WDKN Educator of the Month Nominations

Local radio station WDKN is conducting a contest for Educator of the Month throughout this year.  Here is the link to the page where the nomination form is located.  The form may not show up on iPhones or other smart phones but it is available on computers.  There are many deserving educators out there!  You and your child can nominate away!!  http://www.wdkn.com/contest/educator-of-the-month/

Volunteer help needed!

Now that students are checking out books (not kindergarten) regularly, I would love to have volunteers who can come an hour or so a week to help re-shelve library books. Tuesdays are the only days that I cannot accept helpers because art is in the library all day on Tuesdays. I have always had student helpers in the mornings but my duties have changed therefore I am not in the library in the mornings.  Please let me know if you can help at all.

AR HomeConnect

Parents, if you are interested in receiving an email every time your child takes an Accelerated  Reader comprehension test, visit https://hosted296.tenlearn.com/80896/HomeConnect. Your child's username and password gives you access. 3rd through 5th graders all know their login information. Most 2nd graders should know it. 1st graders are just now learning about AR and how to login. 1st graders library/reading log folders have the login information. Kindergarten does not use AR.

2015-2016 School Year!

TDS Library will be having Monster School this year!

Each student will be able to create and decorate his/her own monster that Mrs. Trevenia will display.

Grades 3-5 will be using library days to do creative writing with an ongoing fictional story as well as reinforce social studies standards being taught in the classroom.

2nd graders will do several projects in the library such as a biography unit, research, and learn about a few different genres.

1st graders will read, read, read!!

Last but not least, Kindergarten will learn about book care, will check out books after a few weeks and will be working in centers to reinforce letter names, letter sounds, sight words, handwriting, logical thinking with puzzles, and using technology.

Our library is always open (well, except for Tuesdays when art class is in the library) and all parents and grandparents are welcome to stop in to ask questions, volunteer, or take a  tour.  Tours don't take long because we are so small!  You might even get to meet my number one volunteer, Mrs. Betty Burgess.

Summer break!

It is meant to be a time of resting for teachers and students.  However, many elementary teachers do not just sit back and not think about the next school year!  We surf the Pinterest pages, Internet, Facebook pages and blogs for ideas, helps, and curriculum supplements.  We attend professional development meetings and required training sessions.  We start planning for the first week of school which is so critically important to the overall classroom environment throughout the year.  As librarians, we research books, make lists for purchases, re-arrange material, and possibly weed out old, out-dated texts or items students have shown no interest in or checked out EVER!  Many work a part-time job to help supplement family income.  We share our opinions on everything from politics to religion to education on Facebook, blogs and other social media.

There are so many things we do during the summer and many opinions about it.  This is just a reminder to seek mental and emotional peace during this brief 6 week period.  Take time for yourself and your family.  That is more important than anything else.  If you just continue running the wheel like a hamster, your system will rebel and you will get sick sooner or later.  Studies prove that!  Affirm yourself and pray/meditate in silence.  Just be.  And reap the long term rewards for it!

I will stop preaching now and follow my own advice!

Review is upon us!

We are busy reviewing in the library.

In addition, 5th grade has started studying World War II in Social Studies.  I am discussing the Holocaust and reading Roberto Innocenti's picture book, Rose Blanche.

As part of this unit, the student's are asked to consider the little girl who is the main character in the book.  What did she think, feel, do, etc.?  As an outlet to express their thoughts, students are asked to create an acrostic poem using "Rose Blanche" and include these thoughts, etc., in the poem.

Many sites are available on the internet to study the Holocaust.  I told the students I would make available some of the links.

The first site and most appropriate for this age group is http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/#.VSWP-tzF9M4

Others are:

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/timeline.html

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/holocaust.htm

http://www.history.org.uk/resources/secondary_resource_1140,1149_11.html

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust

http://www.ushmm.org/learn/students

Whew! First month of school. . .

We are at the end of the first month of the 2014-2015 school year here at TDS.  When we come back from the Labor Day holiday, our library will be using new software for circulation.  You can access our library from anywhere now!  After we are trained, I will post information or send it home in a newsletter for parents to be able to see what we have in our library!

A newsletter should be coming home soon giving parents all kinds of digital resources information.  Our students have access to many tools to help them succeed such as Moby Max and Khan Academy.  Parents can track student AR use by going to our Home Connect account.

Soon I will be starting to participate in Volunteer State Book Awards (VSBA).  This is sponsored by Tennessee Association of School Librarians (TASL).  Your student may talk about voting on books and this will be what the student is talking about.