Emma world
How our Project came to beMy name is Emma Scott. I am an 8th grade student at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy. At our school, all 8th graders are required to participate in a community project. I immediately teamed up with my best friend, Sheila Johnson. I greatly enjoy learning new things so we decided to do our project on something educational. Since we both LOVE to read, our community project adviser suggested that we build a little free library.
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Process Journal |
October 2, 2015
ATL Skills: Communication, Thinking Today our principal, Mr. Andrews, told us that we would be participating in an eighth grade community project. I immediately thought of my best friend Sheila as my partner. We both have similar interests and we work well together. She said yes to my offer and we discussed project ideas over lunch. We decided to do something educational and to talk with Mrs. MacDonald, the teacher in charge of the community project and our good friend. Communication- I spoke with Sheila about our project. Thinking- We thought about project ideas. |
October 7, 2016
ATL Skills: Communication, Thinking Sheila and I are still unable to come up with an appropriate idea for our project. We decided to talk with our faculty advisor, Mrs. MacDonald, to see if she had any ideas. We went to the library after school and threw around some ideas. We decided to build a little free library. I thought it was a great idea since I had built one last summer. Sheila had never heard of a little free library before, so Mrs. MacDonald pulled up the website on her computer and explained that a little free library is a tiny house that people put books in. People around the area can pick up a book of their choosing and return it when they are done reading it. A little free library spreads knowledge around the community. Once Sheila knew what a little free library was she thought that we should do it as well. We finally came up with the perfect idea for our project! I can't wait to get started. Communication- We talked to come up with the perfect idea. Thinking- We thought of different ideas we could use for our project. |
December 20, 2015
ATL Skills: Communication, Self-Management, Thinking, Research, Social Today we finally reached the action phase of our project. Sheila and I met up at noon today to build our little library. We swung by her house to pick up some of the wood for our library. We discovered that she didn't have much wood for building the sides, but she did have a wooden post we could use for holding up our library. We then went over to my house so we could to some research to find what materials and tools that we would need. We had both done some research the night before, but Sheila was the only one that could find anything. She discovered two great sources that we used to find the materials. After our research was completed, we headed over to Lowe's to gather our supplies. We bought: wood glue, caulk, nails, and plywood. We met an employee named Marvin there, and he helped us find all the right supplies and equipment. He even gave us a 25% off discount! After our supplies were collected, we went back to my place so we could build our little library. We used the wood glue and the nails to attach the back bottom and one of the sides. We then painted the interior and helped my dad cut some of the wood pieces with his circular saw. We didn't finish our project today, but we got a really good start. I plan on working on it some more over winter break. Sadly, Sheila will be unable to help me because she is traveling with her family to Massachusetts. Communication- Sheila and I spoke with Marvin to get the correct supplies. We also had to communicate with each other so we could get our project started. Self-management- We had to manage our time correctly so that we started our project early enough to meet the deadline. Thinking- We had to brainstorm what materials we were going to use and how we were going to put the library together. Research- We researched what items we needed to build our library and how to put our library together. Social- We spoke with Marvin about our library. Sources used to help build our library: http://littlefreelibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/LFL-Building-Design_6.17.13.pdf |
January 2, 2016
ATL Skills: Self-management, Thinking, Communication Tonight I finished assembling our library. It took me four hours, but I finally finished. In my last entry, Sheila and I put together the first 3 sides of our library. Since Sheila is not in the state at this time, she was devastated to find she couldn't help me finish the remainder of the construction. The construction process ran very smoothly except for one issue: the door. When I put in the door of the library it got stuck. My dad helped me, but we were unable to remove it. We had cut out a hole in the door where the window of our library would go. My dad said we could make another frame for the Plexiglas and make that the door instead. I agreed, cleaned up, and then went to bed. Self-management- I worked by myself for the majority of the time and managed my time well. Thinking- I had to use my problem solving skills to solve the issues that I had. Communication- I communicated with my dad when I needed assistance. |
January 20, 2016
ATL Skills: Communication, Thinking
Ever since winter break ended, we have been trying to find a good day to meet with Mr. Andrews to discuss if we can put our library on school property. A couple of days ago, we finally found a day that fit all of our schedules. After school Sheila, Mrs. MacDonald and I headed to the principal's office for our meeting. Mr. Andrews was very nice, and we decided to place our library on the edge of the property near the school's bus loop. This way LCMA students can access the library along with the community around Lake Wire. I'm relived to know that we finally have a plan. Now all we have to do is finish the library itself. We have a long road ahead of us.
Communication- We spoke with Mrs. MacDonald and Mr. Andrews.
Thinking- We thought about where to place our library.
ATL Skills: Communication, Thinking
Ever since winter break ended, we have been trying to find a good day to meet with Mr. Andrews to discuss if we can put our library on school property. A couple of days ago, we finally found a day that fit all of our schedules. After school Sheila, Mrs. MacDonald and I headed to the principal's office for our meeting. Mr. Andrews was very nice, and we decided to place our library on the edge of the property near the school's bus loop. This way LCMA students can access the library along with the community around Lake Wire. I'm relived to know that we finally have a plan. Now all we have to do is finish the library itself. We have a long road ahead of us.
Communication- We spoke with Mrs. MacDonald and Mr. Andrews.
Thinking- We thought about where to place our library.
January 24, 2016
ATL Skills: Communication, Self-Management Today Sheila and I went over to my house to paint our library. We meet at 11 am and continued working until 5 pm. We painted the library white. Later we are going to head to Lowe's to choose another color for our roof color. We also printed out our library description sign. Sheila wrote it yesterday, and we printed it out and laminated the sign. We plan on putting it on the roof or the side of our library so that people who walk by it will know what it is. We have nicknamed our library "The White House" since it is currently completely white. Communication- Sheila and I discussed and collaborated together to decide the best way to paint "The White House." Self-Management- We painted "The White House." Although this seems like a small task compared to such a massive project, we plan to meet our faculty advisor tomorrow and the more complete the project is the better. |
January 25, 2016
ATL Skills: Communication, Thinking, Self-Management, Research Last night, Sheila and I chose to paint our library tan and blue. We painted the front and the back blue, and we painted the sides tan. Sheila spent the night at my house so that we could work on it in the morning. When we woke up we decided how we wanted to decorate the library. We decided to write "Emma & Sheila's FREE LIBRARY" on the front of the roof. Sheila insisted that we paint a sun in the right hand corner for decoration. Next, we glued the library description sign to the other side of the roof and wrote we love books. Then Sheila and I remembered that we had forgotten to call the city yesterday to get approval to dig for our library post! We looked the number up online and called. The woman that spoke with us was very impatient and quite rude. We managed to communicate with her what our plan was, though. We went back to decorating our project and Sheila had the marvelous idea of painting vines on the side, and since she is the artistic one, I let her do it. Our library turned out great! All we have to do now is confirm the time that we are going to meet Mrs. MacDonald and wait for the paint to dry. We called Mrs. MacDonald and she said that she had some bad news. Mr. Andrews' mom was in a car accident! He couldn't come help us with our project! Although we were disappointed, we still got to bring the library to the school for when the library is ready to be put in. We had a great time and I feel really proud of myself for all of our hard work. Communication- Sheila and I collaborated to find the best way to design our project. Thinking- We had to use our problem solving skills to find ways to use the resources that we had. Self-management- We worked all by ourselves on decorating the library. Research- We had to find out who to call for the "Call before you dig." |
February 3, 2016
ATL Skills: Communication, Social, Self-management
Today, Sheila told me that the post of our library (a mail box post) had been put up. Yay! After school, we headed over to the library to talk with Mrs. MacDonald about putting the actual library on the post. She suggested that we talk to Mr. Andrews about it. We went to his office and set the date for Friday. Then we went to see the post. We found that it was very, very sturdy. Sheila took some pictures and we planned to meet with him tomorrow.
Communication- we communicated with Mrs. MacDonald and Mr. Andrews.
Self-management- We went to the library post by ourselves.
Social- We socialized with Mr. Andrews.
ATL Skills: Communication, Social, Self-management
Today, Sheila told me that the post of our library (a mail box post) had been put up. Yay! After school, we headed over to the library to talk with Mrs. MacDonald about putting the actual library on the post. She suggested that we talk to Mr. Andrews about it. We went to his office and set the date for Friday. Then we went to see the post. We found that it was very, very sturdy. Sheila took some pictures and we planned to meet with him tomorrow.
Communication- we communicated with Mrs. MacDonald and Mr. Andrews.
Self-management- We went to the library post by ourselves.
Social- We socialized with Mr. Andrews.
February 5, 2016
ATL Skills: Communication It is finally up! Our free library was put up this morning! I was so excited. Sheila and I went to the library to visit Mrs. MacDonald when she told us the exciting news. Then, we collected the books for our library and headed down to our library to place them inside. We couldn't have done it without the help of Mrs. MacDonald, Mr. Andrews and Marvin!!! Communication- We communicated with Mrs. MacDonald |