Book Swap at Williams starts May 26th- Gather your books to donate

We are having a book swap to benefit children in need of books. It's a two for one swap. Bring in 2, take 1. The remaining books will be donated to homeless shelters in Newton. Help out others in need and have fun while you're doing it. How it works: Look through your personal children’s book collections for gently used books that you want to donate Guidelines for book donation and swap: * Choose books that are gently used * Choose books that are appealing & appropriate for pre-school and K-5 readers- * board books, pop-up books, toddler books are welcome * no sticker books, coloring books or adult books. * Check with your parents before you bring in your used books * Questions?????? See Mrs. Kosmo or Mrs. O’Rourke Tuesday, May 26th through Wednesday June 3rd: Bring in 2 books or more from home that you are no longer need. You will receive one ticket for every 2 books you bring in. Each ticket is good for one book that you can choose from the book swap. Books will be collected in the classrooms. The swap will begin on Monday, June 8th. Let’s have a fun community event and help others as we move towards the end of the school year.

Oliver the Reading Dog returns to Williams

Today we welcomed Oliver, The reading Dog, back to Williams for the second year in a row. Oliver comes to us from the People and Pets foundation. He is accompanied by his owner , Karine Alexander, and her daughter, Caroline. His visit is part of the Williams PTO auction activities event. It gave our students a chance to practice and enjoy reading aloud. Reading should be fun and enjoyable and Oliver certainly gave us a wonderful opportunity to share books and reading together in the Williams library in a different way. Students had lunch in the library with me and then we shared dog poems and dog stories with our guests. The students were also able to give Oliver a treat. Thanks to Oliver, Karine, and Caroline for another creative and exciting visit to Williams. You can learn more about this program at Pets and People.org

Happy New Year! Thinking about how I can make Williams Library be the best it can be in 2015

Today I received an email from Edtechteacher and Google with information about an opportunity to attend a Google for Education jamboree in February. To apply you had to answer a question in a format of your choice. One of the choices was a blog post. I didn't choose that, but as I thought about the question I decided I would like to share my ideas with the Williams community. I created a Google drawing. As is usually the case, it turned out to be very useful for me as a checkpoint for where we are in the school year. It is an exciting time in education because there are so many opportunities for learning in many different formats, both online and in our traditional school environments. The question asked was "How will I make 2015 the best year for my students?" You can click on the link below to get my thoughts on the direction I think we need to be heading in to complete a successful school year. How will I make 2015 the best year for my students?

Thank You, Capstone Publishing, for this video

Here is a wonderful video created by Capstone Video that really captures the essence of why school libraries are more important than ever. They don't just house books, (which is still essential) they transform learning for our students.

Using Padlet for exit ticket assessment

It's that time of year again to review the AUP policy and and kick off our Internet safety curriculum. Every year there are more and more great resources to support this effort in so many different ways. This is the first year I have used Padlet as an exit ticket. Fourth graders reviewed our AUP policy with a wonderful discussion and great visual of our AUP created by Jennifer Reed. View it here. Then the students were able to leave their feedback on a Padlet wall. It really helped them synthesize their learning and it gave me a quick and easy assessment to evaluate. And it was fun!! Here is a sneak peak of our Padlet wall.

Created with Padlet

Dot Day at the library

September is a good time to think about how a library is valuable for all our students. It also happens that Peter Reynolds' Dot Day is celebrated in September. It honors his book "The Dot" by asking students to "make your mark and see where it takes you." We decided to make our mark on our library using the colar mix app that takes the dots you create on paper and brings them to 3-d life! It's fun and gets you thinking about lots of different ways you use your school library. Have a look at them here. Happy Dot Day 2014!

September is a good time to reflect on the contributions of those who have served Williams School

Yesterday I saw a facebook post from the "I grew up in Auburndale" page. It noted the death of former Williams principal Merton C. Tefft, and included a link to the obituary. The post tugged at me for a couple of reasons. I learned about his tenure at Williams a few years ago, when I created a short video of the history of the school. I included a picture of Mr. Tefft in the video because he became the first full time principal of the school when the administration decided to give Burr and Williams their own administrator. Prior to 1955 they shared a principal and the two schools were called the Burr-Williams district. I was truly saddened to hear of his passing and although I was a student in NPS when he was principal and not an educator during his tenure, I felt I had lost a Williams colleague. I read so many good memories from his former students under the obituary post and it made me feel good that he was so fondly remembered by the community he served. I've been at Williams long enough now that I have seen many fine educators retire or move on from Williams to other adventures. All of them contributed to making Williams the vital place it is today for our students and staff. Even though many are not walking the halls anymore, I know they are still at Williams in the minds eye of the students they served. As I begin this year at Williams I want to express my gratitude to Mr. Tefft and all the educators who have served Williams School and my promise to continue to serve Williams in the fine tradition that I and my current colleagues have been entrusted to preserve. We can add to the legacy and it is our responsibility and honor to have the opportunity. Let's have a great year for the Williams Community, past, present, and future.