In case you were wondering what a day in the life of a school librarian is like, here was a typical day during the month of April (which has officially been declared School Library Month by Rhode Island Governor, Gina Raimondo)!
Total books checked out: 113
7:45-8:45
- Checked out books for 5 kids who were absent on their library day.
- Checked out books for 2 teachers who needed resources for their lessons.
- Met with colleague to discuss Reading Week schedule and confirmed/coordinated Reading Week illustrator visit.
- Scheduled 2 teachers for laptop carts for PARCC practice via Google Calendar that I manage.
- Helped 2 teachers open laptop carts because key is finicky and only likes me.
8:45-9:30
Third grade:
- Students in grade 3 are working on completing a diamante biopoem about a famous person. Students painted a portrait of that person in art and now we are creating a digital portrait using Blabberize that combines their research, poem, and art work into a digital format. Students worked in pairs today to record the Blabberize piece.
Here is an example of our work:
- Book look: Students browsed for books with reader’s advisory help from me and fellow classmates, performed self checkout, read library books, explored educational websites and apps. 23 books checked out
Fifth grade:
- Students in grade 5 used AskRI.org resources to find information about an assigned topic. Working in groups of 3-4, they had to find 3 facts about the topic and create one "fake fact." Today groups of students wrote a podcast-style show called "Fact or Fiction" to present their real facts and fake fact. Listeners will try and guess which is fake. Groups who were finished writing, recorded their podcast.
Here is an example of our work:
- Book look: Students browsed for books with reader’s advisory help from me and fellow classmates, performed self checkout, read library books, explored educational websites and apps. 20 books checked out
10:30-11:15
Fourth grade:
- Students in grade 4 used the online database Culturegrams to find information about life as a kid from a country of their choosing as part of a larger unit on Atlas', Google Maps, and Google Street View. After creating a Venn diagram comparing life as a kid in the U.S., students used the infographic maker, Easel.ly to create a digital version of their life as a kid comparisons.
Here is an example of our work:
- Book look: Students browsed for books with reader’s advisory help from me and fellow classmates, performed self checkout, read library books, explored educational websites and apps. 27 books checked out.
1:10-1:55
First Grade:
- Students in grade 1 are beginning an EB White Read Aloud Award Unit. The E.B. White Read-Aloud finalists reflect the playful, well-paced language, engaging themes, and the universal appeal to a wide range of ages embodied by E.B. White’s collection of beloved books. We read Leo: A Ghost Story, one of the EB White Read Aloud Finalists and students decided, based on the award criteria (adapted to a first grade level) whether that book should stay or go as a finalist.
- Book look: Students browsed for books with reader’s advisory help from me, read library books independently and with friends. 16 books checked out
1:55-2:40
Second Grade
- In honor of National Poetry Month, students in grade 2 were introduced to children's poet Jack Prelutsky. We discussed what makes a poem and poem and students heard examples of Prelutsky's poetry from his book, A Pizza the Size of the Sun. Students also listened to haiku riddles from the book If Not for the Cat and tried to guess which animal Prelutsky was trying to describe. Later, we will create our own haiku riddle poems.
- Book look: Students browsed for books with reader’s advisory help from me, read library books independently and with friends. 22 books checked out
2:40-3:45
Taught after school program on stop motion animation using everyday objects.
Here is an example of what we did:
- Helped 2nd grade teacher check out books about whales for her classroom unit.
- Graded library papers from kindergarten and first grade classes.
- Responded to more emails about laptop cart availability.
- Responded to School Librarians of Rhode Island emails regarding committee duties.
- Prepped materials for next day.
10:00-10:30
- Read "The Honest Truth" by Dan Gemeinhart, a 2017 R.I. Children's Book Award Nominee and took notes for next year's 5th grade Rooster Games.