Watch Us In 2020!

Jefferson Academy students began their training using 35mm cameras, the @DoInkTweets app & building worlds in MineCraftEducation before winter break.  Watch our students in 2020, their digital projects will amaze you!😎   Our Makerspace will be lit! 🔥 

Easy Like Sunday Morning: The Last School Week of 2019

     Here we are, the last school week of 2019.  It's hard to believe that the school year is half way over.  Because I'm mentally drained, I'm not going to reflect on the last 6 months now, I will do so during my winter break.  In the mean time, I'm going to share a couple of highlights from the month of December with you during this week.

    My first highlight is a recent discovery through my favorite PLN (personal learning network) Twitter.  I saw this on Amanda Jones' feed, lost my mind and decided to order one for myself.  It's a LED programmable scrolling pin...yes the uses for this in a library program are endless.  I chose to pair this with my last and final push for winter break leisure reading.  I shared a booklist with my teachers and parents to reference while selecting books to read/purchase over the holiday break.  (you will not see this list, I'm currently serving on the Newbery Selection Committee!).   In addition, I sent my last meme of the year encouraging teachers to schedule time for their classes to visit the library and check out books to read during the break.   All of this is done in the name of READING!

   As I mentioned somewhere on one of my social media feeds, I have a Amazon.com addiction.  I really need to remove the app from my iPhone!  Here's the ordering specs., but please keep this in mind, there are several LED pins to choose from, just identify the one that will best serve your personal needs.

    Until next time!  

Hang In There!

You know this week is going challenging on many levels.  The holidays can be tough for some of us and the stress from the job can be very difficult for others.  This week, take a moment to check in with a friend or online colleague to see how they are doing.  Someone can benefit from a kind word or even virtual hug.  Together, we can do this!

Hang in there! 

K.C. (Boss Librarian)

#KC_SaidIt 

Before-During-After

Here's a couple of pictures describing what my library media center looked like pre-construction, during construction and after.

Before

During

After

Our First Makerspace Activity

I've been juggling over the last month.  Shelving books, searching for lost boxes of books from the move, decorating, hosting classes...it's allot.  Despite this, I was able to squeeze in our first Makerspace activity.  It served as a tester for a couple of ideas I have for the near future.  The students for the most part caught on to making a 3-minute butterfly.  There were students who had far more experience than their peers and me (I've never been good at making origami artifacts) These experienced origami creators jumped in and helped their classmates.  It was a fun to watch the students and we have so many butterflies, we can decorate in other areas of the library media center and school building.

I like this video because the pacing is perfect for following along while making the butterfly.

Canva Is My New Friend!

Adding the Canva app to my suite of resources has been the best investment I've made this year.  I use Canva for EVERYTHING:  Social media posts, flyers, posters, graphics for presentations and announcements, you name it.  

Here's just a couple of examples of my use of Canva.  P.S.  I create my template then head over to Instagram stories to add a layers of gif/animations to make the post pop.

Neewer RING Light

Highly recommended!

My hair stylist uses a Neewer Ring Light to post pictures of her work online.  I've been eyeing this light for quite sometime when I would visit the salon:  quality of images produced, durability and ease of use.  Especially ease of use since my students will be charged with set-up and use.  I purchased it from Amazon and upon unboxing all of the parts, got it up and operational within 20 minutes.  Big plus:  The Camera 360 app works well with the light and it's remote control.  

#TrojanLMCMakerspace

Follow us on social media at #TrojanLMCMakerspace and see what my students and I create this year.

Good News!

I was surprised by this report.  I knew that I had a steady flow of classes and students coming to the library during the month of September. 

My memory is horrible these days and I rely on aides.  I'm thankful that I post on social media in real time, so I'm using the timestamp of previous posts to help me.  

- My lunchtime library crew didn't begin coming to the library until September 9th

- I didn't begin receiving classes until September 16th.  

- For two weeks in the month of September I was watching a class during 6th period.  Essentially, there was still a percentage of classes I had not seen.

This is why I can say, this has been the BEST September for circulation since working at Jefferson.  Pretty good given that I was dealing with books, boxes and dust since the beginning of the school year!

Check out the meme at the end of this post from Literacy Specialist, Jen Jones

My Favorite Picture of the Year....So Far!

This picture warms my heart every time I look at it.  

Enjoy!