Nothing new as I am home again. Hopefully all will be well by Monday.
Tonight is the homecoming parade and game. My son was at football practice and saw the Sprague Manga Club marching in the parade. Yeah! I am so proud of them for showing up. Too bad I was not able to be there and take pictures! We need some great pictures for the yearbook so we don't end up with pictures of all the same people not even in manga activities like in last year's book! :(
Next week will be busy with Health classes in the lab. The library will be closed after school for a staff meeting on Thursday as teachers and counselors meet to discuss our Freshman class and how to best serve them. I will be gone to a TurnItIn training to help curb plagiarism and to strengthen students' writing.
I look forward to shopping at Borders for some new books. I am also preparing a large order from Baker & Taylor. If you have any ideas for new books, please don't hesitate to post!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Flu, Influenza, H1N1, Sick is Sick No Matter the Name
Been home battling illness for two days and a third tomorrow. Cross your fingers, knock on wood, whatever it takes to ensure this is it for the year!
So let's catch up!
Attended my first Authors! Authors! Authors! class on Tuesday night. Met Sharon Creech. I enjoyed the background information she shared about her books, but I did not like the reader's theatre presentation. She had people from the audience read parts of her books. I have read the books so I didn't need to hear them. I can to listen to her. The best part? I had her sign her newest book, The Unfinished Angel.
Even though I am home, I work on my laptop in my PJs on the couch with my feet up. I keep up on all the school emails, schedule computer labs, research new books, watch new book trailers, etc. Today I attended a YABookBuzz webinar on new books to look for in the winter and spring. I am most excited about a new graphic novel from Jane Yolen, her first. It is called Foiled and is due in May 2010. A few other books to be on the lookout for:
The Caretaker Trilogy Book 3: Timelock by David Klass
"In its own Al Gore Meets Grand Theft Auto way, [the Caretaker Trilogy] delivers a heartfelt and intelligent ecological warning." —The New York Times Book Review
The Gardener by S. A. Bodeen, author of The Compound
The Miles Between by Mary Pearson, author of The Adoration of Jenna Fox
So let's catch up!
Attended my first Authors! Authors! Authors! class on Tuesday night. Met Sharon Creech. I enjoyed the background information she shared about her books, but I did not like the reader's theatre presentation. She had people from the audience read parts of her books. I have read the books so I didn't need to hear them. I can to listen to her. The best part? I had her sign her newest book, The Unfinished Angel.
Even though I am home, I work on my laptop in my PJs on the couch with my feet up. I keep up on all the school emails, schedule computer labs, research new books, watch new book trailers, etc. Today I attended a YABookBuzz webinar on new books to look for in the winter and spring. I am most excited about a new graphic novel from Jane Yolen, her first. It is called Foiled and is due in May 2010. A few other books to be on the lookout for:
The Caretaker Trilogy Book 3: Timelock by David Klass
"In its own Al Gore Meets Grand Theft Auto way, [the Caretaker Trilogy] delivers a heartfelt and intelligent ecological warning." —The New York Times Book Review
The Gardener by S. A. Bodeen, author of The Compound
The Miles Between by Mary Pearson, author of The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Survivor Thursday
If yesterday was spot-on, today was simply "A Terrible Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" even at Sprague. I definately feel like a survivor. Just lots of little things all piling up making me question my librarian status. Funny thing is I was actually rejuvenated at a library meeting after school! I love it when meetings are worthwhile.
So let's put the day behind us and plan for tomorrow...
I was surfing through my library websites when I came across a few up and coming titles that look interesting. I read about the National Book Award Nominee Stitches. It is a graphic novel written for adults, but it has crossed over to the YA scene. The buzz questions is: Should it have been nominated in a YA catagory? Was it nominated at the YA level because graphic novels have a better shot of winning at the lower level? Hmmm...gotta get my hands on it. I love controversy!
Another book I want to read is coming soon, Hush, Hush. Looks creepy and luscious and scary and page-turning and controversial. See the trailer and judge for yourself! It is definately on my to-buy list.
I posted the beginning of Viola. I want to read that one too.
Then there is the huge list I have been gathering from the conference presentations, my own browsing, Mr. L's daily deluge of amazing books, and recommendations.
If only I could have a full-time job doing nothing but reading. Even then there would not be enough hours in a day. Maybe I need to take a speed reading class!
Any suggestions???
So let's put the day behind us and plan for tomorrow...
I was surfing through my library websites when I came across a few up and coming titles that look interesting. I read about the National Book Award Nominee Stitches. It is a graphic novel written for adults, but it has crossed over to the YA scene. The buzz questions is: Should it have been nominated in a YA catagory? Was it nominated at the YA level because graphic novels have a better shot of winning at the lower level? Hmmm...gotta get my hands on it. I love controversy!
Another book I want to read is coming soon, Hush, Hush. Looks creepy and luscious and scary and page-turning and controversial. See the trailer and judge for yourself! It is definately on my to-buy list.
I posted the beginning of Viola. I want to read that one too.
Then there is the huge list I have been gathering from the conference presentations, my own browsing, Mr. L's daily deluge of amazing books, and recommendations.
If only I could have a full-time job doing nothing but reading. Even then there would not be enough hours in a day. Maybe I need to take a speed reading class!
Any suggestions???
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
PSAT Wednesday
I love Ms. W. She is always raising the bar. Since she added color to her blog posts, I guess I had better keep up with her and do the same. Today was a "Red Letter Day!"
PSAT testing! All of our sophomores across the district were required to take the test. A few juniors signed up as well. While they were testing in room across the school, I did a HAPPY Dance because the library was FREE! The schedule was shortened to a half-day, and if you weren't taking the test, you were cycling through a shortened version of Periods 1-4. The BEST part of the day was when Mr. C. and Ms. S. brought their 60 humanities students to the library for period 2. I enjoyed watching them team teach covering topics from Mrs. O'Leary's cow to Jesus! What a ride!
After the students left the building, the teachers had a short inservice on Cornell Notes...similar to double column note-taking. Mr. Scholl handed out thumb drives to all the Crystal Apple Nominees. He welcomed a new English teacher and said good-bye to Mrs. S. who will be leaving Sprague to work at the disrict level. I will miss her. She is not only nice, but she is ultra organized! She always has the answers! :) The English dept. said their good-byes after school at the French Press. I was unable to attend because I had to rescue my son and take him to the orthodontist. He did something and tweaked the contraption in his mouth so wires were sticking out! Sigh...It is always something. To make up for missing a yummy white chocolate mocha, we had our next best...sweet tea from McDonald's! At $1 for a big ol' cup, I will take tea with my sugar water any day!
The freshman health classes are starting their big diversity project. Mrs. M and I have been scrambling over the last couple of days to find enough fiction books with "diverse" characters. That is quite a challenge when you have four class of 30 plus students all at once! We had to borrow from other schools, but we did it!
I love it when they come in the the library for three days and complete a project with me using all of the libary's online resources. I wish that I could work with EVERY class that visited the lab. It would be so much more productive. In the meantime, I will happily take one class at a time.
One more exciting bit of news, I have been approved to go to a Best Books for Young Adults workshop in November with Mrs. M. We have gone together in the past, and we always have a BLAST! We learn some great ideas and come home with a wish list for new books a mile long!
PSAT testing! All of our sophomores across the district were required to take the test. A few juniors signed up as well. While they were testing in room across the school, I did a HAPPY Dance because the library was FREE! The schedule was shortened to a half-day, and if you weren't taking the test, you were cycling through a shortened version of Periods 1-4. The BEST part of the day was when Mr. C. and Ms. S. brought their 60 humanities students to the library for period 2. I enjoyed watching them team teach covering topics from Mrs. O'Leary's cow to Jesus! What a ride!
After the students left the building, the teachers had a short inservice on Cornell Notes...similar to double column note-taking. Mr. Scholl handed out thumb drives to all the Crystal Apple Nominees. He welcomed a new English teacher and said good-bye to Mrs. S. who will be leaving Sprague to work at the disrict level. I will miss her. She is not only nice, but she is ultra organized! She always has the answers! :) The English dept. said their good-byes after school at the French Press. I was unable to attend because I had to rescue my son and take him to the orthodontist. He did something and tweaked the contraption in his mouth so wires were sticking out! Sigh...It is always something. To make up for missing a yummy white chocolate mocha, we had our next best...sweet tea from McDonald's! At $1 for a big ol' cup, I will take tea with my sugar water any day!
The freshman health classes are starting their big diversity project. Mrs. M and I have been scrambling over the last couple of days to find enough fiction books with "diverse" characters. That is quite a challenge when you have four class of 30 plus students all at once! We had to borrow from other schools, but we did it!
I love it when they come in the the library for three days and complete a project with me using all of the libary's online resources. I wish that I could work with EVERY class that visited the lab. It would be so much more productive. In the meantime, I will happily take one class at a time.
One more exciting bit of news, I have been approved to go to a Best Books for Young Adults workshop in November with Mrs. M. We have gone together in the past, and we always have a BLAST! We learn some great ideas and come home with a wish list for new books a mile long!
Monday, October 12, 2009
I'm B..A...C...K...!
So the downside of keeping a blog is that when things get hairy, writing the blog post is the first thing that goes! So as you can see I have been busy!
The 2009 Oregon Association of School Libraries Conference at the Salem Conference Center has finally come and gone. As the conference chair, I have been running mock 3 with my hair on fire! Here is a basic rundown of the cool events! It was all about Graphic Novels! Authors Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim were amazing! Britt White from NYC came. She is a Youth Services Librarian in charge of purchasing GN and Manga for New York. She is a part of http://www.getgraphic.org/ that posts lists of GN as well as lesson plans. She was the keynote. It was because of her that many of the conference participants came with doubts and left craving to read a graphic novel and use them in their classrooms! YIPPPEE!! We also had Gail Carson Levine. She was a hoot! Another role model for me when I reach 60!
Daletta Gonzales and I ROCKED! We did an awesome three-hour presentation on the Best K-8 books for 2009. We used book trailers and U-Tube videos to enhance our presentation. Love the Skippyjon Jones Webisodes...see sample above! We had enough books to give one away to every participant in our session! We had over 85 people.
The highlight of the conference for me was the Sprague Manga Club members who came on Friday and Saturday in cosplay! They were a tremendous help. Several people commented on how fun it was to have them there to greet and help out where needed! Way to go!!! I am proud of you! Thanks!
As for Sprague Library News...
The Spanish workbooks are finally here! Yeah!
Mrs. W. is really sick. She never misses a day, but she had to go home today. I hope she gets well soon! We miss her! I also must add that she had a GREAT turnout to her Saturday NaNoWriMo session at the conference. There were many positive comments about her and the information she presented.
Mrs. M has been a wonderful addition to our library. However, it pains me that several students have been taking advantage of her. She brings candy for our aides, and students have been taking it, eating it, and leaving the mess behind! GRrrr..I had to send out the message today to remind teachers to talk to their students about appropriate library behaviors!
The basic gist is to "Treat others how you want to be treated and CLEAN UP after yourself!"
The 2009 Oregon Association of School Libraries Conference at the Salem Conference Center has finally come and gone. As the conference chair, I have been running mock 3 with my hair on fire! Here is a basic rundown of the cool events! It was all about Graphic Novels! Authors Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim were amazing! Britt White from NYC came. She is a Youth Services Librarian in charge of purchasing GN and Manga for New York. She is a part of http://www.getgraphic.org/ that posts lists of GN as well as lesson plans. She was the keynote. It was because of her that many of the conference participants came with doubts and left craving to read a graphic novel and use them in their classrooms! YIPPPEE!! We also had Gail Carson Levine. She was a hoot! Another role model for me when I reach 60!
Daletta Gonzales and I ROCKED! We did an awesome three-hour presentation on the Best K-8 books for 2009. We used book trailers and U-Tube videos to enhance our presentation. Love the Skippyjon Jones Webisodes...see sample above! We had enough books to give one away to every participant in our session! We had over 85 people.
The highlight of the conference for me was the Sprague Manga Club members who came on Friday and Saturday in cosplay! They were a tremendous help. Several people commented on how fun it was to have them there to greet and help out where needed! Way to go!!! I am proud of you! Thanks!
As for Sprague Library News...
The Spanish workbooks are finally here! Yeah!
Mrs. W. is really sick. She never misses a day, but she had to go home today. I hope she gets well soon! We miss her! I also must add that she had a GREAT turnout to her Saturday NaNoWriMo session at the conference. There were many positive comments about her and the information she presented.
Mrs. M has been a wonderful addition to our library. However, it pains me that several students have been taking advantage of her. She brings candy for our aides, and students have been taking it, eating it, and leaving the mess behind! GRrrr..I had to send out the message today to remind teachers to talk to their students about appropriate library behaviors!
The basic gist is to "Treat others how you want to be treated and CLEAN UP after yourself!"
Friday, October 2, 2009
TGIF!
What a long week! My son woke up this morning feeling sick. My hubby called and asked if I could come home and take over because he had a meeting at work. So I left school at 10:30 a.m. Poor little guy spent the day on the couch with flushed checks and an upset stomach.
Before I went home, I met with my advisory students. They worked on goals for the year. They complained about having to set goals in each classroom. That surprised me. I haven't read the results, but I really hope they took this seriously. I had the chance to meet with about 1/2 of the group one-on-one to look at their grades on InTouch so far. A few are already falling behind. Although they are sophomores, they still have not learned to get their assingments from their teachers when they are sick and to actually make up the work in a timely fashion. I am frustrated about how to get them to keep track of their assignments and follow through. At least, those with the low grades seemed genuinely concerned and appear to want to bring the grades up. I had a chance to chat with a new student.
Mrs. W's cancer board is awesome. I can't wait to see it when it is all done. She is so creative, and her boards always look professional. I hope a lot of students and staff participate by posting a ribbon representing a friend or family member dealing with cancer.
One last note, Spanish workbooks are finally on their way! YIPPEEE!
Before I went home, I met with my advisory students. They worked on goals for the year. They complained about having to set goals in each classroom. That surprised me. I haven't read the results, but I really hope they took this seriously. I had the chance to meet with about 1/2 of the group one-on-one to look at their grades on InTouch so far. A few are already falling behind. Although they are sophomores, they still have not learned to get their assingments from their teachers when they are sick and to actually make up the work in a timely fashion. I am frustrated about how to get them to keep track of their assignments and follow through. At least, those with the low grades seemed genuinely concerned and appear to want to bring the grades up. I had a chance to chat with a new student.
Mrs. W's cancer board is awesome. I can't wait to see it when it is all done. She is so creative, and her boards always look professional. I hope a lot of students and staff participate by posting a ribbon representing a friend or family member dealing with cancer.
One last note, Spanish workbooks are finally on their way! YIPPEEE!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Banned Books Week-Celebrating the Freedom to Read!
This week has been interesting. We put up a couple of displays about books that have been banned or censored at some point. I handed out pins that say "I read banned books." I love the conversations this starts between students. Some get angry when they see their favorites on the banned book wall or behind the glass displays. Some ask the big "WHY?" question. Most just discuss the books or want to read them! Today we had an incident that was the icing on the cake. I can sum up the entire Banned Book Week in two words: Naked Boobs.
Now for the rest of the story...
My library aides placed a few books in a display case. They cut out letters and taped them on the glass. The result read: Banned Books. Some very creative souls rearranged the letters to spell Naked Boobs. Considering that many of the books are banned due to the mention of sex and body parts, I think the little pranksters hit the nail on the head with their new little message!
Needless to say, the signage has been corrected.
Now for the rest of the story...
My library aides placed a few books in a display case. They cut out letters and taped them on the glass. The result read: Banned Books. Some very creative souls rearranged the letters to spell Naked Boobs. Considering that many of the books are banned due to the mention of sex and body parts, I think the little pranksters hit the nail on the head with their new little message!
Needless to say, the signage has been corrected.
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