Building an epic LEGO Wall for the Library

Last spring, I posted a project on the Donors Choose website and was lucky enough to have the project fully funded! Now, this dream has become a reality; our library has a new awesome to create with LEGOs!

Creating the walls themselves was actually pretty simple! Here are the steps:

1. Gather your materials.
       - Hardboard (like this...Lowe's will even cut it for you 👏)
       - Baseplates (I used peel and stick baseplates from QT Creative)
       - LEGO blocks (you will need some pieces as you assemble the wall)
       - Velcro strips (I used 3M Picture Hanging Strips)

2. Trim the baseplates to fit your surface.


3. Sand the corners where you trimmed.

4. Peel backing from baseplate and stick on your surface. The first plate is most important!! Make sure it's straight 😆

5. Follow the directions on the baseplate package to apply the remaining baseplates.

6. Attach LEGO wall to your surface (or use them as portable boards)! 3 of my boards are attached to doors in the library with the 3M Picture Hanging Strips. They are super-easy to remove and display in the library window!
       - Make sure to let the Hanging Strips set for an hour before kiddos start using the
         boards!

I've also created a video talking about the benefits of a LEGO wall, and it includes clips of the LEGO wall creation! Find the LEGO Wall video here or watch below!

Library Scavenger Hunts: A Back-to-School Adventure

To get back into the swing of things at South Prairie, 3rd-5th graders worked on different library scavenger hunts! Each hunt had students search for important places in the library as well as the locations of popular books and series.


3rd graders did a BINGO-style hunt. Instead of a BINGO, students wrote the number that appeared next to the item/location they found.

4th graders got to do the QR code scavenger hunt this year. QR codes are a handy and easy tool to use in the library when students need to access information! With a partner, students worked to locate QR codes around the library. Each QR code provided students with essential beginning-of-the-year information. Students would then record the answer on their paper.

5th graders did something totally new to them! I created a library scavenger hunt in the GooseChase app. GooseChase is a scavenger hunt app that asks users to complete missions using photos, videos, and text.

Here are some of the missions in our GooseChase:

This was my first time using GooseChase as a facilitator and not a participant! 5th graders loved taking selfies to complete missions, working in a group, and using a new app on the iPads!

New Agriculture and Farming Books at DC Elementary

Earlier in the school year, the Dallas Center Elementary library was awarded a $200 grant from the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation. This grant allowed for the purchase of several new farming and agriculture books to add to the collection and to use with units of study.

Recently, second graders completed a mini-unit that reinforced the main idea/detail note-taking work they had been doing in their classrooms throughout the year. Students could work individually, with a partner, or as a trio to read all or part of a new book, then complete the handout, identifying one main idea and two supporting details.

Access the handout HERE

Below are some of the things students learned in their work:

Once students had read and completed the handout, it was time to return to one of their favorite web tools, Flipgrid. This group of students has used Flipgrid several times and with very few reminders were able to record their learning. 

Awesome Octopuses

As an extension to our fiction/nonfiction work with kindergarten students, we turned to octopuses--an animal with which many students already had a fascination. We began with a quick review of the difference between fiction and nonfiction books, and then we were off with our octopus books.

Students quickly began sharing what they already knew about these sea creatures, and we referred to National Geographic Kids's website for additional information as well.

CLICK HERE to access the full article

With all of our octopus learning, we turned to creating our own octopuses. We used a template from Minieco.co.uk. The template reinforced scissor skills, and students were able to design their octopuses with camouflage elements as they chose. You can CLICK HERE for the template:

Check out some of the students' work:

We've Been Busy!

It's been a long time since we've posted about our students' work and activities. What have we been doing? All sorts of things! Take a look!

Fourth and fifth graders are working on several things at once: accessing our AEA databases, reading nonfiction for main idea and details, and citing their sources. Eventually, their notetaking will lead to the creation of a Google Slides presentation.

Third graders have just wrapped up their look at mythology and myths from around the world using a Scholastic site.

Access the site HERE

Students read myths, identifying main characters, summarizing the plot, and determining the purpose of the myth.

Online catalog work is the focus for our second graders in the fourth quarter. Students learn about the visual and basic searches, then practice using the catalog to find books on the shelves.

First graders are busy using PebbleGO to browse for an animal of interest, then learn facts about their animal that they then combine with make-believe information. The facts, along with their added silliness pieces, come together in a storytelling activity on Flipgrid.

 Finally, kindergarteners take the last several cycles of the year to read and listen to a variety of themed books. For example, recently students read Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider, then created their own Diary... books featuring animals or objects of their choice.

Our year's not over yet--stay tuned for more work and activities!

Doin' Dewey

Fourth and fifth graders in several buildings have recently been learning about the Dewey Decimal System and practicing finding books in the nonfiction section of our libraries.  Here's a brief look at the DDS activities.

Day 1
Before starting our conversation about the DDS, we discussed various collections we already have at home, like DVDs, video games, clothes, and yes, even books! Students offered different ideas about how to arrange these collections: by gaming systems, popularity, release date, color, height, or no arrangement at all. We then talked about the arrangement in libraries--that Melville Dewey's system of arranging books became the way by which nearly all libraries arrange their nonfiction books. We followed up the conversation with the book Do You Know Dewey? by Brian Cleary.

We further explored the DDS with a Kahoot! It is a public Kahoot! so others who are interested can access it online.

Day 2

This day had students up and moving around in the nonfiction section of our libraries, searching for books that satisfied different task cards. On Teachers Pay Teachers, this particular bundle of DDS/nonfiction task cards was especially great--it's from Staying Cool in the Library and available for purchase at TPT.

Students worked in groups of 3-4 to search for the books in our catalogs, to find the books on the shelves, and to record their findings on an answer sheet.

Day 3

Finally, students demonstrated what they learned about the DDS on a Google Form quiz that they accessed through Google Classroom.

As they wrapped up with their, students could also visit a variety of sites to learn more about the DDS. Click on the caption to access the document and the links within.

LINK to document

Students found the rap quite entertaining and the concentration game much more challenging than the 16 cards led them to believe it would be!

Talking' about Traits

As part of our Iowa Goldfinch Award work, students spent some time talking about character traits. To help us understand the difference between a character trait and other traits (like appearance), we used everyone's favorite orange cat as an example.

We decided that a character trait had to do with a person's (or cat's!) personality. So, while we could all say that Garfield was a big, orange cat, we couldn't say those traits referred to his personality. Instead, we decided that he was lazy.

Then, it was on to more Goldfinch read-aloud books to practice talking about character traits in books. We used This a Moose and Meet the Dullards for this activity.

Students talked about two groups of characters from each book: Moose and Duck from This is a Moose and the parents and the kids from Meet the Dullards. Here are some of the descriptors they arrived at when talking about character traits:

Moose: determined, brave

Duck: angry, hypocritical

Parents: boring, surprised

Kids: bored, sneaky

Students then used Flipgrid to record their thinking. Using our lists of traits, students chose a character and trait, then said why they believed that character showed that trait. Click on the link in the caption to access the students' responses.

CLICK HERE to access the grid.

Stay tuned--we're not done yet with our Iowa Goldfinch Award nominees!

Goldfinch Work, Part II

It's busy times in the library during Goldfinch Award book "season." :) We've paired additional books and have had thoughtful, creative work from our students. Recently, we read The Little Shop of Monsters and Fright Club.

Students quickly picked up on the mood of the books and enjoyed the unexpected "scariness" of the cute little creatures in Fright Club and the silliness of the monsters in The Little Shop of Monsters. 

As an extension of the day's readings, students at South Prairie visited The Little Shop of Monsters website, where they watched a video first and then designed their own Pocket Monsters. 

Students at Heritage Elementary and Dallas Center Elementary used iPads to design their own monsters using the apps Doodle Buddy and Monster Moogle Maker.

Both apps allowed students to choose a background and design a monster, usually an animal that they then modified to include physical features and accessories to create the perfect, scary monster!

Another pairing of Goldfinch Award books has been The Night World and Sleep Like a Tiger.

Author Mordecai Gerstein's note at the end of The Night World is a great place to start with students as you prepare them for the read aloud, and the sleeping animals on the last page are a wonderful transition to Mary Logue's Sleep Like a Tiger. We also watched a video called Animals at Rest to gain some background knowledge or reinforce what we already know about sleeping animals.

Students then designed their own night worlds on black construction paper using light-colored crayons and colored pencils, or they wrote and illustrated a page showing the animal they most resemble when they sleep.

With Goldfinch Award voting not happening until March, stay tuned for more read aloud pairings and ideas!