Overdue Books

Trying this again as the number of classes where a quarter to a third of the kiddos can't check out because of overdue (by two weeks or more) books is just ridiculous.  Come on, small to medium fry friends. Keep your books in your backpack or book box when you're not actively reading them.  :/ :P

 The clip art is from Educlips. The font is from Jen Jones.

Lincoln Bookmarks & Black History Month mini-posters Redeux

So ... went looking for some bookmarks Friday and couldn't find them anywhere. Or, all I could find was a TERRIBLE preview pic of them on the blog (how embarrassing!) and then no FILE with the pic (worse!). So I made them over again here for your downloading pleasure. If you like them/can use them or anything.

Abraham Lincoln book quote (Google Drive ... use the Google File-->Download menu to download a copy)

(And of course TODAY when I look a decent copy was easy to find on the blog (but why the Google drive search didn't work I still don't understand but anyway). So if you want Scrappin' Doodles instead of Melonheadz go here.)

Black History Month Quote Mini-Posters (freebie download on TPT)

Now I'm paranoid and need to go back and check if other little mini-signs or bookmark links or preview pics are messed up. Won't get done today but it will get done. If you ever notice one let me know, would you? Maybe that will be my Throwback Thursday goal for a while. Pick one thing to double check/freshen up.

I have a list of books for Black History Month here. It's FAR from comprehensive and more than a little Kadir Nelson heavy. Any suggestions to add? The post is getting some attention on Pinterest at the moment so I'd like to make the best possible. Keep people around and all.

Anyone want to nominate themselves for Sunshine Blogger?

Homerun Readers & Bookfair Stickers

Well. You know how back in early August when I posted the pennant and I was going to have this finished? I finished it. And then it didn't work. We couldn't come to an easy enough way to measure the classes that did their nightly reading. Too many numbers, even when we didn't follow the directions in the packet.


And ... I can't find my pic of the bulletin board. DRAT! Come back in a couple days and I'll have it here or in the file so that you have a visual reference ... cause it turned out cute, if not useful. Also too lazy to make a nice cover page for this packet. But click here for what I do have and if you can use any of it then great! Wasn't a total implosion. :/

Oh and here are the bookfair stickers I made. And then never got printed and handed out. Color printer was on the fritz. :P

PS So Activities Inspired by Bear Gives Thanks, Slightly Spooky Stories, Wrestling Readers, and Differentiated Biography Research have been free for ... at the least one hour, the others several. What will it be tomorrow? I dunno.

Unicorn Thinks bookmarks

Double post today ... oops. Just finished these and thought they were kind of fun.

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great is the first book I think I'm going to offer classes ... anytime the first week if they want me to come to them. I probably won't actually do it in the library because that first week when classes do all the practicing of hallway behaviors? They (staff, actually, in this case) do A LOT of talking in the hallway and as I've mentioned before ... we are the hallway. Really trying to not complain, just do the best with what we've got. I'll visit classes! This is a funny book that I think could make for a fun "be open to new friends" discussion!

Plus right now the only computer in the library that works is my laptop. Still no power to the circ desk and still none of the new "thin client" library computers work. People keep saying "They're so pretty" and I have to say "Yes, but they don't work yet.":P

Click on the first pic to download the pdf.

And on a side note if anyone can help me figure out why sometimes pdfs will NOT show the text in Adobe but DO still print the text I would be forever grateful and would send you anything I've ever made for sure. All of my Googling comes up with the opposite problem ... text shows up in the pdf but doesn't print. Things I've made? Text doesn't show up in the pdf but DOES print. #sostrange

Throwback Thursday ROAR in the Library

So I was recently reminded of a post I made last year where I shamelessly begged for comments in order to "get" the freebie. Sort of uncool of me. Although as all bloggers now ... we <3 comments. But as I also realize ... it's hard to come up with something to say sometimes! Even when it's not a "controversial" post and really all you'd say is "I like this!" Seems strange so none of us, myself included, do it all that often.



Today with kinder and first. Short and sweet. ;)



Anyway. HERE are the little bookmarks! ROAR in the Library. Read Our books And Return on time.
Yes, Library Lion is a bit on the longer side so you have to keep things moving. Dinosaur vs. the Library is the opposite and pretty short so you need something ELSE to do with it. ;)

Jumping on the Bandwagon Fangirl Bunting

So ... I get distracted from things. Like my student lesson objectives signs. They're about ... 80% done. And my reading. And decluttering. And exercising. And painting of kitchen stuff. And figuring out why my Mac can get SO SLOW.

But as I was watching Warm Bodies tonight (which is actually very cute, though I could have done without the language) I was playing on my computer.

IT'S NOT PERECT. A couple places you can see little things that you shouldn't cause I don't know my Photoshop and can't do masks properly yet ... but hey. Those funny little parts will be cut off.

And it's an ink sucker.

And the credit links aren't clickable because when I tried to convert it into Keynote it got all weird. And links don't stay live in PPT to PDF like they do in Keynote to PDF.

But my fangirl heart thinks this is cool. Click on the pic to download from Google Drive.

Now. One more prescheduled post tomorrow and then I'm done. I'm playing with this little guy while my brother and s-i-l visit. This was like the three minutes all day he set down his new UT football. Umm ... Go Cougars! #meandbrotherwenttodifferentschools

I Have Gone a Little Nuts

with the clip art purchases. So many fun designs (WHY OH WHY CAN I NOT DRAW?). Here's one thing I made with a new set. Click on either pic to download the Google Doc pdf file for easy printing and image credits.


 


I love that I've been getting some requests for things. Always feel free to ask ... here or on TPT. So far it's all been stuff that was easy enough to tweak or adapt from what I already had.

The further along the new house gets ... the more I realize I'm a bit nervous about trying the IKEA hack for built-in look bookshelves. I wanted it A LOT but what if it turns out looking tacky? Stuck with it cause of the flooring. Zero experience building anything. This replacement claims to be a better price cause you still put the pieces together but egads ... they are high enough! Didn't even know that was cheaper than the real thing.

They are so pretty, though.

Off to play the Disney version of Apples to Apples with my nieces and nephew. Three are only here until Tuesday. Two will be here through the week.



PS The link is working now. I forgot to set the "share" values properly. (8:35 PM May 12)

Green Peas

It's too hot for cocoa. What does one do for a sore throat?
No cool lessons to share. It's the week before testing. No one really wants to do much but prep. :/

Anyway. So I was being lazy vegging on the couch. And I made these just cause they made me smile. Loving Creative Clips. #wishIcoulddraw

Bookmarks

So with the way I like to play with clip art you'd think I never used any other kind of bookmark.


Nope! Do you have a Silhouette cutting system? Or some ingenuity to come up with it on your own? These are by the artist Sarah Bailey. I hope she makes more! I haven't gotten the panda one yet but I might break down. Now debating which one to make first. And which ones to adapt for use with the kids. We made bunnies last week with a couple classes. #andofcourseIdidnotrememberpics #useupjunkmailenvelopes
Click on the pic to go to the Silhouette website (you have to have a Silhouette for these to work).

No What Are You Reading post this week. Hopefully next week. And a catch up on the #shelfchallenge.

And prayers for Boston.

Fiesta Fun

If you live anywhere near San Antonio a fever is very close to hitting ... FIESTA. For those out of towners ... well, you've got cinco de mayo coming. This is a repeat if you've been around. Here are some signs and bookmarks I posted about a year ago. Made from Scrappin Doodles clip art!

 

(There are actually several different posters at the link. Just only reposted one here!)

Yesterday was our second "party" (rescheduled from it's usual Thursday before Battle of the Flowers because of standardized testing). Super awesome timing ... Thursday I woke up nigh on deaf in one ear (thank you pollen!). Some eardrops took care of it. But was was I thinking taking care of it so quickly?

Cause by Friday morning it was thank you pollen again and a rotten, rotten headache. And ...
we had TWO HOURS of mariachi concerts in the cafeteria Friday morning. Which is 15 feet away. With no walls on our end and only glass walls on their end. Then lunch. Then the annual shoebox float parade with scratchy feedback PA-played soundtracks. #headwantedtoexplodeItellyou


photo credit: Armando Maynez via photopin cc

On a less whiny note ... I used the time to do some big time shifting and weeding. If you're not a school librarian ... shifting is moving the books up or down the shelf line and weeding is getting rid of the ... shall we call them "much loved" older books. Or the books that maybe should never have happened in the first place. Or now have outdated info.
I should have taken a picture. One, of the GINORMOUS warren of dust bunnies that I disrupted. And then of how much prettier and nicer and better "spaced" the shelves are now. Probably no one else will ever notice or know WHY it's so much easier to find things now. But how much better it looked was what kept me going yesterday. Like I should have done it YEARS ago. I'm sore now. Moving thousands of books is a workout. Such is the life, right? Bunch of work and no one but you notices the results?

Well, I lie. Kids coming back from lunch were asking me what I was doing (I had to put out traffic cones to stop kids from tripping all over me when they weren't watching where they were going--of course they tripped over the cones, too) and I said that I was rearranging some of the books so that they would look better and one little one said "Cause they're so crowded!" YEP. So one noticed.   :)

Today I am at a presentation by Peggy Sharp. LOADS OF BOOKS. If my head didn't hurt it would be most awesome. Since it does it's just awesome.


 

Earth Day

I like to pretend I'm "green." And in terms of recycling I'm pretty good. Reusing ... getting there. Reducing ... eh. That one needs some work. Composting ... ugh. Not going to happen for some time yet.

But this time of year (and hey ... it IS in the standards, taking care of the environment!) our thoughts turn to the planet and how we can take better care of it.

These are some of my favorite books relating to Earth Day and conservation.

Here's a freebie preview page from a packet I just put on TPT. Pic is from Scrappin Doodles and the fonts from Hello Literacy. I saved it as a jpeg so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the printing right ... I think I set it to 8.2 X 10.7? Apologies for being lazy and not uploading to Google Drive. Still on burnt out test brain. WHY is it sitting and watching is so exhausting?

PS If you happen to be anywhere near my hometown ... or want to get ready for cinco de MAYO ... check out the links on my Printables page. There are some freebie library display signs there. ;) And some animal themed bookmarks. Which aren't very green to keep copying but hey, it's steps at a time.

Head over to The Centered School Library to check out all of the other teacher librarian blogs. Is yours not there? ADD IT!

Shelf Signs

Thank you. I wish someone had said "Here is the magic way to get a clear head long enough to even think about what to do with that stack of books or bunch of papers or leftover bookmarks before next year's holiday season." But it sounds like I'm not the only one drowning in mess. We're the one that gets called on to drop everything ... pretty often. Appreciate the mess? I would if I could find the things I needed later on.



So ... I'm getting rid of these. No one pays any attention to them. At all.

And trying these. Obviously most shelves would not have this many so close to each other. I was just playing around with the clip art. I have ... oh, about 15. Debating whether or not to get more or just use what I have. Do I steal all the letter ones from the picture book section to use in the non-fic? I think I will expand the little square shape to include the text. At first I tried to have both pic and text inside the square but that was too crowded. But when I cut out the text and the square together I don't really like how some of the corners turned out. Easier to follow a line.

TCEA Presentations, Currently, & Valentines Bookmarks

Okey dokey, friends ... it's crunch time. Double posting today cause you won't hear from me tomorrow or Wednesday. Thursday is prescheduled about some Black History Month books (won't get the bookmarks/posters done by then but they are coming next week) and Friday is a couple fun pins.


Check out

(digital paper by Ashley Hughes, frame by Fancy Dog Studios, title font by Kevin & Amanda)

and

(digital paper by Goodness&Fun on MyGrafico, frame by BooClips on PrintCandee, font by Kimberly Geswein, clip art by Pink Cat Studio and Ashley Hughes)

if you are at all curious about what myself and a couple friends will be presenting about on Thursday.  They are ... about 90% done. See anything I/we need to fix?  ;)

Linking up with Farley.

And if you would like some bookmarks ...

President's Day Signs & Bookmarks Repeat

These are some signs and bookmarks from last year but thought I'd share again. Hooray for Scrappin' Doodles. Wish I could draw. 

Should I put a border around them? I couldn't decide. But they are all b&w ... save the printer ink. Let the kiddos color them! ;)

Me and Bookmarks

You know how I love them. They're a freebie on TPT as well.

What Are You Reading Monday

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts.
GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.


Benny and Penny in The Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars






Benny and Penny in the Toy Breaker by Geoffrey Hayes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The little animals are cute.
Will have to see what the kids think of this. Do they recognize the friend that always breaks things?


The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred : Spanish/ English by Samantha R. Vamos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
OK. The former Spanish teacher in me is excited by this one. Good reason to practice.  I also love the colorful art. Wish I could actually make arroz con leche as we read this. #somanyrules

Edwin Speaks Up by April Stevens
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Hmmm. I am not sure what to say about this book.
The idea is funny. Poor little misunderstood baby who if people who just LISTEN to him? He knows what's going on!
But ... all the bickering between the other siblings was more than a little annoying. I don't love this one.

Wiener Wolf by Jeff Crosby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love the picture with the silhouettes of a howling Wiener Wolf and the real wolf against the moon. And Wiener Wolf/Dog's eyes at the end of the chase (I prefer not to think of WHY they are so big ... just that it is funny he saw something that freaked him out).

On a totally unrelated note I think it is ironic the book description uses the word "ennui." Now, I can make a fairly educated guess from context what that word means ... but am I SURE? Would I EVER use that word on my own? Nope.

Wiener Wolf by Jeff Crosby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love the picture with the silhouettes of a howling Wiener Wolf and the real wolf against the moon. And Wiener Wolf/Dog's eyes at the end of the chase (I prefer not to think of WHY they are so big ... just that it is funny he saw something that freaked him out).

On a totally unrelated note I think it is ironic the book description uses the word "ennui." Now, I can make a fairly educated guess from context what that word means ... but am I SURE? Would I EVER use that word on my own? Nope.

No Dogs Allowed! by Linda Ashman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do love this story. Shows what having an accepting and welcoming attitude can do.
I, however, am not a natural storyteller--I need the words on the page to help! So I'm not exactly sure how to share this one with the kids in a group setting. Will definitely recommend for checkouts, though.

Same, Same But Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Love the illustrations and the juxtaposition of two different (but the same!) worlds.

I remember having a penpal from Swaziland when I was a kid. We continued to write for a couple years then drifted from doing so.

I know there are epals and Skype chats (when time zones can match up) with classes from other countries. I just don't see anyone doing them in my circles. Dunno if it's because I just don't hear about it (I'm the school librarian ... so to do anything with kids I need to get the teacher on board) or because they are so busy with testing and interventions and differentiation and accountability it keeps getting pushed down on the list of "to dos."

Stars by Mary Lyn Ray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Some good advice in here about keeping a star in your pocket as well as sharing. And all the different places you can find a star.
LOVE the illustrations. Oddly enough not as big a fan of the font choice but that is not a huge thing.


Still need to finish Feedback. And get to In a Glass Grimmly. Allergy headaches pretty much knocked me out after school every day. That or meetings. #abitonthewimpysidearentI?

Oh! And here are some bookmarks if you like them. Had trouble coming up with different "sayings." If you have an idea let me know and I'll update the file!