Lego Poetry Center

Remember this post?  I finally got around to putting words on the Duplos!  Well, some of them.  I probably have enough to do two sets if this center works as well as I hope.  I think it will be especially fun in April for Poetry Month. 

 I used a lot of K-2 sight words to make it appropriate for a range of grades and abilities. I also threw in some library words and some fun words.  I can't find the file with my list of words anywhere or else I would share with you!  If I make a new copy, I will update with the GoogleDoc link.

To make the lego poetry, I used a table in Word with cells that would fit on the Duplos.  I laminated them but I bet you wouldn't need to depending how you attach them.  I tried attaching some words with tape like I did for my Library Jenga Trivia but the tape was a smidge too big and hung over the edges, which bugged me.  Then I tried Mod Podging them on and that worked really well.  

Once this center is in action, I'll let you know how the kids like it and how the Mod Podge is holding up!

Library Treats

I love to bake and bring in fun treats to school.  I didn't do this nearly as much as I would have liked this past year but I'm planning to be better about it this year.  I saw this super cute idea on Pinterest, originally from here, where muffins were paired with If You Give a Moose a Muffin.

image from: www.momto2poshlildivas.com

I think it would be so fun to bring in treats that go with a book once a month.  I've come up with a few food themed books so far: 

• Blueberries for Sal
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
• The Runaway Latkes
• Gingerbread Baby (or any gingerbread book!)
• Popcorn: Poems/The Popcorn Book
• Bunnycakes
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (although I don't like meatballs - at all!)
• Pickles to Pittsburg
• Green Eggs and Ham
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• James and the Giant Peach
• I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato

Any other ideas???

My New Best Friend

I may just be late to the game on this but I found this guy at my new library and he is most definitely my new best friend: 

He's a label peeler!!!  Does everyone else in the world know about this?  It's life-changing in my little library world.  I can't tell you how many nails I've broken and how many sore fingers I've had over the past three years from scratching and peeling labels off discarded books.  This little guy just slips in under the label and you just pull it right off.  I even used it to feel off labels that were taped onto shelves with book tape.  Here's a close up: 

And here is Mr. Lodge being a good hubby and helping out in the library. He shifted all the picture books over after I opened up 3 shelves that had other things on them.  Then he moved all the fairy tales to their new home across the room.  You can see the sea of carts I mentioned.  We emptied 5 so far!

I'm heading off on vacation tomorrow but I already can't wait to get back to continue fixing up the library!!!

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at one of my current projects: 

Stay tuned for the final product!

oh boy

This is the current state of my new library:

Ahhhh...total chaos but I promise it will look pretty when I'm done!  

My wonderful aunt and cousin came to help me today and we got so much done.  Right now, when you walk around the library it goes: picture books, nonfiction, fiction, with easy readers and lower level fiction on 12+ carts around the room.  I'm trying to move things around so it goes: picture books, easy readers, fiction (already leveled), nonfiction (so there's no break between fiction sections).  I'm also trying to find more space on the shelves to get rid of some of the carts.  If carts float your boat, that's great but they're not for me so I am trying to shift things around and get rid of as many as possible.  Keep you posted!