Library Centers this week

Hi friends!

Because it is January and it's supposed to be winter (even though we are having 80 degree days and wearing sandals in San Antonio), I have wintery library centers this week.

We are drawing penguin bookmarks.

We are making penguin origami. (These require square paper. I cut copy paper into 8.5 inch squares with the paper cutter, then use the end strips for the penguin bookmark center.)

We are putting winter words in ABC order.

And some of the students are at the computer voting for our state's student choice award, the Texas Bluebonnet Award.  They have to read 5 books from the list of 20 to vote.

Some of you have asked me about how I "manage" centers. Here's a candid glimpse from this morning at what my centers can look like.

(I'm sure you know that I blur the faces for privacy. I notice that one student's whole body is a blur. All I can say is that the camera doesn't lie. I'm so glad he has a library center to keep him busy!)

You can see 5 guys at this center, and there's actually one brave girl that is at the edge of the photo. They are all getting along, having a great time making origami penguins, and if a couple more students stepped up to the table and participated just as peacefully, that would be fine with me.

This is a sweet kindergarten class, so excited to be reading their new library books! I only have 20 minutes for checkout visits. For kindergarten, that is barely enough time for story time and check out. So they sit and read for a few minutes after they check out, and they don't participate in library centers yet. But you can see that they are fully engaged.

As you know, when students are engaged in appealing, meaningful activities, the discipline issues tend to melt away.

I hope your week is off to a great start! What's happening in your library this week?