The library should be a place of wonder and excitement. I think it should be very different from everywhere else students go. But there are some definite organizational issues involved with seeing classes all day long, allowing for continuous open check-out, and maintaining your sanity. Enter stations as a sanity saver. First. You have to have a plan. What stations will you use? How often will students go to stations? How will students rotate through stations? What do students need to know to be effective station users? What routines will you establish to make stations work for you? Do you want your stations to focus on reading alone or also support a subject area? A regular class: Students come in and sit on the rug or at tables. We talk about expectations and I may do a mini lesson or read a story. Station/check out time. Return to rug/tables for reflection, sharing, and dismissal. When I first started stations, we practiced moving and voice levels. Everyone station was the same - pu

Such wonderful words to hear!

If you have an unusual name like I do, you know that the chances of seeing your name somewhere, anywhere in print is slim to none. Ok, I do see it, but not as a name. More likely it's associate with an extremely famous spider or a small dotted bikini. So imagine my surprise when reading Alan Gratz's Refugee that "Bitsy" appeared. I had to do a double-take - triple even. Sure enough! There it is in print! So what if it's a stuffed rabbit!

For the last several years, I've written a "what I did on my summer vacation" post. Mainly to show that it's no 3 month vacay. (And 3 months!? Really?) So here goes. Week long training at UNCG for clinical teachers. Had my "read and ride" donors choose grant funded. Went through the TED-X application process. (Accepted btw) PD on Exploring NC Digitally. Thanks to NCSLMA. Worked on campus about 20 days. I lost track. I was in more than I intended. Wrote 2 math books for Carson Dellosa - a 4th and a 5th. This took up the majority of summer. Went to the mountains for a few days with my girlfriends. Attended multiple meetings for school or NCSLMA. Applied for an admin program and scheduled a retirement meeting. The coupling of these two is bizarre, but I'm planning for every contingency. Mwahahaha What I planned but didn't do: Rework my school web page. Practice my Spanish. Plan like a library demon. Read a book a week. I re

I'm contemplating years gone by. Don't get me wrong. I love 21st century living. If I need the answer to a question, I look it up or phone a friend. No more having to wait until I can find just that cookbook or lug out the old encyclopedias. I forgot to tell Ron something, I text him. I know people that I have never met in person, and I've met people in person that I never would have had the chance to meet in another time. Twenty-first Century living is amazing! One 21st century thing that has NOT advanced society though is 24/7 news. What a lot of pressure to come up with enough "news" to fill every waking (oh wait! even every non-waking) hour of the day. So, we hear the same important news interviewing the same witnesses and experts (or not so expert) over and over and over again until we either don't care or have gone into some kind of desperate breakdown, OR we get ridiculously trite information that no one should know about anyone.  Thank you Ted Turner

Finally got mine!