Logbooks

Final Reflective Paper

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B7ajG2cA8vdnODFmOGZkOTEtODQ5NC00YWE4LTgyN2YtZjQ1ZTNjMzFmYTBk&hl=en

Final thoughts...

As I head to my last official internship day at CPS this morning, I am so excited to know that I actually managed to complete an internship that I thought was next to impossible given my work schedule. Somehow I managed to accumulate the necessary hours, but I know that Summer had a great deal to do with that. Having completed the MLS journey just three years ago herself, she remembers all too well the stresses and frustrations of raising a family, working full-time, and taking classes. She was more than accommodating and understanding, and it was easy to work out a schedule to meet both of our needs. After today, I will be off for the holiday weekend, but I have told Summer to expect me back in the library for the final two or three weeks before school is out for Christmas break. Now that the internship experience is over, I know I can still benefit from time spent observing and volunteering, but it will be nice to not have any time pressures or constraints to deal with!

I hope this portfolio is informative and slightly entertaining, as it has been an enjoyable experience documenting my time at Chocowinity Primary School. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving, etc.-Nov. 15-19

This week I am switching gears and attending the afternoon classes since my work schedule will allow afternoons off this week. This is a welcome change, as it will allow me to observe and work with a whole new variety of classes in the third and fourth grade. The morning classes are mostly for the K-2 grades, so I am excited to see how things are similar or different with the older students.

One of the afternoon class activities involved the reading of How Many Days to America by Eve Bunting, along with a thorough discussion of the Thanksgiving holiday and what it represents. Summer discussed the pilgrims and early settlers and asked the class to think about comparisons as they were listening to the story. Also, at various points within the story, she would stop to ask questions relative to the story line at any given moment. I was extremely impressed with the attention span of these students and their ability to answer the questions so easily and with so much thought. It was fun to see their brains working and trying to reason Summer's questions and answers. Everyone loved this story, and I was proud of myself for recognizing the author. We learned about Eve Bunting in a previous course, so it was nice to make the connection for a change.

The other class activity involved research and collaboration to find out specific facts about three different cities-Raleigh, Charleston, and Seattle. The groups had to work together to find information from the Almanac and Encyclopedias to answer the following questions relative to their city:
1. What is the population?
2. What is the average temperature in January? July?
3. What is the average yearly precipitation?
4. What is the geography of the city?
5. Name an interesting fact about the city.

I worked with each group as they struggled with some of the facts, but all in all, they were pretty self-sufficient. Of course everyone was most interested in the information about Raleigh, and I was surprised to learn that none of the students I spoke with had ever been there before. Most of the students finished the assignment on time, so I will be anxious to see what the second part of this project is next week. Also, next week will be my last official week in the media center, as this portfolio will be turned in on Tuesday. Of course I plan to continue volunteering there until the end of the semester, but my blog entries will end as of next week. Where has this semester gone?

Turkey Time! Nov. 8-12

This week's lesson plans focus on the book Turkey Trouble by Wendy Silvano, along with a coloring activity following a discussion of the book. I remembered this book from the book fair, and I was glad this was one of Summer's purchases for the library. It is so cute!

I was so excited when Summer gave me yet another opportunity to read and conduct this week's lesson. By now the students have become pretty familiar with me in their library, so it was comfortable and natural for them to allow me to perform the story and help with the activity afterward. We talked about the upcoming holiday, along with everyone's input as to what their favorite Thanksgiving traditions are. These kids are hilarious! Everyone loved the story, and the discussions that followed with each class were both lively and entertaining. A few of the classes were pressed for time (Kindergarten, specifically, as they are still struggling with checking out books), but most were able to check out books, hear the story, and complete the coloring activity. Next week Summer will focus on the history of Thanksgiving, so I know this will be a fun and informative lesson as well. I look forward to spending as much time as possible in the library next week, since my internship experience is soon coming to a close.

Catch Up-Oct. 29

Since school was out this Friday, I decided it would be a good time to update, edit, and review my portfolio as we are only about a month away from turning it in. I went through the required/suggested documents and came across some of these loose fliers in my notebook. There really is no rhyme or reason to them, but I wanted to include them in sort of a miscellaneous blog. The first is a flier I had from last summer when I volunteered in the library. It was helpful to me that they kept the library open so I could both earn hours and complete assignments for my summer classes.

The next document is the Access to Confidential Electronic Information form to be signed by all of the teachers. It highlights what is expected of the teachers and must be signed before any teacher is granted access to this type of personal information.

Next we have the application for e-mail accounts for teachers and staff.

Lastly, I included one of Summer's library surveys to better understand how the library is serving the teachers and students.

Halloween Fun-Oct. 26

The spirit of Halloween is definitely in the air at CPS. The kids were lively and excited, discussing Halloween costumes and where and when they would be trick-or-treating. Friday is also a Teacher Work Day, so they are even more excited to have the three day weekend.

When I arrived this morning, Summer was just finishing up her first class and set me up with a task I have helped her with in the past-alphabetizing the students' Playaway permission slips. It's that time of year again for the students to check out the popular audio books, and it was my responsibility today to make sure every child was accounted for. Here is something that struck me as odd. A few of the parents actually signed the permission slip indicating they DID NOT want their child to be allowed to check out these items! Did they not want to be bothered with it, or did they simply not trust their child to care for the items properly? I'm not sure, but I feel sorry for the kids who will miss out on this neat form of technology. I finished up this task pretty quickly, and once her class was finished, I had a few moments to update Summer on both my portfolio and the in-service presentation scheduled for tomorrow. She helped me find some important documents to add to my portfolio, and together we discussed the plan for tomorrow. I will meet her at 3:00 in the library, and then we will walk down to the 1st grade meeting together. I will present first, and then the teachers will continue on with their meeting. Here is an added bonus: Some of the first grade teachers attended some sort of technology training last week and they received free Flip cameras! This is so perfect considering my presentation for tomorrow involves the Flip camera and how it can be applied to the classroom, media center, etc. Now I know the teachers will definitely be interested!

Summer's next two classes came in after that, and I was able to watch her read Bony Legs to them. She did such an amazing job with this scary story, and the students were completely into it! Also on the agenda for today's classes was to make a "bone" necklace out of yarn and pasta noodles. Unfortunately, each class ran slightly over, and there was not enough time left to make these necklaces. I did make a mental note, however, to buy the supplies for my son's daycare class to make them this week. It's a shame they ran out of time, but maybe one of her other classes this week will have time. I told her to tell me how it turns out. Other than that, I am just preparing for my in-service workshop tomorrow and sweating bullets until it is over. I have never been a big fan of public speaking and presentations, but at least this is a crowd I feel comfortable with. Really, that is half the battle. Wish me luck!

And the award goes to...Oct. 22

I am going to switch gears for this entry and talk about my afternoon in the public library. I have been spending time observing in the children's area at this library, but my blog is specific to my time at Chocowinity Primary School. Having been a slow week at CPS, I decided to blog about my public library time today.

Since I have been in a crazy, hectic, stressed school daze, I decided to make valuable use of my time today and kill two birds with one stone. I have been trying to finish up an assignment for 6135, so I used this opportunity to catch up on some of my reading for that class while observing the activities at Brown Library in Washington. Knowing what books I needed ahead of time, I consulted their OPAC, and then arrived at the library armed and ready with my call numbers. I found the two books, Weedflower and Sophisticated Ladies: The Great Women of Jazz, and took a seat at one of the comfortable reading chairs. Our assignment is to create an annotated list of several award winning elementary and middle school titles, and it is proving to be more challenging than I had expected. Several variables have to match up, and we have to have access to these books. That is where I am having the biggest problem. Brown Library does not exactly have the best selection of titles, and they are not very adamant about people returning books and paying overdue fees. One book I am still trying to find has been overdue since August!

These two books, Weedflower and Sophisticated Ladies, are on the Jane Addams Children's Book Award list and Carter G. Woodson Book Award list, respectively. Since I have some time to kill this afternoon, I plan to read both of these books while observing the library in action. Right now there is not much to report, but I have a feeling things will pick up as the kids get out of school. Stay tuned!

Cataloging-Oct. 15th and 19th

My most recent visits to the library involved cataloging an assortment of books Summer purchased from the book fair. She has been saving this chore for me so I could get some hands on experience with using both Renaissance (for AR reading levels) and Destiny for adding the titles to the library collection. My first step was to add bar codes to the books, and then to add them to the online catalog. I searched each book by title, then clicked on the appropriate search result. After clicking on the title, I was able to enter the bar code number, call number, and purchase price. Once this information was in the system, I clicked on Save Copies, and the titles were stored in the Destiny catalog. The next stop involved capturing the Accelerated Reader information. This time, I searched the titles in AR Bookfinder, then wrote the corresponding information inside of each book (reading level, quiz number, and point values). Some of the books already included the AR information in the catalog MARC record, while others needed to be entered manually. This allowed me the opportunity to practice my MARC skills again! I couldn't believe how much information I actually retained from my cataloging class a few semesters ago! All I needed to add in each case was the 526 tag, or the AR numbers including the grade level, book level, and points.

Once this process was complete for about 20-30 books, it was time to print the AR labels for the front covers. This time I used Renaissance to create the labels. Each title was searched by quiz number, then added to a cumulative list to be printed once all of the titles were added. I printed out the finalized list, then adhered each label to its corresponding book. This was all I had time for today, so I will finish the AR labeling next time (colored tags, AR blue and white labels, and tape). Also, for my next visit I will be shadowing Summer's assistant, Jeannie, as she discusses the Playaways with some of the first and second grade classes. It's never a dull moment in the library!

Closing Up-Oct. 12

Today concluded what has been a very successful fall book fair this year. Upon entering the library this morning, just a few stray buyers were making their final rounds of the book fair, hoping to purchase one last item before the next fair in the spring. Once all students and teachers were done shopping, we began the tedious process of packing everything up to be picked up in the morning. We didn't waste any time, and each of us began tackling an area of the library. This part of the process was much easier than the set-up, and I think we had everything back in boxes in about an hour. Once the boxes were packed up, we disassembled the cashier stations, as well as the pencil/eraser/bookmark stations. In the meantime, Jeannie and Summer began closing the Scholastic shelves back up and locking those together, while I cleared all of the tables of any stray items yet to be packed away. Finally, we moved all tables and chairs back to their original locations, setting all the book fair materials near the back exit of the library. Working together as a team, we had the library back open for business in about two hours. I think it will be nice to be back on the original library schedule, and I can guarantee Summer and Jeannie feel exactly the same way! It has definitely been a long week!

Book Signing-Oct. 7

http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2010/10/08/news/doc4cad1524af873771161466.txt

Check out the article link above. This was just an added bonus to Family Night at the book fair. I will be sure to mark my calendar for the 16th, so I can get a copy of this book signed by La Tanya!

Family Night-Oct. 7

Family Night at the CPS book fair was a huge hit! The book fair itself was open from 3-6, following a school wide read-in that lasted from about 1:30 to 2:30. I was lucky to get to the school early enough before all of the parking spaces filled up, and judging by the amount of people in the school that afternoon, I think I got there just in the nick of time. It was a mad house! Family members were invited to join their children at school for the read-in and then to visit the library for the book fair. Well, at 2:45 a line was forming outside of the library doors indicating the read-in was over, and everyone was anxious to start shopping. At 2:50, we opened the doors and the people just kept coming in. Luckily we each had our assigned "stations," which helped prevent any confusion among those working the fair. I was helping at the "drawing table," where students would fill out a ticket to win $5.00 towards the book fair. Five names were to be drawn the following morning, and the kids were excited to sign up for a chance to win. During slow periods I would help with bagging, shelving and restocking, or simply straightening up the books on the shelves. I couldn't believe how fast three hours went by! Before I knew it, it was time to close down and head to the gym for Bingo and hotdogs.

Since it was Family Night, I brought along my family, Gary and Gabe. We walked down to the gym, and then purchased our Bingo cards for $3.00 each. After that we headed outside for some hotdogs, chips, and drinks, then took a seat at one of the cafeteria tables. Cards ready to win and stomachs full of hotdogs, we settled in to enjoy a few games of Bingo before heading home for the night. Unfortunately, none of our cards were winning cards, but I know we all had a fun time playing along. Here are just a few pictures from this fun evening:

Master Schedule for the Book Fair

The Book Fair is Here! Oct. 5

The Scholastic Book Fair is officially up and running at Chocowinity Primary this week. I came ready to work Tuesday, as boxes upon boxes were waiting to be unpacked, sorted, and displayed. While this is my third book fair at CPS, this is the first time I was able to come early and help with the set-up. It was fun to witness the behind the scenes action typical of the first book fair day. I remembered to bring my camera, so here are a few before pictures as we were setting out the books/posters/games, etc.



Once we figured out what needed to go where, the process picked up and things began to move more smoothly. I would say all in all it took us about 3 hours to get the book fair ready to open for business. Of course I would have to stop along the way to check out a book or two (or three, or four...), and I was constantly making a mental list of some of the books I wanted to check out for Gabe. There were some wonderful picture books, as well as a few of the superhero books I know would be a big hit with him. I remember doing some Christmas shopping at the book fair last year, and I feel sure I will be doing that again. I am anxious to see the kids' faces when they come in to preview, and even more anxious to see what books are the top sellers this year. Unfortunately, I will miss the first preview day today, but I will be back Thursday and Friday to help with everything. I will bring the camera again to document all of the chaos and confusion that I'm sure will be the case in this media center come Thursday. Here are some final pictures of the book fair, or as I like to call it-the calm before the storm!

No School- Oct. 1

Well, thanks to the torrential rains from the tropical storm this week, Beaufort County Schools are once again closed. That makes two days this week I am missing out on valuable internship hours. At least I know I will have plenty to do at next week's Book Fair, Family Night, and Hotdog Bingo! Stay tuned for pictures documenting all of the festivities next week!

Coming Soon-Scholastic Book Fair! Sept. 27

Well, it's that time of year again-book fair time! I have worked the Scholastic Book Fair for the past two years with Summer at Chocowinity Primary, and each year I am surprised at how much work it actually requires to run it successfully. Even with a few parents to help as volunteers, it still gets pretty chaotic and overwhelming. This year I will help for three days, and I know those three days will be exhausting!

Today I was in charge of the book fair fliers and the accompanying letter to the parents. Summer set me up stapling the two together while she conducted her morning classes. This way I was able to observe the classes, while at the same time completing a time consuming task. I actually enjoy this type of work as it allows me to sit back and watch her teaching methods in action.

Here are scans of both Summer's letter to the parents and partial scans of the flier. For some reason my scanner would not capture the whole image, but at least this picture gives a general idea of the flier.





Summer spent her classes this morning discussing the book fair, and it was obvious the students are really looking forward to it! The fair will run from Oct. 5-12, and each class will visit the fair two times-one time to observe, and the second time to purchase. Summer showed them the flier along with a brief video from Scholastic, and the students were just buzzing with excitement. Summer's only rule is that the students must purchase a book before they buy any of the stickers, pencils, erasers, etc. She also discussed the issue of tax with the students, as this was somewhat of a problem last year. Finally, the school will have a family night on the 7th which allows everyone to attend not only the book fair, but a bingo hotdog party as well. I plan to help with this event as much as possible since I know it will be a long day for Summer and the rest of the teachers. At least I know I won't have a problem getting hours next week. There is more than enough to keep me busy!

Cataloging-Sept. 21

Well, today I was given the opportunity to catalog my very first books! All of my studying and knowledge of Sears Headings were put to the test as I needed to consult this reference work to catalog the two specific titles purchased for the library. One of the teachers brought two resources for the professional collection to the library and wanted them cataloged and added to the collection. I was excited to watch Summer officially catalog these two books, but instead she asked me if I wanted to handle it. Of course! Summer's assistant, Jeannie, helped me through the process, and I was more than grateful for her help. We logged onto Destiny and entered these two titles "on the fly." I had heard Summer and Jeannie use that expression before, but now I was actually seeing it first hand. We entered both titles into the catalog, but neither of the titles produced any results. So, we entered each title separately, filling in the title, author, ISBN, type of material, price, and call number. Neither of the books had a specific call number, so it was necessary to consult Sears. I checked under the appropriate heading (Reading) and found the two sub-headings that most closely matched the materials- Word Skills and Reading Comprehension. In this case, the call number would be 372.4. Summer does not use the decimal places, so the official call number for both books was 372. Once the titles were entered into Destiny, we went back and searched them to make sure everything was saved correctly. My two very first catalog entries were a success! Today was definitely a valuable experience for me.

Accelerated Reader-Week of Sept. 13

This week's classes were exploring Accelerated Reader (AR) books and the accompanying levels on which their search would be limited. The first and second grade classes would be visiting the library this week, and they were to come prepared to search for AR books meeting their specific assigned reading levels. Doesn't sound too complicated, does it? Believe it or not, this has been the most chaotic day so far! While Summer did an excellent job of describing the reading levels and the colored tapes on each book associated with the reading levels, the kids were all over the place. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find books with a white tape (reading levels 0-1.9) on the binding, but apparently it is. The kids were pulling books off the shelf with red, blue, yellow, green, and brown tapes, asking if those books were in their reading levels! It was a complete zoo. Summer had me step in and help the kids locate a book of interest to them and in the appropriate reading level. Working with one student at a time, every student left with a book at the end of the 45 min. class period. Unfortunately, the variety of books covering this specific reading level is limited, and the students did not have the full range of choices they will experience with the higher reading levels. Still, everyone was satisfied by the end of the class, and that is really all that matters on days like these!

Organizing Plastic Book Tubs- Sept. 10

Today was a much slower day than my fist day in the library. This week Summer's classes are in the afternoon, and my internship hours are in the morning. This schedule allows me the best of both worlds. On the off weeks when classes are in the afternoon, Summer can put me to work on various tasks and projects, including shelving books and helping students when they come in to check out materials. Today, for example, Summer had me organizing tubs of books for various classrooms. She has a variety of plastic tubs that contain an assortment of books for all of the students in any given classroom. These tubs are organized by subject, author, theme, etc., and that particular day Summer put me to work organizing and labeling a few of these tubs. The Chalk Box Kid was one of the series of books I was labeling for some of the Accelerated Reader tubs. The other tubs ranged anywhere from weather and astronomy non-fiction titles, to a variety of picture books for the Pre-K and Kindergarten classes. Summer explained how teachers will check out these books for the students in the class, and after seeing the large assortment of tubs on the shelves, it is no wonder the teachers find these groupings so appealing-there is really something for everyone!

First Day on the Job- August 31

Today started with a hectic, yet exciting first day not only for me, but for the students as well. Today was the first day the students were visiting the library since the start of school a week earlier. Summer warned me it would be a crazy start to my internship, but this is what I wanted-chaos and confusion and witnessing the library on one of its crazy days.

Upon arrival, Grades 2-4 were visiting the library for "open checkout," as Summer called it, and I watched as Summer worked diligently to fix bar codes and computer glitches. There were also a few new students who had yet to receive his or her bar codes and library passes, which in turn made the first morning that much more hectic. Once things settled down a little and each student had what he or she needed to check out books, they seemed to disperse on their own and browse through the materials. These students, the second, third, and fourth graders, were experts after years of experience, and the browsing/checking out process moved pretty smoothly.

The same can not be said for Summer's first class-the Kindergarten class. They were so adorable with their wide, eager eyes! Not only was this their very first visit to the library, but this would be the first time time to learn the rules for the library and checking out books. Summer assigned each student a seat, and then went over all of the rules for taking care of the books and behaving properly while in the library. Some of them were wiggling in their seats, but for the most part, they were listening intently to Summer and her rules for the library. I was actually very impressed. Once the rules were discussed and questions were asked, it was time to head over to the storytime mat. I was given the wonderful opportunity to read the first book to this class- Mr. Wiggle's Book.

This book discusses all the wrong ways to care for a book with a cute bookworm to add to its charm. I loved it, and I think the kids loved it as well! Afterward, we had a little question/answer session to talk about the right and wrong ways to handle the library books, and from the students' answers, it was obvious they were paying attention. One class down, two to go!

The second class to visit the library this morning was one of the Exceptional Children's (EC) classes. This class consists of 6-8 kids ranging in age from 4-6 years old. Summer had already mentioned to me that she would read the stories to this class, and of course I was more than willing to turn this responsibility over to her. I have yet to work hands on with one of the EC classes, but I enjoy observing from a distance every chance I get. Maybe as the internship progresses I will have an opportunity to work more closely with one of these classes. Again, Mr. Wiggle's Book was the story of choice, followed by an additional reading of The Librarian from the Black Lagoon.

The kids loved these two stories, and I have to admit, so did I!

Lastly, one of the first grade classes rounded out Summer's morning schedule of classes. Unlike the previous Kindergarten class, these first graders entered the library confident and ready to check out books. Summer assigned each of these students a seat, and then refreshed their memories on the rules of the library. Already I was amazed at the difference in behavior from one year to the next! Once everyone was reminded of the rules and procedures for handling and checking out books, the class made its way over to the storytime mat. Again, I was given the chance to read Mr. Wiggle's Book, and again I felt as though this book was a hit. We discussed the right and wrong ways to care for books, and the class seemed even more enthusiastic than ever to begin the checkout process. That would be the adventure I would observe for my next visit!