Student Book Review: Rachel’s review of Warriors, by Erin Hunter

December 8, 2015.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Warriors by Erin Hunter This book was full of exiting adventure and suspensful plot twists. A cat named Rusty meets a warrior cat named Graypaw.He meets two other cats named Bluestar and Lionheart.It is so heartwarming! This Student Book Review was written by Rachel, a Johnson Elementary School student, and shared with the library via Google […]

Code like a Girl

December 4, 2015.Reading time 11 minutes.

Here’s a fact about me that not many people know: my father is British. Yep, with the accent and everything. He grew up in Radcliffe-on-Trent, a large village in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire (my Nan still lives there, in the same house!). He left his family and his home and immigrated to America in […]

Making steps with MakerSpace and MakerStudio

December 1, 2015.Reading time 3 minutes.

Earlier this year, Johnson was chosen by the University of Virginia to receive a grant through ALCOA to bring new and exciting technology into our library. A new software is being designed and beta tested for student use, and UVA wanted us to be a part of its creation. (Um, sign me up please!) After […]

Family Connection: Minecraft in Education

November 23, 2015.Reading time 7 minutes.

At the 2015 Virginia Association of School Librarians conference, I noticed the repetition of certain buzzwords: MAKERSPACE! DIGITAL! 21ST CENTURY! CREATIVE! You’ve probably noticed… I love all of these words. And the excitement! Capitalize those letters! All the exclamation points! Sign me up! I’m in! But there was one buzzword that surprised me. It started […]

This Month in Photos – 8/20-9/11

September 11, 2015.Reading time 8 minutes.

I think I speak for all of us when I say… How is it the fourth week of school already?! As usual, the days are flying by and I’m just getting Monday under my feet by the time Friday arrives. With four weeks under our belt, students are starting to get used to their classrooms, […]

2014-2015 Book Awards

June 3, 2015.Reading time 2 minutes.

The votes have been counted and the winners are in! In this multi-week project, students composed nominations for their favorite books of the year via Google docs and shared them with me electronically. Once all of the nominees were shared, we had a good old fashioned debate to defend our favorites and sway our classmates’ […]

2015 Book Awards Update

May 15, 2015.Reading time 4 minutes.

Last week I introduced you to Johnson fourth graders’ current passion project, the 2015 Book Awards. Students have the opportunity to nominate books for awards in seven categories, from Best Comedy to Best Biography and everything in between. To make things even more intense, 12,000 library materials are competing for the grand prize – Best […]

Student Book Review: Lowell’s review of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan

May 15, 2015.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan This student book review was written by Lowell, a Johnson Elementary School student, and shared with the library via Google Docs. Lowell drafted and typed the book review independently. Lowell is in the fourth grade.

Coming Soon: 2015 Book Awards

May 8, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

There’s no denying it – the fourth graders pretty much run this school. They’re the biggest, the loudest, and in this library, they’re the trend setters. I’m lucky enough to have some HUGE readers in this year’s fourth grade class, and they act as both role models and mentors for other Johnson students that are looking […]

Student Book Review: Lowell’s review of Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls

May 1, 2015.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls This student book review was written by Lowell a Johnson Elementary School student, and shared with the library via Google Docs. Lowell drafted and typed the book review independently. Lowell is in the fourth grade.