Lewis and Clark Learns

Last weekend we surprised my almost 16 year old daughter with an early birthday trip to Chicago for BookCon.  Believe me, she was very surprised because something this big does not usually happen in our family.  She really wanted to attend since it was a bit closer to us this year...evidently the event is usually held in New York.  My daughter is a ravenous reader and obviously I love literature so it was a great trip for our family (my son is a reader but the boys in our family spent their day at Wrigley Field). As a librarian in a 1-1 district, I am often asked, "Do kids still read books?"  Yes, yes they do!  Last Saturday I stood in MANY lines  and all around me were kids and young adults talking books, sharing favorite authors, telling their friends about a new series they should check out, and discussing the last great book they had read.  Kids would cheer when their favorite author showed up to sign their books, they flocked to panel discussions, and were abs

For the last few days my fourth and fifth graders have been sharing their Genius Hour projects.  We did not create formal presentations this year, instead we shared in a much more informal setting.  My kids truly worked toward their passions while working independently or collaboratively with others.   An Emoji Pillow Lettering and Caligraphy Sewing Tinkering Sewing Cheerleader Bows Photography and Scrapbooking Robotics

The 2016 MASL (Missouri Association of School Librarians) Conference was one of the very best I have been to in a long time.  The featured speakers were great...especially Jennifer LaGarde (aka Library Girl).  Of course I follow her on Twitter and read her blog regularly, but I had never heard her speak before.  In short, she was PHENOMENAL!  I still find myself thinking about her talk! Fellow Liberty teacher-librarian Teresa Barnett and I presented a workshop entitled, Blending Your MakerSpace & Library Standards For Student Success .   Check it out if you are implementing a MakerSpace in your library or school. I also met author Tim Green and won an autographed copy of his book.  Obviously, I had to get a pic with him:). Plus, I was thrilled to hear David Shannon's presentation on his life as an author.  What an amazing storyteller he is!   Conferences are a great place to gather new ideas for programming and get a fresh new look at what is possible in your library

Earlier this Spring, my 2nd graders added a little creative flair to our robotics unit...we decked Dash out in the latest fashions!  The kids put their designs on paper, created patterns out of newspaper, and then worked on their final projects.   What a fun way to end our robotics  study.                                    

Trouper  The 2015-2016 Missouri Show Me Award Winner Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library  The 2015-2016 Missouri Mark Twain Award Winner

So, we are rapidly coming to the end of the 2015-2016 school year.  What a year it has been!  My older kids are wrapping up Genius Hour projects.  Younger kiddos are finishing up inquiry projects, and in between we are creating games and marble mazes.  Check out some of our projects below... Keva Planks, Kindergarten, and Animal Habitats Genius Hour Projects

Each year we celebrate the amazing readers who reached the goal of reading all of the Mark Twain or GKCRead nominees!  Mrs. Haynes and I so appreciate Dr. Palmer and Mrs. Ferguson covering our lunch duties and our PTA for funding the pizza for readers.  Our kids really look forward to this day and we love seeing them having fun and enjoying lunch in the library.