Cathy Nelson’s Professional Thoughts

I have to share this!!  My friend @Paula Canine from Waccamaw Elementary is the absolute BEST!  (Don’t kill me Paula!!) Read this note I and few friends received from her (pasted below.) I had used the quotes feature, but it took away from the note so I removed them. I also embellished with a few pictures and links.  THIS is what makes living in South Carolina so grand, and even better, this is what makes me proud of our state’s school librarians!! Paula, your note just gave me all kinds of warm fuzzies!!

Hi there,

I just wanted to share my upcoming big day! Some of you know about my first 2 DDRD’s, so you know some of the fun and silly ways that we have shared the love of books.

I am having my third annual Dolphin Derby Reading Day (DDRD) this Thursday. This is my own special day to celebrate the joy of reading with the students. I am using the 2 pirate books written by Melinda Long and illus by David Shannon (How I became a Pirate and Pirates Don’t Change Diapers). The whole school has been invited to dress up like pirates (no toy weapons allowed). I have already done the first story as a read aloud for all of my classes (K – 3) ~ 32 classes, along with sharing pirate information, fact and fiction. I have a fabulous Blackbeard display that was donated by an 8th grade student who had done it as an entry in the SC History project contest. I also have a large jolly roger hanging with my other banners, a Blackbeard doll, and a pirate bulletin board with Capt. Jack Sparrow along with pirate facts, maps, etc. All of our pirate books are out on display for easy selection and check out.

I am showing the song “Yoho, Yoho, A Pirate’s Life For Me” (from Disney World) that I downloaded and a 7 minute video photostory that I made from pictures I took in a pirate restaurant in Charleston (that went out of business in October ~ sadly) and at the SC State Museum in Columbia which has been sponsoring a traveling Pirate show for the last several months. I have researched and put together and/or created pirate word games, pirate glossaries, coloring sheets, etc. I am creating a video of: a) me reading a 2 page pirate poem that I wrote, b) me and Bubba (BB Wolf ~ Big Bodacious- but his friends call him Bubba) doing pirate riddles (he has his own pirate hat), c) about a dozen members of 3 different classes running through the library shouting that Captain Whitebeard is coming along with things like: he’s a scurvy dog, he’ll make me walk the plank, he’ll feed me to the sharks, etc. and 4) Then I have Capt. Whitebeard (aka our asst. principal, Mr. Hewes) read the Pirates Don’t Change Diapers story, followed by a class singing the Yoho song in front of the Blackbeard display.

Drunken Jack’s Restaurant in Murrell’s Inlet donated pirate hats for every student and teacher ~ awesome! And, I created bookmarks for everyone.

In addition, Charleston author Jonathan Miller is coming to present his 2 books about Sammy the Wonder Dachshund for grades 1-3 for 3 hours Thursday morning ~ so it is going to be a wild and crazy day! I will take picts of all of the students & teachers dressed as pirates and make a photostory video for the school webpage.

This is the one time a year I like to “Toot my own horn!”

Paula