Viral Ghost Programming

 Y'all October is ROUGH! You can probably talk to anyone in education right now.. and they will more than likely say the same thing.

I don't know if I have talked about TikTok much, but it is one of my favorite outlets.  Of course, my algorithm is a ton of library videos, animals, and dad jokes.  Right now my algorithm is all about ghostly activities.  

I have 2 big programs this month:
For the materials and templates for the directions and signs I created for these events- scroll to the bottom
-Thrifted Ghost Painting with staff
-Ghostly Photoshoot with staff and students

Have you seen the Thrift Store Ghost Painting? Look up the hashtag #thriftedghostpainting for some inspiration.  I knew that this would be a SUPER easy activity that I could easily do with my staff. I also got the inspiration from one of my Facebook Groups from Sharon Autry

Not everyone has time to go shopping at a thrift store- but I happen to know an awesome one down the street from me.  I headed to Irving Thrift I found several pieces that I could use.  I also found some AMAZING photos at the National Gallery of Art which has over 50000 items of downloadable art (there are over 1800 pages- I went to the very end of the gallery and worked backward to find the actual photographs)  The images are also in the public domain- what a great topic to talk about with our staff and I can't wait to use them again (I am already thinking of Star Wars Day!) 

I invited teachers to bring snacks- but thanks to TikTok I found some SUPER easy snacks to share as well. I decorated cups to look like Jack-O-Lanterns and added a scoop of ice cream, orange soda, and some whipped cream. I also had Monster Munch I also had some worms and dirt.

Overall the event was super successful and teachers enjoyed painting and relaxing for a bit.

My students eventually find my TikTok (I am not sure how.. I have a very niche TikTok) and ask to be in one. I personally do not allow students or kids to be in my videos because the algorithm is super weird. However, another TikTok trend is going around that they can hop on!

I purchased a package of Queen size sheets from Amazon and am inviting students and staff for a photo opp (note- I am doing only a set a day- so washing every evening!)

Let me tell you about the joy and the LAUGHS that have happened with this. This is one of my Destination ImagiNation teams.

Materials List

-cardstock

-paint brushes (from Michael's- love their Teacher Discount!)

-paint (also from Michael's)

-Thrifted paintings or print images

-Queen sheets

My students are also asking me for the next Hot Chocolate and Storytime Day.. AND.. a Book Fair.  Both of those are coming up!

Template Link

Ghost Painting/Trends by akbusybee

What have you done in the library that has been successful? I am always looking for ideas! 

Rachael and I also created a Haunted Texas Wakelet- take a look... if you dare!

Hispanic Heritage Month- Alebrijes

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! I am always looking for ways to engage my students and collaborate with teachers!

Our campus celebrated International Dot Day on September 14th (we didn't have school on Friday). I used this opportunity to collaborate with my art teacher!

The Plan:

-Read The Dot by Peter Reynolds and talked about the importance of making your mark

-learned about Pedro Linares and Alebrijes

-took a quiz to see which Alebrijes would be your imaginary friend

-created paper Alebrijes

I created a Wakelet that had the resources that we used for the lesson. You can find the Wakelet here

Shared this video about Pedro Linares

I am all about sharing our premium resources- and Gale in Context High School had a fun quiz!

Quiz- Which Alebrije Should be your Imaginary Friend?- Found on Gale in Context-High School

When collaborating with my art teacher we found this great website that had paper Alebrijes.  There were a couple of templates on there, but my art teacher created even more.  

While talking with the students we talked about what Alebrijes usually includes 3 out of the 4 elements- air, water, earth, and fire. 

Templates:

-printed templates on different color cardstock

-invited students to choose an animal and set of wings

-put out gel pens and markers for students to decorate

-click on the LINK to force copy the template Thanks to Kathy's Art Project Ideas and Layla Day for the templates

Once completed they make great additions to the library! I have leftover templates in the library for students to do since not all students came through the library for art class.

Alebrijes Templates by akbusybee

I am always looking for a collaborative project! I am already talking to my art teacher about a project in October- and I am SOOOO excited about the project that Rachael and I are working on!  

What are you doing for Hispanic Heritage Month?

September in the Library

We are just ending our fourth week of school- and of course, it has been busy! Wanted to share what we have going on so far.

In this blog you will find:
-weekly voting
-Loyalty Card
-International Literacy Day
-Dot Day

Weekly Voting
Thanks to @grahamlibrarian for the idea for this last year.  Thanks to the TikTok by TheJaySalazar

Questions:
-Are there more wheels than doors in this world?
-Is a hot dog a sandwich?
-Is a taco a sandwich?

Loyalty Card

Amanda Hunt (@thenextgenlib) shared her loyalty card program. I loved it.. but gave it my own spin.  I also added attending events (such as my Hot Chocolate.. and upcoming Book Fair.. or any other event that I might have.  You can find my template here  I also just printed it off in cardstock and cut it apart.

International Literacy Day-September 8th

Before school and during lunch I am also going to have a cart of books that students will be able to take to celebrate International Literacy Day.

International Literacy Day is September 8th and I am working with my RLA teachers.  I am going to go into classrooms to read Last Stop on Market Street by Matt del la Pena

We had a GREAT training before started with Maria Walther of Ramped Up Read Aloud

You can find my template here

Last stop on market street by akbusybee 

Dot Day
One of my favorite days is International Dot Day! Next week I am having morning events all week.  You can find my blog here

I have activities planned for every morning.. and I am also working with my Art Teacher

Since September 15th also begins Hispanic Heritage month we are going to do a lesson over the importance of making your mark (to go along with Dot Day)

I am reading The Dot by Peter Reynolds and then we are going to learn about Pedro Linares and Alebrijes.  Many Alebrijes have dots on them- so what better way to talk about making your mark, learning about an artist and also collaborating! I am going to create a Wakelet that leads students back to our premium resources about Pedro Linares.  We are then going to make our own paper Alebrijes.  We go this idea from Kathy's Art Projects- but my art teacher is creating her own.

What are you celebrating in September?  I am already planning October.. and one of them being an actual book club and some really cool collaboration!

Dot Day 2023

Before I even became a librarian- Dot Day was one of my most FAVORITE days to celebrate.

What is Dot Day? Dot Day is based on The Dot by Peter Reynolds.  Thanks to Terry Shay- Dot Day was born 20 years ago when the book came out!  Every year International Dot Day is celebrated on September 15th ish.  

You can search the tag #dotday but also check out the website with lots of different ideas and ways to connect.  International Dot Day

I love a good picture book- and The Dot has the best message about how you can make your mark!

Although we are not celebrating Dot Day until September- I wanted to share what we are planning on doing.

Even though I am in High School- I still like a good theme (and the kids do too.. they just might not tell you.. and even a side eye means they are paying attention)

Background on my school:

-9-12 High School

-Title 1 (not that it should matter)

-I am a smaller school though- about 300 students

I have decided this year I am going to do an activity every morning for students to participate in. Students are able to come into the library before school starts- I do allow eating in the library for breakfast and lunch- with the expectation that they pick up and clean up.

Once an activity is complete for that day-students will still be able to do it throughout the week.  The station directions/signs will be at the bottom of this post for you to use.

Monday-

I am going to have coloring sheets out for students to make a mural.

I found this Collaborative Activity Coloring Pages on Teachers Pay Teachers

I have big glass windows so will be hanging them up as they get created.

Tuesday-

One year The Dot sent out some wooden coins to people.  I am going to invite students to create their own design that has a power word- or a design that reminds them how to make their mark.  Once a design is created we will put it into the Glowforge and print out wooden coins.

I am looking at purchasing this wood for the project- Amazon Link

Wednesday-

Students will be able to continue to do the Glowforge and color- but this morning I am adding in Kandinsky Art- I love this idea from this blog- but I plan to do it with construction paper and glue.  We will also post them on one of my clear bulletin boards (that I am going to put a gold border around) I found this Gold Border on Amazon that is going to be perfect

For the station information on this day- I plan to also have a QR code that goes back to one of our databases that talks about the artist Kandinsky.

Where I plan to store the artwork- will be giving it a gold frame

Thursday-

We are going to use Ozobots.  I am going to invite students to make their own path and choose ways they are going to make their mark in school, home, life, and work. This is my current idea for the Ozobots- but real talk- it is still in the works (I have several students helping me on this one)

Friday-

This will be the official Dot Day!  Last year we did hot chocolate and story time.  This will be our first one of the year.  I plan to read The Dot and possibly another book about the importance of making your mark. I of course provide marshmallows as well.

Station Signs- TEMPLATE LINK

Share- Dot Day 2023 Week by akbusybee 

I am also collaborating with my art teacher to do a project for that day as well.

My next blog will be my plan for September.

Are you planning anything for Dot Day?

The Library Where the Adventure Begins

 Year 22 is already in full swing! The kids aren't back yet, but I have been on campus since the end of July. 

With it being the beginning of school I like to do a little something for my staff to get them into the library. I saw this Tweet (I know that is not what is called anymore.. but that is what I am going with) from Abby Shapiro and I LOVED it!

I changed it up a bit to have teachers come to me.

Now- before I get too much farther:
-I planned for about 75 people
-ALL Staff was invited to stop by
-I purchased all of the items on my own
-The Gift Cards from Sonic for my giveaway- I purchased those as well

You can see my whole Canva here with each station- TEMPLATE

Cardwell Library by akbusybee

 I even made myself a cute shirt to go along with my theme... Library Where the Adventure Begins

So to make today work I had each content area sign up for a 20-minute time to come through the different stations.  Each station had information about the different things the library offers. I loved when the Social Studies Group came through they brought their computers and I had a chance to share our premium resources.

When staff signed in they were able to pick up a sticker (thanks Amazon) and a bag to fill with trail mix.

My trail mix stations did not have nuts.. because I am allergic.  I got all of the containers at Dollar Tree and I was super pumped that I found the M&M's on sale at Sams for $4.00

I can't wait to learn more from my district librarians and collaborate with the teachers at my campus!

There is a Mystery Afoot

 Happy Summer!

Many of my friends are traveling, attending amazing conferences, or just taking a break.  

I am spending my June hanging out with some pre-k and kinder students for summer school as the summer school librarian (and teaching swim lessons and lifeguarding) 

I absolutely love my local public library- and this year their summer reading theme is Only Mysteries in the Library.  You must check out their social media-Irving Public Library.  With the help of two other amazing librarians (Monica and Erika) we came up with some great things to keep our kiddos busy this summer.

Since our theme is mystery we tried to keep our activities along those lines.  I had my students become Library Private Investigators- L.P.I's

Information about our program:
-This is for Pre-k and Kinder students
-Our school is Monday-Thursday
-I see each class 2 days each week
-I am part of the rotation (summer school is different)

I created a Canva agenda board for my daily activities.  You can find the template here

Summer Library Private Investigators by akbusybee

Since I am working with littles this summer I tried to keep the schedule/timing the same:

-Started with an intro of all that we were doing

-did a 3 or 4 minute Yoga video

-used our digital databases to share information over the lesson

-had an interactive activity

-read a book

-checked out books

-then depending on the time left- I spy game or BookFlix

You can also find my lesson plans here-Summer Lesson Plans

There were a couple of things I did purchase-

-Magnifying Glasses-Amazon

-Animal Stickers for prizes- Amazon

-Detective Costume- Amazon

For the first day Erika made great clues to lead to different places around the school.  I used her clues and recorded videos. This gave teachers a chance to explore the school and students to follow the clues.

Although I created QR codes- I also put them all in one Wakelet- You can find the Wakelet with clues here 

We also created a Guess Who Game with clues posted each day (used characters from Bookflix)

You can find the Template Here for the Guess Who Game

Guess Who Summer Game by akbusybee

Some Highlights so far:

-Fingerprint Fun! The kids loved doing their own fingerprints and then using the magnifying glass to observe more closely

-We also had an AMAZING author visit! 

Juana Medina  is a fantastic author/illustrator.  She did a great job at keeping our students engaged.  She read in both Spanish and English- and did some super fun artwork!

Summer school ends at the end of June.  

What are you doing for summer reading? 

I am still using Goodreads- but I have also started using Bookmory- check out this fun calendar that it makes. 

A Year in Review- What I Will Continue to Do

This week is the last week of school for our students.  It is also summer for most staff- I of course am not slowing down. I will be doing Summer School as a librarian (and I have some fun things up my sleeve with the help of Erika Rocha and Monica Alcaraz for summer reading) Monday-Thursday, Monday-Wednesday I will be teaching swim lessons and Friday and Saturday will be lifeguarding.  

I had SO much fun this year working in high school.  I am going to miss the kids over the summer and the ones that are moving on to adulthood.  I have now had a chance to work in elementary, middle, and high school. I have appreciated every level for different reasons- but I sure have enjoyed high school.

Things I will continue to do:

Hot Chocolate Storytime

In December we had a Pajama day- and anytime that I can wear a Onesie.. I am in! After chatting with my principal I decided to start hosting a morning storytime that included hot chocolate and a themed book.  In the beginning, I got some grumbles- but the students came for the hot chocolate.  By the last month, I had students bringing in their friends to join in and I even had a few smiles with the story.   

The Pros of this:
-affordable
-gets students in the library
-gives students a chance to hear a read aloud

Keep Irving Beautiful Projects

Keep Irving Beautiful is a local organization that does just what it says- Keeps Irving Beautiful. You can check out their website here Of course one of the main things they do is pick up trash- but they do so much more! They have various community service projects throughout the year that the community can participate in.  This year our school participated in creating holiday cards for Christmas and Valentine's day for nursing homes and also picking up trash around our school.

The Pros of this:
-affordable
-easy community service projects 
-keeps our school engaged with our community

Senior Photos

I LOVE taking photos.. especially ones of people.  I am not a professional (but I am not half bad) I have offered photos to family and friends for maternity, family, and senior photos.  This year, I extended my photo-taking to seniors.  Seniors could sign up for an hour slot either after school or on a weekend to have 100-300 photos taken.  I take my favorite out of the batch and edit them for the students (my goal is 10-15 photos per student)  I then upload these photos into a Google File that has all my photos and the edited ones.  Students had the option to take photos around the school (there are so many options!) or at a local park. Did each photo session take about 2 hours of my time from taking the photos to editing- yes.. was it worth it to offer it to students that might not be able to afford them otherwise.. 100%

The Pros of this:
-affordable
-way for me to give back

-makes my heart and brain happy

Destination ImagiNation

I started volunteering with Destination ImagiNation back in 2009 as a Team Manager.  I have written about Destination ImagiNation before. You can find more about it here. This year I moved to a new campus.. but still had 2 teams that I had been managing since they were in 3rd grade (now they are Juniors about to be seniors.. and seniors that are about to graduate) I wasn't planning on taking on any more teams (although I usually manage 3-5 at a time-you can read my blog here about how I organize multiple teams)  After next year when the next group graduates I was planning on going to the appraiser and volunteer side.  At the beginning of this year, however, I had students approach me asking me if I would be willing to manage a team.  How could I say no? As long as students need and want a Team Manager- I will be there to support them!

The Pros of this:
-Way for me to give back

-I have a chance to see students grow and try new things

-Students have a chance to challenge themselves

I of course will continue some other things such as:

-Stranger Things Day

-Family Literacy Night (hoping to grow it with another campus as well)

-holiday craft activities

-weekly voting (thanks Nicole Graham)

I have a couple of other things that I would like to try next year.. but I am also already thinking about my word for next year and how that will fit into my ideas.

What were your favorite things you did this year?  What do you want to keep and what do you want to ditch?

May the 4th Be With You!

Last week I hosted my first literacy event that was Star Wars Themed.  There are so many different ideas out there- but here is how I hosted my "Jedi" Training. There are lots of links and pictures to go along with this.

I got a ton of ideas from this blog from Lego Librarian 

You can find my Star Wars Jedi Training Station Signs here (Canva Template)

First- I have to share my TikTok because I have to admit it was my cleanest transition yet!

I also had the help of Marie to make this happen!

On May 4th we invited students and staff to wear their best Star Wars attire  (shirt or costume) just no face covering.  The Jedi Training was after school in the library from 5:00pm-6:30pm

Of course, I had to have a voting area- thanks Nicole for giving the idea for voting We went with old-school characters.  I think in the end it was a tie between Chewie and Darth- poor Luke didn't have a chance

This was one of my displays- I got the sign idea from one of the Facebook groups- it says Reading Solo is Dangerous- take a Wookie with you (and then there were Wookie bookmarks)

This station had a QR code that led back to our databases and posed the question of what was an interesting fact that they learned about Star Wars- and then use a dry erase marker to write on the board.

Picklebums had a Build Your Own Star Wars Droid.  I printed off copies of these and invited attendees to create their own Droid.

I also found printable bookmarks that attendees could color.

You can find the I Spy  printable here 

I loved this decodable message station and will probably do something like this throughout the year.

I also had regular games set out throughout the library for students to play.

This was the Light Saber Training- I created the Light Sabers out of pool noodles that I cut in half and added duct tape.  The mission was to see how long they could keep the "Droid" (balloon) in the air. I had some students set up obstacles with some chairs.

At the end we also had a Read Aloud of Are You Scared Darth Vader by Adam Rex

I also had a station that invited attendees to put themselves into a Star Wars scene using a Canva Template.

Will I do this again- absolutely.  I think I had 7 attendees and also 5 staff that came and participated.  The high schoolers that attended were totally engaged and did the stations. At the end of the evening, I also had free books to give away.  I LOVED having conversations with these kids! I had some elementary school kids come and they walked away with picture books.  The high schoolers that came walked away with books they would enjoy.  I also have some high schoolers that have children of their own- and they walked away with board books for their little ones at home.  

Do you guys do anything for May the 4th?  My next blog is about what I plan to continue next year as a high school librarian. I can't believe that is already May and that this school year is almost done!!