February 21, 2020 by plemmonsa

Vote for the 2020 Barrow Peace Prize

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Each year our 2nd graders work on a project called the Barrow Peace Prize. Every student researches one of four people from black history and gathers facts from PebbleGo, Britannica, books, and a few other online resources. They use these facts to write a persuasive essay asking people to vote for their person to win the Barrow Peace Prize. The criteria for the prize is also determined by the students after learning about character traits. These essays are recorded in Flipgrid and are now ready for viewing. We ask people all over the world to watch these videos, listen to these student voices, and vote on which of the four people from Black History should win this year’s award: Jackie Robinson, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King Jr., or Harriet Tubman.

You can vote as many times as you like and you are welcome to share this link with everyone you know. If you choose to tweet about our project and share pictures of you or your class of students watching our videos, we hope you will tag @plemmonsa in your tweets so they can be shared with our Barrow students. If you use Instagram, please tag @barrowmediacenter We love to see how this project spreads around the world.

Voting is open now through March 13 at 12PM EST. Simply visit our Smore page, watch several videos, and then click the link to vote. We can’t wait to see who will win this year’s award.

Follow this link to vote!

February 20, 2020 by plemmonsa

Rubiks Cube Mosaic Makerspace

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We love trying new things in our makerspace, so this February we decided to leap into Rubiks cubes. At AASL in Louisville, I visited the You Can Do the Cube booth and checked out their Rubiks cube lending program. You can check out sets of Rubiks cubes to create Rubiks cubes mosaics and simply pay for the shipping and handling each way.

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I shared this idea for our makerspace with Gretchen Thomas at UGA and she was excited to give it a try. We collaborate with Gretchen and her students every Tuesday and Thursday in our open makerspace time. Instead of waiting on an available kit in the lending program, she decided she could use some funds to purchase some inexpensive cubes on Amazon. She ordered 120 3×3 cubes and 50 2×2 cubes.

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In class at UGA, Gretchen’s students watched multiple videos on how to solve Rubiks cubes and worked to learn some strategies that would be helpful to our Barrow students. They also practiced designing their own small mosaics using the 3×3 cubes.

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At Barrow, we selected some prepared mosaics from the You Can Do the Cube site. We chose Rosa Parks for our 3×3 and a flower for our 2×2. I measured out a grid on a piece of butcher paper and taped the individual mosaic pieces into the grid and numbered them. I made a second set of pieces that we numbered and cut out and put into an envelope. Students could select a picture out of the envelope, solve that picture, and place it onto the correct square in the grid.

For our open makerspace, teachers sign up students for a 30-minute slot on a Google document. They are signing up for all 6 Tuesday/Thursday sessions of Rubiks Cube. For this first session, students spent time exploring the cubes. I made a QR code for students to scan to watch tutorial videos about solving. Some followed these videos, while others learned from the strategies of friends and UGA students.

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It was amazing to see how many students already knew some tips about solving Rubiks cubes because of their own practicing at home. We also downloaded an app on the iPads called Cube Solver that allows you to put in the colors on the cube and it shows you all the steps to solve the entire cube. Some students used this as a tool for learning more about the different turns required to solve.

Once students felt comfortable with the cube, they started solving actual pieces of the mosaic and adding it to our grid located on a large table in the back corner of the library. With so many students working on cubes during one makerspace and with so many students already talented in solving cubes, the mosaic started to take shape pretty quickly. By the end of the 2nd day of working on the mosaics, we had the Rosa Parks and flower mosaic done.

I had already prepared additional mosaics to work on: a dinosaur and Mona Lisa. We celebrated our achievement of solving the first mosaics and took some pictures. Then, it was time to start dismantling the mosaics and solving a new one.

Once we created 2 additional mosaics, I gave the students the option of designing their own small mosaics. They could do this alone or with a group. They sketched out their mosaic on grid paper first and then worked to solve and assemble the mosaic at tables. This would be a great way to extend this experience in future sessions because there wasn’t much time left.

The thing I loved most about this makerspace project was being able to see students bringing in a talent and passion they had outside of school and making it something for school. There are lots of ways this could be incorporated into grade level curriculum so I hope that this is not the end of the Rubiks cube. We have so many students who enjoyed this that I’m sure we could even just make this a center in the library for people to work on over time.

February 14, 2020 by plemmonsa

Presenting Our 2019-20 Student Book Budget Purchases

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Since December our student book budget team has been working to make selections for our library. They have used profits from our fall book fair along with Capstone Rewards to order books from both Avid Bookshop and Capstone. With rewards and dollars, their budget was about $3500. When you consider that our list of possible books totaled over $7,000, you know that they had to make some tough decisions about which books to include and which ones to cut.

We are still awaiting just a few books from Avid, but most books are here. The students have spent 2 days unpacking the boxes. As books were unpacked, they were checked off on the packing slip. Then, students sorted the books onto tables by genre. Once stacks were created, students put the genre stickers on the spines and then a label protector was put over the sticker. Finally, the books had to be scanned into the genre categories in Destiny.

Once all the books were processed, they were ready to be put out on display. Students came one final time to display the books on tables in the windows of the library and anywhere else they could find a spot. Another bonus was that book budget students get to be the first to checkout a book. Capstone Publishers lets each student choose a bonus title that is their personal pick and the choice does not have to follow our purchasing goals. Students were able to checkout their personal pick along with a couple of other titles.

The remaining books were up for grabs just before our busy checkout time of 12:15-1:30. It’s always fun to see which books get checked out first and how fast all of the books disappear.

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This project is a core part of our library each year. The library collection belongs to everyone and I love that students have a voice in adding titles to our library each year. As always, we thank Capstone and Avid Bookshop for their collaboration in this important work.

February 13, 2020 by plemmonsa

An Exploration of Lewis & Clark with 4th Grade

Our 4th grade is currently exploring Lewis & Clark, the Corps of Discovery, the impact on Native Lands, and westward expansion. To support their study, they asked me to put together some ideas for students to build some background information on the topics. I loved that our author visit with Nathan Hale really served as a starting place for this unit of study because he told an entire Hazardous Tale about Lewis and Clark.

After looking over the 4th grade social studies standards, resources in the library, and online resources, I decided to create 4 centers that students would rotate through.

SS4H3 Explain westward expansion in America.

Describe the impact of westward expansion on American Indians; include the Trail of Tears, Battle of Little Bighorn and the forced relocation of American Indians to reservations.

Describe territorial expansion with emphasis on the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the acquisitions of Texas (the Alamo and independence), Oregon (Oregon Trail), and California (Gold Rush and the development of mining towns).

I created a brief organizer for students to gather some information as they visited each center.

Center 1

Students visited an interactive map of westward expansion. The map allowed them to select Native Lands and Trail Routes as features and then look at those across time. The main purpose of this station was for students to see how Native Lands disappeared or moved from 1790-1850 and to speculate why they thought there was a change. Students had not studied this time in history yet so they were making predictions or using previous knowledge of events such as the Trail of Tears. U S Westward Expansion 1790-1850.png

While students were at this center, I walked around and helped them select the most helpful features before they explored clicking lots of map features. The teacher and I also got to listen to their ideas of why Native Lands moved or changed over time.

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This center had a part 2 that most students weren’t able to get to. It included another interactive map where students could match primary documents to locations on a map.

Center 2

At this center, students traveled to the Library of Congress through a virtual Lewis and Clark exhibit called “Rivers, Edens, & Empires“. Students could start at any point in the tour and look at the many artifacts from Lewis & Clarke and Westward Expansion. The artifacts included lots of maps, but students were most interested in clothing, tools, and weapons used.

VIRTUAL TOUR Rivers Edens Empires Lewis amp Clark and the Revealing of America Library of Congress Exhibition .png

Students read about any artifacts that interested them the most and gathered those artifacts onto their organizer.

Center 3

I gathered books from our library on the California Gold Rush, Westward Expansion, York and the Corps of Discovery, and Sacagawea. We also have a Capstone Interactive ebook of Lewis and Clark. At this center, students could read about any of the topics that interested them. Most students chose the interactive ebook, but a few spent time reading about other topics like Sacagawea. Whichever person or topic they chose to read, students gathered some facts that they discovered.

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Center 4

For the final center, I wanted students to have an opportunity to look at the journals and sketches of Lewis & Clark as well as the animals that the Corps of Discovery saw along their travels. Students visited 3 sites to view the journals, see some more artifacts, learn about the animals, and even hear some of the animal sounds. Students created a list of animals that were interesting or that they had not heard of.

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Management & Next Steps

I split the class up between the 4 centers with about 6 students at each center. Students had 8-10 minutes per center, which took us right up to time to leave. We didn’t have time to come back together for a closing, but I decided since this was a lesson on building background info that the knowledge gained could go back into the classroom for the next lessons and we could use our full time for exploring. Students also spent time talking and sharing at the tables so it seemed repetitive to have them share information one more time.

Teachers will now continue to add information to expand on the topics students scratched the surface of in the library. I’m sharing a bit.ly with teachers so students can revisit any of the resources we explored in the library.

I loved doing this type of exploration at the beginning of the unit because it really gives students control of their learning and is more interactive than just presenting information on slides or a shared text. I hope more opportunities will arise where we can explore topics in this way in the library.

February 11, 2020 by plemmonsa

World Read Aloud 2020

Each year we look forward to connecting with authors and classrooms around the US for Litworld’s World Read Aloud Day.

LitWorld founded World Read Aloud Day in 2010 as an opportunity for people all around the globe to celebrate the joy of reading aloud, and advocate for literacy as a fundamental human right that belongs to everyone. Over the last ten years, World Read Aloud Day has evolved into a global movement of millions of readers, writers, and listeners from communities all across the world coming together to honor the joy and power of reading and sharing stories, and continue expanding the definition and scope of global literacy. ~Litworld World Read Aloud Day

Back in November, I began using a collaborative Google document to find classrooms, libraries, and authors for us to connect with. In each connection, we chose a book to read aloud together. Sometimes we would have a specific kind of discussion planned for our students after the book and other times we just let students ask one another questions to make a connection to another group of learners.

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This year, we made connections with classes in Georgia, Vermont, Maine, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia, We also connected with authors Laura Murray, Jess Redman, and Liz Garton Scanlon.

We shared several books with our connecting classes. One favorite was the book Truman by Jean Reidy & Lucy Ruth Cummins. This book tales the story of a brave and small tortoise named Truman who sets out on an adventure in his apartment while he awaits the return of his Sarah. When we connected with Donna MacDonald and her students in Vermont, we got to meet their pet tortoise, Milo.

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We shared the book Just Ask by Sonia Sotomayor with a few connecting classes too. This book is filled with students who learn in many different ways and each page ends with a question. Students in each connecting class shared answers to questions such as “what frustrates you?” and “how will you use your powers in the world?”.

Another thing I love about connections is being introduced to new books. Two books that were new to us this time were the hilarious Grownups Never Do That by Benjamin Chaude and Davide Cali & Seagull and Sea Dragon by Sydni Gregg. Both of these made great read alouds for a connection. Seagull and Sea Dragon had two voices so each librarian could choose a character to read. Grownups Never Do That riled up students and made them want to share all the things they had seen grownups do that children are told not to do.

Our author connections were fantastic this year. Laura Murray involved the students in reading Gingerbread Man Loose in the School and shared how the book came to be. Jess Redman told us about her upcoming book Quintessence and read a chapter from The Miraculous. Liz Garton Scanlon showed us several of her books and did an interactive reading of Bob, Not Bob. One of the most special things about connecting with authors is that they answer student questions. We get to learn about where they get their ideas, how long it takes them to write their books, what the revising process is like, and more. Since they are in their homes, they also can reach over and grab artifacts to go along with their answers. For example, a student asked Jess Redman what her favorite books were as a kid and she was able to reach over and get the actual copies of the books from her childhood.

As we met new friends via Skype, we always looked at map to see where they were in relation to us. Many of our northeastern friends were experiencing snow, so we got to hear about how they go to school in the snow. Our Kansas friends were very close to Missouri, so we got to learn about the Super Bowl excitement and how school might be canceled for a parade. We got to share a tornado warning with a connecting class during our week of crazy Georgia weather.

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World Read Aloud always brings great connections to people in the world, shared stories across the miles, and interesting conversation between learners. We look forward to next year.