This Week in Photos: 1/20-1/23

This week, we had a special guest in the library. Miss FitzGerald came to visit during kindergarten classes, introducing a brand new way for students to experience independent reading and improve their reading skills during library time. What does it mean? How does it work? Why are these kindergarteners wearing funny glasses?? You’ll have to check back later to find out! 🙂

Fourth graders students began learning about the research process this week, a subject that will keep us busy and learning through the end of the year. Above you’ll see the Learning Leopard Library’s take on the Super 3 elementary research process – Plan Man, Can-Do Girl, and the Review-a-tron. Together we worked our way through the three steps of the research process and even used our library superpowers to solve a few crises. Soon, we’ll be using these skills to complete research projects during library time and in class.

Fourth graders put their new research skills to the test with a Super 3 sort.

Third graders had a chance to get to know the almanac this week with a group review and some almanac races. First one to find the facts is the winner! You wouldn’t believe how fast some of these students can work a Table of Contents!

Many class warm ups this week included reflection on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the things in our lives that are worth fighting for. When asked to finish the sentence “I have a dream that….”, many Johnson students amazed me with their big hearts and huge dreams.

Circulation numbers broke 9,000 this week! As the year goes on, Johnson readers get better and better at independently navigating the shelves and finding books that are a great fit. Our number of overdue and lost books is going down, and checkout statistics are going up – now those are some numbers I can get behind!

This morning, I was lucky enough to be invited to co-teach a lesson on hallway safety and behavior in Ms. Branson’s classroom. Together, we talked about what it looks like and sounds like to ROAR in the hallway. We went over hallway expectations, including staying on track and showing respect for all adults, even if they don’t teach in our classroom. I was so impressed by the conversations that we had about the importance of safety in the school. These students showed me that they are passionate about being leaders in the school when it comes to safety and respect in the hallway.

After our lesson, this awesome class had the opportunity to show me what they learned with a little test drive in the hallway – and they BLEW ME AWAY! In the last photo above, I’m standing at the end of a line of about 23 students – a line that is so straight, you can’t even tell how many people are in front of me! If you look closely at the top of the photo, you can see the ROAR Checkpoint where we stopped and went through our mental hallway checklist: Am I on track? Am I facing forward? Am I walking quietly? Are my hands safely by my sides? As you can see, our answers to all of these questions were YES!

Thank you so much for inviting me into your classroom today, Ms. Branson’s class. I had a great time and was so impressed with your hard work. I can’t wait to catch you ROARing in the hallway for the rest of the school year!

Have you heard? I am thrilled to be the Johnson PTO Tuesday Teacher Spotlight this week! Visit the Johnson PTO Blog to read my interview and learn more about me. Plus, see a photo of my family hiking in the Swiss Alps!

Have you forgotten about Books on Bikes? In case you can’t tell from my t-shirt, I haven’t 🙂 Despite the cold weather, this awesome organization is still delivering literature and smiles to students all over Charlottesville. Check out our recent Bundle Up with Books initiative, which brought books, hot chocolate, and a storytime to multiple neighborhoods over winter break (this event was also covered on CBS). If you don’t already, head on over to follow Books on Bikes on Facebook for photos, announcements, and news about upcoming programs.