Scarpella

OELMA conference (Friday)

Does "Wow!" cover it? :) More to come... CMS

I was a session host for **Reading is Sweet! with Diane Smith and Annie Ruefle** at 9am. They do a Family Cake decorating Contest every year (Annie has been doing it for 16 years.) to coincide with Right to Read Week. It is a fun way to highlight books, celebrate reading, build community, and raise money.

Here's a brief description of how it works: About six weeks before Right to Read Week the LMS sends out a letter with information. Families can decorate cakes based on theme or on an individual book. The cakes are judged by members of the community and winners are announced. Then the cakes are bought via silent auction to raise money for whatever organization chosen. What I got out of it was that reading can be incorporated into so many other activities. It is a very cute idea and attracts a lot of attention from staff, parents, school organizations, school administrators, and community members. What better way to advocate? The key to this project is "Family." If there is no parental support, it wouldn't go very far. And after seeing pictures of these cakes, the parents' do all the hard work even if the family helps in the brainstorming and creative thinking process. Check 'em out at the following address: www.stmaryschoolgv.com Click School Info, then Library Activities and scroll to see past year slide shows of the Cake Decorating Contest.

Next, I went to **Nicole Friend's session called "Drowning in Sticky Notes?"** It was so great to see how her LMC is organized and her transformation from sticky notes to streamlined. I got a ton of good ideas on how to organize files, such as "Label your computer files the same as your physical files so that papers are filed accordingly whether they are virtual or tangible." She showed how she took the doors off of some shelves because she was wasting so much time opening and closing them to get materials. That area is now her own little Kinko's where she keeps supplies teachers want and puts items at eye level that they might not otherwise see like professional books and resources. She also has a organizational binder that is attached to her 24/7. I took a look at it after the session, and it was awesome - very user friendly and everything was right at her fingertips!

I wrote down the tabs as follows: //To Do List// //Calendar & Schedule// (This includes District calendar, school calendar, special schedule, etc.) //LMC Reservations// (part of flexible schedule) //Fixed Schedules AV Reservations Suggestions// (This section was cool because she wrote down who suggested it and the status of the suggestion. So if a student named Amy requested a book and Nicole looked into it and found out it had bad reviews, under "Status" she wrote "bad reviews" so that she can keep track of them all.) //Reading Log// (Personal log of books read and thoughts) //Booktalks//
 * //Policies & Forms//

Oh, another great idea she implements is a "Talk Back" Board. It's just a big sticky note and marker with a prompt that students can finish. Right now it says, "I used to hate to read. I changed my mind when I read..." Students had written the title of the book that made them want to read more. It looked like graffiti and was so cool. Other prompts are endless like "favorite summer read," "favorite book as a little kid," "If you could take one book on a deserted island, it would be..." Just endless possibilities determined by whatever the students are into at the moment.

The last one I went to was David Loertscher's Collection Development in the 21st Century. It was very cool because the room was packed, and he talked directly to us. Instead of using slides he asked us to draw pictures and take notes on what he was explaining about information resources.

Draw a child. How does she get information? She gets information from her environment. Draw a teacher. The child now has the resource of the teacher's knowledge. The next step is books (mostly textbooks) from which the student can get information. In the 1960's libraries became a resource for students. And in the late 1990's the internet gave students a vast resource. Now students jump from personal knowledge to internet, but the in between is needed for effective results. The student should be encompassed with these resources instead of jumping from one to the other. **

In regards to collection development, he recommends thinking of your collection like Google because kids want information fast. Instead of building the collection by type (books, kits, videos, etc.) you should build it by topic. This made so much sense to me because it is how I organize my personal collection and how classroom teachers do it as well. Cowboys are studied in February so all their cowboy books are in the February tub. The catalog is where it should all come together for the student because the subject heading will be in the MARC record, but what about other resources?

He encourages the use of a Google Apps Education School because it is **safe** and it is **free**. Check it out: []. By building a Google site you create a virtual learning commons by topic or units of instruction, which has the best tools to learn the topic and is supported and contributed to by everyone (LMS, teachers, students, experts, etc.) Now all the resources (physical and virtual) are all in one spot along with the topic, assignment, rubric, and discussion of the material. He uses the term **//elastic collection//** - one that is accessed and used and then set aside to deal with the change in focus of units, content standards, and trends.

I had a great time in the few hours I was there and plan to go both days next year. It's already in the family budget! Who wants to plan a sleepover Oct. 21st, 2010?

P.S. I have five extra handouts from Reading is Sweet! and anyone with info on Kathy Cybulski & Marie Sabol's session called Podcasts & Booktalks would be appreciated. I'm dying to know how to add podcasts to MARC records! CMS


 * Great summary! I am so glad you had a good experience. I looked at those cakes. What a fun way to get parents involved. SB
 * Nichole's session sounds useful. Do you think it might be a good idea to ask her to come to EDT731 next year and share her organizational tips? SB
 * I also went to David Loertscher's collection development session. Several other students were there. Let's talk a bit about it in class Tues. SB

I would love for Nicole to come share her tips. It would be so useful to set up a space with an organizational plan like hers. CMS

Colleen, I had to host a session at the same time as Nicole Friend's Sticky Notes presentation, so I wasn't able to attend even though I really wanted to hear what she had to say. I'm glad you posted her ideas here. I think it's really important to hear what works well for other colleagues. We can always take away at least one thing to incorporate into our own situation (or use in the future!) KAP

Colleen, no I did not attend Podcast and Booktalks. On Thursday presenters mentioned that their handout and notes will be posted on the [|OELMA] website. I checked it out and found some 2008 notes so I assume they will get around to posting 2009. Nicole would be a great guest speaker. I can always use organizational tips. I also have many extra handouts that i will bring to class. The "Talk Back" board sounds like a great idea. Prompts get the students to both think and write. A sleepover next Oct. sounds great. JD

• Wow, I wish I could have attended some of these awesome sessions. I've heard of other districts doing the cake decorating for Right to Read Week as well. Some of the kids really do get into it. I've seen some amazing cakes from my cousin's school in Columbus; some look more like books than food! I would love to hear Nicole's tips on organizing a Library Media Center, as I am not nearly as organized as I would like to be. It sounds like we all need to get together and exchange handouts and info! CNR

Thanks, Colleen, for the cake decorating description; another great way to incorporate reading and books as part of a bigger project. The organization talk by Nicole Friend sounded interesting as well. I wonder; does she have aides that help her or is she just a super-organized person? It sounds like it would take a lot of work. I do like her sticky note board with prompts - another way to get kids to "speak up" about reading. --Bill Reagle

Bill, Nicole doesn't have any aides, and her first picture on her presentation was of her at her desk a few years ago and, boy, was she drowning in sticky notes! She finally decided that she was wasting too much time looking for things or remembering what she going to do next instead of why she was there - to help the students. She got her act together one step at a time so the whole presentation was full of practical tips from a former pack rat. CMS

Colleen--- Wow! Thanks for writing about all of this great information. I liked the cake decorating idea, what a great idea to promote reading and do something good! Also, I am copying down a list of those tabs right now :) :) :) I love organization and this sounds great! I also think that "talk back board" would work great in a school. It sounds like a fun way for kids to share and also a great thing to keep! EAS

I love the idea of the Family Cake Decorating contest coinciding with Right to Read Week. Thanks for including the school's link. I was able to view the slideshow. I have to admit that I laughed out loud when I saw the //Everybody Poops// cake. I do not know how the judges were able to decide among all the fabulous entries. I would love to have a copy of the flyer. Along with everyone else I loved the organizational binder idea. Talk about having everything right at your fingertips! JT

Thank you for giving us all of the great organizational tips from Nicole Friend's session. I love organizing and reading it made me very excited to put some of those ideas into action. The organizational binder is a great idea! To accomplish what she has without any aides seems amazing to me. It is truly inspirational. The cake decorating contest sounds like a fantastic way to involve the whole family in reading. The ideas from the session on collection development sounds very practical and user-friendly. Any extra handouts would be great, and count me in for next year! KE

I liked hearing about the cake judging contest for Right to Read Week. I love hearing about activities that not only get the school involved but also the entire community. This is another great idea that I would like to incorporate into my own program. Having the community involved is such a great way to encourage students to read! MP