Getting Back into the Swing of Things

The holidays are coming to a close and it's time to start fresh with new energy and enthusiasm for the New Year. Despite the current political climate I'm looking forward to seeing the kids and hearing about their holidays. Many of them will have some pretty silly stories to tell and I will share a little of my holiday with them. It will be good to touch base again and see them smile as they walk through the library door. That's one good thing about all this. We adults will get caught up in the money and the politics, the kids will stay kids regardless. The reality is they just want to have fun and learn. I plan on focusing on that. What else can you do?

So what exactly did I do with my holidays? Well......

1.  I took a bunch of days and just had fun with my own kids. (They don't call it holidays for nothing)
2. I hosted Christmas dinner for 28 family members. ;))
3. Just before the holidays we purchased several apps for our iPads. I brought home one of the iPads and spent several days teaching myself how to use the apps. Using resources from YouTube, the web and of course my own kids. I taught myself how to use Garage Band, Book Creator, and I movie. It was a lot of fun. We created some pretty silly books, movies and music. 
4. I created a schedule and sent emails to colleagues about scheduling classes into the library space for their introduction to the Forest of Reading.
5. I read several blogs on technology and teaching. Just hoping to stay up to date. 
6. Enrolled in a photography course and set up a photo website.
7. Sketched out my photo ideas for an upcoming cover I'm going to shoot for the Library Association's Teacher/Librarian magazine. 
8. I read three books for our upcoming Forest of Reading program.

To date I have finished....
 The Tiffin - a story set in Bombay, India which chronicles the quest of one young man to find his mother and his family.











All Good Children  - is a dystopia story about a boy living in New Middleton with his mother and sister. In this story kids are being given drugs that make them behave. No nagging, whining, etc. kids are perfect. It's a parents utopia, no more disobeying. (Sounds good right!!)







This Dark Endeavour - is a remake of the Frankenstein story, sort of. This novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein as a young man. In essence it's a prequel to Mary Shelley's story.








I really tried to balance school work with pleasure. Yes the books were for work but I do love reading so it's a double whammy of sorts. Several other teachers also took home books from the Forest of Reading. These teachers will be available throughout the next few months to talk to kids about the different books, to hear their opinions about the various books. It will be a lot of fun and kids really do enjoy talking to us on a sort of social level.
Playing around with the various apps was also a lot of fun. We made some pretty silly movies with the app and I'm tempted to post the movie here but it really is just absolute nonsense and I'm not sure that everyone will enjoy watching as much as we did making the movies.


Hopefully, everyone has a had a great holiday and enjoyed their time at home. I look forward to a lot of great experiences here in 2013. :)))

The beginning of a new Blog

I wanted to start this blog for several reasons. The first being that I want the public to find out about all the great things going on at our school and to realize the value of a library. So many people see the library as just a place to pick up a book. At Lagerquist this isn't the case. Students at our middle school can do so much more in this space. Funding is tight I won't hide that but I have a supportive Principal who seems to trust me when I come up with different ideas for programs to run in the school. Not every principal would agree to taking 170 kids to view the movie, "The Hunger Games". Thank you.

As the librarian I work everyday to do more than shelve books and recommend books. I think it's time others knew this. Given our current political climate here in Ontario I think this is more important than ever. In a time and place when teachers are being seen as overpaid, and well a bit lazy because we do not work in the summers I think it's high time people know what we do. I mean what we really do. Not just all the report cards and pushing play on the video we're about to show.

To be honest I would be starting this blog even if I were in a classroom because I think it's important for everyone to know what we do. I believe respect is earned. We earn respect from the kids at our school, we earn respect from our peers, our bosses and of course the parents.

Hopefully, this blog will let all of these individuals see the value of the library and the amazing work our students do complete here at the school. We as teachers are here to guide and help and I won't take credit for the awesome stuff kids do. I just want everyone to know our role in its creation.

Annie Kidder put it best, (She's so much more eloquent than I am), she said "We need to re-embed the value of public education.... The deep value of it. Not just the facts in, facts out value but that it actually changes who we are.... It's not enough to close the (classroom) door and say trust me. That doesn't work ...... You (teachers) have to tell us. You have to let us (the public) know.... You have to help us understand what it is you do and why it's so valuable."

So that's my goal to show everyone what it that we do in the Lagerquist Library and the value of  it to our kids.