2013 Beehive Book Awards

The Beehive Book Awards were announced last Friday.  

How do you feel about the winners? Are these winning titles ones that the students in your school would agree with?

Did anyone attend the CLAU Awards Banquet on Friday night?  It would have been such a treat to get to hear Jon Scieszka speak. 

He also spoke the next day, Saturday, at the Viridian Event Center which is next to the new West Jordan Public Library.  Did anyone go and hear John Scieszka on Saturday?

Finding Your Way Around

Do you use any mapping apps on your iPad?

Has technology changed the way that you get where you're going?

Spring Cleaning

Did anyone do any spring cleaning over spring break? 

I'm not sure what the origins of the tradition of spring  cleaning are.  Maybe it had to do with people being shut in their homes during the cold months with smokey, sooty fires and candles---and so in the spring, they would wash away the winter grime?  

Anyway.... do people really spring clean anymore?

Do you spring clean your libraries?  I used to get sticky tape residue on my library tables and doors.  There was some kind of special cleaner that I had that would remove the residue from the tape, but I can't remember what it was called.  Does anyone know the name of that special cleaner?

E.L. Konigburg

E.L. Konigsburg died this weekend.  She was 83.  

In 1967, her very first 2 books, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Hennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth won the Newbery and Newbery Honor Awards.  She is the only author to have won both a Newbery and a Newbery Honor in the same year.

Elaine Lobl Konigsburg even illustrated some of her own books.

What is your favorite E.L. Konigsburg book?

Jeanene's Birthday

Today is Jeanene's birthday!

Jeanene's happy and fun personality, combined with her exemplary library skills, make her such an awesome library technology teacher!  Her students love to come to the library because she makes it such a happy place.

Happy birthday to her!

End of Year Library Social

Jill and her crew are planning our annual May Social. The social will be Tuesday, May 14th, at 3:30 at Highland High Library.

Check out Jill's fun blabber for more details.

School Library Month and National Library Week

April is a great month for libraries!

April is School Library Month, and the week of April 14th to 20th is National Library Week.  

School Library Month was first celebrated in 1985, and its goal is to celebrate the essential role that strong school library programs play in a student's educational career.

National Library Week began in 1958.  Its purpose is to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support.

So-----just in case no one else has wished you "Happy School Library Month" and offered their appreciation for all that you do-----I want to express appreciation for how wonderful, hard-working, and dedicated you are.  You make a difference in your schools!

National DEAR Day

Today, April 12th, is National Drop Everything and Read Day.  

Does your school do DEAR now or has it done it in the past?  How did it work for your school?

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month!  What are some of the special poetry activities or poetry spotlights you do in your libraries in April?  

If you don't do poetry activities in April, what kinds of things do you do throughout the year with poetry?

As part of National Poetry Month, April 18th is designated as Poem in Your Pocket Day.  Have you or your students ever participated in this fun activity?

Read Write Think has some ideas to use with Poem in Your Pocket Day.  There are also a few poetry resources on our Connect Collaborate Share wiki.

Newest Winners!

Sheryl is the winner of a $50.00 iTunes educational app card!

All of these prizes are for the period of March 20, 2013 to April 9th.

Additional smaller prize winners are:



Margo
Karen
Joseph
Mary A.
Sarah

Thank you all for your contributions to our Connect Collaborate Share blog!  

Margo's birthday

Today is Margo's birthday!

Margo is truly invaluable to her faculty.  She teaches awesome curriculum units, oversees technology for the entire school, participates on school committees, and is always willing to do whatever her faculty needs.  And she does it with a smile!  :-)

Happy birthday to her!

Spring Break

Spring break!  How we love it!

What did you do?  Go on a special trip?  Relax at home?  Read some books?  Visit with family?  Work in the yard?  Do your taxes? 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and refreshing spring break!

Lonnie's Birthday

Today is Lonnie's birthday!

Lonnie was born in Salt Lake City, but she grew up in Park City.  She and her two brothers loved growing up in such beautiful surroundings. She said that Park City has certainly changed since she was a child there.  She attended Marsack Elementary, and it was the only grade school in the entire town.  She attended Park City High School which covered grades 7 through 12, and there were only 189 students! 

Lonnie says that she didn't really like to read very much as a child--but look at her now!  She makes her living working with librarians and library systems!  And by the way, she now loves to read!

Lonnie can be found scrapbooking and making lovely homemade cards when she has a few leisure moments at home.  She especially likes to go camping with her family.  Stillwater, which is near Mirror Lake in the Uintahs, is one of her favorite camping destinations.

What would we do without Lonnie?  We are so thankful for her cataloging expertise and for the hard work that she does on behalf of all the librarians. 

Happy birthday to her!

Bluefish

Has anyone finished reading Bluefish yet?  If so, what are your feelings about it?  
*What did you think about Mr. McQueen's tactics to help Travis learn to read?  
*Why was Mr. McQueen's choice of Haunt Fox by Jim Kjelgaard a good one? 
*What do Travis, Vida (Velveeta), and Bradley have in common?  
*What does the title, Bluefish, refer to? 
*This is technically another "dead dog" book. (See the post on 9-13-2012 about dead dog books.) 
*Did the book leave you with hope for Travis and his grandfather's relationship?

Guys Read

Jon Scieszka's website, Guys Read, offers ideas, suggestions, and tips for luring young males into reading. 

According to Mr. Scieszka, "Research shows that boys are having trouble reading, and that boys are getting worse at reading. No one is quite sure why.  Some of the reasons are biological.  Some of the reasons are sociological."

When you were a classroom teacher, did you find this to be true for you?  Does it still seem true now that you are teaching in a library?  Or do you see no difference in reading enjoyment between males and females?

What kinds of books do the males in your libraries gravitate to?  

Pamela's Birthday

Today is Pamela's birthday!  Pamela should win an award for perseverance and hard work.  She has been at 3 different libraries in the past 3 years---AND she has done a fabulous job at all 3 libraries!  Happy birthday to Pamela!

March is Women's History Month

On March 3, 1913 (100 years ago!), about 5,000 suffragettes descended on Washington D.C. in a march to advocate for women's rights.

Suffragette - a woman who advocates suffrage for women

Suffrage - the right of voting


Do you do any activities in the library for Women's History Month?  Or do any of your classroom teachers do Women's History activities and use you and the library as an information resource for their activities?

Blog Winners!

Our grand prize winner for the period of February 27th to March 19th is Pamela! She will be receiving a $50.00 iTunes educational app card.  Congratulations to her!









Our 5 winners of smaller prizes are:

Carlynn
Linda H.
Karen S
Jean B.
Sarah 

Library Pockets--Remember?

Thank goodness for library automation! If you've been a librarian for awhile, what are your memories of checking out books with the old book pockets and cards?  How long did it used to take for a whole class to check out their books?  How long did it used to take to check all those books back in?

Or what are your memories as a child when you used to frequent your school or public library and write your name on those little cards?

Think about how much we safeguard privacy these days in regards to what books patrons check out.  With the old system, that little card was a record of every person who had checked that book out! :-)

Janice's Birthday

Today is Janice's birthday!  Janice is so willing to explore new ideas and is always ready to try something new.  She has exceptional technology skills and is a talented teacher.  Happy birthday to her!

UELMA

For those of you who were able to attend UELMA, what is something interesting or useful that you learned?

What was your favorite part of the conference?

UCET

For those of you who were able to attend UCET, what is something interesting or useful that you learned?

What was your favorite part of the conference?

Sarah's Birthday

Today is Sarah's birthday!  
Sarah is an incredible asset to her school and community.  She is committed to libraries and is even on a community committee to make plans for the new neighborhood public library in the Glendale area.  Happy birthday to her!

Dr. Seuss

Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday!  

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2, 1904.

What fun Seuss-related activities did you do in your libraries last week?

Aloha!

ALOHA!

I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Hawaii, for a week, over President's Day.  My entire extended family (22 of us) rented a beach house in Kailua, Hawaii.  It was our Christmas to each other this year and I have been looking forward to it for some time now.  

One of the things I have wanted to do is hike the Haiku Stairs - "Stairway to Heaven" near Kaneohe.  The Haiku Stairs are approximately 4,000 stairs that lead up to a radar tower used in World War II.

You have to sneak in to this hike before the guard arrives at 3:00am.  15 of our 22 people conquered the "Stairway to Heaven."   It was dangerous and scary and difficult, but there were breathtaking views from the top. 

I absolutely love that my family and especially my children commit to doing these crazy things that I come up with to do.  I can now mark this off my "bucket list."


Is there something you are aspiring to do or something you hope to mark off your "bucket list?" 

Winners!

The Grand Prize Winner for the period of February 5th to to February 26th is Marianne!  She has won a $50.00 iTunes gift card to purchase educational apps for her iPad!






Additional winners of smaller prizes are:

Pamela
Joseph
Jean B.
Stephanie
Mary A.

Thank you all for your comments to our library blog!

Jeanne K.'s Birthday

Today is Jeanne K.'s birthday!  Jeanne loves her school and is involved in many activities and committees in addition to her library duties.  This makes her invaluable to her school!  Happy birthday to Jeanne!

Glogster - Maybe a Beginning of the Year Presentation?

Check out this great Glog that Marianne made.  Don't miss the little video she embedded.  Her dog has admirable self-control!  


She also put a Wordle right into her Glog.  It's about her favorite books.  :-)

This would be a fun thing to show to students at the beginning of the year.

If you experiment with Glogster, don't forget to use Glogster.Edu---not regular Glogster.

Beehive Book Awards

In what ways do you highlight/display the Beehive  Book Award nominees in your library? 

Throughout the year, are you able to read the picture book nominees to your students?
  
Do you book talk the other nominees?
  
Do you have students vote for their favorites? If so, how do you handle that?

Inventory

Inventory can be a difficult part of the job of a Library Technology Teacher because it's hard to fit into busy library schedules.  But it's a good feeling when it's all finished because we know that the records for our holdings are now accurate.  

What are your tips and tricks for surviving inventory? Do you have suggestions to make it go more smoothly?