Saturday, June 30, 2007

Back from ALA

I just spent five days in Washington DC at the ALA Annual Conference as a delegate to the AASL Affiliate Assembly and then made it back in time for the last day of school. It was a whirlwind week, but well worth it.

I enjoyed hearing about ALA/AASL activities at the national level, including the SKILLs (Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries) Act which was announced Tuesday, June 26th. This is thrilling because of the language it contains for NCLB (No Child Left Behind) that "guarantees students across America will be served by highly qualified, state-certified school library media specialists and will have the library resources they need to succeed." See the AASL website for more information: http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslissues/SKILLS_Act.cfm

Contact your Senators and ask them to cosponsor S. 1699. Contact your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2864.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

5th Grade Found Art Sculptures


sculpture.jpg
Originally uploaded by Ridgecrest Library

I love having student work in the library for everyone to see, and these sculptures are no exception! In preparation for going to the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle next week, the 5th graders brought items from home and then shared them to create whatever their imagination came up with. The younger students are having fun trying to imagine what the sculpture is, it's funny how it always has to "be" something, it can't just be something abstract. I'd love to tie in some lessons about art books with this project next time.

Reading in the Library


books.jpg
Originally uploaded by Ridgecrest Library

Kindergarteners are enjoying nonfiction reading during their library time. They made a mess, but were sharing their finds with each other, which is just fine with me!

Saturday, June 2, 2007

The Beginning of the Journey

I am looking forward to participating in the California School Library Association's School Library Learning 2.0 project. My hope is that we can begin a similar program in Washington State next fall under the umbrella of the Washington Library Media Association (http://www.wlma.org) beginning at our fall conference.