#SLM16 Ends with a BANG!

April was National School Library Month and this year, it was particularly eventful in our county.  We had not, one, but TWO media specialists named Teachers of the Year for their schools: Shannon Ewing, Elm Street Elementary and Jessica Pope, Atkinson Elementary.

Shannon and Jessica are not only colleagues, but they are also friends.  I know first hand how much time and effort they put into everything they do for their schools and their patrons; from planning fun reading events like Reading Caves, the Polar Express, and September Stories to encourage a love of reading, teaching fabulous technology integrated media lessons and information literacy skills so their students can find the information they need and want when they need and want it, attending workshops, conferences, and other professional development activities to continue their own learning and pass it on to others  as well as keeping up with the everyday tasks of running a media center, they do it all and do it with heart because they truly love what they do. It is their passion.   I was so proud of them when it was announced they had won this recognition for their schools.  It felt like we had all won.

On Wednesday, the county celebrated all the Teachers of the Year for our county and the three finalists for Coweta County Teacher of the Year were especially celebrated.  Shannon was one of those finalists, and again, it felt as if we were all up there with her.  

Several of us attended the program to show our support. And we all cried and cheered when it was announced that Shannon was named Coweta County Teacher of Year.  I think I may have punched the air and silently shouted "YES!"  It was an amazing feeling to have one of my peeps recognized in such a big way, in a way that media specialists don't always receive.  You can read more about Shannon and the other TOTYs for our county HERE.

I cannot overstate how proud I am of these two ladies. They represent our county and our profession well. They exemplify excellence in education and in librarianism.

Congratulations, peeps!  We love you and are so proud of the work you do!

April is School Library Month

In case you hadn't heard...April is School Library Month, and this week in particular is  National Library Week.  I always make special morning announcements every day at my school about school libraries during National Library week, but this year I decided to take advantage of this week to promote school libraries even more.

Maybe it was because I had energy from being off for a week of Spring Break, or maybe I just love my job, but when I came back on Monday, I decided to decorate the doors of our media center.  A lot of students and teachers have commented on how colorful and cheerful it is.  It just makes me smile walking by it.

I made fact sheets about school libraries based on some information I found online.  These are also the facts I share during morning announcements.  Some of the sources I used are listed below.

I Dare You Not to Share (So Many AASL School Library Month Goodies!) by Joyce Valenza

AASL Toolkits

AASL Advocacy Resources

ALA's Quoteable Facts About America's Libraries (2012)

ALA Facts About School Libraries (2013)

LRS Infographic (2013)

Institute of Education Sciences

Library Research Service

Pew Research Center, 10 Facts About American and Public Libraries (2014)

More Interesting Reads:

Why Do We Need School Libraries? Written by Melinda Graham, 2005

Occupational Outlook Handbook, Librarians (2012)

Why You Need Your School Librarian Written by Kimberly Shearer (2012)

Elementary Librarian: Are School Libraries Still Necessary (2013)

How Cuts and Closures of Elementary School Libraries Are Hurting Our Kids by Solvej Schou (2014)

I downloaded the free School Libraries Transform Learning poster from AASL and printed them on our poster printer at school.  You can snag yours at the bottom of the first link above.  Joyce made it easy to access.  =)

I also made a sheet for patrons to write about what they love about our school library media center.  I added these to the door display.

What the students have been writing is so sweet and heartwarming.

A couple of classes showed me even more love with flowers and cards.

I've put together a pack of the fact sheets I created as well as the "I love my school library media center because" sheet.  You can download it for FREE on TpT.  Just click HERE.  I'd love to hear what you think.

Happy National Library Week!

New Earth Day Products

Feeling refreshed after nine days off, I decided to create a few quick new products for Earth Day.

First I created a fun little story starter to get the kiddos thinking about what Earth Day is and how they can celebrate the earth everyday.

You can snag this little guy for FREE on my TpT.  If you decide to download, please let me know what you think. Click HERE to snag this freebie.

Of course, I had to make some fun bookmarks as well.  This is a freebie pack that includes 2 color and 2 black and white bookmarks.  Click HERE to download this little gem.  Again, if you download, please let me know what you think.

I also created a pack of 24 Earth Day bookmarks which includes 12 color and 12 black and white bookmarks for your friends to color themselves.  You can get this pack for only $2.00 on my TpT store by clicking HERE.  

I can't wait to put these out for my patrons. I know they are going to love them!

Follow me on Instagram and Bloglovin'

                

We've been on Spring Break this past week and I've tried tackling my huge "to do" list.  I've managed to get a few things done, two of which include joining Instagram....thanks to the request of a TpT customer =)...and catching up on my to-be-read pile both in print and online.  In doing so, I realized that I have never claimed my little blog on Bloglovin, so I am doing that now.

 

If you'd like to follow me on Instagram you can find me HERE.  I don't have many posts yet, but I am sure I will be adding more.

Although I have been lax in my blogging this last year or so, you can keep up with my blog when I do post through Bloglovin'.  Just click on the link below.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Hope you had a productive Spring Break, whenever it might have been.  I can see the light of summer just around the corner now, and it feels great!