Thoughts From The Book Diva....

*Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This comes at no cost to you and helps support this blog. I only recommend books and products I genuinely love. Now that June has flown by, I find myself thinking about school a little more each day. Judging by the growing number of social media posts about lesson planning, school supplies, and back-to-school ideas, I don’t think I’m alone. Recently, I have noticed several fellow librarians asking for recommendations for back-to-school read-alouds. Those conversations inspired me to put together a list of my favorite books to share in the library for the first few weeks of school. Those First Few Weeks  The first week or two of school is spent teaching library procedures. We do not attempt to check out a library book until each class has visited the library and learned our expectations for behavior. We spend a lot of time learning how to enter the library, where to sit for storytime, what good listening looks li...

Video games, television, cell phones, and social media. There are so many things vying for our children's attention. While these can be entertaining in moderation, we've all seen the research showing that excessive screen time can have negative effects. Yet here we are, one month into summer. Kids are starting to get bored, parents are running out of ideas to keep them entertained, and budgets may be getting a little tighter. The temptation to allow more and more screen time is real. Summer Learning Loss Unfortunately, increased screen time combined with little to no reading or math practice can result in a phenomenon educators know well: Summer Learning Loss , often called the Summer Slide . Summer Learning Loss refers to the decline in academic skills that can occur during the summer months when children are out of school. In the study Schools Out: The Role of Summers in Understanding Achievement Disparities , researchers from Brown University analyzed more than 200 million t...

Ask any educator about the pendulum effect in education, and you will likely get the same response. Teachers who have taught for ten or more years have not only heard of, but also experienced the familiar back and forth of researchers aiming to determine the best, most effective ways to educate children. One study will prove phonics instruction is the most reliable way to teach a child to read. A few years later, a new study will show that the whole language approach is the way to go. Back and forth the pendulum swings, and teachers are left on the frontlines trying to sift through the data, make informed decisions, and effectively teach the young minds in front of them. It can all be quite overwhelming. At the end of the day, though, we all share a common goal: to meet the needs of our students and make them as successful as humanly possible. With thirty years in education under my belt, I have lived through more than my fair share of educational trends. A perfect example can be found...

 "It is both a blessing and a curse." I have heard this said in many situations in my life. It was not until March 2020 that I began to live this expression out in my daily life. We all hear that date, March 2020, and a flood of emotions and memories fill our minds. It was at this time that I found myself not only fearing the introduction of Covid to our community, but also fearing the task facing me in my library.  In the two years prior to 2020 I watched daily from the windows in my ancient library at O.M. Roberts Elementary in Lake Jackson, TX as our beautiful new school building was being erected. I saw the land being cleared, the ground being broken, and the contractors moving in to build our new school. I had a prime view of the entire process. What a blessing! It was only a curse occasionally. The noise from construction was a little overwhelming in the beginning. Surprisingly it became something I didn't even notice as time went on. I remember watching the progres...

While attending the Texas Library Association's annual conference a few years ago,  I came across one particular session that really peaked my interest. The ladies presenting the session explained in great detail how they were able to get their PreK and Kinder friends to do research. I was amazed! I was also extremely jealous because this school had access to the coolest database for younger elementary kids, PebbleGo by Capstone. I immediately contacted my Capstone rep and requested a quote for PebbleGo. Unfortunately, our budget had been spent by this late in the year. I decided to save the quote and make PebbleGo one of my first purchases for the next school year. Next, I very sweetly asked my kinder teachers if they would jump on board with me and try this research idea with their kiddos. Luckily, I have kinder teachers who are generally always on board with my ideas, so they agreed to collaborate with me.  Although we did not have the database access, we did have...