The Daring Librarian

Hello there dear blog readers and my Twitter / Instagram family and friends. Here's a kind of mirrored post that I put out on my Daring School Library blog for my kids, parents, and community . That post is pretty school and district specific but I thought I could post over here some resources from our national educational partners like PBS Learning Works, Capstone, PebbleGo, MackinVia, and Scholastic. Since our schools closed down last Friday companies have been very generous and forthcoming to provide FREE resources for our out of school kiddos. Seems like more are coming out every day. Please note that I a Middle Grades (ages 10-14) and Young Adult specific educator and not Primary or Elementary. There are plenty of great people out there for those little squiggles. Bless their hearts. Here's what I said: I’m not gonna lie, it’s kinda weird out there right now but I truly believe we’re going to be OK. Things will get back to normal. They always do. #History.

Here's a fun and easy to set up, book selection activity that you can basically do at the drop of a hat...or beat! (see what I did there?)  I am always looking for ways to beef up our circulation numbers, aka, getting more books into the hands of kids. I was wanting an activity I could ru before the holidays that was fast and fun with a very little preparation. I'm kind of lazy like that - especially right before the holidays. I've loved doing Speed Dating with Books. I've blogged about it here in 2017 , the year before in 2016 ,  and first in 2013 . But that activity takes hours to handpick hundreds of books, arrange on tables by genre or subjects, decorate with props and signage, and then afterwards re-shelve all those not chosen. This is a LOT easier! You only need 2-3 things: 1. Music (I used a boombox circa 1995) 2. Kids 3. Optional: Scratch & Sniff Bookmarks The scratch & sniff bookmarks are for the first 5-8 kids checking out books

Well, hello! I'm so happy you're here! I don't usually post about travel or vacation stuff here without having it related to an Ed Tech or Library conference or educational stuff, but this travel experience to the Biltmore Estate was so magical, beautiful, significant, and transcendent and I wrote such a LONG Trip Advisor review , I felt like I had to share it with ya'll! I won't be mad if you choose to skip reading this post if you're only here for the education related stuffs ....because it's kinda long and it's kinda detailed! Shocker. And no..no..The Biltmore Estate did NOT sponsor or pay for this post --though, I wouldn't mind a little swag when I go back (in April! LOL) What can I say? I was inspired and when I feel thusly, I write it down. Also, this might seem weird to you, that as a grownup, I really like to travel with my Mom & Dad. I have friends and I love them dearly, but I love my parents more. They're fun

Sometimes, you just have to wing it. Or go for it. Even if it's a wacky idea. Like, a couple weeks ago, when our local weather person was going to be out of school & we didn't have a quick replacement - what to do? Another #MHTVNews crew member was at home with a broken wrist & we were facetiming her in the studio before the show when the 7th grader Payton who started the facetime call, had the wild idea to put Kasey (our injured wing friend) on the TV show on using the phone! Brilliant! But would it work? Payton took a picture of the weather script & sent it to her -- I was busily trying to share it with her via GSuite - Payton won. And we tested the volume through the whole school. The rest of the school wasn't so happy about that! (the morning bell hadn't rung yet, simmer down folks!) LOL But here's how it came out --- I invite you to play the short video below. It wasn't perfect, we wish we had used the set up as pictured above,