Solar System

screenshot of britannica blog

Pam Renfrow, a Curriculum Specialist with Britannica, wrote up this cool post on a project Jen Gilbert and I worked on for some of our first-grade classes. We took Britannica articles from our KYVL subscription and used Google Sites with some QR codes to make it a little easier for our first graders to access with their iPads. Here is a link to the page we put together on our school’s library website, the EDhub Hub.

Busy Week

kids reading

It was a great week in our library! Somebody on our Kentucky school library listserv posted a list of everything she did in one day. It made me think how hard it is to remember everything that happens in one day. I love the unpredictability of our library and how diverse the experiences are for our students (and mešŸ˜Š). The video/pictures show our after-school gaming club, my co-librarian’s creations for weekly football team awards, an Ozobot/Google drawings/personal narrative challenge, a visit from a local meteorologist, a digital signage upgrade to our self-checkout kiosk, and our public service class’s shelving project....

Dash!

Dash!

Meet Dash, our new EDhub box turtle. She loves red peppers, berries, and super worms! Ms. Gilbert takes her outside every day to enjoy some sunshine. We inherited her from a high school biology teacher who recently left us. The kids love her and check on her every day!

Virtual Tour

EDhub Tour

Virtual reality is still kind of a new and developing technology. I jump at the chance to try every new tool and resource. YouVisit allows you to create your own VR tour by uploading your own 360 images, videos, and audio. I created a virtual tour of our new library space, the Eminence EDhub, recently. You can try out the tour yourself at by clicking here. I don’t believe they offer a free version now, but hopefully their awesome service is a sign of awesome things to come.  Dang… YouVisit deleted my tour. I’m working on a new one.

EDhub Grand Opening

EDhub Grand Opening

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The grand opening of the EDhub was such an exciting day! I’ve been so looking forward to this for over a year. It is not just a new space. You can feel the energy and positivity when you walk in the door. It is a dream library.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/uiwcMPMs4p8″ css_animation=”rotateInUpRight”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Kentucky Teacher

Kentucky Teacher

Kentucky schools and school librarians are lucky to have a highly qualified and dedicated school librarian at the state level, Kathy Mansfield. She helps coordinate initiatives, shares pertinent information, recognizes school librarians across the state, and makes sure school libraries and their impact on student learning are considered in every context. Thank you Kathy, for interviewing me and sharing this feature with Kentucky Teacher!

ripped apart webinar

I loved having the opportunity to participate in this AASL webinar on Smithsonian’s app, Ripped Apart. I love the interactiveness of the app, and how it really puts students in the shoes of a researcher. Finding clues, viewing images closely, and a requirement to put the pieces together, are what makes this app so great.

Design Thinking Challenge

Design Thinking Challenge

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]My first full-staff professional development day at Eminence Independent Schools was a Design-Thinking Challenge! This place is awesome! Our challenge was to build a boat out of cardboard and duct tape. We built them at school and took a bus to a local pool. Some designs were more successful than others![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/fz4Pc-NoaBY” css_animation=”right-to-left”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator 2015

PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator 2015

I applied and was named a PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator. It was a great experience which included numerous online workshops with some awesome guest speakers. Thank you KET and PBS for providing this opportunity and for the many valuable resources for our teachers and students. Insider Louisville Post – December 14, 2015 KBSA Post – October, 2015 Kentucky School Library Media News – Spring, 2015

Prezi

Prezi

This is a Prezi that I used for talking points when I was a guest speaker for an EKU graduate level class in educational technology for Dr. MaryAnn Kolloff. We discussed tools and resources and how some are geared towards students, other teachers, and the librarian.