The Sheila Experience
Welcome to the Sheila experience. Sit back and enjoy as you are taken on an in-depth journey of our community project from Sheila's point of view.
How It startedI am a student at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy. This year, 2015, all 8th-grade students were required to participate in a Community Project. When we first found out about it, my friend Emma and myself immediately thought of something educational. I love to create art and both Emma and I adore books and reading. Together we embarked on the challenge of creating a Little Free Library.
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Process Journal
October 7, 2015
ATL Skills: Communication, Self Management Today I met with Emma, my group partner, to discuss the topic of our Community Project. We were perplexed. Emma and I turned to Mrs. MacDonald, our faculty advisor, for advice. She recomended that we build a Little Free Library. Both of us agreed that this was something we would be interested in. Mrs. MacDonald gave us the Little Free Library website and we decided to do some research on what this project would require before we commited to it. Communication- I talked to Mrs. MacDonald and Emma in efforts to find our project topic. Self Managment- From the meeting I have made a plan to research Little Free Libraries. http://littlefreelibrary.org/- this is the organization's website |
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November 18, 2015
ATL Skills: Self Management, Communication and Research Since my last entry much has happened. Emma and I did decide that we wanted to build a Little Free Library. We also had our first official meeting with our faculty advisor. We did some research on the Little Free Library website made a general plan for our project (the project outline). I filled out my project proposal form to show our advisor at our next meeting, this coming Friday. Because we also planned on featuring our project via website, I went on Weebly yesterday and began forming a website. This is what has happened since my last entry. To elaborate on what happened, after we thought of the idea for a Little Free Library we decided it was what we wanted. Emma and I filled out the Community Project Outline and we then met with Mrs. MacDonald at our first official meeting. Up until this point we have been developing a plan of action. At our meeting Mrs. MacDonald told us to plan for the Action Phase. We have to find out who to call to get permission from the city and what to buy in order to build our Little Free Library. I showed Emma the website yesterday. She has never used Weebly before so I must teach her. Emma must learn how to use the Weebly software so that she can create things for the future website. Self Managment- From these meetings I have formed a plan to move forward and transfer into a website. Communication- From speaking to Mrs. MacDonald and Emma, we have started on the path to creating our Little Free Library. Research- By studying the Little Free Library website, I have found tips and steps for the Action Phase. |
December 19, 2015
ATL Skills: Communication, Research and Self Management On November 20th, Emma and I attended a meeting with Mrs. MacDonald. We discussed what we did during the planning stage and presented our proposal for the Action Phase. In the meeting, we realized that we had not yet contacted the city to ask permission to build our Little Free Library. We understood just how urgent this was, and later that week Mrs. MacDonald and myself called the city. The woman we talked to was named Alexis, she told us that if we were to build near Lake Wire our library would have to placed on Lawton Chiles Middle Academy property. If our library had to be on LCMA property then we would have to get permission from Principle Andrews. That same night I reached out to Mr. Andrews via E-mail. The E-mail I sent him is to him is in the column titled "E-Mail With Principal Andrews". Three days later after no response, I stopped him in the hallway to ask him if he received my E-mail and if he wanted to support our project. He told me that he did in fact get my message and he did respond. I just did not get it because of technical difficulties. But we now had his permission to place our Little Free Library on LCMA property. The only thing now was to build it. Yesterday, December 18th, Emma and I agreed on a time to get together and build our library. We are to meet tomorrow, December 20th, to finally build. While researching for instructions on building our library, I stumbled upon a few great lists and guides. I plan on using these tomorrow to assist in our building and I also hope to show Emma how to use Weebly so that she can add her Process Journal and edit the website. Communication- I contacted both city officials and my school principal and received permission to build our library on LCMA property. Research- I found some guides and lists that will help in the building of our project. Self Management- From contacting officials we now have a place to build our library. At our meet up tomorrow, Emma and I plan to build our library. Blueprints and guide-http://littlefreelibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/LFL-Building-Design_6.17.13.pdf Clear Guide-http://www.instructables.com/id/Little-Free-Library/ |
E-Mail With Principal Andrews
Dear Principal Andrews, My name is Sheila Johnson and I am an 8th grade student at Lawton Chiles. As you know, all 8th graders are now in the 'Action Phase' of our Community Projects. Emma Scott, my partner in this project, and myself have been planning to build a Little Free Library and place it somewhere on the Lake Wire surrounding area. The awesome power of a book is something nobody should miss out on, and we believe this is the ideal spot to put our library because of its easy accessibility to both the community and ourselves. After contacting city officials, we were told that our library would have to be placed on LCMA property. I would like to find out if this is okay, and if so, arrange a meeting with you to discuss where to put it. Our faculty advisor is Mrs. MacDonald, in the Learning Commons. Sincerely, Sheila Rose Johnson |
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December 20, 2015
ATL Skills: Communication, Social, Self Management, Thinking Today I met with Emma so we could build our library. I told her about some left over wood from an old project of mine, and we agreed to go and check it out. After looking at the wood, we agreed that not alot of it was usable, but among the pile, we found one piece that would be wonderful for our library's post. After taking some of that wood back to Emma's house, we decided to make a list of the rest of the materials needed for building. On our list we had: 1. Caulk 2. Plexiglass 3. Wood glue 4. Half sheet of 5/8 exterior plywood 5. Wood for door frame 6. Hinges and latch for door 7. Nails |
We got most of the idems and measurments for our wood off of http://www.instructables.com/id/Little-Free-Library/, which is a link I explained in my last process journal entry.
Once we had our list competed, we had some time before we had to go to the store. We used this time to work on Weebly. I taught Emma the basics and she is now able to add things to our webite.
List in hand, we drove to Lowe's in seach of our materials. In the store, we found the nails, caulk, wood glue and the latch and hinges for the door without any assitance from the staff. It was then time to find plexiglass and the wood we needed. After browsing for a few minutes, we realized that we couldn't find exactly what we were looking for alone. We walked to the front of the store and asked for help. A man named Marvin introduced himself and inquired how he could be of assistance. We told him about our Community Project and what we wanted to build. Emma gave him the blueprints that we had and he guided us to the plexiglass aisle. I asked Marvin if I could take some pictures of him for documentation and he replied yes. I took some pictures of him while he cut some plexiglass for us. Marvin was extreamly helpful. He found and cut us the pefect size of plexiglass that we needed for our free library. Marvin also helped us in our seach for our ideal wood. He told us about all of our options and we found one that we liked the best. He then cut the lumber exactly to our dimensions on the blueprint and showed us the selections of wood to frame the door. Once we had collected all the items from our list, Marvin asked us about our project. We told him that it was a Lawton Chiles Middle Academy project and he told us that his own daughter used to go to LCMA too! Marvin was so generous that he gave us 25% off on our total cost. We thank him for his kindness.
After check-out we drove back to Emma's house. Emma and I set out all of our materials and planned how to begin building. We nailed the back and one of the sides to the bottom, we also helped Emma's father hold down wood as he cut out the space for the plexiglass. Once we had assembled all we had planned to assemble that day we decided to paint the interior of what we already completed. The paint we chose is called "Watery". Emma and I painted the interior, then washed off our paintbrushes and left the wet paint to dry. That day we only completed a small percent of our library. I'm going on a family Christmas vacation in Massachsetts this week, so Emma has the library all to herself while I'm away. I'll be back on January 2nd. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)
Once we had our list competed, we had some time before we had to go to the store. We used this time to work on Weebly. I taught Emma the basics and she is now able to add things to our webite.
List in hand, we drove to Lowe's in seach of our materials. In the store, we found the nails, caulk, wood glue and the latch and hinges for the door without any assitance from the staff. It was then time to find plexiglass and the wood we needed. After browsing for a few minutes, we realized that we couldn't find exactly what we were looking for alone. We walked to the front of the store and asked for help. A man named Marvin introduced himself and inquired how he could be of assistance. We told him about our Community Project and what we wanted to build. Emma gave him the blueprints that we had and he guided us to the plexiglass aisle. I asked Marvin if I could take some pictures of him for documentation and he replied yes. I took some pictures of him while he cut some plexiglass for us. Marvin was extreamly helpful. He found and cut us the pefect size of plexiglass that we needed for our free library. Marvin also helped us in our seach for our ideal wood. He told us about all of our options and we found one that we liked the best. He then cut the lumber exactly to our dimensions on the blueprint and showed us the selections of wood to frame the door. Once we had collected all the items from our list, Marvin asked us about our project. We told him that it was a Lawton Chiles Middle Academy project and he told us that his own daughter used to go to LCMA too! Marvin was so generous that he gave us 25% off on our total cost. We thank him for his kindness.
After check-out we drove back to Emma's house. Emma and I set out all of our materials and planned how to begin building. We nailed the back and one of the sides to the bottom, we also helped Emma's father hold down wood as he cut out the space for the plexiglass. Once we had assembled all we had planned to assemble that day we decided to paint the interior of what we already completed. The paint we chose is called "Watery". Emma and I painted the interior, then washed off our paintbrushes and left the wet paint to dry. That day we only completed a small percent of our library. I'm going on a family Christmas vacation in Massachsetts this week, so Emma has the library all to herself while I'm away. I'll be back on January 2nd. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)
Communication- Emma and I met up to build. At the store, getting materials, we met and talked to an employee named Marvin.
Social- We talked to Marvin about our project and learned that he had a daughter that went to LCMA.
Self Management- From our meeting, Emma and I have started building our library.
Thinking- All the measurements(math) we had to consider were extreamly important when buying materials.
Sites
Blueprints and guide-http://littlefreelibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/LFL-Building-Design_6.17.13.pdf
Clear Guide and Instructions-http://www.instructables.com/id/Little-Free-Library/
Social- We talked to Marvin about our project and learned that he had a daughter that went to LCMA.
Self Management- From our meeting, Emma and I have started building our library.
Thinking- All the measurements(math) we had to consider were extreamly important when buying materials.
Sites
Blueprints and guide-http://littlefreelibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/LFL-Building-Design_6.17.13.pdf
Clear Guide and Instructions-http://www.instructables.com/id/Little-Free-Library/
January 22, 2016
ATL Skills: Communication and Self-Managment Winter break ended on January 4th and school returned to session. Since then, Emma and I had a meeting with Mr. Andrews, the principal, to discuss excatly where on school property we will put the library and develop a plan from installing it into the ground. He tells us that he has many resources that we can use for this and is ready to put our library in the ground. We intend to meet next Monday, January 25th, which is a Teacher Work Day at school and install it then. Emma continues to work on the actual construction of the library, I have been unable to help her in this since the library is housed in her home. She has told me that there has been trouble installing the door, which we communicated to both our faculty advisor and the principal. They asked to see the problem for themselves, which is one of the reasons meeting on Monday is so vital to the progress of this project. Yesterday, everyone had an offical meeting with their faculty advisors. Mrs. MacDonald looked at what we currently had of the website and was proud to view the result of what we had worked on so far. I still have to work on most of the "stage" pages, which document what we did in each step of the project, as well as, perpare an informational document that welcomes people who see our library and tell them exactly what it is and how to get involved. We plan on laminating that document and putting it somewhere on or inside the library so that people are less confused. I also must call the city, to insure that before we start digging into the ground, there are not any piplines or dangerous materials. |
Communication- We met with Mr. Andrews and Mrs. MacDonald, expressing our concerns about the library's door issue to both of them, as well as, plan a date to meet and install our library by Lake Wire's shores.
Self- Managments- I've been working with due dates on my mind to get everything ready on time. Website updates, journal entries, welcoming documents, contacting city officials, installing a library, and preporation for future project presentaions are all things I have to look forward to. |
Our welcome DocumentWelcome to Emma and Sheila’s Free Library
Our library, a Lawton Chiles Middle Academy Community Project, was placed here with the goal of giving people of all ages a place where they can find books. Feel free to explore our literary options and take as many books as you like. The Grade 8 Community Project is a major activity for students to complete in year three of the MYP program at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy. The community project focuses on the concept of community and service. It gives students an opportunity to develop an awareness of needs in various communities and address those needs through service learning. As a consolidation of learning, lothe community project engages in a sustained, in-depth inquiry leading to service as action in the community. This project focuses on the Global Context of Fairness and Development, with the hopes of creating a community outlet to knowledge through reading. https://www.lakelandgov.net/water/education/811-before-you-dig- this website helped us learn about our city's "Call Before You Dig" policy |
January 24, 2016
ATL Skills: Communication, Self-Managment, Thinking, Research Today, I met Emma in the morning and we decided to go back to her house to work on the project. She and her father had completed the structure of the library, with only the window/door to install, which her father was already putting together. Emma had already painted the library completly white, but it needed a second coat. We brushed the paint on thickly so that no wood marks could be seen and nicknamed our library the "White House" because of its color. While waiting for the paint to dry, we decided to work on the website. Emma worked on her process journal entries and I worked on our project citations. After waiting a while, we dicided that be needed some kind of color scheme for our library other than just white. Emma already had a blue paint we could use, so I recommended a sandy or peach orange. We went to Lowe's to get the paint and found a marvelous shade of exterior peach. At our return, we painted the sides or the library the peach and the front and back the blue color, leaving the roof completly white. I was a little concerned because the blue and the white looked like almost the same color, and Emma and I did not want that. We also planned on putting some kind of infomational document on the library so that people could know what it was. I had written it the day before, so all I had to do was print it from Emma's computer. We laminated it, but could not glue it onto the library because the paint was still wet. There wasn't much we could do untill the paint dried, so Emma continued to work on her Process Journal and I worked on our project citations. We also realized that we had to notify the city "Call Before You Dig", but it was a Sunday and city services would be closed. We planned to call the next morning. Communication- Emma and I met with each other, we went through many design challenges and listened to each other opinions on what kind of appearance we were aiming for. Self- Management- Together, Emma and I reached many of our goals for the day including: painting the library, laminating the info document, and continuing with website design. Thinking- I had to visualize different color schemes, eventually seeing a peach as the best fit. I also thought about the different ways to word our infomational/welcoming document. Research- Emma and I needed to know more information about the "Call Before You Dig" program, so we found the website with an informational video that was extreamly helpful. |
January 25, 2016
ATL Skills: Self-Managment, Communication, Thinking I spent most of the day with Emma. The first thing we did together was contact the 811 "Call Before You Dig" number. I spoke to a woman on the other side who asked me lots of confusing questions. The phone conection was weak, and it was hard to make out exactly what she was asking me. I told the woman who we were an what we planned on doing. She gave me a ticket and phone number, but I was not sure what they were for. The woman seemed confused by what I was asking for and I'm not sure what to expect from the city. During the night, all of the exterior paint on the outside of our library had dried. Emma and I were relived to find that no longer wet, the blue and white paint were clearly independant colors. That morning, we planned to paint "Emma & Sheila's Free Library" on one of the sides of the roof and paint "We Love Books" on the other side of the roof, next to the informational document that we had glued onto the roof the night before. We did just that. We used acrilic paint to add all of our words. I also decided to paint the sun by our names and vines up the sides wich flowers. |
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During our painting session, we dicided to give Mrs. MacDonald a call to ask her when she wanted us drop out library off at school. Unfortunatly, Mr. Andrews was unable to meet us, but Mrs. MacDonald informed us that she would be expecting us at around 2PM. Until then, I just continued to paint vines up the side. At school, we found Mrs. MacDonald in the Learning Commons. She was kind enough to offer us a cart so that we would not have ro carry our library up to the second floor. We left our project in the backroom and continued to talk to our faculty advisor about what we could expect in the Reflection Phase.
Self-Management: Emma and I moved forward in our plans by finishing our library and delivering in to school. We also contacted the city to notify them that we planned on digging soon.
Communication: I met up with Emma, we chose the colors for the words we were going to paint. I talked to people from the city and both Emma and I talked to Mrs. MacDonald about our plans for the Reflection Phase.
Thinking: Imagining what would work best for the soace we had to work with on the library was challenging, as well as, thinking quickly to answer the questions I was given from the city woman I was on the phone with.
Self-Management: Emma and I moved forward in our plans by finishing our library and delivering in to school. We also contacted the city to notify them that we planned on digging soon.
Communication: I met up with Emma, we chose the colors for the words we were going to paint. I talked to people from the city and both Emma and I talked to Mrs. MacDonald about our plans for the Reflection Phase.
Thinking: Imagining what would work best for the soace we had to work with on the library was challenging, as well as, thinking quickly to answer the questions I was given from the city woman I was on the phone with.
February 2nd, 2016
ATL Skills: Self-Management, Communication, Thinking For a few weeks now our library has remained in Mrs.MacDonald's office. But, while we've been waiting for the official installment, we have done many other things that get us closer to the completion of our community project. The post is now in the ground and can be seen from the back entrance to the main building, which is where I took this picture from. Emma and I are very excited to see the all of our visions take form and become our final LCMA Community Project. While waiting for permission from the city, Emma and I have been updating the website, creating citations and preparing for the Reflection phase. As for contacting the city, we now know that there was some sort of location error in the information that I originally gave. I was given a ticket and a phone number, but it was all very confusing. Mrs.MacDonald told us that we should link the location to the school office, this way, the people who come to label the land will have to come to the office, the office employees can then tell Mrs.MacDonald they are there and she can show them the place we have in mind, instead of them just guessing. Now that the post is up, all we have left of the building phase is to attach the library. |
Self-Management- Emma and I have been working on the finishing touches to our project as well as preparing for the Reflection Phase.
Communication- Mrs. MacDonald and I had to explain to the 811 service that I was canceling my previous order and was starting a new one in which she would be contacted at the workers arrival.
Thinking- I have cancelled my first request to get the city to lay out flags because it would be more difficult for the worker, also for us if the work in done incorrectly.
Communication- Mrs. MacDonald and I had to explain to the 811 service that I was canceling my previous order and was starting a new one in which she would be contacted at the workers arrival.
Thinking- I have cancelled my first request to get the city to lay out flags because it would be more difficult for the worker, also for us if the work in done incorrectly.
February 3th, 2016
ATL Skills: Self-Management, Social, Thinking Today after school, Emma and I went to visit Prinipal Andrews. He has told us that he has many plans to help us attach out library to the post but we need to know when and how he palns on doing this. We waited in the office chairs untill he told us to come in to his office. He told us of his plans to go to the store tonight and buy all of the remaining materials necessary as well as our deadline of Friday, January 5th, which is two days from now. We told him to keep us as updated as possible, as well as, discuss the magnificent job that the post has been doing so far. Principal Andrews insisted |
that we go and take a closer look at it while we had the chance, and because we had only seen the post from the bck stairs into the third building, we could not say no. Emma and I then walked to our libraries location and observed it with more detail and record it with a few pictures.
Self-Management: Emma and I working towards our goal of finally putting our libary up by talking to our principal and making plans for the instalation date in two days.
Social: We talked to Mr. Andrews. I talked about our project and our ideas for it, as well as, Emma's ideas and Mrs. MacDonald's guidence about how we sould put the library up.
Thinking: The installment process takes a lot of thinking about how we plan on making this a reality.
Self-Management: Emma and I working towards our goal of finally putting our libary up by talking to our principal and making plans for the instalation date in two days.
Social: We talked to Mr. Andrews. I talked about our project and our ideas for it, as well as, Emma's ideas and Mrs. MacDonald's guidence about how we sould put the library up.
Thinking: The installment process takes a lot of thinking about how we plan on making this a reality.
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February 5th, 2016
ATL Skills: Self-Management, Thinking, Communication This morning, I went up to the school library to talk to Mrs. MacDonald. She was very excited to inform me that Principal Andrews had installed the library early this morning. I was not expecting it, but it was a relief to know that installing the library was now out of the way. We had to see for ourselves. Right after school we went out to the site and took pictures with the library for documentation, as well as, check on the sturdiness of both the post and the library resting on the post. The structure should be water-proof, but this weekend it should rain and we will find out for sure. I went back up to the library to discuss with Mrs. MacDonald what I thought of the finished poduct and what we have to due for our presentation due on Monday, February 8th. I still have to cite all of the pictures I took and Mrs. MacDonald suggested I get one of them enlarged to show at the Community Fair. After I do that, which I plan to do tomorrow, I have to write my official reflection on this entire project which will take a lot of thinking. Self-Management: I have been working diligently to make this project the best it can be. I've been working on most of the tech, citations, and writing to have lots to talk about durign our presentation. Thinking: I've been imagining the consequeces if it turns out the library is not as water-proof as we think it is and how we will fix it if it isn't. Communication: Our faculty advisor, Mrs. MacDonald, is very helpful when it comes to keeping our project on track. She wanted one of the pictures I took enlarged so that we could have it for the Community Fair. She has good ideas. |
February 6th, 2016
ATL Skills: Self-Management, Thinking, Research Today I mainly focused on updating the website, enlarging a photo I took, and prepping for our presentation on Monday. I needed to find where you could get a photo enlarged. I asked my mother it she knew about the best place to do this and she said we should order online from Walgreens. On the Walgreens website you can order all types of pictures or prints and all you have to do is download it and send it to them. I did this and made arrangements to pick up three 4x6 and two 8x10 copies of the picture of Emma and me hugging in front of the library. After picking those up, I added some process journal entries and and worked on the citations that are due on Monday. I also added a survey "The Bookworm Survey" just for fun. It's just a few questions about what your favorite kind of books are and if you are a "bookworm" like me or Emma. Self-Management: Today I spent the day preparing for our presentation on Monday. Thinking: I had to come up with a way to enlarge the photos. Research: I found a way to enlarge the photos using online ordering with Walgreens. http://photo2.walgreens.com/walgreens/home/- I used this website to find out about enlarging my photo and how to order it. |
Photos used under Creative Commons from nordenmagnus, clint.mason_sa, lensletter