Facebook Read Alouds

One thing that we all know is that kids need and love to be read to. It doesn't matter what age they are, they love it. Adults also like to be read to. Just look at the popularity of audio books. The evidence is clear. For students it is much more imperative that we read to them everyday. The more words that kids hear, the better their reading development. Kids need to read on their own, listen to stories, and read text with audio support. They need to be immersed in language from birth.

Many kids, for one reason or another, don't have someone at home to read to them. Maybe they don't have someone at home who is confident enough to read to them. Maybe they have no books. There are dozens of reasons why kids don't hear stories.

We decided to try to help. This week, we initiated a weekly (hopefully) event where we have a teacher record a reading of a children's book. We upload this video to our media center Facebook page, facebook.com/lelymediacenter, so that kids can watch and listen to an adult read them a story. Now, this assumes that a child will have the technology at home to get to our page, and also that they have access to our Facebook page. We are working toward that goal by getting all of our Lely families to "Like" our Facebook page.

This idea is an exercise in outreach. We know that schools are community centers and we have to extend out from the physical building to help kids learn. We have to offer some sort of support 24/7 so that kids have access to learning material. Our Facebook Read Alouds represent just one way that we are trying to accomplish our goal. As the year goes on, we will have a nice collection of read alouds for the kids to use. They also get to see some of their favorite teachers reading them a story whenever they want to watch. We hope that this idea sparks the imagination of kids even while they are away from school.

Our first Facebook Read Aloud was done by Megan Lindburg who read her own book, Conrad the Courageous.

Podcast: Learning at Lely - Episode 3

In this episode, Lely Elementary School counselors Tanja Smith and Nicholas Suarez talk about the Leader in Me program that we are implementing here at Lely Elementary. They talk about how their roles in the school have been tweaked, the buy-in from the teachers and students, and the expectation for the program long-term. Contact us to collaborate. Twitter: @dayankee

Tents, Passports, and Story Time!

My vision of the media center at Lely Elementary is one where there is always something cool going on. Kids will come down to work, read, build, create, think, invent, innovate, and collaborate. I love when teachers walk through and see the kids deeply invested in what they are doing. They normally take a second look to see exactly what the kids are working on. That's cool. I love that.

One of the ways we're trying to make our media center more kid-friendly is by changing the physical environment. To that end, I made a few reading tents. The idea was that kids could come in and take a book into a tent to read. It would be a more solitary environment for reading, and the kids would like the tent-aspect. I made the tents with PVC pipe and animal print curtains that go along with our media center theme. Well, the tents are a hit. Kids LOVE them! We've got two placed in the media center now and there is one more on the way. The tents represent one step forward in our evolution. 

While we have some hits, we also have a few misses. Since I've never done this before, I am making mistakes, and trying to turn those mistakes into opportunities. It doesn't always work, but sometimes it does. At the beginning of the year, we started giving stickers for each returned book. Well, that turned out to be a whole lot of stickers. A lot! After thinking things through a bit, we decided to create Passports to Reading. We made little passport books for the kids to keep with them. When they return a book, we stamp their passport. We have different stamps so that it's not the same design or logo on every page, but the kids like it because it is like having a passport stamped upon entering another country. We like it because it is cheap :) 

In the morning before school, we have Maker Mornings where kids can come in for a half hour before school starts. During this time, they can read, do homework, or use the MakerSpace. Without a doubt, the MakerSpace is the most popular attraction. However, one morning last week, I looked over into the reading corner to find a fifth grade student with a group of younger kids. When I walked over to see what was going on, I realized that the fifth grader had picked up a puppet and was creating an impromptu story for the younger kids. I watched as he wove a tale about the monkey puppet. The younger kids ate it up. I was reminded that kids can do some really amazing things and I love that this media center offers them an environment where they feel that they can stretch themselves and try new things. That is exactly the environment we are trying to create here!

Kids and Their Dads

We continue to be stoked about the support that we are getting from parents this year. Last week, it was Dads Take Your Kids to School Day. We expected semi-large group of dads to bring in their kids, eat breakfast with them, participate in the short program, and head home or to work. In these times, it is very difficult for parents to schedule time off of their jobs in order to attend school functions. We kept our expectations in check.

Well, our expectations were wayyyy off. We had over 230 attendees that morning! In fact, we had to annex a few other school spaces to accommodate the group. Dads came to school. Boy, did they come in! I think that everyone feels the makings of something special at Lely Elementary School. Our administration is giving us every opportunity to succeed and teachers are spreading their wings. They are using those opportunities to try new things, collaborate differently, and do their best to meet the needs of the students in their classes. There is a tangible, positive vibe at Lely Elementary and the community recognizes it and wants to be a part of it.

Our morning with our dads was the second morning event (along with Bagels and Books) that we held this year and both of those events had overflow crowds. While the huge number of parents may make things tricky logistically, we gladly scramble to accommodate the large group because we know it means more support for the kids. So far this year, we see that investments we are making in the students and community are paying huge dividends and we are enthusiastic about greater things down the road.

Books and Bagels

One of the things I love about being at Lely Elementary is the total, complete commitment to reading. Every teacher in the building works on reading skills and fostering a love of reading in their students. Once in a while, there comes an event that blows our minds. Books and Bagels was one such event.

When planning events where parents are invited, we tend to keep our expectations reasonable because we recognize the reality of parenting and schooling. Parents have to work more than ever to provide for their children, often two and three jobs. We know that a parent's time is precious and so sometimes school visits have a lower priority. So, we expected a dozen or so parents at our Books and Bagels event. We held it in the morning before school and it required parents to come to school for a half hour and read with their kids.

To say that we were pleasantly surprised by the turnout would be an understatement. Our unofficial head count was 90. 90! We had a standing-room-only crowd in the media center. It was amazing! Our reading coach, Karen Pelletier (@karenpell13), had everything set up and ready to go by the time parents got there. The books were separated, the bagels were set out, and the chairs and tables were set up for maximum benefit. Other teachers who are always there to help (@karendent3rd, @Mrs_EHall) also pitched in to make the morning a huge success. Karen instructed the parents about effective ways to help their kids practice reading and then gave the parents time to read with their kids. It was beautiful. 

As we milled around the media center, we heard all kinds of great conversations between kids and parents. We listened and smiled. This is exactly what we wanted to see. 

With this huge success under our belts, we look forward to more wonderful morning sessions. We have the upcoming Dads Bring Your Kids to School Day, and Muffins and Math later this year. Our expectations will never again be "reasonable"; we are learning that our parents are very involved in their kids' education when given the opportunity. We will make sure they have those opportunities.

Learning at Lely - Episode 2

In this episode, Megan Lindburg, first grade teacher and children's book author, talks about her book, her creative process, and the stories behind the characters in her book. Contact me on Twitter at @dayankee to contact Megan or myself. We are always up for collaboration!

A Beautiful Sight to See

One of the things I love to see is kids discovering something that completely "wows" them. It's one of the reasons I chose education as my profession. Those light bulb moments are what we educators live for sometimes.

The other day, a fourth grade teacher, Karen Dent, brought her class in for some MakerSpace time. They were pretty excited because they had seen the MakerSpace before but I had only put out the Legos, Keva Planks, art supplies, Picasso Tiles and other building materials. I had been waiting for a class or small group to start experimenting with some of the more techy gadgets. Mrs. Dent said that her kids would be that group.

The kiddos came in, sat down, and took a look at two one-minute videos. One showed the Makey Makey and the other showed Bloxels. During the Makey Makey video, the kids were amazed. "What?!" one said. "Whoa!" another responded. It was the same during the Bloxels video. After the videos were over, I told them that neither Mrs. Dent nor myself knew how to use either of these technologies and that it would be up to them to figure them out. We made it clear that we would not help them in any way because we couldn't. Well, to say they were up to the task is an understatement.

Within ten minutes, these kids had organized themselves into groups, unboxed both of the tech packs, and started working. The Makey Makey group plugged the circuit board into an available laptop and started experimenting with the alligator clips. They grabbed some Legos from the table and used them to discover some of the capabilities of the device. Each group member had a different idea for something to use. There was a lot of cooperation and back-and-forth while they devised different ways to experiment with the Makey Makey. It was so cool to watch! These kids were learning without any adult input or interference.

The Bloxel groups were just as excited to figure out how that gadget worked. By the time I left the Makey Makey group, the Bloxel group had already started designing. They were well on their way to creating an interface to use with the iPad app. Because they had a real-life goal and a limited amount of time to achieve that goal, these kids approached the project with a sense of urgency. It was learning disguised as play.

When our time ran out, we agreed that we would reconvene in order to use these gadgets more and advance our learning. My real goal is for these kids to become experts in this technology so that they can teach other students. In a few weeks, I will have a dozen or so experts in Makey Makey and Bloxels and I can have them teach the other kids how to use those items. Then, we bring a few more technology tools out and learn those. By the end of first semester, we will have kids who have mastered all of the technology that we have. We'll just need to get more!

This is the kind of learning I love to see. It is genuine, relevant, authentic learning where the kids are the driving force behind the learning. It is a collaborative project where kids make the decisions, fail, revise, and try again. There is no instruction manual and Mrs. Dent and I made sure that they could not rely on us for answers. They had to be self-sufficient, and they were! It was a beautiful sight to see.