October 31, 2013 by plemmonsa

Storybook Celebration 2013

Storybook Parade has been a Barrow tradition for many years. Over the past couple of years, we transistioned from a morning parade to a day-long event. Our schedule now looks something like this:

8:00 Guest readers in every classroom. These readers are parents, family members, community members, and local celebrities.
8:30 Classrooms prep for an assembly where we get to see all of the great costumes. Every child dresses as a character from a book.
9:00 Assembly. All classes walk across the stage to be seen.
10:00 Parade. We march in a single file line out of the front doors of the school and parade down the sidewalks surrounding the UGA Athletic Department, UGA practice fields, and the UGA track.
10:30-2:30 Classes continue to hold literature-related activities and sign up for special classes offered throughout the school.

I organize most of the day’s events, but it couldn’t all be done alone. There are just too many pieces to do by myself. This year for guest readers, I created a Signup Genius. I emailed all of our volunteers and former readers, shared the link on Facebook and Twitter, and put it in my newsletter. Camilla Bracewell, Barrow grandparent, also made some phone calls and emails to recruite readers. It didn’t take very long to schedule enough readers for every class, but as usual, during the days leading up to the event, we started getting cancellations. Rather than scramble to find more readers, I had our administrators and specials teachers on standby to read in the event that we needed them.

For the assembly, I wanted to speed up every class walking across the stage. In the past, every class has written a blurb about their class for me to read. Some classes write a short blurb while others feel the need to describe every costume. This year, Mimi Elliot-Gower, our family engagement specialist, had an idea to use quotes about reading. I made a Google doc of reading quotes and let teachers sign up for a quote that represented her class. I read these quotes as classes went across the stage and we tried to keep a constant flow of traffic.

For the parade, we changed our route this year. We used to parade up to Five Points and back, but Lumpkin Street has gotten so busy that we wanted to move most of the parade to some streets that were a bit less congested. Our 5th graders got to make a special stop at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education and have some hot chocolate. Our family engagement specialist, Mimi Elliot-Gower and counselor, Lauren McElhannon, setup this special treat.

Back at Barrow, teachers had lots of options for what their classes might do the rest of the day. Every specials, EIP, special education, and gifted teacher offered sessions for classes to sign up for. I created a Google spreadsheet schedule and teachers could sign up for up to 2 thirty minute sessions. Examples included:

Creating a Gone Google story in the media center using Bone Soup. http://docsstorybuilder.appspot.com/BVlWHe & http://docsstorybuilder.appspot.com/BVkquZ & http://docsstorybuilder.appspot.com/BVkwHA &
Creating story character epitaphs in the media center after reading Once Upon a Tomb.
Reading Zen Shorts With our family engagement specialists and practice tai chi.
In music, read aloud “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat”, then sing “H-A-LL-O-W-EE-N”. Have kids write new lyrics to song.
Read Creatures of the Night by Joyce Milton: nonfiction activity on nocturnal animals
and more!

It was a fantastic day with so many books represented. Each year this day grows a little more and includes a few new ideas. Who knows where it will go next year.

We would like to thank all of our guest readers who came out today to celebrate with us:

Brenda Moon
Dr. Lanoue
Kim Ness
Ralph Stephens
Alicia Battle
Paula Shilton
Carol Williams
Denise Sims
Selby Merritt & Isabel
Bryn Adamson
Leslye Queen
Debra Lassiter
Terry Nestor
Paul Lee
Matt Winston
Chis Stutz
Josh Miles
Gail Schrader
David Meyers
Kathy Hoard
Ken Mauldin
Robert Miles
Alex Patterson
Utevia Tolbert

September 12, 2013 by plemmonsa

Little Free Libraries Open for Business

Barrow Little Free Library

After a year long project with last year’s 5th graders, our 2 Little Free Libraries are finally open for business. This project has been one of the most meaningful ones that I have been a part of. Just to highlight a few accomplishments of everyone involved:

After a post on the Barrow Media Center Facebook page that simply described a wish to have a LFL, teacher Sara Cross jumped on board to make this project happen in 5th grade.
Art teacher, Rita Foretich, along with her student teacher took a huge leadership role in creating multiple jobs for students, using Google sketchup to design libraries, and committing to painting the libraries in art.
Co-founder Rick Brooks took time out of his busy schedule to skype with our students to answer their questions and encourage them on their project.
Students in 5th grade wrote persuasive letters to multiple places which resulted in Lay Park becoming our 2nd location and Home Depot built and donated the 2 libraries and paint.
Students in 5th grade encouraged students in the whole school to donate books which resulted in about 18 boxes of used books to fill the libraries. Other incredible supporters like Barrow grandparent, Camilla Bracewell, donated money to support the registration of the libraries and additional supply & book purchases.
Our project won the Eve Carson Service Learning Award at the 5th grade moving on ceremony

Our move into our new school delayed our installation a bit. Mrs. Foretich kept the libraries over the summer and gave them some coats of clear coat to protect them from the weather. Her husband also spent time making sure that the doors on the libraries opened smoothly after getting a bit sticky from the clear coat.

We entered this year with one big final step: installation. I should have known that once again our community would step up to support this project. Susan Henderson, librarian at Fowler Drive, suggested that her neighbor Chase Cook, who is a Barrow parent, would be a good person to contact. She even took time to ask him herself. Chase was more than happy to help. Another Barrow parent, Chris Adams, was suggested, and without hesitation he also agreed to help. I was amazed that two parents who weren’t even involved in the project along the way were so willing to step up and offer their talents and service to this project. Chase and Chris spent a hot Friday afternoon digging the holes at Barrow and Lay Park and installing both libraries. I can’t thank them enough for their time and hard work.

Refilling the Barrow Little Free Library

On Sunday September 8, I filled the Barrow Little Free Library with books. The Barrow library features our school theme of “Where am I in the world?” You’ll find the tree that owns itself, Georgia peaches and peanuts, the GA flag & US flag, and GA football. This week on our morning news show, I showed a video to all students explaining what this new mysterious box was all about.

The afternoon after the video was shown was a busy time for our library and it was almost empty that day as students were eager to take home a book. We’ve already had to refill it once.

Lay Park Library

On Monday September 9, Randy Haygood opened the Lay Park Little Free Library. This library features an old Barrow school look. A giant sun radiates from the roof and the back features a beautiful flower garden. I delivered 6 boxes of books to him so that he would have books to refill the library for a few weeks. I can’t wait to see how this little library supports reading at Lay Park and the surrounding communities.

Lay Park Library back view

These libraries are truly a gift. They represent so many voices, ideas, and creativity from students, parents, grandparents, and our community. Thank you Athens community for supporting this project. Enjoy these libraries for years to come.

May 9, 2013 by plemmonsa

Painting our Little Free Libraries

Paint generously donated by the Athens Oconee Home Depot

It’s been awhile since I’ve done an update on our 2 Little Free Libraries. We’ve had so many end-of-the-year events that it has slowed us down a bit. Mrs. Foretich, our art teacher, and I sat down and looked at the designs that student groups submitted and narrowed it down to the 2 designs. One will feature things that show “where I am in the world”. It will include GA & US symbols as well as some Athens symbols. The other design features a sun shine with a red color that resembles the bricks of Barrow school. Ms. Foretich worked with Kenneth Sims and other employees at the Athens-Oconee Home Depot to select paints, and once again Home Depot generously donated these items. I can’t say “Thank You” enough to this business. They have been a huge supporter of this project.

While the 5th grade is practicing for the Moving On Ceremony and making music videos in music class, Mrs. Foretich is pulling small groups to paint. Students primed both libraries first. Then, designs were drawn on in pencil before beginning the painting process. Students repeatedly went back to the paper designs and also talked with the designers to make sure the design was staying true to the vision. Students even worked on mixing paints to get various shades of colors that were needed on the libraries.

Next week, Mrs. Foretich and I will travel to Lay Park and meet with Randy Haygood to discuss the exact location of our second library. KenDarius, a Barrow 5th grader, is working on a plan for some rising 4th & 5th graders to deliver books to this library throughout next year as it needs to be filled. He will join us next week when we meet with Randy.

Throughout this project, we’ve tried to keep students at the center. They have been a part of almost every decision in the project and were instrumental in getting us the supplies that we needed through their carefully written letters. Of course, this student involvement has stretched this project to a year-long project, but I think it just shows how when you take time to allow students to participate in the process, rich and rewarding experiences and learning occur.

Paint generously donated by the Athens Oconee Home Depot

April 23, 2013 by plemmonsa

World Book Night 2013

In the bag: A letter about World Book Night, discussion guide, Wimpy Kid bookmark, and Middle School the Worst Years of My Life

Today is World Book Night. This year, our library was chosen to be “a giver” for this special annual celebration. Our selected book was Middle School the Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson. My original plan was to target a specific group of our 5th graders who will be transitioning to middle school very soon. However, after reading the book, I really thought that it was a book that all of our 5th graders should get the chance to enjoy. With support from PTA and some book fair profits, I was able to buy extra copies of the book to add to the 20 copies given to me by World Book Night. Our local independent bookstore, Avid Bookshop, was incredibly fast in getting the books to us and they even had them shipped to our school. Avid was also the pickup spot for our box of books from the World Book Night organization. Our family engagement specialist, Mimi Elliott-Gower, helped me plan a special time for our 5th graders. She even made them all a bookworm snack.

Today at 1:45, all 5th graders gathered in the library. We skyped with Shawn Hinger, media specialist extraordinaire at Clarke Middle School. She answered a lot of questions that students had about the middle school library. She had several of her students join her, and many of them answered questions about the library too. I loved the participatory feel of our Skype.

Next, Tad MacMillan, Clarke Middle School principal, spoke to our 5th graders in person. He discussed the summer learning slide and how reading could help deter that slide. He encouraged kids to think beyond reading 15 minutes per day and instead think about how many minutes they actually had in their summer. Wouldn’t a goal of 45-60 minutes per day be even better? He ended his time by reading from one of the other World Book Night selections, The House on Mango Street.

Then, it was time for the big reveal. I told the kids about World Book Night. Some of the kids had already asked me if I was going to be a giver, so I book talked my book to them and let them guess which book I was giving away. Once they guessed the title, I told them about how I wanted to give more than just 20 copies of the book away and with the help of PTA and book fair that was exactly what I was going to do right now! I went over the discussion guide with the kids and urged them to read the book with their families and begin to talk about their goals and worries about middle school. Then, we passed out bags to all students in 5th grade. Each bag contained a letter to families about World Book Night, a bookmark, a discussion guide, a bag of bookworms, and the book.

Even though I deviated from my original plan for World Book Night and even though I didn’t really randomly pass out the books like WBN suggests doing, I feel like this was the right thing to do. Fifty two copies of the book were distributed, and I feel like there will be at least 52 excited kids who will possibly have some great conversations with their families based in a humorous, yet gripping book. So many of the kids came up and thanked me for the books, and when I went into their classrooms to check on them, I saw several of them already reading. What an exciting day!

WHAT IS WORLD BOOK NIGHT?
World Book Night is an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading,
person to person. Each year on April 23, tens of thousands of people go out into their
communities and give half a million free World Book Night paperbacks to light and nonreaders. In 2013, World Book Night will be celebrated in the U.S., the UK, and Ireland.
World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading in those who don’t
regularly do so. But it is also about more than that: It’s about people, communities and
connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways—
through the sharing of stories.
World Book Night is a nonprofit organization. We exist because of the support of
thousands of book givers, booksellers, librarians, and financial supporters who believe in
our mission. Set for April 23 each year to honor Shakespeare’s birthday, World Book
Night was successfully launched in the U.K. in 2011, and World Book Night was first
celebrated in the U.S. in 2012. Thank you to our U.K. friends for such a wonderful idea!
WHY IS WORLD BOOK NIGHT IMPORTANT?
Why does World Book Night exist? Reading for pleasure improves literacy, actively
engaging emerging readers in their desire to read. Reading changes lives, improves
employability, social interaction, enfranchisement, and can have a positive effect on
mental health and happiness. Book readers of all ages are more likely to participate in
positive activities such as volunteering, attending cultural events, and even physical
exercise.
Or more simply put, books are fun—and they can be life-changing.

In the bag: A letter about World Book Night, discussion guide, Wimpy Kid bookmark, and Middle School the Worst Years of My Life

March 18, 2013 by plemmonsa

Student Book Budget 2012-2013 Finale

Today was an exciting day. The 105 books purchased by the students in this year’s book budget groups went into circulation. I announced on BTV that the books were ready. Teachers played this video in class.

It didn’t take long until students began pouring into the library on their own and in classes to checkout the books. Almost every student who visited the library got one of the new books, and by lunch, there were only 5 books left!

Only 5 books remained at Noon.

It was also an exciting day for the book budget students because they got to see their hard work pay off with students getting excited about reading their selections and they were surprised with superhero bags donated by Capstone Press. As always, I was amazed by the customer service of Capstone and how they responded to the work of these students. They featured the students’ on their blog, sent us 4 new princess books, and gave all of the students a Capstone bag.

Once again, this process has proved to be very effective in matching books to student interests. I think the participatory aspect of this along with the student ownership is what drives this to be so successful each year. It’s a great way to give back to the students what they put into the library program each year through lessons, reading, contests, and book fairs. It will be interesting to see if student interests change through the coming years as our books on princesses, sports, superheroes, etc continue to grow.

March 1, 2013 by plemmonsa

Read Across America and the World!

We can’t just celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday and Read Across America Day in one day at Barrow.

Look at all these readers!

The Trufflemakers, our winning 5th grade team

Making a game plan

On Thursday, we kicked things off with our 5th grade battle of the books. Five teams competed in 3 rounds of competition. The Trufflemakers and the Fellowship of the Books made it to the final battle. I didn’t think either of them were going to miss a question. The scores ended up being so close, but in the end, the Trufflemakers came out on top. Prana, Gabriel, Sarah, Taylor, and Cassie will now move on to the district competition. Good luck team!

Today, we held our annual Dr. Seuss Day with more guest readers in classrooms than I can count. Ever year just when it seems we won’t have enough people, we end up with 2-3 readers in every room! Many thanks to Kim Ness who took over this project for me and recruited all of our readers. She was such a huge help in this fun day! We had parents, community members, Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers, and even UGA athletes read Dr. Seuss books to our students.

I’m even more excited about what we have coming up next week. March 6th is World Read Aloud Day.

It’s a day to unite our voices around the world, celebrate the joy of reading, and change the world! Through twitter, facebook, and a Google Doc, I’ve collaborated with authors and libraries around the country to have a skype session every 30 minutes with lots of class is our media center. Just take a look at our schedule:

8:30	Carney K, Vertus-K	Okle Miller Tampa, Florida
9:00	Boyle – K, Li K	Matthew Winner Maryland
9:30	Freeman- 4th	Laurel Snyder, author http://laurelsnyder.com/ Atlanta
9:45	Hocking – K	Jesse Klausmeier, author http://www.jesseklausmeier.com/ & Shannon Miller’s Students
10:30	Olin- 4th grade	Mary Priske 4th grade Iowa
11:00	Yawn – 2nd gradeWright-2nd grade	Ann Marie Pace, author http://www.annemariepace.com/ Virginia
11:30	Selleck-4th	5th Grade Laura Beals D’Elia Massachusetts
12:00	Stuckey – 1st grade	Lisa Waggett GoForth Elementary League City, TX
12:30	Watson-1st	Kathy Schmidt Gwinnett County
1:00	Ramseyer – 2nd Grade Brink – 2nd Grade	Jeff McHugh Arlington Heights, IL
1:30	5th grade	Jody Feldman, authorhttp://jodyfeldman.com/ Missouri

I can’t wait to connect our students with so many students, libraries, and authors around our country. In many of these experiences, we will do a shared reading. I will read parts of a book and the skyping guest will read part of the book. Also in each session we will have time to make connections with our guests. We’ll find out a bit about where they live, what they like to do, etc. With each experience, students will broaden their world beyond the walls of our school and beyond Athens. I can’t wait to see what happens!

November 22, 2011 by plemmonsa

Picture Book Month Guest Readers

To continue our celebration of Picture Book Month, we had guest readers come today and read picture books to several of our classes from PreK-5th grade. Some guest readers chose to bring their own selections while others chose books from our collection. We would like to thank all of our readers for taking the time out of their busy day to stop by the Barrow Media Center and share the love of reading with our students. We love having the community in our school!

Thank you to:

Paul Kurtz

Lauren McElhannon

Keith Weaver

Rachel Watkins

Ralph Stephens

Kevin O’Neil

Some of the book selections included:

Thank You Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving

Click Clack Moo Cows that Type

13 Words

Crazy Hair

Scaredy Squirrel

Brer Rabbit Stories

Hooray for Amanda and her Alligator

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We look forward to our next big guest reader day on March 2nd.

November 8, 2011 by plemmonsa

Summarizing with Sock Puppets

Brainstorming for the script

I recently blogged for the Georgia Library Media Association about using the Sock Puppets app on the iPad. Since that post, I introduced the app at a faculty meeting. I recorded a quick, light-hearted puppet show to introduce our faculty meeting. Then, a couple of teachers came up and did an impromptu puppet show to show how easy sock puppets is to use. We finished by having teachers think about how this app might be used with their students.

During the faculty meeting, Mrs. Freeman emailed me to collaborate on a summarizing lesson using sock puppets. Her 4th grade class has been working on summarizing skills during reading, and she thought that the 30-second time restraint of this app would encourage students to carefully think about how to summarize a story.

Checking in with Mrs. Freeman

We read Spork by Kyo Maclear. Students worked with partners to fill out a graphic organizer to help them think about summarizing the story. The organizer included setting, characters, beginning/middle/end, and conclusion. On the back of the organizer, partners created a script for their sock puppets. I encouraged them to be as creative as they wanted to with the script, but that the one thing that had to be in the script was a summary of the story.

Most groups wrote scripts that had the puppets talk back forth in this manner:

Sock puppet 1: What are you reading?

Sock puppet 2: Spork.

Sock puppet 1: What’s it about?

Sock puppet 2: It’s about….

Other groups had the puppets do a summary but then ended with the sock puppets getting into an argument or singing a song. Other groups tried to get the sock puppets to become actual characters from the book and act out the events of the story. Each group had their own take on how to weave in a summary while still being creative with their scripts.

Before each group could get an iPad to begin recording, students showed their script to an adult: Me (the media specialist), Mrs. Freeman, our instructional coach, and two paraprofessionals. Finally students recorded and saved their sock puppet stories. While they were recording, I walked around and gave tips on features of the app that students were forgetting to use.

Recording the script

At the end, we sat in front of the smart board and used an adapter to display the puppet shows. We had fun and laughed together, but we also pointed out things in the puppet shows that could be improved for next time. Students noticed how background noise affected the recording and how the pitch of each student’s voice affected the way the sock puppet talked in the end.

All in all, I felt like it was a creative, successful lesson that we learned from for future lessons. I loved that students were creators of new content and that their work had an immediate audience ready to give feedback.

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November 4, 2011 by plemmonsa

National Picture Book Month

November is now National Picture Book Month. We’re excited to be celebrating this important month here at Barrow. Students in every grade are tracking how many picture books they can read or listen to during the month. Each grade level has a recording sheet (see below) to track their books. As students participate, they will earn a certificate, bookmark, and their name will be put into a drawing for free reading-related prizes, including picture books. Also, students will be creating picture book posters to display in the media center and writing and recording book reviews of their favorite picture books. Teachers will be guests on our morning broadcast show to book talk some of their favorite books. I’m sure that even more exciting things will develop as we dive into this fun month. Join us in our celebration and feel free to share some of your favorite picture books in the comments section of this post.

Authors and Illustrators Team to Create Picture Book Month
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“I have always believed that literature begins in the cradle — the poems we say to the babies, the stories
we tell them — prepare them to become part of the great human storytelling community. We humans are
the only creatures in the known universe who make and remake our world with story.” – Jane Yolen from
her Picture Book Month essay
The New York Times declared, “Picture Books No Longer A Staple for Children” in an article
published in October 2010. The controversial article incited a barrage of responses from the children’s
book industry, many in defense of the venerable picture book. In addition, the digital age has ushered in
an unprecedented amount of ebooks and, with devices like the iPad, the color Nook, and the Kindle Fire,
picture books are being converted to the digital format.
Thus, Picture Book Month was born. Founder Dianne de Las Casas decided it was time to
celebrate picture books in their printed format so she created an initiative to designate November as
“Picture Book Month.” Katie Davis, Elizabeth Dulemba, Tara Lazar, and Wendy Martin came on board
to champion the cause and spread the word. A logo was designed by Joyce Wan. A website
(www.picturebookmonth.com) was created to feature essays from “Picture Book Champions,” thought
leaders in the children’s literature community. Each day in November, a new essay will be posted from
such notable contributors as Suzanne Bloom, Denise Fleming, Leslie Helakoski, Eric A. Kimmel, Tammi
Sauer, Dan Yaccarino, and Jane Yolen.
Better World Books and organizations like Scholastic Book Fairs Philippines are lending their
support. The website will also feature links to picture book resources, authors, illustrators, and kidlit book
bloggers. In addition, parents, educators, and librarians can download the theme calendar to help them
plan their picture book celebrations and access picture book activities.
Join the celebration! Visit www.picturebookmonth.com.