Coronavirus Resources for Librarians I'd like to share two coronavirus resources for librarians who are looking for fall 2020 solutions. The photo above illustrates a social media idea that I re-created in PowerPoint. The template can be downloaded here: Behind the Mask_ThatLibraryGirl. Each day, beginning in late July, I've opened the template and added photos of a teacher posing with... and without... a mask. Then, I've saved the template slide as a jpg in the drop-down menu. The slides have been used as daily posts on our school Facebook page. In the description, I've shared a bit of news about each teacher, introduced him or her to our new families, and I've hopefully helped our students get used to seeing the school staff all masked up. Family Connections on Social Media While the template that I'm sharing is very simple, the feedback that we've received from this series of photos has been heart-warming. We've gotten lots of "likes," "loves," and sweet comments! I hope you find ... Keep Reading...
Collaborate with Your Specials on Classroom Management
Ready to Collaborate with Your Specials on Classroom Management? Oh boy, is it time to work on the behavior in your classroom? If your specials team has inconsistent behavior expectations and discipline guidelines, students can easily get confused. When a student knows what’s expected, no matter where he or she is on campus, better choices are made. After 35 years in education, I believe school-wide discipline plans are best, but hey, that might not be possible for you this year. On the other hand, let's explore getting your specials team on the same page. Curious? Well, this is how it happened for us. The Plan A few years ago, my principal wanted to start a school-wide behavior plan. She and a committee of teachers had come up with a basic set of rules for EVERYONE in the school to follow. In our case, this was kindergarten through fourth grade. Her goal was that no matter where a student was on campus, he or she would know the school rules and be actively obeying ... Keep Reading...
K-1 Library Centers During COVID-19
K-1 Library Centers During COVID-19? Because so many of my K-1 library center materials and robots have to stay packed away this fall, I've invested some of my media budget into what I'm calling "kinder and firstie bags" to use during the upcoming COVID-19 school days. It's really important to me to keep my students safe from germs AND continue my library centers. Each quart-sized, Ziploc freezer bag contains: a 50-cent box of Crayola 24-count crayons a Ticonderoga pencil a big pink eraser an Elmer's glue stick and a small canister of Play-Doh a "warm fuzzy" Everything except the Play-Doh came from Walmart. The Doh came from Amazon because I wanted the same color for everyone. The Cost of Continuing K-1 Library Centers Yeah... it was a lot of money. My cost was around $309 for 225 bags, but I got my principal's okay. (Besides, I justified it to myself with a plan to collaborate. Read on!) If your funds are tighter than mine, you could ... Keep Reading...
