December 11, 2011

WJPMS News will be brought to you this week by Ms. J. Coleman's class.  Thank you to Mr. Allen's 3rd graders for a job well done last week!  If you would like your students to share a poem or anything else on the news let me know and we will schedule them in as special guests.

The Adult Book Club will meet again during the first week of February.  If you or any of your student's parents are interested in joining, please ask them to email me.  All are welcome!

Beginning in January, I will return to a flexible schedule in the library.  As you know, I requested a fixed schedule for the first semester in order to teach third and fourth grade basic computer skills and how to access online resources.  This schedule has been very difficult on a couple of grade levels.  Returning to a flexible schedule will allow teachers to sign their classes up to use the library or computer lab area at times that will work better for them.  It will also allow me to collaboratively plan with you!  Start thinking of how I can best support you and your grade level curriculum.  I look forward to planning together again.  (This will not affect Kindergarten.  They will remain on a fixed schedule.)  The schedule will be placed on the circulation desk as it was in the past.  Classes can sign up to use the computers or come in for a library lesson.  If you have any questions or need clarification on how a flexible library schedule works, let me know!

I only received a few applications for the Nashville Public Library Educator Card.  If you are interested, fill out the application and return it to me before Friday.  I have extended the deadline due to the low number of applications.  Remember, this will allow you to check out 50 books at a time for your classroom use!  They will send your books to the library you designate to be your pick up location. 

Dates to put on your calendar!

December 12th- PTO will host a luncheon in the library.  I will have open checkout immediately following WJPMS News and then I will meet with my regularly scheduled classes in their homerooms.

January 13th- We have guests readers from Vanderbilt who would like to read with the K-2nd grade classes again.  I will talk to all of you about this soon!

March 1st-8th Book Fair! 

March 8th- Literacy Night and Opt Out Day.  Everyone may come to school dressed as their favorite book character!

Helpful Links

Reading Tri-folds
http://www.mswinston.com/trifolds.html
Are you looking for ways to help your students reflect on what they are reading?  This is a great website with pre-made reading tri-folds that you can adapt or use just the way they are!

Reading Comprehension Activities
http://www.rhlschool.com/reading.htm
Free reading comprehension worksheets for teachers and parents to copy for their kids. They include original stories, poems, essays, and articles.  There are great activities to help students derive word meanings from context clues.

November 27, 2011

Welcome Back from the Thanksgiving Holiday!  I hope everyone had a wonderful break!  I have a lot of news to share with you today regarding the Nashville Public Library Educator Card, the Adult Book Club and more!

WJPMS News will be presented by Mr. Adkin's 3rd Graders this week.  Please send your students to the library at 2:15 so we will have enough time to practice and film before 2:45.  Thank you!

The Nashville Public Library Educator Card is finally available to Elementary Educators!  Although we will not have school delivery available (Middle and High Schools only), we can designate a branch library to pick up our materials.  We may check out up to 50 items at a time with an extended check out period.  I will place the application in your mailboxes.  If you are interested in having an Educator Card please return the completed form to my mailbox by December 9th and I will turn it in to the NPL.  There is a limited number of staff members who will be processing all of the Elementary Educator cards, therefore we should not expect to receive these before January 9th, 2012.  This is through the Limitless Libraries Program that began a few years ago.

The Adult Book Club will be meeting Thursday, December 1st at 6:00 PM in the library.  This event was postponed from November 17th.  We will be discussing The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma.  If you are interested in joining us for the next book, let me know and I will add you to the email distribution list.

When your students have research projects, please encourage them to begin with our Jones Paideia Elementary School Website.  You can access encyclopedias, online dictionaries, our wiki space, and educational links to use in the classroom.  Let me know if you would like me to add anything to your grade level resource page.  Access our website at http://www.jonespaideiaes.mnps.org/.

The PTO will be hosting the Holiday Luncheon in the library on Monday, December 12th.  They will begin preparing and setting up early that morning.  Please see me if you have a scheduled class that day so we can reschedule.

Beginning in January, I will return to a flexible schedule in the library.  As you know, I requested a fixed schedule for the first semester in order to teach third and fourth grade basic computer skills and how to access online resources.  This schedule has been very difficult on a couple of grade levels.  Returning to a flexible schedule will allow teachers to sign their classes up to use the library or computer lab area at times that will work better for them.  It will also allow me to collaboratively plan with you!  Start thinking of how I can best support you and your grade level curriculum.  I look forward to planning together again.  (This will not affect Kindergarten.  They will remain on a fixed schedule.)

Jones Paideia Wiki ~ Would you like me to add resources to our Wikispace?  Check this out:  http://jonespaideiamedia.wikispaces.com/.  Let me know if you have any projects coming up and I will create a page for you!

October 23rd, 2011

WJPMS News will be brought to you by Ms. Kreider's 3rd graders this week. Thank you to Ms. J. Coleman's class for doing a wonderful job before our Fall Break! If you have any news to share, please let us know the afternoon prior to the day you would like it to air.

The Technology Inventory is due this Friday.  If you have not returned your forms to me, please do so as soon as possible!  Thank you for all of your help with this process.

The library will be closed on Friday for checkout and classes.  I will be attending a conference at the Nashville Public Library.

The Adult Book Club will be meeting on Thursday, November 17th at 6:00 PM in the library.  We are reading The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma.  It is not too late to join us!  Ms. Yandla Harris won a free copy of the book at our initial Meet and Greet.

Instructional Resources
Pumpkin Exploration

http://www.sedl.org/scimath/compass/v01n02/pumpkin.html

Autumn Leaves
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/autumn-leaves-curriculum-connections
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/red-leaf-yellow-leaf-extension-activities

Our Jones Paideia Online Library Catalog: 
http://www.youseemore.com/mnps/school.asp?schooltype=es&branch=485

Some of the "Autumn" books we have in our library include:

October 9th, 2011

WJPMS News will be brought to you by Ms. J. Coleman's 3rd graders this week. Thank you to Mr. Allen's class for doing a wonderful job last week! If you have any news to share, please let us know the afternoon prior to the day you would like it to air.

The Parent/Staff Book Club will have a "Meet and Greet" this Thursday at 6:00 PM in the library. I have notified all of the parents/staff who signed up by email. Light snacks will be provided.

There will be a PTO meeting this Tuesday in the library at 5:30 PM. I am not able to attend and would love to know if someone is willing to take my place? Please email me as soon as possible! Otherwise, we will not have any representation at the meeting. Thank you!

The Technology Inventory will be taking place during the month of October. I have placed "inventory check-off" sheets in your boxes. Please pay close attention to the IT number on the equipment in your room. If it does not match the form, please let me know. All forms are due back to me by Friday, October 14th. I have several more steps to complete the inventory and will need the time.

Our district has a trial account with NBC Learn and Atomic Learning. If you have the time check them out. I will send you the username and passwords in a separate email:)

NBC Learn
(http://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn)
NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, is dedicated to making these historic stories, images and primary source documents available on-demand to teachers, students, and parents. NBC Learn has already digitized more than 12,000 stories from the NBC News archives — one of the largest news archives in the world, dating back to the 1920s. Our original videos and archival news stories are correlated to state standards and the Common Core, and aligned to more than 25 K-12 and 30 Higher Ed collections. Videos are generally short — less than six minutes in length — enabling instructors to engage and enlighten their students without wasting precious class time.

Atomic Learning
(www.atomiclearning.com)
Atomic Learning is dedicated to providing a cost-effective teacher professional development, classroom technology integration and software support solution that empowers educators to utilize technology to engage students and positively impact achievement. As your ed tech training partner, Atomic Learning helps teachers develop college- and career-ready students with 21st century skills-based training.

Columbus Day Resources

http://www.columbusnavigation.com/
http://fun.familyeducation.com/tv/tvsearch.php?fmt=global&keywords=columbus+day

Fire Safety Resources

http://www.firefacts.org/

http://pbskids.org/arthur/firesafety/index.html

October 2, 2011

WJPMS News will be brought to you by Mr. Allen's 3rd grade class. Thank you to Mr. Adkin's class for doing a great job!

Here is a free trial of Learn 360 for you to try in place of Safari Montage.
Visit http://www.learn360.com/ and login using the below username and password:
Username: mnpslibrary
Password: learn360
Expires: 11/01/2011

The District Physical Inventory will begin October 3rd, 2011. I will begin running reports and asking for your help with this process. Remember~ every electronic device will need to be accounted for. Do not move any electronic items from classroom to classroom unless we change it in the inventory. Thank you in advance for all of your help with this process!

Just in case you need to access a website that is blocked by ENA , here is the Request for Authorized Override Account Form: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=bW5wc3RlY2gub3JnfHd3d3xneDo3ODllMTJhZWU5NTFiZmM1&pli=1

Portaportal Links: http://www.mnpstech.org/portaportal-links
You can access all of the subject area portaportals as well as the Essential Literature (by grade level) Portaportals. This is helpful if you are trying to come up with activitities to do with the Essential Literature books.

September 25, 2011

This week WJPMS News will be brought to you by Mr. Adkin's 3rd graders. Thank you to all of the 4th graders who did a wonderful job with the news the last few weeks. Tune in every morning at 8:05 AM to hear the news of the day!

Open checkout is held daily from 8:15-8:45. If you send students during open checkout please send their library cards with them to help expedite the process.

I will be attending a Library Meeting at H.G. Hill this Thursday at 1:00 and will be leaving the building at 12:30.

Did you know that we have access to World Book for Kids? You can access it from our website by clicking here: http://www.jonespaideiaes.mnps.org/Page52762.aspx or go to the Jones Media Center page, click on Reference Links and you will see the icon on the right hand side.

Here are some links that you might find helpful when teaching Fables and Community Helpers.

Fables
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/fables.htm
Complete with activities, lessons, printables and crafts.

Community Helpers
http://www.first-school.ws/theme/cp_comhelpers.htm

September 18th, 2011

This week Ms. Morris's class will present WJPMS News! In honor of "Talk Like a Pirate Day," students will be sharing a poem about a pirate named Ted. If you would like your students to present something special on the news, please let me know and I will make arrangements with you.

Access our Jones Paideia Library Catalog from home at www.youseemore.com/mnps. Select Jones ES under Elementary Schools.

If you have received any forms from parents regarding the Parent Book Club, please put them in my box. I would like to get started right away! Thank you to everyone who has turned in a form and would like to participate.

Are you looking for helpful websites that will allow your students to practice what you are teaching? Here are a few you might like!

Practice with Plural Nouns: http://www.english-zone.com/spelling/nouns1.html
Months of the Year: http://primarygames.com/puzzles/word_searches/months_/search.htm
Antonyms: http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/antonyms.htm
Contraction's: http://www.primarygames.com/contractions/start.htm

SAVE the DATE!

Our Book Fair will be March 1-8, 2012. Dress like your favorite book character on March 8th!

September 11, 2011

This week WJPMS News will be brought to you by Mr. Martin's 4th Graders. I hope you enjoyed the first week of morning news! If you have a poem, song, or something special that you would like your students to share, let me know. We would love to have special guests appear on our news!

Open Checkout will be every morning from 8:15-8:45. You can send 3-5 students at a time. Many teachers create a daily schedule so there is no question about who goes to the library each day. Students may also bring their library books to check out during their scheduled library time. Please make sure every student brings their library card with them!

I have placed a Wish List on the circulation counter. If you would like me to order any specific titles, please write them on the list. I will notify you as soon as they arrive.

Safari Montage is available. Type safari485 into the address bar to reach the login page. Use your MNPS username and password to access hundreds of videos to supplement your lessons. (You can only access this from school on the MNPS network.)

Parent Book Club Coming Soon! Our first book will be The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma. Check out this link to learn more about this inspirational story and "The Streak!" http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/09/eveningnews/main20061247.shtml

If you are interested in joining us, let me know this week (by September 16th) and I will order a book for you!

I would like to meet with each grade level team this week so that we can plan some collaborative lessons. If each team leader could email me the time and date that you will be meeting together, I will come!

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.”

Henry Ford

The Sharp Librarian

Welcome to my new blog- The Sharp Librarian! My goal is to keep you well informed of library happenings and connected to resources that will be helpful to you!

WJPMS will begin on Tuesday at 8:05 AM. Ms. Bell's 4th graders will share the news with us!

We have some special visitors coming this week from Vanderbilt. Students in K-2 will have the opportunity to enjoy a classroom reader. I will send you the schedule as soon as I hear back from them! However, they will be coming between 9-10:30.

Do you know how to access the Jones Paideia Website? Here is the address: http://www.jonespaideiaes.mnps.org/. I will be updating this as often as possible! Add it to your favorites!

As you are creating your lesson plans each week, you may want to check out our library catalog. You can access it at www.youseemore.com/mnps. Select Jones ES from the Elementary drop down menu. Let me know if I can pull any books for you!

I have 5 listening center headphones available. Please email me if you are interested in them. I will pass them all out by Wednesday.

Finally, are you familiar with Read Kiddo Read? This is an excellent site for helping students choose books. You can access it at: http://www.readkiddoread.com/home. It even includes an image of the cover for the student. If you see a book that you would like added to our library, let me know!