Spirit Night Dinner May 3rd!

Support WCES Enhancement Teachers by eating at City Barbeque on Tuesday, May 3rd!

See What Hatched in West Clayton's Library!

Kindergarten Story Sequencing

Awesome Tech Tools!

Quizizz: Multiplayer Quizzes (every student needs a device)

Plickers: Only needs one device, must get the app

Quiettube: Takes all of the commercials and comments out of Youtube videos

Safeshare.tv: Works like Quiettube, only you paste the url in the website

Screencastify: Works on Chromebooks, saves directly to your drive

Screencastomatic: Doesn’t require an account, can only be used on a desktop

About the Capstone Project

Hello! Thank you for visiting my Capstone Portfolio for the MLIS program with a school library concentration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I created this blog last year as a new high school Media Coordinator, and will use it in the future at my new elementary school! The purpose of this Capstone Portfolio is to showcase my achievements in coursework and professional development while in the program. In the panel on the right, you will find 9 Student Learning Outcome links. Each link contains an artifact(s) from various experiences and courses over the last three years along with a reflection statement. You will also see my five year professional development plan, a professional values statement, resume, and goals written for the NC School Library Media Coordinator Standards. I'd love to hear from you with thoughts, questions, or even ideas for future collaborations!

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child." -Dr. Seuss

Teacher-Librarian Roles

Samantha Lam: Understanding Audience Assignment - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

2014 Notable Children's Books

Each year a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children's books. Below is the list for 2014.  Enjoy!

Younger Readers: Grades PreK-2^nd
Alphablock. Franceschelli, Christopher. Illus. by Peskimo. Appleseed/Abrams
Ball. Sullivan, Mary. Illus. by the author. Houghton
The Bathing Costume, or, the Worst Vacation of My Life. Moundlic, Charlotte. Illus. by the Olivier Tallec. Trans. by Claudia Zoe Bedrick. Enchanted Lion
Benjamin Bear in “Bright Ideas!” Coudray, Philippe. Illus. by the author. TOON
A Big Guy Took My Ball! Willems, Mo. Illus. by the author. Disney/Hyperion
Building Our House. Bean, Jonathan. Illus. by the author. Farrar
Bully. Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. Illus. by the author. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter
Count the Monkeys. Barnett, Mac. Illus. by Kevin Cornell. Disney/Hyperion

The Dark. Snicket, Lemony. Illus. by Jon Klassen. Little, Brown

The Day the Crayons Quit. Daywalt, Drew. Illus. by Oliver Jeffers. Philomel

Deep in the Sahara. Cunnane, Kelly. Illus. by Hoda Hadadi. Random/Schwartz & Wade

Eat Like a Bear. Sayre, April Pulley. Illus. by Steve Jenkins. Holt

Exclamation Mark. Rosenthal, Amy Krouse. Illus. by Tom Lichtenheld. Scholastic

Flight of the Honey Bee. Huber, Raymond. Illus. by Brian Lovelock. Candlewick

Flora and the Flamingo. Idle, Molly Schaar. Illus. by the author. Chronicle

Fraidyzoo. Heder, Thyra. Illus. by the author. Abrams

Little Santa. Agee, Jon. Illus. by the author. Dial

Locomotive. Floca, Brian. Illus. by the author. Atheneum

Lulu and the Dog from the Sea. McKay, Hilary. Illus. by Priscilla Lamont. Whitman

Maria Had a Little Llama/María tenía una Ilamita pequeña. Dominguez, Angela. Illus. by the author. Holt

Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song. Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Illus. by Brian Pinkney. Little, Brown

Mitchell Goes Bowling. Durand, Hallie. Illus. by Tony Fucile. Candlewick

Moo! LaRochelle, David. Illus. by Mike Wohnoutka. Walker

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. Brown, Peter. Illus. by the author. Little, Brown

Mr. Wuffles! Wiesner, David. Illus. by the author. Clarion

My Father’s Arms Are a Boat. Lunde, Stein Erik. Illus. by Øyvind Torseter. Trans. by Kari Dickson. Enchanted Lion

My Happy Life. Lagercrantz, Rose. Illus. by Eva Eriksson. Gecko

Nelson Mandela. Nelson, Kadir. Illus. by the author. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen

Niño Wrestles the World. Morales, Yuyi. Illus. by the author. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter

Old Mikamba Had a Farm. Isadora, Rachel. Illus. by the author. Penguin/Nancy Paulsen          

On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein.  Berne, Jennifer Illus. by Vladimir Radunsky. Chronicle

Parrots Over Puerto Rico. Roth, Susan L. and Trumbore, Cindy. Illus. by Susan L. Roth. Lee & Low

Penny and Her Marble. Henkes, Kevin. Illus. by the author. Greenwillow

Robot, Go Bot! Rau, Dana Meachen. Illus. by Wook Jin Jung. Random

Take Me Out to the Yakyu. Meshon, Aaron. Illus. by the author. Atheneum

Ten Orange Pumpkins: A Counting Book. Savage, Stephen. Illus. by the author. Dial

Tito Puente: Mambo King/Rey del Mambo. Brown, Monica. Illus. by Rafael López. Rayo

The Tortoise & the Hare. Pinkney, Jerry. Illus. by the author. Little, Brown

Warning: Do Not Open This Book! Lehrhaupt, Adam. Illus. by Matthew Forsythe. Simon & Schuster

The Watermelon Seed. Pizzoli, Greg. Illus. by the author. Disney/Hyperion

Xander's Panda Party. Park, Linda Sue. Illus. by Matt Phelan. Clarion

The Year of Billy Miller. Henkes, Kevin. Illus. by the author. Greenwillow

2014 Notable Children's Books Middle Readers Grades 3-5

The Animal Book: A Collection of the Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest--and Most Surprising--Animals on Earth. Jenkins, Steve. Illus. by the author. Houghton

Barbed Wire Baseball. Moss, Marissa. Illus. by Yuko Shimizu. Abrams

Battle Bunny. Scieszka, Jon and Barnett, Mac. Illus. by Matthew Myers. Simon & Schuster

Battling Boy. Pope, Paul. Illus. by the author. First Second

Better Nate Than Ever. Federle, Tim.  Simon & Schuster 

Bluffton: My Summers with Buster. Phelan, Matt. Illus. by the author. Candlewick

Bo at Ballard Creek. Hill, Kirkpatrick. Illus. by LeUyen Pham. Holt

The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible...on Schindler's List. Leyson, Leon. illus. Atheneum

The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdös. Heiligman, Deborah. Illus. by LeUyen Pham. Roaring Brook

Doll Bones. Black, Holly. Margaret K. McElderry

Eruption!:  Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives. Rusch, Elizabeth. Illus. by Tom Uhlman. Houghton

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. Grabenstein, Chris.  Random

Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table. Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. Illus. by Eric-Shabazz Larkin. Readers to Eaters

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures. DiCamillo, Kate. Illus. by K. G. Campbell. Candlewick

Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse. Wissinger, Tamera Will. Illus. by Matthew Cordell. Houghton

The Great American Dust Bowl. Brown, Don. Illus. by the author. Houghton

How to Catch a Bogle. Jinks, Catherine. Illus. by Sarah Watts. Harcourt

Knock Knock : My Dad's Dream for Me. Beaty, Daniel. Illus. by Bryan Collier. Little Brown

The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist. Engle, Margarita.  Harcourt

Lincoln's Grave Robbers. Sheinkin, Steve.  Scholastic

Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard. Cate, Annette LeBlanc. Illus. by the author. Candlewick

The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius. Greenberg, Jan and Jordan, Sandra.  Roaring Brook/Neal Porter

Mister Orange. Matti, Truus. Illus. by Jenni Desmond. Trans. by Laura Watkinson. Enchanted Lion

Monster on the Hill. Harrell, Rob. Illus. by the author. Top Shelf 

P. S. Be Eleven. Williams-Garcia, Rita.  HarperCollins/Amistad 

Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant's Tale. Tonatiuh, Duncan. Illus. by the author. Abrams

Rooftoppers. Rundell, Katherine. Illus. by Terry Fan. Simon & Schuster 

Serafina's Promise: A Novel in Verse. Burg, Ann E.  Scholastic

Soldier Dog. Angus, Sam.  Feiwel and Friends 

A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin, Bryant, Jen. Illus. by Melissa Sweet. Knopf

Sugar. Rhodes, Jewell Parker.  Little, Brown 

Treasury of Egyptian Mythology. Napoli, Donna Jo. Illus. by Christina Balit. National Geographic

The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp. Appelt, Kathi. Atheneum 

The War within These Walls. Sax, Aline. Illus. by Caryl Strzelecki. Trans. by Laura Watkinson. Eerdmans

When Stravinsky Met Nijinsky: Two Artists, Their Ballet, and One Extraordinary Riot. Stringer, Lauren. Illus. by the author. Harcourt 

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop. Hill, Laban Carrick. Illus. by Theodore Taylor III. Roaring Brook

Words with Wings. Grimes, Nikki.  Boyds Mills/WordSong

 

Love your library!