Harry and Rosemary Wong Come to Chadron

When I found out Harry and Rosemary Wong were coming to Chadron I didn't think twice about signing up to attend. It didn't matter that it was outside the regular calendar days. I have his book The First Days of School : How to be an effective teacher. They also write a monthly column for Teachers.Net. There were over 700 filling Memorial Hall for the 3 1/2 hour presentation. They came from Valentine, Scottsbluff, Hot Springs, SD and places in between.

The first part was the importance of creating procedures for all the routines of the class. The importance of going over them the first day and practicing them. It reminded me that often the simple things are the most important. The second part of focused on lesson mastery and positive expectation both for the students and yourself

They are enjoyable to listen to, down to earth, and have ideas from other classroom teachers that are OK to "steal." If you every get the chance to hear them -- GO!

READ letters

The READ letters are 15 in. tall and 3 dimensional. They are made of cardboard or papermache product. I painted them black and added literature genre in neon stick-on letters. They are hollow and very light weight. I added some sticky tack to the bottom to keep them in place. (The picture is not the best since I cropped it out of one of the larger ones.)

Almost There

I am almost ready for business. Clean up some shelves. Put up bulletin boards and other decor. Add my library signage (black on yellow cloth banners). Finish my filing-the biggest job. I reused my card catalogs. Yes, I JUST tossed the cards. For those that don't know I am a sole librarian and have been retro-cataloging the collection for about 5 year. The staff at Panhandle Library System gave me help one summer, so it wasn't a total solo job.

This is the view from my desk. Secondary fiction on the left (non fiction out of range), the computer lab, J fiction, E books, and J/E non fiction peeking in on the right. The pole at left of center will be an OPAC station. There should be seating for close to 40 - 20 big people and 20 little.

Here is the reverse view. My desk area, check out computer on the left and return book bins on the right. Behind the door (hiding all my stuff) is a workroom, storage area. Far right is the Secondary Nonfiction.
This is the view as you enter Secondary books on the left, Book Return Bins on the right OPAC straight ahead and the lab beyond that. J and E books to the right. (Fourth and fifth grades are behind the wall of Secondary books.)
The lab now has computers. We have two 20 computer labs and one 12 computer labs in our small school. The four elementary classrooms and the title classroom on this floor have new Smartboards. There are also four in the secondary building. We will all be taking some training next week.
J/E Nonfiction and reference books with the small tables and chairs. (Title and 2/3 grade are behind this wall.)
J fiction and E books (on the shorter shelves) with my READ letters (Thanks Pat Gross for the challenge to make these a few years back.) (First grade in behind this wall.)

Computer Lab Almost Ready

Thought it was time to update my progress. Won't show the library half -- stuff all over the tables waiting for cabinets to get moved around. Been working yesterday and today sorting stuff, sending this here and that there, even some to the circular file. The computer lab is taking shape. We will have 20 machines in the lab. Thanks to maintenance I have 20 matching yellow chairs.

Larel, the tech coordinator, started to set up the machines at the end of the day -- really looks like a lab. I will have a laptop this year and will attach it to an LCD projector. Since I write on the whiteboard to mark things I am projecting that I want the students to remember or look for on their screens; Larel refers to it as my "analog smartboard."