QR Code Library Scavenger Hunt

Our 3rd - 5th graders at DC Elementary worked on a library scavenger hunt as a back-to-school activity. In partner groups, students moved about the library following the directions on their handouts. They had to locate a QR code, read the prompt and question, scan the code, and then record their findings on the document.

Here are some sample questions from the handout:

When students found the QR code, they used iPads to scan it and find the answers to their questions. Two of the codes appear below:

Students didn't quite complete all 10 questions, but they now know how to scan QR codes and read for the information. 

2014 - 2015 Iowa Children's Choice Award Nominees

It's time to highlight this year's Iowa Children's Choice Award nominees! Thanks to Miranda Kral, another Iowa librarian, who put together the Prezi presentation featuring all of this year's books! Just click on Start Prezi in the presentation below to see all of the books and trailers promoting them. Enjoy!

Symbaloo in the Library!

With our secondary students using Symbaloo, we thought it was time to bring it to the elementary students through our library main pages. Symbaloo is a visual bookmarking site, and after creating an account, users can build a Symbaloo that includes links to whatever sites they'd like.

Rather than continue to list separate links on our library main pages, we decided to try Symbaloo. While our transition is a work in progress, already the DC Elementary page looks a lot cleaner and more user friendly!

Of course, not everything has made it onto a Symbaloo yet, but grade-level links have been moved. Check out our kindergarten and 3rd grade Symbaloos:

Kindergarten Symbaloo

3rd grade Symbaloo

All kinds of things are on the Symbaloos, but mostly we included sites about books and authors, resources for student work, and online games that support classroom work. Be sure to check the library main pages often as we will add to the Symbaloos throughout the year!

Remember When We. . . Hosted a Book Tasting?

At the start of the previous school year, we decided to promote many different genres using a technique we'd seen over and over again online--a book tasting!

Although there was much behind-the-scenes preparation for this multi-cycle lesson, we and the students had a great time talking about our favorite books and learning about new ones. We began with gathering piles of books to "taste" and creating a sheet where students could keep track of books or genres they'd like to keep track of and possibly look at more closely.

The book tasting featured a Google presentation, which you can see on the original post when you CLIC HERE, along with many more pictures related to our event. Maybe by visiting the post again you'll remember that you were interested in trying a different genre or reading a particular book!

New Year. . . New Theme!

Students at DC Elementary and South Prairie will see a new theme for the year reflected throughout the buildings, and we in the library joined right in the fun! A quick search on Pinterest helped us find some great decorating and lesson ideas, and throughout the summer we've been working on getting things ready for the new year. Check out some of our work below!

The first thing to go up was a collection of paper lanterns with a superhero look:

Next, new curtains were added to the library office windows, along with a superhero alphabet set:

Be on the lookout, too, for new library shelf signs that feature different superhero art:

Stay tuned for more superhero ideas, including book displays and bulletin boards. You might even see a librarian sporting a superhero t-shirt!