2nd Annual Parade of Words

This was the 2nd year Brier has held a parade of words. We got our idea from the book "Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster" by Debra Frasier. Students and staff dressed up as a vocabulary word, then we paraded through the classrooms sharing our words with the rest of the school. The parade took about 30 minutes and included everyone! I chose "masthead" (right) as my word this year and dressed up in a newspaper motif. Others chose words like, tattletale, glitz (left), molecule, static cling, exoskeleton, and many more. Each outfit had to contain the word and a definition. It was a great literacy event for the entire building.

Edmonds District Librarian Meeting @ OHE

The librarians met at Oak Heights Elementary in the northern part of our district. We received an update on our new library automation system for next year. It will be nice to move to something newer with the ability to integrate databases into the OPAC search. We also started a discussion of using the upcoming Vancouver Olympics to promote reading. We learned about teachingbooks.net, a cool author/literature website. As always, the meeting went by fast and was filled with useful information.

District WASL Test-Coordinator Meeting

In the Edmonds Sch. District, most librarians (at the elementary level) are the building test-coordinators. This has been an annual event for test-coordinators. Today we heard from Assessment Director, Nancy Katims and her assistant, Kieran Edmunson about the procedures and policies regarding the upcoming WASL tests. We'll take all of the information back to our buildings to begin to build testing schedules, conduct test administrator training, and prepare for the onslaught of materials. At least this year we had a small stipend negotiated into the contract to cover the additional work we do to coordinate the tests.

Social Studies CBA/TTT Meeting

This afternoon, I was able to attend a meeting at the district office between the K-6 Social Studies District Lead, Teach the Teachers program leaders, and the Instructional Media Dept. (IMD). I felt honored to be asked to attend. The district is working on rolling out the civics CBA for 5th grade next year. The idea was to integrate the CBA with school librarian (and teacher-libraries) and technology. I learned about the Teach the Teacher's program, the district's plan for meeting with 5th grade teachers, and the inclusion of librarians. We shared what we knew about the CBAs and I shared the WLMA web-page for CBAs. I like how one of the technology folks said that the librarians are coaches for research. I'm excited about the prospect of teacher-librarians (we call ourselves LMS in Edmonds) taking an important role in the CBA effort.

Elementary Staff Inservice

The Edmonds District held a meeting of the entire elementary staff at the Lynnwood Convention Center. The event was to review where our district had been in the past, what is going on now, and what the future might bring. It was held at the Convention Center thanks to the Public Education Foundation (PEF). Superintendent, Nick Brossoit welcomed everyone; Ellen Kahan & Sue Venable, Asst. Superintendents (photo) set the stage for the mornings activities. We watched the "Did You Know" video and then began to discuss several questions in our table groups. The discussion at my table was pretty rich. A lot of the talk really focused around the "whole" child and how they will be effective in the 21st century. It seems that most were concerned that students don't get enough authentic problem solving opportunities and chances to become more sociable. I think from a library perspective we can offer both of those things in working with classroom teachers. I'm not sure exactly where the discussions of the morning may lead, but I like the fact that we're thinking about these things.

CLP District Librarian's Study Group @ CLS

The Collaborative Literacy Project is a big initiative in the elementary schools in the Edmonds School District. This Monday a group of librarians met at the Chase Lake Community School Library to discuss chapters 7&8 of "Strategies That Work, 2nd ed.". Patti, teacher-librarian at Chase Lake, was our host. I really enjoyed the time to share ideas, ask questions, and talk about books. Maggie, district literacy coach from the Teaching & Learning Dept. was present to guide our thinking and help answer questions. Paul shared a questioning grid he had found. We related it to our discussion of thick and thin questions.

Book Pick-up At All For Kids

This afternoon I picked up several copies of "Recess at 20 Below" by Cindy Aillaud. She is going to be our school's visiting author in March. I wanted to make sure that I had multiple copies so teachers could share her book with students before her visit. I used All For Kids as a vendor because I like to support the independent book sellers in the state. The customer service was great. I called them last week and while they didn't have more than 1 copy, they offered to order them for me and I had them in record time!

Fund our Future Washington Rally

During the lunch hour of the Washington Library Summit, we went to the steps of the Capitol in Olympia for a rally to support "Fund our Future Washington" and the pending legislation. There was a pretty good crowd, about 200 people. Some people brought their children and many took leave from work to attend. Although it was rainy, we listened to several legislators speak about the need for school libraries. I noticed that some told us (in a round about way) that we may not get everything in the SB6380, but it would be a beginning. I do agree that we are laying some strong groundwork with the legislature. The "Spokane moms" also spoke, as did a person from Portland announcing the creation of Fund our Future Oregon. I'm glad I was able to attend and see the committment of library supporters.

Washington School Library Summit

Meeting in the Washington Room of the Pritchard Building on the Washington State Capitol Campus, library leaders from around the state and nation met to discuss the current legislative push to require librarians in all Washington public schools and give the libraries money for resources. The day was truly inspirational. We heard from some great speakers: Jamie McKenzie, Gary Hartzell, Julie Walker (AASL Exec. Dir.), Mike Eisenberg, Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet (Antioch U. Pres.), Lorraine Roy (ALA Pres.), and Sara Kelly Johns (AASL Pres.). We also got to see the "Spokane moms" in person (top photo)! They are truly an inspiration. We discussed the importance libraries have on student learning in the 21st century. I really identified with Gary Hartzell's (lower photo) comment that librarians need to reshape their image - seize control - "don't let others define you."