MS. MCGILL'S LIBRARY WEBSITE - Blog

April Poetry Bracket : 2021 Iteration

4/1/2021

Celebrate National Poetry Month
with a school-wide Sweet 16 Poetry Bracket!

The Sweet 16 Contenders this spring are:
April 1: "Who has Seen the Wind" (C. Rossetti) vs. "I'm Thankful" (J. Prelutsky)
April 2: "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me, Too" (S. Silverstein) vs. "The Swing" (R. L. Stevenson)
[Spring Break]
April 12: Four Nonsense Poems (E. Lear) vs. "If I were in Charge of the World" (J. Viorst)
April 13: "A Kite" (F. D. Sherman) vs. "The Old Pond" (M. Basho)
April 14: "The Crocodile" (L. Carroll) vs. "I'm Nobody, Who are You?" (E. Dickinson)
April 15: "Life Doesn't Frighten me at All" (M. Angelou) vs. "13 Ways of Loving a Blackbird" (T. Winder)
April 16: "When Giving is All we Have" (A. Rios) vs. "The Hill we Climb" (A. Gorman)
April 19th: "Remember" (J. Harjo) vs. "Broken English" (R. Kaur)
April 20th: Elite Eight Contest begins!

Let the words begin!

Image: McGill, J. (2021). Spring photo with annotation. CC-BY NC.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! Virtual Field Trips

1/30/2021

The second quarter of library lessons included virtual field trips around the world. Students were asked to send me an electronic postcard as their response--enjoy the highlights!

Roman Arches

The Great Mosque of Djenne, Mali

Students seemed very engaged by the chance to travel beyond our current circumstances, and to be reminded of how many exciting places and people there are to learn about, around the world. I hope someday they travel and see these places in person!
Images: McGill, J. (2020). Library activity photos. CC-BY NC.

Virtual Library Highlights -- 1st Quarter

11/22/2020

The first quarter of virtual elementary school library has ended;
it's time to share some positives!
Highlights include:

the students and I experienced a new level of mutually cooperative learning as we all worked together, trying to figure out this online learning model;
joy rekindled when we were together (even if it's only virtually); see one example pictured above, where a student pranked me by using her younger brother's tablet to enter the library Zoom with two selves, one of them in virtual animal ears & nose;
students shaped the schedule, and created virtual learning spaces I hadn't dreamed of. Thanks to the support of my principal and administration, our first quarter was an open library Zoom time, to be molded as the students needed. Over time, one block became Maker Mondays; another, Book Talk Tuesdays; Wednesdays became a chapter book club (reading & discussing Pippi Longstocking), while Thursdays remained a virtual walk-in time, for research questions, chit-chat, book talk and reading recommendations--whatever the students wanted;
"Specialists" became "Essentialists;" our schools reaffirmed the importance of art, music, physical education, and library services in the school experience for all ages; librarians rose to the challenge and used their creativity and determination to ensure safe access to materials for all;
Our circulation statistics reaffirmed the essentialness of getting books into children's hands; our small rural school library had 899 circulations for the first quarter (out of a population of approximately 175 students working virtually);
Finally, observing what happens when students access our collection through the online catalog only has opened my eyes to possible barriers in how they access it in person. One example: in previous years our 700s books have languished (aside from 741.5 graphic novels). With the online catalog use, suddenly the 700s books are circulating more than in the previous four years combined. Why? It could be because everyone's at home trying to learn how to make things, but I've realized that another cause may be that I need to move that chess table out of the way . . . it is the most cramped section of the library;
moving to a virtual-only space has made me realize I need to entirely rethink the existing physical space.

Fan Fiction:
A student read aloud one chapter of the prequel to Pippi Longstocking that she is writing and illustrating. This included a detailed backstory on how Pippi gets her super strength.

We've entered a new learning stage for this second quarter, where some of the students are back in the school building on alternating days; we shall see what this quarter brings!
Images: McGill, J. (2020). Library activity photos. CC-BY NC.

April Poetry Bracket -- Game on!

3/31/2020

April is National Poetry Month!
Celebrate with our Sweet 16 bracket of poems
running weekdays April 2nd through April 30th.
(No new postings on spring break, April 6th - 10th.)
Voting link will update each morning.

April 30th: The 2020 Champion: "Songs for the People" (excerpt) by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper!

April 29th: FOR THE 2020 CHAMPIONSHIP:
"April" versus "Songs for the People" (excerpt)"
Vote for your favorite HERE

April 28th: Final Four Winner! "April!"
"April" versus "" (excerpt) "The Walrus and the Carpenter"
April 14th Winner: "Songs for the People!"
"Blue-Butterfly Day" versus "Songs for the People" (excerpt)
April 24th Winner: "The Walrus & The Carpenter!"
"Trees" versus "The Walrus and the Carpenter"
April 23rd Winner: "April!"
"April" versus "A Noiseless Patient Spider"
April 22nd Winner: "Songs for the People!"
"The Kite" versus "Songs for the People" (excerpt)
April 21st: Elite Eight Begins!
April 21st Winner: "Blue-Butterfly Day!"
"Blue-Butterfly Day" versus "Clouds"
April 20th Winner: "Trees!"
"I Conquer the World with Words" versus "Trees"
April 17th Winner: "The Walrus & The Carpenter!"
"A Jelly-Fish" versus "The Walrus and the Carpenter"
April 16th Winner: "A Noiseless Patient Spider!"
"After While" versus "A Noiseless Patient Spider"
April 15th Winner: "April!"
"April" versus "My Shadow"
April 14th Winner: "Songs for the People!" (excerpt)
"Songs for the People" (excerpt) vs "The Cat & the Moon"
April 13th Winner: "The Kite!"
"If I can Stop One Heart from Breaking" vs
"The Kite"
April 3rd Winner: "Blue-Butterfly Day!"
"Blue-Butterfly Day" vs.
"The Best Thing in the World"
April 2nd Winner: "Clouds!"
"Caterpillar" versus "Clouds"

16 Poems to start . . .
1 Champion, to be announced April 30th!
The Contenders
"After While" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"April" by Sara Teasdale
"The Best Thing in the World" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
"Blue-Butterfly Day" by Robert Frost
"The Cat and the Moon" by William Butler Yeats
"Caterpillar" by Christina Rossetti
"Clouds" by Anonymous
"Conquer the World with Words" by Nizar Qabbani
"If I can Stop One Heart from Breaking" by Emily Dickinson
"A Jelly-Fish" by Marianne Moore
"The Kite" by John Frederick Freeman
"My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson
"A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman
"Songs for the People" (excerpt) by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
"Trees" by Alfred Joyce Kilmer
"The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll

Image: McGill, J. (2020). Flower photo. CC-BY NC.

Library Survey

3/10/2020

Elementary library survey opening up the week of March 16th.
forms.gle/PzCw1y4qpuCFAubF9

Book Tastings--Feel the Love of Reading!

2/4/2020

February brings our annual Book Tasting event! The Cafe de Libro Amor opens again!

Balloon Bingo: Maker Project Extension

1/29/2020

We enjoyed our annual balloon maker project in the library this fall,
using the mentor text of Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet
(see previous posts on Dec. 2018, Dec. 2017, and Nov. 2016).
This year, however, a new iteration:
students played Balloon Bingo, extending the fun into December!
Children had the choice of drawing or writing their answers.

Images: McGill, J. (2019). Library activity photos. CC-BY NC

The Bingo prize?
A balloon! (un-inflated, to be tucked into backpacks...)

Choose Your Own Library Adventure!

10/28/2019

5th-graders worked in the library using google forms to create "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories! This was a team collaboration of our Gifted and Talent Development Teacher Ms. Anish, an Instructional Coach D. Thomas, and the Librarian (myself). 5th Grade Teachers also supported us through allowing the students to work on the project for additional times as needed. Some are complete, others are still in progress.

One-Pagers in the Library

5/7/2019

Students created one-page reading responses in the library.

This work was inspired by an NCTE article by Jill Yamasawa Fletcher, linked below:
www2.ncte.org/blog/2018/11/the-magic-of-one-pagers/ .

5th Graders created responses to poems, during National Poetry Month:

4th Graders created "Lost" posters for "The Lost Words," by Robert Macfarlane:

Students were most intrigued by conkers and how to play it!
My big takeaway was how this activity not only brought insight on the readings,
but also taught me so much about the students.

Images: McGill, J. (2019). Library activity photos. CC-BY NC

Library Winter Celebrations

3/3/2019

Students and staff have enjoyed several celebrations in the library over the past few weeks!
Most recently, Black History Month saw the library turned into an interactive museum;
tables displayed photos and information about famous African Americans,
as well as books and manipulatives to enrich the experience.
Students also had the choice of using QR codes to access additional information.

On Valentine's week, students experienced a "Heart to Heart" diverse book tasting,
complete with LED candles, tablecloths, and classical music.
Two school-board members joined us;
students demonstrated how to complete the Google survey at the end.

We began February by celebrating Chinese New Year; students enjoyed related books and activities, such as learning to use abaci and creating and sharing tangrams.

January saw our first "Camp Out for Reading" event--over one-hundred community members joined us! Thanks to Scouts for helping set up and take down the tents.

Other highlights include: a 5th-Grade collaboration bundling a story, writing,
spuds, and creativity:

a Kindergarten collaboration introducing them to coding with LIghtbots;

and primary students using story props on trays to retell fairy tales.

Favorite library moment: when a student experiencing
the Black History Museum explored
using a stethoscope to listen
to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong jazz
at our music station.

Images: McGill, J. (2019). Library activity photos. CC-BY NC