Welcome to the 2021/22 school year!

 Hi all - welcome back to the 2021/22 school year! It's not actually hear *yet* as we have a few more weeks of vacation, but I wanted to post a quick hello and share some information. 

This year there will be classes in the library again. Yay! Students will learn about book care, library usage, digital literacy, online safety, robotics, and other fun stuff. We will also read the book award books together and have some fun with related activities. If you're interested in the book award books, here are the lists:

• Red Clover Book Award (grades K-4)
• Golden Dome Book Award (grades 4-8) (I forgot to post here that the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award program was renamed to the Golden Dome Book Award program, a name submitted by our very own DBS 4th graders and voted on my students around the state!)

I hope you have been reading this summer and enjoying the sunshine (when it isn't raining!). I can't wait to see everyone back in the library again soon! The fish are excited to see you too! They get lonely over the summer.

Just a little brag 😊

Every year in the spring teachers in the building nominate someone for Teacher of the Year. We all have a chance to nominate, then there is a vote, then the winner is announced at the District-wide Back-to-School Breakfast at the beginning of the year.

This year, Covid-19 hit and all norms went right out the window! I maybe thought about Teacher of the Year briefly when I realized we weren’t doing the District Breakfast, but that was about it.  I assumed we were not doing it this year due to Covid.  There is A LOT we are not doing this year because of Covid! But you know what they say about assuming…

At our first official staff meeting, held virtually, of course, Mr. D announced the two longevity awards (for teachers who have been in the district for a long time) and then said this:  Video

I had no idea! If I even suspected, I would have done my hair and not been eating an apple! :)  The one day I woke up late, threw my hair in a ponytail, and tossed some random foods in my lunch box… turns out to be the day the whole school is looking at me!  LOL.

I feel super appreciated though!

Later in the evening I logged into the high school performing arts department’s Welcome Back zoom meeting for parents and students. When the music teachers pulled up the website to show parents, they also gave me a shout-out for all the work I’ve done on it and how awesome it is.

I work hard, for sure, and I never feel taken advantage of, but it is pretty nice to get the accolades!  And the plaque!

Libraries are for everyone

Check out this amazing graphic from Hafuboti! She has versions is dozens of different languages as well.  They are so beautiful!

Many more at: https://hafuboti.com/2017/02/02/libraries-are-for-everyone

Even better, they are posted under a Creative Commons Attribute/Share Alike license – so you can download, share, modify, and use the images. In fact, she encourages it!

Multicultural Children's Book Day

Dear families,

January 31, 2020 is Multicultural Children’s Book Day. At Dothan Brook School we are preparing for MCCBD 2020 and hope you will join our celebration of diversity through children's books. As you may know, it is critical to expose children to books where they can see and learn about people like themselves (mirrors), as well as see and learn about people who are different from them (windows).

Multicultural Children’s Book Day‘s mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents, and educators. According to their website, this non-profit has donated over 7,000 books to kids and that number continues to climb.

We will be celebrating Multicultural Children’s Book Day for a whole week at DBS! Starting on January 27th, class council lessons and library activities will focus on diversity in literature. We will also be introducing the concept of books as windows and mirrors. Lodge circles that week will focus on diversity in literature as well.

We would love for you to take this opportunity to discuss the importance of diversity in the books with your children as well. We understand that talking about diversity can be challenging and uncomfortable, even for parents and teachers! For many, there is a fear of saying the wrong thing, or opening up a conversation you aren’t able to fully address, and often it feels easier to just not even begin the discussion. We would encourage you to take this opportunity to give it a try. Remember, we are all learning together!

Here are a few suggestions for talking about diversity in literature with your children:

• As you’re reading, pause to ask questions, such as:
• What is it like to feel different and not fit in?
• Was there a time you felt like this?
• Don’t skip over foreign words. Make an effort to learn them. Practice saying them together.
• Point out foods and clothing in stories that might be different from typical American food and clothing.
• In your home library, have students find a book with a picture of someone who looks like them and a book with a picture with someone who doesn’t look like them.

If you are interested in exploring further, check out these sites:

• https://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/literacy-empathy-discovery-action-the-mission-of-mcbd2020/
• https://www.weareteachers.com/mirrors-and-windows/
• http://www.aldenhabacon.com/13-tips-how-to-talk-to-children-about-diversity
• https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/teaching-diversity-place-begin-0/ 
• https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/how-to-teach-children-about-cultural-awareness-and-diversity

Little Free Library

Guess what?!  I got a Little Free Library for DBS!  :)  I'm super excited.  I've wanted one for awhile and last spring I asked Mr. D if we could put one in front of school.  He loved the idea.  I was hoping to find a boy scout or someone to do it for free, but ended up asking an awesome DBS family who likes doing family projects.  They had a few kids graduate DBS and were excited to make a lasting project for the school.  I was thrilled!  I gave them free range on design and they ran with it.  The week before school started they were ready to install.

I love this family!  They are such an amazing asset to the community.

They even brought some books to get it started!

It has solar powered lights running along the inside of the roof. A very classy touch.

There is a website called LittleFreeLibrary.org that started the movement (as best I know) and maintains a map of locations. I went to registered our new addition and discovered that it's a trademarked name!  Of course! In order to use the name (which we obviously and clearly did!) and be listed on the map you have to pay a small fee and get a plaque.  Guess what I did ASAP?! :)  The plaque should be arriving in the mail any day now. 

During the first week of school I was talking to each of the classes about it and I was thrilled that so many kids had already found it and started getting books.  I love the expressions when I tell them that although it's called a "library" they can actually KEEP the books if they want to!  And add some of their own that they are done with.  The kids love it!  I'll check on it regularly and keep it stocked with books as well, just in case kiddos take books faster than they leave them. 
 

Three Little Pigs and First Grade

For the past few weeks in library, first graders have been studying different versions of The Three Little Pigs fairy tale.  We talked about when it was first written and how the variety of versions are similar and different.  The story was first written in the late 1800's by  James Halliwell-Phillipps, with a more popular version written several years later by Joseph Jacobs, crediting Halliwell-Phillipps.

After reading several versions of the story and retelling it, we started making our own stop motion version of the fairy tale.

Next week we'll finish the video and students will have a chance to make their own stop motion fairy tales.  I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Book Awards and Celebrations

The Red Clover and Dorothy Canfield Fisher book awards have been decided for the 2018/19 school year.

Students at DBS were on the mark with both awards!  For the Red Clover book award, The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, by Drew Daywalt, won the vote at DBS and went on to win the state-wide vote as well.

This funny book explains the back story of these three great warriors and without fail every child starts playing the game as soon as the book is over.

The older kids were busy reading Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award nominees all year and when they got the chance to vote the results were a tie: Refugee and Ban This Book, both written by Alan Gratz!  When the votes were tallied across the state, Refugee took the win.

Refugee is a powerful story of three separate children, in three separate periods of time, escaping their dangerous homelands and seeking refuge in a safer place.

Sadly we can't go to the award ceremony this year, but I hosted a little celebration in the library for those who read and voted in the Dorothy Canfield Fisher award.  We had brownies, ice cream, and a fun Skype session with Terry Lynn Johnson, author of Falcon Wild!  She talked about falconing, mushing (dog sleds!), and her new book.  The kids had lots of great questions for her.

The 2019/20 list is out for both awards and the books are in.  I'm looking forward to sharing them with students next fall.

Shelf markers

This week kindergartners have been learning a "big kid skill" and loving it!  Earlier in the year they each decorated a paint stick in art class, then I added bar codes and called them shelf markers.  This week the kiddos learned how to use them. They were very responsible with them.

More real-world STEM

These kiddos finished two bookshelves and a book display!  Now they are moving on to an even trickier project -- creating shelves without instructions.  I love their enthusiasm!

Practical Learning

I used my Scholastic Book Fair dollars to get some new shelving units for the library.  They've been sitting around, unbuilt, for awhile now, so this week I decided to have my 5th grade STEM class put them together.  What a great decision!!  The kids are having a great time and I am amazed with the collaboration I'm seeing.  Talk about real life skills!  They self-selected groups and are working remarkably well together.  Today I heard one kid explaining a cam screw to another, who listened attentively then replied with, "Wow, cool." They are following directions, some of which are minimal at best and one set is written in Portuguese!  Fortunately it's also illustrated.  The kids have come across some problems, they've had to redo parts, and one group even had to take it all apart and start from scratch.  I've heard some frustrations, but no one has quit.  One girl, upon finding out they had to go backwards several steps, again, said, "I'M NOT DOING THIS AGAIN. I'M DONE!" but even as she was saying it, she started undoing her work and she proceeded to work with the rest of her group to fix the problem and carry on.  I didn't even have to intervene.  At the end of each class I ask if I should finish it for them or if they want to keep working on it, and I always get a resounding "We want to do it!"  So we tuck things out of the way and leave it until they come back again for their next STEM class.  I'm in no hurry to get them done.  In fact, with the effort I'm seeing from these kiddos, I'm tempted to buy more furniture!!  :)

Testing out Santa's Sphero sleighs

In library class 5th grade has been working on building Santa Sleighs out of recycled materials. Today they got to test them out with Spheros for reindeer! We learned that running on the carpet causes friction which slows things down, that it's good to have your reindeer closer to the sleigh, that a smaller sleigh is easier to pull but carries less presents, and that it's hard for ONE Santa to drive many sleighs!

The Book Fair is Coming

Hi family and friends -- once again the Scholastic Book Fair will be at DBS the last week of October.  Just in time for parent conferences!  This year they have a new feature called eWallet that should make shopping easier for all.

Learn more and set up your account on our book fair web page: www.scholastic.com/bf/dbs

First day of school

Wow! We are back at school already. Summer flew by! It was wonderful to see all the smiling faces again and get to read to the kiddos again.  Yay!  I was so busy that I didn't take any pictures.  The day felt like summer (heat wave!) and flew by just as fast.

Here is the library schedule for this year.

Monday
Mrs. Burris 1st grade
Afternoon PreK
Mrs. Raney's 3rd grade

Tuesday
Mrs. Atwater's 1st grade
Mrs. Underwood's 3rd grade

Wednesday
Ms. MacCallum's 2nd grade
Ms. Jenkyn's 2nd grade

Thursday
4th grade - blue group
Mrs. Rydjeski's kindergarten

Friday
Morning PreK
Mrs. McKenney's 5th grade
Mr. Burns' 5th grade
Mrs. Schultz's kindergarten
4th grade - red group

I'll try to update this blog often.  You can also find out what's going on by following me on Twitter (@dbslibrary) and Instagram (@dbslibrary). 

I'm looking forward to a great year with stories and robots and fun in the library. 

The Three Little Pigs

Kindergarten and 1st grade this week watched the story of The Three Little Pigs, then got a chance to try building houses of out straw, sticks, and bricks.  Then the Big Bad Wolf came along and tried to blow them down.  The kids loved it!  We had some great Big Bad Wolves as well.  :)

Some kids knew the story, but others did not. 

After watching the video we retold the story as a group, discussing the various building materials they used and which worked better than the others.  Everyone knew that bricks were strongest and straw was weakest.  Then I challenged them to make their own houses that could not be blown down.

"Bricks" were Legos and clearly the strongest building material.

This Big Bad Wolf was very dramatic and had amazing lung strength! 

The kids LOVED calling over the Big Bad Wolf to see if he could blow down their houses.  

We were pretty loose with the concept of "house."  It often ended up more of a pile. :)

That house went right off the table!

You have to try blowing down your own house before you can call over the Big Bad Wolf.

This house survived the first test.

For "straw" we used small plastic coffee stir straws.  The kids definitely had to use their imaginations building houses with these materials.  They did a great job with it.

We kept a tall on the white board to analyze which building material was strongest.

 In the end the brick houses always prevailed!

Can't go wrong with Legos!