A Few Hours with An Illustrator

Just over a year ago Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake and we worked together to raise money for their relief efforts.  This year we were lucky enough to have the wonderful illustrator of the story written by Edwidge Danticat, Eight Days: A Story of Haiti. 

Artist/Illustrator, Alix Delinois, who lives and works right here in New York, shared his illustrating experiences with some of our 3rd-5th grade classes.  Mr. Delinois explained how he was given just a month to create the beautiful images seen throughout this inspiring story.  Through the use of acrylic paint he was able to capture the main characters memories of Haiti before being trapped in the rubble.  During Mr. Delinois' presentation our students were able to see his rough sketches and compare them to the final illustrations.  Students were well prepared with questions for Mr. Delinois regarding his childhood, his craft and how he chooses which books to illustrate.  After his presentation he personally autographed books purchased by students and staff.  Some students even stayed in the library and had pizza with Mr. Delinois.  

We all look forward to seeing his next project the story of African American slave, Elizabeth Freeman.  We also hope he will make a return visit next year with his newly illustrated published book.  

Christopher has his signed copy

Missing Our Time Together

The breaks have been placed on library usage this past week due to our annual Day in the Life activities and important meetings.  Students have noticed our visitors are here and are wondering when they will be able to come back for their regular library visits.  I have added a new blank schedule template to our library board and it has already been filled by teachers who have been patiently waiting to sign up.  I would expect the Week of February 28th we will  all get back into our routines.  In the meantime, I have added some new titles, organized the shelves and updated some computers. Just another busy week with different type of work.

What's Been Happening?

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Our library resources include more than just books for students. This quick slideshow presents a glimpse of students, staff and parents using the library for a variety of reasons.  Animoto is a great and easy way to create slideshows of pictures or videoclips for personal or professional use.  We hope to continue to use our Animoto account to add more slideshows in the future.

We Are Connected

I have been thinking lately about the best way we can stay connected to the internet resources available in the library.  Naturally, this blog is just one way everyone can see what is happening in the library throughout the year, but more importantly I want to make sure all of the links we share in the library are accessible to everyone once they leave the library.   I thought of a couple of Web 2.0 applications that everyone can view and use from their home computers:

1. Google has lots of great features.  I used Google Sites to create the P. S. 274 Library Media Center website.  Included in our website is our Mission Statement, our Library Policies, and plenty of links for Students, Staff and Parents.  It is currently a work in progress and eventually pages for the content areas will be included. 

2. Most students already know the most important links used in the library can be found on the Library's Portaportal.  Portaportal is a bookmarking website that allows you to store and organize tons of links just like your Favorites folder on your computer. The great part about using Portaportal is that you can access it from any computer with internet access.

My mission now is to spread the word about these websites and increase our sharing connection!

New Arrivals

When our Robin Hood library was completed we were given over 7,000 brand new books.  Although this is a plus, there is a downside. Some of the books are not interesting,  not an appropriate level, or not what my students are looking for.  Thank goodness we have some NYSTL funds available every year so I can order what my school community really wants.  It is a small budget so I really needed to consider the most effective way to spend it.  By that I mean "What books should I order that I KNOW students will read!"

The biggest interest my students have right now are the graphic novels.  One series in particular was missing from our collection....Dragon Ball Z.  Not only was Dragon Ball Z requested several times this year, some students even added them to the wish list I had on the bulletin board.  So their wish was my command and the books were ordered. Unfortunately, I did not order enough of them because the very first day they were made available the books were snatched up within minutes.  Guess I will have to wait for next year to add more Dragon Ball Z titles.  In the meantime, I will promote books on dinosaurs, the Harry the Horrible series, the Dan Gutman books and the Diario de Greg we have received.  Nothing like the presence of new books to catch my students interest...love it!

Parents Visit

Today started the first day of a two week long "Day in the Life" event.  Parents will have the opportunity to sit in on their child's lesson in the morning.  What does this have to do with the library you may wonder?  Parents will be meeting with the administration in the library afterwards to discuss all the wonderful things they observed in their child's classroom. While they are in the library they will be able to see the beautiful environment and large print collection available to their children.  I may even try to sqeeze in a quick little slideshow of pictures showing our students using the library.  Animoto is a great and easy to use site to create slideshows.  I recommend it if you would like to share pictures with friends and/or colleagues.  Hope the parents will enjoy it.

First Grade Animal Project

How lucky is Class 1-4? This past month they visited the library a couple of times a week to research groups of animals using books from the non-fiction section of the library as well as databases like PebbleGo.  In just about 3 more sessions they will complete the first main part of their project.  Ms. Simon will then send all of the students' completed pages to a company that will publish the book for the class.  Each student will have the opportunity to purchase the book if they like and an extra copy will be kept in the library.  How great is that? We will have to wait about a month or so for the final product but we will definitely have a celebration when the books finally arrive.  Here are a couple of photos showing the beginning of the book making project.

Parental permission given for all photos

Review the characteristics

Using the Smartboard

Searching through books

   

My Return to Blogging about the Library

I know it has taken a while to finally begin sharing this blog, but I think I am ready! Feel free to share your thoughts.

Our Robin Hood Library is just over 2 years old and within that short time our school community has learned so much.  They have listened to a variety of stories, learned how to locate books using the OPAC, used new laptops and computers to create projects, learned how to use a number of informational links to complete research projects and participated in a number of interactive lessons using a Smartboard.  As students and staff continue to feel more and more comfortable using all our resources I will continue to use this blog to post what is happening in the library.  I hope through this blog others will get a little glimpse of how we use the resources in our library on a daily basis.