Ugh Oh

How is that you look up one day and it's April and you are counting down the days until school is out?  Well that is what has happened here.  I thought I had blogged some stuff that is happening but I log in and low and behold The Elf on the Shelf is the last time.  So Ugh oh.  There goes my promise to myself to blog more often.  In my defense I have written new blogs at least once a week (in my head while trying to go to sleep) we all know that feeling.

I feel like a lot has changed in the library since December.  So let's see.  We started skill tubs for Kinder and 1st to use when they come to the library for "free time."  I hate to call it free time but each teacher does things differently so for some it is Daily 5 time and some it is Center time and some it might just be free time.  We noticed the little ones were kinda lost with too many choices when they came alone so we came up with that schedule that I talked about in a previous post about Flex Scheduling.

That has gone so well with the kids kinda of having a daily schedule and the skill tubs were a hit.  I still kinda of think of them as a "table tub" or "morning work tub" from the classroom.  We started with a few for Kinder and 1st and we dreamed them up based on what they were learning in the classroom.  They have now tripled and we keep adding more and taking some away.

The kids quickly figured out what they liked the best.  Cup stacking and Legos are always a hit.  We have cup stacking with sight words and contractions and Lego's with math problems that are well used.

Skill tubs go with the TEKS and have a K for Kinder or a 1st for First Grade or both

Cup Stacking and Duplos to add to the sum of 10 or 20

Sudoku and Cup stacking with contractions using NOT

building CVC words and counters

Since we all have favorites we wanted to find a way to have the kids use them all.  What better way that to use popsicle sticks and have them pull for the tub they will use that day.  We made them red and blue to match the box labels.  They just draw a stick and that is the skill tub they work on that entire time.  This seems to have solved our problem and I'm sorry we didn't do it sooner.  Live and learn right.  

Each tub has a stick and when we remove the tub we take the stick out.

Until next time.  I promise it won't be 4 months and instead of writing this in my head I might actually get it down here.

Happy Reading

Kathy

Welcome to Flex Scheduling........

Well not totally flex but almost.  I was thrilled to learn that because of the numbers at school I am only in rotation for 3rd and 5th grade.  It has open a world of possibilities for my school.  Before I came to Donald I had been in a flex schedule for 13 years. So I was ready for the challenge.

Stress always comes with something new.  I think teachers were sad to think their kids wouldn't be coming to library every week.  So it was my job to dispel that myth.  Let me tell you my circulation numbers are on the rise..

My Kindergarten and First grade teachers were all for sending a small group of students to the library during their Daily 5/Literacy station time but we realized we needed a little direction for them.  If you recall from a post last year we read Marley Goes to School by John Grogan to Kinder at the start of every year.  We talk about Marley causing mischief in the school.  We then use little brown dogs and tape them to all the Cozy Corners (this is our name for centers) that they can use.  This is their visual where they don't have to ask us if they can play or use something.  We had to come up with the way for the kids to know what they should be doing.  The teachers send them down in groups of 3-5 with a timer, usually an ipad and they have 30 minutes.  Well you know it doesn't take but about 2 minutes for the little ones to check out a book.  So after checking out they have some choices.  Our Kindergarteners can check out, read, do a skill tub and then a cozy corner and 30 minutes is plenty of time for them.

We made these little passes for them.  We have one hanging so we can remember what they are suppose to do as well. 

Each of our Kindergarten classes has a name like the bunnies or the puppies so their pass uses that picture so we can tell where they came from quickly. 

The First Grade teachers had a few different ideas.  They actually have two times during the day where the teacher pulls small groups and the other students have station time.  So what they want their kids in the library to do looks like this.  Even though they have "check out a new book" only on Monday the kids can check out any day they need to return their books.

Next weeks post will be about our Challenge Lab and Skill Tubs

Can't wait to share all the cool things that go on there.

Cozy Corners (Centers Part 2)

As promised this is part 2 of Cozy Corners, last week I said to start small and grow from there.  Some other centers we are using that cost very little.  While digging through old "stuff" in closets and workrooms we came across several of the clear overhead manipulatives that nobody uses anymore. Now if you still use an Overhead projector your kids might not find this very exciting but our younger kids have never seen an Overhead Projector.  We called our warehouse and asked if they had any sitting around, they did and sent us one the next day.  As I said last week we used the book drop cart and turned it into a puzzle table, so that leaves an open space where the cart was.  We put the overhead on a little scooter (it was in bad shape and the PE teacher gave it to us) and slid it in that space.  So the overhead cozy corner is now out of sight unless somebody is using it.  We put all the little manipulatives in a container and they kids project it on the wall and use it.  For fun sometimes we even put paper for them to trace the shapes on.  We have tangrams, counters, money and clocks for them to use.

Introducing the Overhead to Kindergarten

Playing with the Overhead

It projects perfectly onto the wall in front of it.

When not in use we just push it back and out of the way.  Pieces are stored in little drawers.

Felt Board Fun has been a huge hit.  Remember the days when we used it all the time to tell a story, well guess what the kids still love and they don't know much about it.  We found a set of felt characters from The Three Little Pigs and and thought we would use it during a read aloud.  The kids loved it so much off to Michaels and Hobby Lobby we went.  We bough cheap scraps of felt and cut out turkey feathers and turkey parts for our first Felt Board Fun.  Remember that easel we used last week for the big books, well we used the back side and put felt on it and bam we had a new Cozy Corner.

We used a plastic show box and bull clips to hold it on.  The clip on the lip of the box holds it there and they
can put the pieces of felt in the box.

Found these little kits at Michaels for under $5.00

Our Turkey - it was Grandparent luncheon and book fair so Grandpa was helping

I had a corner that wasn't really being used so I bought 6 yards of black felt - I don't sew so even trying to figure out felt was funny.  Stapled it up on the wall and we have a wall to do bigger things.  I even cut and painted all the tiles for Scrabble and the older kids like to play Scrabble.

Winter snowman and our year round tree that shows the seasons

In October we used the Skeleton with the book Bones by Steve Jenkins as a connection

"Do you wanna build a Snowman"  Of course they do.

Scrabble Wall.  

Doodle and Draw was also easy to get started and maintain.  We found a small white board in a closet and pulled it out with some dry erase markers and the kids love to write and draw on it.  If a color sheet can be found that goes with a read aloud story we will copy it and put it out for the younger kids.  I also found some Doodle and Draw books and plain white scratch paper, included some buckets or markers and crayons and there you go.  We put clip boards there so they can move around with their papers.  

White board

Doodle and Draw Cozy Corner

Some kids drawing, you can see the Big Book and Felt easel in the back

Color pages from Teddy Bear Picnic

The last Cozy Corner I want to share with you today is a Bigger than Life Shelving game.  We asked the kids to bring in cracker boxes and cereal boxes and we covered them with paper and made them look like a book.  We have them sort them into the Dewey Classification and then self them in the proper order.  I ended up some empty shelves after weeding so they actually do it on a real shelf.  We are going to have the older kids put them on the real shelf where they go mixed in with the real library books.   No cost at all for this Cozy Corner.

Shelf Me

Now I should tell you that we are a full iPad campus so all of my students have an iPad that they have at home and school everyday.  You will notice none of these Centers have anything to do with technology and we did that on purpose.  We use plenty of technology in projects and lessons.