Back to School

The first week of school is done! Anyone else take two naps a day this weekend to celebrate being back to work and school this week? Between early wake ups to work out before school, trying to get my bladder back on schedule, and remembering to pack my lunch again, my brain is fried after the past week. In our school library, we start class orientations and student book checkout on Monday. I’m ready for students to start checking out, and I’m excited for our students to see changes we made in our library after inventory last school year. 

At the end of last school year, we taped off all genres in our chapter book section to match their genre stickers. Hopefully this will make finding specific genres of chapter books easier for students. Additionally, we created an early reader chapter book section in our picture book area. We wanted students to be able to easily find those beginning chapter books in one area. Stay tuned for how our students like the changes! 

What are you looking forward to in your classroom or library this year?

Renewing Your Spark: GLMA SI 2023

Last week I had the amazing chance to attend the Georgia Library Media Association’s (GLMA’s) summer institute. This professional development opportunity filled my library bucket and allowed me to re-think some ideas in my own media program. Some of the ideas and sessions were items that have been on my own library to-do list for too long! Isn’t it funny how we hear an idea from someone else that is seemingly so simple and we think, “wow! I can definitely do that in my space!” Below are some of the takeaways I hope to use or build upon in the upcoming school year. I picked three ideas that I feel I can either add to our media program or use to enhance programming that already exists. Some of these are just enhancements to library programs or promotions we already do, and some may turn into even bigger projects! A huge thank you to all the presenters at the summer institute that inspired and shared these great ideas!

-Graphic novel signage/contest: Re-doing the signage for the graphic novel section is on my to-do list for this year, but I loved the idea of having the students submit ideas for the labels and signage. This would give them so much more ownership over this section in our media program! 

-Student ambassadors: Again this is something that has been on my list for awhile now. I usually have middle school students who are teacher’s kids hang out in the learning commons in the morning and help. However, I would love for fifth grade students to help in the mornings assist students, work in the makerspace with students as needed, or deliver items to teachers. Thankfully a fellow media specialist shared her application with me too, so I can work to tweak that before school starts. 

– Physical activities integrated into the story walk/trail walk: We already have story walks posted on the playground, but I think either adding a trail walk or integrating physical activities would be a great collaboration between the media program and our PE program! 

What ideas have you developed this summer or goals you want to work towards for next school year?

Collection Development

What are the best collection development strategies you use or look for each school year? I know this looks different at each level (elementary, middle, and high), but I feel when working to develop an elementary collection there are many factors at play when examining high interest texts for students. Also, within the realm of collection development, we also have digital collection development and what is circulated in print vs. a digital or audio copy. That leads into an entirely different discussion about what to purchase for your digital vs. physical collection.

When considering collection development at the elementary level, I think you have to think about current trends in what our readers are looking for. Pairing chapter books with their graphic novel companions has been a focus recently for our collection as well as filling gaps in popular series we have.

Also, when thinking about middle and high school collection development, how do those strategies differ from elementary school? Do research topics or changes in grade level curriculum impact your collection development?

2023

In the past, I’ve jumped on the #OneWord goal for the new year. However, by the time February rolls around, I’ve usually forgotten my word (ironic since my word for 2022 was focus–spoiler alert: there was no focus). For 2023, there is no word–unless it is coffee, dogs, naps, or netflix. I am just going to tackle whatever the year has in store. I want to plan trips we can now take since we are moving out of the Covid crazy years, snuggling with my pups and enjoying quiet mornings, and taking whatever professional development opportunities and learning comes my way. 

What are you focusing on or prioritizing for the new year? New year, new you? Same you in a new year? 

Wrapping Up My Reading Pile

As we head into the final month of 2022, I started looking back at the books I’ve read this year. Some books had been on my TBR list for awhile, some were random picks at the library, some student recommendations, and others were free kindle books that were sitting there forgotten. Some years I’ve tried to read more nonfiction or focus on a certain author, but this year I’ve kept note of graphic novels (currently 26 for the year) and audiobooks (currently 12 for the year). 

So looking towards 2023 and my lingering reading pile not conquered in 2022, how do you prioritize which books to read or listen to? I feel when I borrow a book from a friend or the library that book should be first up to read. Also, which books do you like to listen to vs. read? I usually listen to lighter, middle grades and young adult lit books instead of reading them. What is your preference?

What are your year end goals for your TBR pile? 

Student Book Clubs

Student book clubs are one of my favorite library programs. I run my student book clubs during lunch for certain grade levels on a specific day of the week. This year I have a third grade and fourth grade book club that meets once a week in the learning commons, and the student groups I have this year are so excited each time we meet. I usually have an intro activity for them to complete as everyone grabs their lunches, and once we have everyone we start our whole group discussion. However, I am struggling this year with selecting texts that the whole group will be excited to read. 

Third grade is starting with an I Survived book, and fourth grade is reading Because of the Rabbit. Unfortunately, I don’t know if the group reading the same text together is most beneficial to this group. In addition to our book club text, I ask them what else they are reading….but should they be reading something else in addition to the book club book? I usually only read one book at a time. Why should I expect them to be reading multiple books at one time? Book club is meant to be fun, no homework, and no memorizing facts but discussing books. 

I think perhaps it is time to reconsider how we run book club groups–or how I run mine at least? Thoughts? If you run book clubs, how do you manage discussions? How do you select the books students will read? 

As a reader, I just like sitting with friends and talking about our favorite books and what we are reading…shouldn’t it be okay for our students to do the same?

Passive Library Programming

Whew! We have almost made it through the first full month of school (for those of us in the south that went back Aug 1st)! I think this year started as the normal August crazy of just trying to get our feet on the ground. We’ve overcome library orientations, book tastings, beginning of the year read alouds, SORA introductions, and laptop distribution. I feel like now we finally get into collaborative teaching and partnerships. Last week I started curating resources for a mini third grade research project, gathering names for book clubs, and brainstorming STEAM bin ideas for the makerspace this year. 

I listened to Amy Hermon’s School Librarians United podcast episode about passive programming (found here) this summer, and I think the idea of embedding our programs in such a seamless way is important for our stakeholders to see all the options we can provide them. So as we move into September, I want to start focusing on passive programming and things that students can participate in as they walk through the learning commons or post to our learning management system. Maybe have them submit online book reviews to me this way? What about challenges in SORA–as a class, read for a day (24 hours)? What are some passive programming ideas you have or ideas that have been successful?

Summer Vibes

Even though teachers are so ready for summer when it comes, I feel like some of my best ideas about the library, lessons, and organization also come during the summer. Teachers have clear (fully caffeinated) brains, so we can finally think straight. My inbox for my school email is full with reminders and notes from myself. My July/August idea/to-do folder grows by leaps and bounds over summer break. 

While I’ve read tons of books for pleasure this summer, I’ve also been able to read teaching and library professional development books and actually take in, process, and reflet the information. Most recently I read Include from the AASL Shared Foundations Series. Usually this would probably take me weeks to read during the school year, which is why it has sat on my nightstand for months. However, I devoured this book in an afternoon in the pool. I had my phone beside me on the pool ledge to constantly add to my notes page and to-do list! 

Do other teachers and school library media specialists find this to be the case in the summer?! Do you feel like your brain can finally breathe and take in new information for your classrooms and programs?  

2022: The Year of Books

I can’t believe we are almost to May! Not only in 2022, but in May of the school year! May always feels like a whirlwind that goes so quickly! Also, looking towards May means we can start looking towards summer! I usually have a stack waiting for me to read during the summer, and while I do have a stack I have been making my way through my TBR pile quickly this year! 

I try to read children’s lit and picture books, children’s chapter books, YAL, and adult books. Yet, this year I feel like YAL has blown it out of the water! The Firekeeper’s Daughter, Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (and the rest of the series!), How We Became Wicked, The Prison Healer (patiently waiting for the second one!), Caraval, Starfish, All Boys Aren’t Bue, and Tokyo Ever After are just a few of some of the great books/series I’ve read this year! 

 I am working on finishing up some of the series, and patiently (or not so patiently) on hold for the next title in a series. So what else do I need to add to my TBR list?? What books could you not put down so far this year?? 

End of School Year Prep

I know we are only in March, but who else starts looking towards the end of the school year as soon as we come back from December break? I start looking at May’s calendar, and I start strategically thinking about all the end of year tasks I need to accomplish between field days, tug of wars, end of year assemblies and parties, yearbook signings, and grade level celebrations. How do you wrap up the end of the year in your media program? Do you have a checklist? At times, I feel like my end of year and July/August checklist intertwine. Whatever I can’t accomplish in May usually ends up on my beginning of the year list for pre-planning. 

Each May I plan for a celebration for my school new’s teams, read shelves and finish up inventory, run end of year reports, weed the collection and discard books as needed, check in equipment from teachers, update my five year plan for our media program based on what we accomplished the previous year, and start planning orientation for the upcoming school year. In addition to the media end of year tasks, we have school-wide procedures and checklists we have to complete, collect technology from teachers who are leaving, and publicize the summer reading programs. 

Fellow media peeps, how do you organize all these tasks? Do you have a strategy that works well for you? Do you have a hard copy of all your tasks or do you keep an electronic copy? Please share all your secrets!