Jean Darnell: Awaken Librarian

This post does contain frightening and unnerving videos as well as kid-friendly resources. However, please take caution if you're sensitive to scary movies...as there's plenty of that here! This week's one of my favorites for class activities! I like seeing little ones get slightly spooked! Their innocence is exciting and rewarding...:) However, if any of your babies begin acting like these in the video below, then... Creepy Kids - Children in horror from Peter Schneider on Vimeo . Here's a link to a great "skeleton" lesson on " How to Write Your Own Scary Story... " And to follow suit, here's a wonderful reading of Edgar A. Poe's "The Raven." Click on the little sound icon on the top left of the page. To get the students EXCITED about SPOOKTACULAR reads, I created the following display and gave this Scary Stories to Read hand-out : Anyone one of my kiddos, who paid attention in the library, KNOWS why I...

In the library today, the students completely "lost their marbles" when we celebrated the invention of slime (a combination of glue, water, food coloring & borax...see the video below) and the molecular marvels of science! The Secret Science Project That Almost Ate the School by Judy Sierra My rating: 4 of 5 stars My students loved this book! I thought it a great cross-curricular read in the library. I followed it up with the "creation of slime!" The kiddos went bonkers in the library and I couldn't get them to hush-up because their were electrocuted with slimy excitement. The book's an easy and enjoyable read. I used this years ago when it first came out. When I saw it on the shelf in the library, the flashback of fun that I had with my high school kids came flooding back. The illustrations are dynamic and unpretentious. I like the fact that the characters have a kind of wicked theme to them! The kids laughed and "eww(ed)" where appropri...

Today is National " The Day the Crayons Quit Day " Here are some great lesson ideas and our experience with it below: The Crayons will not Quit! #CrayonsDontQuit Take a look here for some great resources & work from my library kids: http://t.co/2hjqiUfiRa — awakenlibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) September 30, 2014 And...because I miss Mister Rogers so much--- Yes, I'm a kid from the 1980s --here's a "how-to-video" of how crayons are made! Enjoy!

This week, we're having our Book Fair...see the pictures below! Because of the dreaded ROTATION SCHEDULE I must balance entertaining the students while, governing the book fair and finding books. Nevertheless, being the warrior that I am, I did find this cute video (including interesting facts) on YouTube by M Demaio :

Here's what we're doing this week in the library... Make Belief Comix Strips!! The students are having a blast and it's a wonderfully engaging app! @DigitalFBISD @GoodmanOwls Students mastering the app, Make Belief Comix, in the library all week! #edtech #edchat pic.twitter.com/bxe8c8kJWK — awakenlibrarian (@awakenlibrarian) September 22, 2014 LESSON PLAN: The basic premise of the lesson was as follows: 1. Create a 3 panel comic strip. 2. The strip must have a BME. (beginning, middle and end) 3. Include a SSS. ( Someone talking somewhere in someplace . Also known as character, dialogue and setting)

I love Ted Talks and especially those by kids. Therefore, when I came across Ted's blog with "Impressive Kid Ted Talks," I immediately had to share with you! One of my favorite talks are listed embedded below. Those of my students that follow my blog, be INSPIRED for you can have your own Ted Talk one day soon! Thomas Suarez: A 12-year-old app developer Perhaps you have used Thomas Suarez’s most famous iPhone app, the whack-a-mole game “Bustin Jeiber”? While most kids his age were playing online games, Suarez was learning how to make them. At TEDxManhattanBeach, he shares how he is sharing his knowledge and teaching other kids to develop apps too. Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids Childish thinking is worthy of real attention, says 12-year-old short story scribe and blogger Adora Svitak at TED2010. Instead of looking just to teach kids, Svitak urges grown-ups to try to learn from them too. Sirena Huang: An 11-year-old’s magical violin Sirena H...

And so we're starting another school year... I've added a literary workspace for my library. Please check it out here : And because it took a diligent effort and was down to the last wire, here's my bulletin board/wall. Yes...for those of you who know me personally, it's not up to par, but I'm working on several masterpieces, so give a girl a break! CHECK OUT THIS "AMAZING" SPIDER-MAN BONUS! This is for you, Julian! :)