Genius Hour Student Work

As promised, here are some pictures and examples of student work from our Genius Hour club this year.  The kids worked hard and I was excited to see their finished results.  We had Powerpoints, dioramas, models, and posters.  To celebrate the end we presented to each other first, then parents came in to look at the student work and share in snacks.  It was nice to spend a bit of time with the families at the end of this project. 

This student did his presentation on different kinds of snakes.  He even made a model of his favorite kind using Model Magic!

This student chose to research famous chemists.  He originally had wanted to research chemistry (such a big topic!) but decided to focus on researchers instead since he hopes to be one someday.

This student originally wanted to research the history of Shopkins which proved to be difficult.  She changed her research to look at the toy and the different Shopkins you can buy.

This student's project was on jellyfish.  He was really interested in their structure.  This was the only slide he created but he had a lot of extra knowledge that he gave during the presentation!

I also had two fifth graders in my club and they made WONDERFUL Powerpoints.  You can check them out here:

Genius Hour Reflections

It’s Friday everyone!  It’s the start of a long day and I am excited to be presenting at the New Mexico Library Association’s Mini-Conference on my Genius Hour Club.  To those of you that are visiting my blog after the presentation, welcome!  Hopefully this post (and others) will be helpful to you.  If you are a new librarian I just posted six tips from my first year.  Go ahead and check it out to see if any of them will help make your next year easier.

Reflecting on this ten week club I have learned a lot.  Some things worked and others will need to be changed next year.  But I definitely hope to do a Genius Hour Club next year!  It was a fun experience and think it was valuable for my students that participated.  One parent thanked me at the final day of club saying it had helped her daughter who struggles with research.  She even said the presentation part was valuable to help with anxiety!  I never had thought of that before but I was glad to see the program had unexpected positive effects.

If you click the picture below you will be linked to my Prezi presentation that I presented at the conference.  There you can find the lessons that I learned and links from the presentation.

I also wanted to show you some examples of student work from the club, but I will post those separately.  Below are my lessons from Genius Hour.  Hope they can help you start your own club or time in your classroom!

Lesson 1: Advertisement is Key!

When I did my Battle of the Books club, I had many students that didn't know what it was and missed signing up because of that.  This semester I asked the club coordinator to put in a description of the event for Genius Hour, but for various reasons this did not happen.  It is important to get the word out!  Put up posters, present the information during your library classes, and invite students that you know might be interested.

Lesson 2: Model What You Teach

I used this time as not only time for my students but myself as well.  Students learn so much from watching the process!  I chose my own Genius Hour topic and looked into the process of writing a children's book.  Since this is something I've been interested in doing for fun, I figured this would give me the perfect opportunity to carve out time.  Use your own project to model the process for students.

Lesson 3: Brackets aren't just for March Madness!

I quickly realized it would be hard for my students to narrow down their topics and choose just one.  To make the process easier I used a bracket.  Students wrote down potential topics and then narrowed them down by deciding which they like better between two options.  This was a HUGE help and I highly recommend it when narrowing down topic ideas.

Lesson 4:  Prior Knowledge is Key

Throughout the year I have done a lot of research lessons with my fourth and fifth graders.  I have also done some with third grade, but we have not gone as deep with them yet.  I noticed my third graders struggled more with the research portion.  The more research you have taught in your regular library classes the easier the process will be for your students since your time is short.

Lesson 5: Get Others Involved

When I originally started the club, I wanted students to be able to contact professionals in the field they were studying to interview them.  As time went on, we got busy and this didn't happen and it is one big regret I have.  If you want to bring in community members and professionals, start early!  Also, inviting family and teachers to enjoy the celebration and presentations at the end was a lot of fun.  Try to have a "show and tell" time for the students to show off all their hard work.

Lesson 6:  Check In Each Week

This really helps the kids stay on track and helps you facilitate the process.  I called students back one at a time and talked about how they were feeling about their project, what they needed to do that day (goal setting!), and what they needed from me.  You could also do quick check ins at the beginning of each time and just have the kids tell you their goal for that day.

Lesson 7: Let It Go!

Things never go as planned.  Kids drop out.  Some kids will be more excited than others.  There will be a student that just can't seem to stay on task.  Just go with it and remember your mission for this club.  We want kids to become lifelong learners!  The process is messy and you will make it through.

Lesson 8:  Know Your Resources

One thing I wish I had done was give students more of an introduction to their presentation options.  Research different ways students can present the material, then quickly highlight two each week.  This will help those that want to branch out of the Powerpoint rut know other options.

Do you plan on hosting a Genius Hour club in your library?  What about having Genius Hour in your classroom?  I would love to hear your ideas and tips!  Until next time, happy reading!

Six Tips from Year One

Hello all!  I am currently in Las Cruces for the New Mexico Library Association’s Mini Conference.  As weird as it sounds I am SO excited to be here.  What librarian wouldn’t want a chance to meet up with fellow nerds?  And my school/district was generous enough to pay for it!  I’m looking forward to a few days of learning to be a better librarian and sharing some of my own wisdom from this past year.

I’ve been reflecting a lot on my first year as a librarian and it just continues to amaze me how much you can learn in a year.  Each school year brings new challenges and opportunities and this year was definitely no exception.  Every May I look back and think, “I should have done that.”  Thankfully there are also things I look back on and can say worked well and will be continued into the next year.  So this post will hopefully share some wisdom to help you make it through your first (or 25^th!) year of being a librarian.

*As a side note, I think some of this is also applicable in the general education classroom.  So hopefully some of my teacher friends can get something out of this as well!

1.        Do it.  Do it now.

You know exactly what I am talking about.  The Panda book that you noticed in the Greek mythology section as you were shelving.  The fine that a kid turned in this morning that you forgot to process while they were in class.  For my teacher friends, the grading that you see sitting on your desk that you could knock out in ten minutes.  It’s easy to see things like this and think, “I’ll do it later.”  Then later comes and your bookshelves are a mess or there are now 5 assignments to grade or you find that fine under your lesson plan book a few days later.  The more proactive you are in dealing with these small items, the easier life will be for you.  And the less likely it will be that you stay an hour after school dealing with these “small” tasks!

2.       Shelve every day.

This is a lesson I have learned the hard way.  If you can get assistance from parents then you are a rock star.  If you have an EA or Library Assistant to help you, God bless your administrator.  As an elementary librarian I teach five, sometimes six classes a day and only get 50 minutes on normal days for planning and shelving.  I have a grandmother of a student that comes in occasionally, and those days I am so relieved!  It is incredibly easy for the shelving to become overwhelming when you have over 750 students.  Find times where you can do small amounts throughout the day.  I try to shelve a bit between classes so that it doesn’t get out of control.  Now that I am more familiar with my library I am MUCH faster.  Make it a goal to shelve at least 15-20 minutes a day and things should stay manageable.

3.       Self check out is a lifesaver!

I was skeptical about having students check out their own books.  After only 3 weeks of first graders pulling on my sleeve to get help finding a book or check out the one they found I HAD to find something to help the chaos.  I started with my 3^rd-5^th graders first and taught them all how to check out on their own.  (Another post on this process later.)  For the first month or so I stood by the computer watching students check out to make sure people knew the process.  I noticed by the 3^rd or 4^th time any students that didn’t know what they were doing were automatically corrected by their peers.  At the beginning of our second semester I taught 1^st and 2^nd grade how to check out their books.  Even my first graders caught on quickly!  You will lose a few books in the process (this was mentioned by several posts I read) but for me the payoff was worth it.  Now I am able to manage student behavior when necessary and help students find materials they want. For next year I would like to teach second grade from the start and teach first grade after the first 12 weeks.  I’ll also have an “assistant librarian” each week to watch students and make sure they do it correctly.

4.       You can’t please everyone.

This is one I have to learn over and over again.  There will always be someone unhappy with a decision you make.  I had a teacher in the beginning of the year that was not happy with the number of books I was letting the students check out.  When that happens, just remember to pick your battles.  Begin by explaining your decision to the teacher (or parent) and why it will benefit the students.  If they continue to press the issue you will need to decide if it is worth fighting over.  I chose to alter the limit for those students to suit the teacher’s preference.  For me it wasn’t worth being at odds with my coworker.  The kids were upset at first, but they got over it and haven’t mentioned it since.  Just adjust accordingly or stick to your guns if necessary.

5.       Routine and procedures are key.

This is a lesson I quickly learned in the general education classroom and my assistant principal mentioned it when she came in to do my observation this year.  For library teachers it is extremely important because we only see the kids once a week (at best).  If you have routines in your library, this prevents any wasted time.  My students file in the library the same way every time, do checkout the same way every time, and do centers after checking out EVERY TIME.  It is especially helpful for students at our school in the special education program.  We have a program at our school for students with emotional diagnoses and any change can trigger an outburst.  My routines help students be set for success and know my expectations.  They know what to expect and it helps alleviate any anxiety or behavior issues. 

6.       Be an advocate for teachers.

When I moved to the library I wanted to make sure to remember the perspective I had as a teacher.  Teachers and librarians (or other school support positions) can often bump heads because we don’t know much about each other’s jobs.  During parent teacher conferences several teachers mentioned how nice it would be to “have two days off”.  Many were surprised to realize that I do a lot of work on those days, including going through my collection of almost 4,000 books to make sure they were in order and find any books that were marked as lost.  (This took up an entire day.)  I feel like this is a common theme in our world today.  We like to think we know what someone’s life or job are like, but often our picture of them is so far from the truth.  As a librarian I try to advocate for my teachers and support them as much as possible.  I track behavior in case they need information on a child for Student Assistance Team meetings.  I supply resources and offered a training this year on our eBooks and database.  I even send out occasional newsletters with specific lesson ideas involving skills I know they are working on or books I have just gotten into the library.  As a result I have had some teachers become an advocate for me, letting others know what I’ve done to help them.  This has really helped me gain trust with teachers so that we can work together. 

I will be posting some information on the end of Genius Hour tomorrow after my presentation.  Until then, happy reading!

Canva Tutorial

Good evening everyone!  I am in the midst of my (hopefully) last crazy week before the final push to summer.  I am speaking at the New Mexico Library Association's Mini-Conference this week and my students from Battle of the Books are competing on Saturday.  By the time my family rolls into town on Sunday I will be ready for a short vacation on Monday!  Until then I will have to load more money on my Starbucks app!

In my previous post involving to-do lists I mentioned Canva.com.  This has been a great resource for me to create posters, invitations, and newsletters for my teachers.  I figured I would create a quick tutorial to show you how easy the website is to use.  Take a look and see if you can add Canva to your toolkit!  Happy reading!

Night for the Arts - Reflections on an Art and Poetry Night

We had our Night for the Arts at my school and I am happy to say I am almost finished with big events for the year.  It has been a wild ride and I wanted to share some things I've learned this year, starting with my poetry night.

Lesson 1: There is Strength in Numbers.
When I started planning this event, I ended up making myself a bit of a lone ranger.  I have a tendency to take on huge tasks and not want to burden others with the details and jobs to be done.  Having added more people to the planning team would have been a HUGE stress reliever.  And of course, you'll need tons of help the day of to get everything situated.  Luckily I had people to help me out when setting things up.  My husband was a trooper, and we even go help from my mother-in-law and my co-worker, Diana.  I couldn't have gotten everything done in time without them.

Lesson 2: Combine with Another Event.
When I began planning this event, I had initially wanted to do the poetry stations as part of a literacy night.  I found out that there was not a literacy night being planned and there was no literacy team to help me.  In the end we had about 100 people show up which was a good amount.  Not many people are drawn to a poetry event.  If you want a bigger turn out, plan a literacy night instead and have a poetry center.

Lesson 3:  Advertisement is Key!
My poetry and art night had a competition component where students could enter poetry and artwork to win a prize, as well as try out to recite poetry during our Poetry Slam.  With the timing of our event I could either send out permission slips the week before Spring Break and hope kids remembered over that long week, or send out the slips the week after Spring Break and only give kids a short time to prepare.  Looking back, I wish I had sent out the notices before break and then reminded students once they came back.  This would have given them time to work on their artwork or poetry over the break if they needed that time.  You also want to promote the event and competition before you send out notices so kids get excited about it.  Next time I can hopefully avoid the issue altogether by planning the timing around the breaks!

Lesson 4: Involve the Community
It is amazing how willing local companies are to help out with school events!  I had several places donate gift cards for prizes and baked goods for families to snack on during the event.  This went a long way to make the event better for both students and families.  I had also arranged for the public library nearby to send the children's librarian to promote summer programs, but she ended up having to cancel last minute because of a scheduling issue.  Never forget that the public library is a resource, too!

Lesson 5: Have Fun and Eat Something
When you are planning a big event it is easy to get stressed.  Make sure you get as much done ahead of time and recruit lots of people to help so you can enjoy the event as well.  And don't forget to plan on eating dinner before your event!  People started showing up and I realized my dinner was still sitting in a bag.  Carve out some time and have someone to force you to eat, even if it's bites between stapling signs into the wall.

I hope these tips help you, whether you are planning a poetry night or other event.  Do you have any tips for planning an event?  Leave them in the comments below.  Until next time, happy reading!

Getting Organized and Getting It Done

Hello everyone!  I am currently sitting on my couch taking a break from making some Margarita Cupcakes that my sister posted on my Facebook timeline.  I'll be posting about that later this weekend so you can try them out!

If you are anything like me, you LOVE your to-do lists.  I write them for everything.  Grocery shopping, weekend chores, school... it all ends up on a list.  I'm currently in the middle of planning my Night for the Arts a our school and was wanting to put together a to-do list (surprise) to help me keep track of everything.  I looked for one on Pinterest and couldn't come up with one I liked.  Rarely does Pinterest let me down, but when it does there is only one thing to do - make your own!

This year I discovered Canva, a website that lets you design items for social media, banners, flyers, and anything else you can imagine.  I first used it to design these invitations for a friend's baby shower.

I also use it to make my newsletters for teachers and posters for events at school.  There is a great selection of backgrounds, fonts, and shapes.  I only use the free items, but there are also other features you can use that cost money.

I made a few lists for myself.  One is for weekend or home chores.  This would also be great for a stay at home mom that needs to keep track of all those appointments and errands!  There is one copy with Matthew 6:34, a great reminder to not worry and stress, and another that does not have the scripture on the bottom.

Home List or Home List with Scripture

I also included a "Make Time for Me" spot.  You can't work yourself to the bone.  If I've learned anything in my past 3 years of teaching, it's that you have to make time for yourself.

I also made several lists for school.  There is one for the week, a general to-do list, one for teachers, and one for librarians.  Hopefully you can find what you need to stay organized!

School List or School List with Scripture

To download the documents just click on the hyperlinks.  Until next time, happy reading!