorers!
