Tales from a Loud Librarian

I have always planned makerspace activities during the library's annual celebrations of Teen Read Week and Teen Tech Week. We have crafted bracelets, woven paper bookmarks, constructed duct tape wallets, and have created many interesting paper crafts. When I began planning these type of activities many years ago, I had no clue that there was a specific name for it: makerspace.  Cart for the Mini-Makerspace Over the last year or two, I have been trying to find grants and other monetary sources to fund a mini-makerspace in the library. I wanted to continue with the crafting activities, but I also wanted to get some of the electronic and building materials that can be a part of a makerspace. A Donor's Choose grant brought a Lego station to the library. Unfortunately, I did not win the grants that would have brought a 3D printer, Arduino, and Raspberry Pi to the library. I was devastated. All of that equipment is expensive, and though I had library money that

Link is here Last month I was asked to write a blog post for the Learn2Earn blog . They have lots of great articles about ed tech and reading for K-12 teachers. I was asked to write something for the reading section. That is right up my alley, so I took some of the websites that I shared recently during a conference presentation and wrote about how to use these sites in a classroom or library for the blog.  Read the blog post on Learn2Earn here: " 7 Fun (And Effective!) Reading Websites That Engage Students ."

I couldn't let the new year begin without posting here. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! The last two weeks off have helped to get my mind off of school. Getting a respite from the flurry of activity at school mid-year will certainly help propel me through the beginning of a new semester. I hope that others felt the same.                                                     I had a chance to read three books during the break. I was hoping to get in a fourth, but the book that I had to read and review for School Library Journal slowed me down.That always seems to happen when I pick up a book that doesn't move me. It takes longer to read because I have to psych myself up to opening the book and finishing it. It took a week, but I did finish it and submitted the review today. When I get to self select, I don't finish a book that I don't like. I fell in love with  Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. It was not what I expected. I never saw the twist at the end coming my wa