STEAM-y in the Library

As we neared the end of the quarter, students in Literacy Studies had the opportunity to choose from a variety of STEAM-related activities to explore, play, create, and just be curious! Some of the items appear below:

Included in the picture are 3D Magic Pens, Sphero SPRKs, IO Blocks, K'NEX, Stik Bot green screen, Snap Circuits, and Cubelets. Students could also choose to use the Do Ink app for other green screen opportunities.

After a quick "tutorial day" to hear about what each items was, students filled out a Google Form with their top 4 choices, and over 2 days' time, students were able to use the items they'd selected. Such great times ensued! So much planning & trying, building & creating, failing & redesigning! 

Students using the Cubelets first accessed information from Google Classroom to learn about how to use them before creating their own robots.

Students using the K'NEX and IO Mini Blocks could also access Google Classroom for creation card ideas, or they could design and build what they liked.

Students could also refer to included circuitry projects or create their own pathways.

With so many activities from which to choose, students will have the opportunity to explore all eight options throughout the year. More creating, imagining, and designing to come!

It's Book Fair Time!

Conferences are next week, so that means it's time for our book fair! This year we're using a different vendor--Follett Book Fairs. We already purchase many of our books from Follett, so it's a great fit to bring them on board for our book fairs. Take a look!

Students voted early in the school year to choose different bundles of books that would be available at the fair, and they chose things like sports fiction, graphic novels, young adult literature, and popular series books to include. All of that--and a lot more!--are available, and you can even order online at www.follettgift.com if you'd like an even broader selection.

The fair is open daily for students to make purchases, and families are invited to stop in during conferences on Tuesday and Thursday. Teacher wish lists will be available if you'd like to make a purchase for a teacher's classroom, and if an item is out of stock, we can drop-ship titles within a day or two of your visit. We're excited to show off our new fair and hope to see you there!

#MGBookTober, Part II

We're half way through October, so it's time to update our #MGBookTober progress. Students again worked on a Google Slide that showcased their answers to today's prompt, What MG character would you want to be?



Also, students have responded using Flipgrid:

Want to see all of Mrs. Ellis's tweets for #MGBookTober? You can see them below, and if a book looks like one you'd like to try, GREAT! Please stop by to check it out! Hope to see you soon! Happy reading!

It's #MGBookTober!

It's now fall and officially October, so that means it's also MGBookTober, a time when we celebrate middle grade fiction. Here's the list of daily book questions/ideas to support #MGBookTober:

We're off to a strong, two-day start with my advisory group! We all brought our "currently reading" books for a book selfie on Oct. 1.

And we're ready to share our "want to read next" ideas with a Google Slides presentation. You can CLICK HERE to see what my advisory is excited to read next.

Stay tuned! There are lots and lots of days in October, and we've only just begun! Want to follow us as we work? You can follow Mrs. Ellis on Twitter: @ccls531, or you can follow the MS library on Snapchat and Instagram: @dcglibraries. Happy reading & sharing!