This week was my last week interning at Mill Creek Elementary.  I have really enjoyed working with Joni, the staff, and students.  This school will always hold a special place in my heart.  

All of the 1st graders came in on Monday and finished their stories.  Once they were complete, they were able to watch their creations on the Smart Board with their classmates.  I can't begin to describe how CUTE they were!  We had a great, imaginative group of storytellers!

I hope that during my time there I have instilled some little nugget of knowledge in those that I came across.  I also look forward to the day that I have my own Media Center and students to teach and nurture as readers!

This week Dr. Green came to observe me in the Media Center.  I knew that I had a great lesson for her to observe, but I was still very nervous.  I haven't been in a classroom since 2010 when I student taught for my Bachelor's degree.  

Once Dr. Green arrived, my nerves settled down and then when the students came in, I felt in my element and was ready to rock and roll!

The students were excited to put their stories on the iPad, but I wanted to review with them quickly what we have learned the past few weeks, especially since they were out for a week for Spring Break.

The students did well with their review and then we were set to play on the iPads.  They all enjoyed seeing what their characters really looked like and participating by speaking their parts.  Each group was able to get through a few slides of their story before it was time to go.

Before they left, I quickly spoke about what we had done and asked how they enjoyed it.  The were quite enthusiastic!

I really hate that next week is my final week with all of them!

School was out this week for Spring Break.  I used this time to get caught up on assignments and prepare myself for my observation on Monday the 15th!  Crossing fingers!

Along with the other classes that come in for Story Time, we are still working with 1st graders on Story Elements.  They are getting really excited about the prospect of putting their stories on Toontastic!

This week we worked with another graphic organizer that allowed them to create their story outline.  The students were able to think further about what they wanted their characters to say or do.  You can tell that they are really getting into this activity.

Next week is Spring Break, but when they come back, they will get to finally put all their hard work onto the iPad and create their cartoon.

Here is the link to the Infographic I created for the library media report for the month of March.  I tried to embed it into my blog post, but it would not show up, therefore I am giving the direct link to view it. I printed it out and placed it in the Media Center for visitors to view.

Infographic

This week we continued to work on story elements.  Students were grouped into 3 groups per class.  Each group got to work with me, Joni, or their teacher.  

The task for this week was to come up with an outline of their story using a graphic organizer.  This graphic organizer allowed students to think about what they wanted to include in each part of their story.

You can see a picture of this graphic organizer here.

I think the students are really enjoying themselves.  They don't even realize they are learning!

I have been working on my Personal Learning Network.  I have chosen to use Pinterest as main site.  I'm such a visual person, and this site helps me to see what page I've bookmarked instead of just looking at links.  I've really enjoyed using Pinterest, so much so, that I chose to teach my PD course on how teachers can use it to better help them in the classroom.

On Monday, March 26th, I visited the media center at Statesboro High School.  The school has such a large student body that it employs 2 media specialists, Mrs. Altman and Mrs. Anderson.

The media center at the high school level is very different atmosphere than that of what I'm used to at Mill Creek.  Of course, the students are much bigger, but they're also more independent.  The circulation activity is not as high in volume as the elementary level.  Mrs. Altman says she may check out only 70 items a day!

I did find it very interesting that during the first few days of each semester, students come in to have their textbooks and any required class books checked out in their name.  This is different than what I'm familiar with when teachers issue students their books and keep a record of it.  This system is a great way to place further responsibility on students to keep up with their materials.

The media center does offer many services to teachers and students.  The offer printing and laminating free to teachers and staff, but charge students 5 cents for black/white, $1.00 for color, and $1.00/yd for laminating.  They also offer a poster size printer that is free for teachers and $3.00 for students.  This is one of those big printers like you would see at Office Max or another printing company.  I think this is a great service for students and teachers alike.  The media center runs a small store, as well, that sells school supplies to those that may need something during the day.

There is a student lab located within the library where teachers can bring students to do class work.  On the day of my visit, this lab was busy during every block.  Mrs. Altman said that the other labs located in the school are the same way.

The media center is organized much like a regular library and very different from the media center at Mill Creek.  The non-fiction section seemed a bit small and dated.  Mrs. Altman explained that she doesn't order a lot at this level due to student internet use.  She does have it organized by Dewey, unlike Mill Creek which is organized by an altered Dewey system (more on a theme).  Her fiction section was organized alphabetically by genre.  She had little signs and decorations above each area that related to that genre.  I thought this was a great idea.

Mrs. Altman and Mrs. Anderson have a student or two that come in each block for Work Based Learning.  These students operate the circulation desk and any other tasks assigned to them.  The media center also offers professional development to not only teachers and staff, but students, too.  These PD sessions are called Lunch & Learn.  The very next one that they will be doing will assist students in applying for college and financial aid.

Overall, I had a great day.  It went by kind of slow, but I tried to jump in as much as possible in order for it to go faster and help me learn more!

I received my membership card in the mail this week for my Professional Organization.  I decided to join ALA.  They had a deal going that you could join your state chapter for free, if you joined with ALA.  I also decided to join the AASL to round things out!  Here are the pictures of the front and back of my card!

This week in the Media Center we have been working with 1st grade students on Story Elements.  Each 1st grade class comes in for their usual story time, but instead of us reading to them, we have been teaching them about Characters, Setting, Plot, Problem, and Solution and how these 5 parts make up a story.

This week we read the story The 3 Little Pigs.  When we finished the story, we showed them a Smart Board lesson on Story Elements.  The lesson also included a Brain Pop Jr. video about story elements.

Next week we will continue working with students to learn about the parts of a story.  Then culminating activity will be in a few weeks.  Joni won a grant that will allow her to purchase iPads for the library.  We will use these iPads to allow students to work as a group to come up with their own story and use the Toontastic app to create a cartoon!  I'm sure they are going to have so much fun!