Confessions Of A Librarian - Book Stores Are My Guilty Pleasure!

I have always felt a little guilty that when I get time to myself, I love to go to our local books stores and look at the latest children's books. As a librarian, I should be choosing to go to our local public library, so I can support our wonderfully well stocked Dakota County Libraries.  I do love visiting our local libraries, but my guilty pleasure is browsing a book store children's section for an hour, reading the descriptions of all the new children's books!  I love finding the latest books and there is something so very tactile in the experience. Often, when I look at the publication date, they aren't even brand new books. I either missed them when they came out, or I couldn't afford to buy them all for our OHE library. I am always disappointed in the lack of selection in the nonfiction sections, but the fiction is fantastic!  I am especially fond of finding new books in series that I have already started!!

On my recent staycation to Barnes and Noble, I decided to document with pictures so I could share my findings on my blog. Maybe a few of you will enjoy my visit with me! Thanks to the nice Barnes & Noble associate who must have noticed I was snapping pictures every few minutes!

Look What Came Today!!

Klikaklu Helps Students Have Fun Locating Books In Our Library!!

Last week, I read about an app called Klikaklu (which I assume is pronounced Click A Clue) on Richard Byrne's Free Technology For Teachers website.  Richard invited a guest writer/educator, Ben Wiggins, to describe how he had used Klikaklu for a orienteering scavenger hunt with his class. After reading Ben's article, I was so excited to try it in the library with my students!  Just to be clear, even though I found the app on a website called Free Technology for Teachers, it is actually only free for seven days! When I realized the trial period was so short, I quickly set about creating a library search for my students that would quiz their location skills.  (Also, our last day for book checkout was Friday, so our library shelves are fairly stationary!)

This week my classes are trying the library scavenger hunt and I officially love this app!  First it works by matching images to pictured items. I have done library scavenger hunts with my students in the past, but I have used QR codes.  This was even better because students had to use the clues from the images to find the location of the pictured books, then scan to see if the books match the images.  The design of the app was perfect for an educational setting because each hunt can be randomize so that students are all searching for different books at different times!  Love that! 

I let the students partner up for their search. It was thrilling listening to their conversations about finding books in our library!  It was loud and chaotic, but through all of the commotion, students were discussing authors, genres, fiction, nonfiction, biographies, picture books and best of all they were enthusiastically discussing how to find books on our shelves!! It was a fantastic way to end our library school year!!

Our Digital Year In Review!!! Our Best of the Best iPad and Web Apps!

WHAM! POW! AppSmashing Super Heros With YouDoodle & StoryMe!

This week 3rd graders finally finished a project that we started back in March!!  We really didn't take 3 months to work on the project, we just had many many school interruptions along the way. Students were so excited to get back to the their super hero alter ego comics and finish them up!  To remember our journey to the finish line, click on my two earlier blog posts - SMASH! BOOM! KAPOW! 3rd Graders Are Researching and Planning Their Super Alter Egos! and 3rd Graders Create Their Super Alter Egos Using The YouDoodle App!  Just to summarize, we read many super hero library books and MyOn eBooks to learn about the common elements found in super hero comics.

Students planned their own super hero alter egos complete with arch nemesis, side kick, super powers and plan to save the world!  Once they had their ideas planned out, they partnered up to take each other's pictures in a super hero pose.  We imported their picture into the YouDoodle App to decorate with capes, masks and other super hero paraphernalia.  

Finally, this week students appsmashed (moved) their decorated images from the YouDoodle App to the StoryMe App to give their images a "comic book" look, add captions and speech bubbles. Students added onamonapia words for extra comic book authenticity!

Their final projects turned out to be WHIZ! BANG! FANTASTIC!!

2nd Graders Read Scaredy Squirrel's Graphic Organizers & Plan For Summer Using The Popplet Lite App!

Scaredy Squirrel, a delightful series written and illustrated by Melanie Watts, is about a Squirrel who is afraid of everything!  For a sneak peak...

Scaredy Squirrel tries to cope with his fears by being highly organized and makings list, charts and elaborate plans!  In the end, after a scary event turns into an adventure, he discovers something new about himself and decides to plan for his future "jump(s) into the unknown".  Planning for his adventures make them less scary!!  

After reading several books from the Scaredy Squirrel series, students followed his organizational example and made a plan for summer.  To make their plan, students used the app - Popplet Lite.  This app is free and helps students organize their ideas into wonderful mind maps!  Students can include text, images and their "selfies", making their plan even more visually interesting!  Student plans included having an adventure just like Scaredy Squirrel!!

A Special Day - Jenifer Wagner, Dakota County Heritage Children's Librarian Came To Visit!!

Just as the state's fishing opener, Mother's Day and Memorial Day all herald the approach of summer, the arrival of Jenifer Wagner to read to our students is an Oak Hills reminder that summer is nearing! Jenifer is the children's librarian at Heritage Library, our local branch of the Dakota County Library System. She is a master at read aloud, and shares her enthusiasm for the summer reading programs at all of the local libraries!  This week she visited Oak Hills and captivated her audience! 

Thank you Jenifer! Hope to see you and our students at the library this summer!!