Finally Friday Dec. 26

If I were motivated enough to get out of fleece and get into the car and drive all the way into town I would usually at this point have visited B&N to get a new calendar. Always the day AFTER Christmas. In some ways I'm cheap, I guess. Not in enough but in this particular way. But as it's looking I'm not motivated enough. More fun to stay in and listen to the audiobook of The Screaming Staircase. But if I WERE to go ... Michael's would be another trip. For materials for this.



Will I get any new ones made over the rest of the break? Still haven't seen any movies so who knows! The To See list was long. That also requires driving into town.

I also tried making some iPad wallpapers but the site I used to look up the dimensions was incorrect. :P


In SO MANY WAYS.



Although the pic looks more "Beam me up, Scotty" you know this is awesome.



And two pics of cute kids just because I can.

Properly align said pics of cute kids I cannot!

#IMWAYR Dec. 22

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.


I've been reading some picture books from our first order. I need to catch up on my Goodreads goal. :P :/

I think my favorites might be My Blue is Happy, Nugget & Fang, & ... hmmmm. Why is Memoirs of a Goldfish not showing up? I must have mixed up the date.

Though Joshua Dread was fun.

And a new Pendergast is always promise of an adventure.

Some of these I need to buckle down and finish. I also have several e-arcs I should finish. Anyone love any of these and can tell me to get reading? Two nieces/nephews here now, three more coming tomorrow. So we'll see. ;) The Screaming Staircase is an audiobook and I DON'T HAVE THE ROTTEN COMMUTE FOR 13 WHOLE DAYS.

If I'm not back by Thursday MERRY CHRISTMAS. But I might be. We'll see. I have a cutey-patootie Instagram pic I'm saving that is actually book related. Among other things. Like madly fighting off what sort of feels like a cold/flu coming on. THAT CANNOT HAPPEN. Pregnant sis-in-law here plus all those kiddos!

Finally Friday Dec. 19

MADE IT!

Five (hopefully!) little ones next week. Two are already here, we hope three are well and can come next week. So ... I won't be trying many of these SOON. But soon. I have already seen Death Comes to Pemberly, Cranford, Emma, Foyle's War, some of Lark Rise, Mr. Selfridge, Pride and Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Persuasion, Sherlock, Upstairs Downstairs (oddly, didn't love that one), When Calls the Heart (cheesy but I enjoy it anyway!), and Weathering Heights.



I actually do love clothes. You'd not know it to look at my current wardrobe but I do. And Disneybounding is just kind of fun.



Another one. Aren't they fun? A book related quote, perhaps?



This color combo makes me happy.



I WANT THIS LEGO WALL. Just got told this AM that I don't "get" to do morning duty as a door stop anymore (I hated it at first cause I'm not a morning person and saying good morning that many times was hard. Actually started to get more used to it and enjoy their smiles but still. 45 minutes every day). I can have the library open instead. WHAT CAN WE DO? ;)



Just like movies not sure how many books I'll be able to read. But I do have e-arcs of the second Thickety and second and third Finishing School titles. Plus three days left on my echeckout of The Spy Catchers of Maple Hill. And with a surprise by our district LS a couple book orders to work on!

Enjoy holiday time!

Finally ... Saturday! Dec. 13

Good week? Great week?
Here are a couple things from the web that inspired me professionally and personally.


Why did I not think of this?



Oh, I wanted to get this so bad. But I'd already ordered myself the SW Ugly Sweater t-shirt. I liked this one better, though. :P



Headphones drove me crazy last week. Need to get one of these.



I would like a book of Hank-isms like this.



For as much as faith plays an important part of my life I'm not usually one for this type of music. I prefer classical as a more worshipful tone ... and then give me some 80s pop or 90s alternative. Or country. This, however, is a lovely, lovely arrangement. I don't recognize most of the YouTubers but who cares. The important part? #sharethegift

#IMWAYR Dec. 8

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.




I just finished the Beyonders World Without Heroes audio. Will be starting a "grown up" Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child Pendergast audio adventure next. Looking forward to Blue Labyrinth.

For the second or third time I have Making Thinking Visible checked out. And again ... I love the ideas. I just have a hard time with the e-format for this one and translating reading into practice. I should just buy it. I have several other PD books I bought and started and haven't ever finished already. Is that bad?

I'm in the middle of Red Rising. And The Infinite Sea. It's been too long since I read The 5th Wave so I'm a little lost.

I must admit ... during my month off of posting any reading (MsOReadsBooks! Really. She does. This year is not the norm) I did share The Book With No Pictures with some kids. They liked it a lot more than I did so that's worth something.

Oh! And the picture book Ivan. What I would give for a terrible late 80s hair photo of myself at the B&I visiting Ivan. I never got to go see him at the Atlanta zoo. I loved sharing that one with the kids!

And I read Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek. I liked that one ... can't wait to hear more from the young author. I actually didn't care for Tana French's The Secret Place. I've enjoyed all her others but not this one.

Upcoming Projects

Well. Since the hands on research project (transportation, recreation, and communication ... comparing with colonial times--we had reproductions of games to play and simple Pebble Go research task cards ... but no one wanted to do it :() I thought we'd be doing didn't fly with that particular grade level's teachers I have more time than I thought I would. Plus no GTA next week. :P So this is what I'm doing instead.

This one just because he's fun and I needed a student work display for out in the hall. Is that terrible? We will be talking about apps first. We just got 25 iPads for the library (not functional yet but they will be!) so the timing is good for app discussion and why we use tech.

HOUR OF CODE! I really had wanted to be doing this all along but new admin this year nixed it. Until it became a district thing. Just a couple 2nd grade and then 3-5. K-the rest of 2 we'll try once the iPad cart is working. And I play more with the apps.
Follow MsOReadsBooks's board Hour of Code Stuff on Pinterest.


Every year I beg classes to make book related ornaments for small trees in the library. Some years I get good responses, others not so much. The "off" years I swear I will just make some to have around ... but that's not quite as fun, is it? Here are some possible adaptations ...


Oliver Jeffers is fun. Not the same kind of tree but the story obviously lends itself. ;)



Must get a new pack of crayons. I probably have the googly eyes.



I need an easy Gerald equivalent. And then maybe a little toy bird in a nest. And a little ball. And another whale?



The trees I'm contemplating at school are MUCH smaller (like 18-24"). But this one has possibilities. I have some of those book cover foam stickers!



Would it be weird to do a "holiday" tree on this?



Or ... a tree with all small pointy red hats. Or red sleds. Both would be fun book references.






A tree in honor of The Most Magnificent Thing would also be fun. Just with ... bits and bobs of things. Popsicle sticks. Yarn. Rubber bands. Small cans. What else?

And if the book order comes in in time ... finally got to order some books! So a book tasting with at least one 3rd grade class may be in order.

Finally Friday Nov. 21

VACATION! JUST IN TIME! Lately getting pulled into a lot of dull things. No one wants to do the fun research things. :P Recharge and start again. So this may not be as hilarious to a non-San Antonian. But every year the Spurs do a series of commercials (in 5 hours!) and they are SPOT ON. This is just one. I won't make you see all three.




OWLS! And Christmas!




Google Funnies.




I don't crochet. But if I did crochet, I'd want to crochet this.




I do love me a good extension.




May you get lots of reading in. And turkey. And pumpkin pie (WW POINTS BE ... GONE!). And family time. Movie time. Sleeping time. Later.

QR Code Library Login How To Update

So it will never be perfectly pretty (I still need to change the wallpaper now that the iPad has been repurposed) but here it is. Again, with the Instagram repeats!

And here is a link to the how to directions. I guess they get the job done even if they are not aesthetically pleasing.

Kids walk in and it's right there. The only app immediately visible is NeoReader (yes, all they have to do is swipe to the left but it hasn't been a problem). That's the QR code reader that lets you set the camera to the front facing option (important cause that's the one that is still accessible with this security stand). They scan the card which opens up the sign in form that auto-fills grade level and teacher, and they enter their name and choose their reason for being in the library. Then hit "Submit" and "Done." Took them a bit at first but then they get it down and can do it in under 15 seconds. Faster than notebook and pencil!

We've only been using it for what, 7 school days. Don't have a lot of data yet. But I am seeing lots of "lights" go on with teachers as to how useful the auto-tracking of the kids that come on passes might be (time stamp and frequency ... teachers can see the sign in results when they are logged in to their Google accounts). Every K-2 class gets a class checkout visit a week and then can come on passes. 3-5 gets a class visit for checkout every two weeks and can come on passes in between. They only sign in if they are in the library on their time and not a scheduled class visit.

If I can find the template (egads, seriously, could I be more disorganized? Hoping it's on my computer at school though why on earth I didn't put it in Google Drive I cannot say) would you like the library pass template? Or is there any other info that would be helpful?

Finally Friday Nov. 14

If you didn't see the Instagram version here's another one (and if you did I'll stop double posting soon ... just getting the hang of it. For as much as I love to learn about photography I am terrible at remembering to TAKE PICTURES!) ...

I find myself oddly unable to look away from this picture. This is my nephew. He's an avid reader. And, apparently ... very stretchy. :)


Totally cute. I haven't read this one this year because a teacher beat me to checking it out. And has had it for three weeks already. And I've felt awkward saying "Please only keep holiday books for a few days and then return them so that others can use them!" I mean, we're not a big library. If people keep stuff too long then no one else gets to use it. But I don't want to make her feel unwelcome to check out, either. :/



This has become a huge push in our district. Ironic. I was going to start it two months ago during our tutoring time. And was told I could not and had "to have bookclubs." ????
Follow MsOReadsBooks's board Hour of Code Stuff on Pinterest.


I don't have these exact ones but I have some others from this seller. Lovely, lovely pieces. And the PRETTIEST PACKAGING EVER.



The image ought to give the real quote and not the quoter. #picky #stilllikeit



Grand literature it's not. But the idea is so precious. A friend knows the starters and posted this on her FB page. I don't often do Kickstarters (Reading Rainbow and Tile were it) but this is a nice idea.

Books We Gobbled Up BB and LittleBits Puppy

This one is turning out better. If you are on Instagram you already saw this. Got two or three more turkeys today. Some teachers are saying it's turned into a ginormous discussion as kids get passionate about which books to put on the feathers. Oops. That wasn't actually my intention. I had help cutting out all the bodies (literally ... it's the outline of a bowling pin I found on a freebie clip art site) and the feathers are just ovals. Was meant to be something pretty quick.

No, wait. Maybe I don't feel bad about passion for books. ;)

Titles are on the feathers. Still need more than half of the classes to finish their turkeys but it still looks fun already! #gobbleupbooks

A photo posted by Angie Oliverson (@msoreadsbooks) on Nov 11, 2014 at 10:43am PST

And if you saw my Twitter post this morning you already saw this. But here it is again. Too bad they weren't allowed to be in the video. Anyway. #makermoment

Overdue Books

Trying this again as the number of classes where a quarter to a third of the kiddos can't check out because of overdue (by two weeks or more) books is just ridiculous.  Come on, small to medium fry friends. Keep your books in your backpack or book box when you're not actively reading them.  :/ :P

 The clip art is from Educlips. The font is from Jen Jones.

Finally Friday Nov. 7

Hello everybody! Here are some interesting for one reason or another pins. Old ones, this time. Click through for the original sources!
Kind of fun. I'm not always big on the chants but for the month ...



Too bad this was not my idea.



Pretty colors.



I heart fall layers. And I live in hot south TX. Plus I gained weight and can't fit into any of my cute fall layers. BOO.



Speaking of weight gain :P ...



Later! Tomorrow is a SA #edcamp. Hoping to hear about some cool things!

Not Quite a Pinterest BB Fail

But close. It is not easy to find square plates. Napkins do not produce the same effect. Especially when the size/measurements end up off. I made him smile on purpose.




The turkey one might be better if more classes participate. Gave them all the pieces. They just had to put it together. Pic to come eventually. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Currently November

Linking up with Farley ...

Listening to the new Piano Guys album. A little bit cheesy but so relaxing.
Loving the pics! I wish they lived closer.
Thinking I just have to get the paperwork done (Note to anyone who doesn't know ... the TL is FAR from done when the fair is packed up. FAR. :P) and then I can get into Thanksgiving and Christmas mode.
Wanting to learn how to make my hair look like my stylist does. Can she come to my house every day? :P It's like I don't even have the same HEAD.
Needing desperately to get back into shape. *insert whine* It's so hard.
Reading picture books! The new Ivan one. Waiting on the new Piggie and Elephant and The Book Without Pictures to be delivered. Listening to Joshua Dread (middle grade novel). Just finished the third Al Capone (Gennifer Choldenko ... another middle grade) book. And As You Wish (VERY FUNNY).

Later! Must take allergy meds and head off to church.

Finally ... Saturday

Whew! Bookfair is done. Really seemed like one of the slowest we've ever had but I'm crossing my fingers when the bookkeeping is finished and we add in credit card receipts we'll be OK. Thinking that changing the month might not have been the best. Couldn't be helped this year, though. Original date was the week the shelves were installed and we moved everything!
We had some awesome pumpkins in our Literary Pumpkin Patch.

Totally doing this. So why am I sharing the pin cause then it will be redundant when I post OUR pics?



So it kind of drives me nuts when things like this don't have punctuation. But that's silly because in every other way this is truth.



I <3 this SO MUCH. Where does one find different sizes of tubs?



I need to check some of these out! I saw Sam and Dave at the fair. One of these days when I'm in town I need to stop at B&N. We still haven't been able to order any new books for the collection so I'm behind.



Still looking forward to learning more about Chromebooks and using them with the kids. Even if Google killed Reader and iGoogle. And no GTA for me. :P



Happy extra hour of sleep or reading tonight!

#IMWAYR

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.




I already talked about Chum. The only other book I finished was not kid lit. It was As You Wish. But I liked it! As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Grand, great literature it's not. But as a thoroughly enjoyable several hours of listening to stories from the making of one of the funniest (and still innocent without being sappy) movies I've ever watched ... definitely recommended.

And I've started The Emerald Tablet. So maybe I am climbing out of my reading rut.
It's bookfair this week! I saw the new Sam and Dave Dig a Hole as we were setting up. So at some point this week I'll get to that one. And I'm starting either Tsar, Joshua Dread, or Al Capone Does my Homework as audiobooks. Helps pass the time on the dumb commute. Tsar is on the Kindle (Audible deal of the day a while back), the other two on my phone (yay Overdrive!).

Finally Friday

Hope your week went well! We had our school Fall Festival last Friday. Fun but long. This week? No Google Teacher Academy. :( But guy at the dealership discovered an extended warranty I'd forgotten ALL ABOUT. Today he is one of my favorites. :)


Would this really work as well as it seems to here?



There is that.



The only thing is with shelves I like to have books.



One day I will make a new one that replaces class with library. And then this will be perfect.



LOVE. If it wasn't bookfair in the coming week I'd totally do this.

ChumtheBook and Other Things

First book talk. Then life talk.

Ever watch reality tv competitions? Me, not so much. Not since Real World ... was it the first or second season? A long enough time ago. ;) I didn't really "get" that draw but I know lots of people who DO enjoy them.
Ever had an embarrassing photo or video posted to social media? Me ... not that I know of. I tend to avoid cameras. :P But it has happened to people that I know. I promise ... I'm not the one that posted them. Truly. I have done silly things that would have been embarrassing but no cameras were around, thank goodness. ;)
Ever felt like you didn't quite belong? Yep.
Like pickle juice? NO. But there I agree with the main character.
Now the little yellow plastic guys ... they are a bit creepy. But that's what makes them funny.

So ... this does not necessarily win the "Ms. O's Newest Favorite of All Time" as a couple parts were more farfetched than I was necessarily always willing to go. That said ... I can definitely can see middle grade readers that would eat this one up. Fans of Shark Week, for example. Or, actually, Captain Underpants. The main character is in eighth grade but I can see fifth or even strong fourth grade readers being fine with this one. No YA subject tendencies. A hint of romantic interest but so little is done about it a kiddo not looking it would most likely miss it altogether.

Also he had me at the a-ha reference. And the chapter titled "Delusions of Grandeur." #imageek #iknowitiliveitiloveit




Now excuse me while I go have some ice cream and bemoan not getting accepted in to GTA Austin on the same day my car's AC compressor blew out and four days before stressful bookfair. Sad face and then moving on. :/

Apparently a nErDcampSA is in the works. ;)

#IMWAYR (almost) & Google Login Update

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journeys. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now… who knows, you might discover that next “must read” book!

Our Kid Lit to YA version is hosted by Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

GREAT IDEA! Check out all of the What Are You Reading? participants for title ideas.




Been a little while, no? Reading rut. Still not actually OUT of it. .. but on the road, I think. My Audible subscription kicked back on (after I set it to a 3 month hiatus) the same week as Cary Elwes' As You Wish came out. Now, grand literature it's not. But it's such fun to hear about the making of one of my favorite movies. Based on a book which I am embarrassed to say I've never gotten around to reading. Perhaps we'll need to remedy that next?


And of course the Ivan picture book. Oh, what I'd give for a pic from the days of visiting him at the B&I. I'd have bad hair, of course. That is sort of a given for the time period.



Stay tuned ... I have almost made my "dream" Google login system work. The auto-fill QR code was amazingly easy when I searched on the right terms. Right now I have all the classes sorted to send responses to separate tabs in the response spreadsheet. I'd prefer for a method I saw on YouTube where you clicked on a drop down menu at the top of the column and chose one possible response ... and then only that answer would show up. A teacher would choose their name and then only their kids would show up. Or we'd choose a grade. I think they called it data validation? Cleaner but I haven't gotten that to work yet (and now I can't find the video). So we have like 40 tabs on the spreadsheet ... a little messy but it works. Just waiting for what feels like forever on the order for the lockable iPad station. And a new custodian to apply and get the job so he or she can actually install it. Me and power drills ... well. So far we don't get along. Maybe desperation will help me to get brave. I just would prefer to not be brave FIRST on something so important as our circ desk.

Here are the library passes waiting to be used. Waiting. Waiting. If it actually works (and the info gained on classes and students coming to the library on passes proves to be useful) I'll post a how to. I already made a really ugly how to that I shared with district librarians. To put it out here it would need to be much prettier. I perhaps have too much pride in visuals. :P

So. GTA messages go out on Wednesday. I wish my video would have turned out more interesting. Tech really has changed my teaching. I've seen really cool things happen when kids and teachers try new things. Boy howdy would my colleagues from my first years of teaching Spanish would LAUGH at the idea. I would really love to go. But I keep seeing about how people apply multiple times. Hmm. Well. Would be super cool as it's just up the road and we rolled out Chromebooks on campus just this past week. But I'm not holding my breath. :P :P

Library Field Trip

"Today was good, today was fun. Tomorrow can we have another one?"

Or maybe tomorrow I'll go back to campus and give benchmarks.
Hmmm. Which sounds more interesting. :P


Our district took half of our elementary librarians on a bit of a field trip today. The other half are going on Thursday. I was a terrible blogger today who didn't take hardly any pictures! We were a big group and I don't feel comfortable posting too much of my own kids, let alone someone else's students. So it was mostly just looking.

The first school we observed some science stations. I would love to do more hands on stuff. It's one reason the Maker movement sounds so inviting.
They read a book on the doc. camera and then moved around to different tables. They had some great weathering and erosion activities going on.

PROS: hands on! A literature component. An art component. Tech components. The kids were on task. Also everyone loved the mini iPad cases.
POSSIBLE CONS: Mess. Sand and water in lots of places. She had more physical space than we do. Would it still work as seamlessly? Also I see she still has the same ... conundrum about reading a book on the doc. camera. If you are facing the book your back is to the kids. If you are facing the kids you get a kink in your neck twisting around to read the book.



At the second school it was more to observe her management style and see little ones doing self-checkout.

PROS: seriously ... those little guys knew their ID numbers and they followed directions. Coziest space. How did they keep it so dust free with all of the little displays and decorations? I did take a pic of the bulletin board behind her computers. It's pretty close to what I was thinking about for our space if I could ever get the company to send me a price quote! I keep getting the "48-72 hours" line. Twice. Over the space of four weeks. But never any answer. I would go to another vendor but this is the only district one that has what I want! She also had some interesting "museum" type displays with research bags for teachers to check out. I would have loved to have learned more. And copied them! ;)

POSSIBLE CONS: They were only getting one. I let kids check out more books. Maybe I shouldn't. Had a discussion back on the bus about really encouraging kids to actually FINISH what they check out. Are they more or less likely to do so being limited to two books at a time versus more?

Also in both schools their shelves were pretty packed. After the past several months and changes in our space (I promise, pics of OURS will come ... there are just some things I am having trouble getting moved out and I want it to be a pretty non-cluttered photo tour!) I find myself very much a proponent of less in number but higher in quality books. Yes, people have noticed. And there have been a few books I wish were still around. But not enough to make me sorry I did it.



Then after lunch we went to Bibliotech. I haven't completely changed my mind. I still ... well. I'd still prefer to see some print books. In my jolly perfect world there are physical spaces with a mix of print and electronic available to all. But I don't dislike it as much as I did before. They are doing some pretty awesome things there in terms of community outreach. A manned kiosk in the courthouse for people reporting for jury duty. GENIUS! And while I'm not usually a fan of "modern" furniture (much more a shabby chic/cottage style) it did really work in their space. Clean colors (blue, green, orange, chrome, and black) and all so ... MOVEABLE.

I 'll admit I just stole this owl mascot off their website. Isn't he fun? Apparently he is also an AR trigger though I did not ever get straight if it was through Aurasma or Layar or Daqri.

And then we talked at the newest middle school (seriously beautiful space) about a cool tech innovation research project she does with 6th grade. I can't fathom getting the kids for as long as she says she does but they really delve into their topics and create some amazing things.

Monday

So I just submitted an application for the Google Teacher Academy. Here's my video. It's way cookie cutter and not great (some people are budding Spielbergs!) so I'm counting on the rest of the application. Chances are slim but you never know. It's for sure no unless you try. If you never hear me talk about it again that means I didn't make it. :P



Did you have school today? Kids were off but we had meetings. They ... were not super fascinating. Oh well. Tomorrow I will actually be off campus at a little librarian field trip. Our district has never done this before so it might be fun! Half of us are going tomorrow and half on Thursday.

Part of the day will be to visit the county library without books. I have been against the idea of it since I first heard. We'll see if my mind is changed.

Currently October

Linking up with Farley!

Listening ... could I be more of a fogey? And COULD IT BE ANY HOTTER? :P
Loving ... new TV show. So ridiculous but I'm still watching. When I'm awake.
Thinking ... a nap might be in order. Been going to be early all week and still tired.
Wanting ... the heavenly fall combo that is pumpkin and chocolate chip. These muffins are a decent substitute, I will say. No, not QUITE the cookie. But pretty close. Granted, also not super low fat. But less fat.
Needing ... a day off. When not everyone has it.
Treat ... I'll be lame and link to some old Halloween bookmarks. If I get even remotely caught up (though if I'm watching any TV this shouldn't be an excuse, no?) I'll want to play with new images. And maybe I'll wish I'd saved it for a TBT later on but here are some of my fave Slightly Spooky Stories.

The One Where I Ramble On About Stuff

But no #IMWAYR because I am in a reading slump. I just ... can't seem to get things together enough to stick through an entire book. Got several that I need to, though, cause of reviews I promised. Anyone else hit a reading slump? I also got a Garmin Vivofit to help with fitness/weight loss/feeling better goals. It tells me to get up and move. Contradictory, the two things could be. I guess there are always audiobooks.

The library is coming together. I'd post some pictures but ... hmmm. Funny thing. Between the 11th and the 23rd ... the day I did our fall equipment inventory and the day our computer desks came? 4 of them disappeared. SO DUMB. They are thin client computers so they're useless outside of our district network. It's just so ... odd. How? We've looked all over campus. So working on shots that go around the funny spots. Plus it's taking A LONG TIME to get things like bulletin boards ordered. Cause, you know ... WALLS TO HANG THEM ON are kind of bare at the moment. I believe I mentioned that, right? Walls? :) And 85% pretty new shelving? That matches the 15% that we already had (which DIDN'T match what we had before)? It's a lovely cherry stain.

I still look around and can hardly believe it. We still hear most of the hallway (because the walls stop about 8 inches from the ceiling. Something to do with the HVAC system. That they can't get right. We're either freezing or in a sauna). But we don't SEE IT so it's not nearly so distracting. And actually I'm told the hallway can hear ME better now. So that's something.

On a side note one of the lessons today was reading The Wonderful Book and illustrating our own scene with a new animal and what they'd do with that big red book. One example? Kiddo drew a tiger using the book as a toilet. Yes. I opened myself up to that one, did I not? First graders.

Then I read some blog post that warned against embedding Pins. And I got worried. And tired. You know how by Friday you fall asleep before 7? I live large, let me tell you. That's where the last FF went. Sleep and feeling like ... dare I? Is it OK or wrong? I'll probably go back to it cause I like making comments. But maybe not. I do want to be a good digital citizen and not swipe other people's stuff.

My beautiful Google log in that I thought was just a dream last week? I have it figured out! Almost. Well except for that it doesn't work exactly the same on my school Google login as this one. That makes no sense, either. But it's CLOSE. And really wasn't hard, once I came up with the right terms to search for.

Did you see this? I'm signing up to see if it is any good.

Long ramble. Here is a random pic of some of my house decorations just to have a pic. Nothing to do with this post.





Also a PS ... the nasa and usinterior instagram feeds are my favorite. The few of you that I know about that I also follow are fun. But let's be fair. Space and our beautiful country. They are hard to beat. Cute kids come close. As do books. And Halloween decorations.

Library Sign In with Google

Do you keep a record of the kids that come in on passes?

We do have a flex schedule where teachers attend the library with their classes. But with 3-5 class checkout is only every two weeks. That leaves us some time to do lessons w/o so many people wandering around (though it could be better now, w/the walls! Not so distracting). The kids can always come on a pass on the "off" weeks.

It's always been in a binder or notebook. That was the easiest but let's face it ... just ended up being a piece of paper. I never took the time to go back and get the "data" from it that I'd like. Who had that kind of time? And patience to flip through pages and pages counting? Plus students didn't always fill it out completely with the time.

In my perfect world this would work. But so far I haven't been able to figure out HOW.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lydiashiningbrightly/7815685436

Each class or grade would have a laminated pass with a QR code on it. Depending on how it was set up (class or grade) all the kids would have to do is scan the pass (from an iPad in a locked stand) to open up a Google form and fill in their name. Google time stamps the entry in forms so no more "What time is it? with a clock right in front of them. :P In my perfect world through the specific QR code link the class (and by default grade, or they'd have to pick their teacher from a drop down menu) would also fill in on the Google results page. All the kiddo would have to enter would be their name.

And in my really perfect world the results would populate in two spreadsheets. One class specific tab that teachers could see (whether they chose to visit the link would be up to them ... but the info would be available) with their kids and a record of who was coming and the time stamp. That way teachers could see who was asking to come and who wasn't and even if they were playing around between the library and the classroom. And a schoolwide tab so that the library could also extrapolate our busiest days and times. And see which teachers perhaps needed some chains rattled to get their kids down here on passes.

Is this too much to ask? Spreadsheets are not my forte. There has to be some kind of script or "if/then" statement. I just haven't figured it out yet! :P




PS I wonder where the QR code in the pic leads. To be honest I just looked for a CC image on Flickr. A super on top of it blogger would have an example Google form ready to go. And a freebie library pass to download.