Banned Books Week

This week was Banned Books Week in the US.  This was my first year really doing anything to bring attention to it.  I was both impressed and surprised at the great discussions it generated over the course of the week, although I will admit I got a little tired of reassuring kids that the books on the display were NOT in fact BANNED in our library.  It was also a week of lessons on how to say the word Banned rather than "banded" for my younger students :)

 I dedicate the most time discussing the reasoning behind Banned Books Week with my 5th and 6th grade students and we talked through what Intellectual Freedom means for them as students and me as a librarian.  I also gave a short overview of why the display was there to my 3rd and 4th grade students and to reassure them again that these were book available to checkout in the library!

I think aside from bringing attention to the fact that we all have the right to read what we choose, it also opens the doors for talking about things that we often mark at taboo or not something we talk about and that is a good thing, but can also be scary too.  I ensure my students that while the are free to read what they want, and it is my job to ensure the library has a diverse collection of types of life, ways of living, belief systems, etc. they also have the right to stop reading something if it makes them uncomfortable.

I had put together a slide deck that I shared with my amazing colleagues in our district and the final deck shows the power or sharing and collaborating with others!

First Newsletter

It is so important to share what you and your students are doing in the library with parents and stakeholders.  I do this via a Smore newsletter which I try to send out monthly or bimonthly.  I highlight what STUDENTS have been doing in the library.  Not only do I share this with parents, I also share this with my staff, other teacher librarians in my district, my AEA and district administrators including the superintendent. 

Book Jenga

Libraries are meant to be accessible to students, as librarians we all know this.  We want students to be able to find the books they want to read, and we especially want them to gain the skills necessary to be able to locate books and resources independently.

When I moved every single book in the library to a new location over the summer I knew that the returning students who had been used to the "same" library for the past 5 or 6 years were going to be a little bit (or a lot) lost when it came to knowing where things were.

Enter Book Jenga!  I cannot and will not take credit for coming up with amazingly fun and engaging way to review how to search for and locate books in the library.  I came across this idea on The Future Ready Librarians Facebook page in a post from TL Jenna Reeh.  I saved it for later and when I visited her amazing blog Lens into the Library  I knew I had to give it a go!

I ended up modifying it a bit and creating my own Google forms that the students used to pull up the books they would be searching for.  Like Ms. Reeh, I created different color coded forms with different books in each one, so the groups were all looking for different books during the game.  Setting up the first form took the most time, but after that you simply change the names of the form sections to the book titles of your choosing and voila!

FORM SETUP
Here is the link to the form template for this game.  It will force you to make a copy and then you can edit the first one to include book titles from your collection and make copies for however many groups you would like to have.  I changed the theme to match the team color as well.  In the screencast below you can see how you only need to go through and change the sections names starting at section two and it will automatically change the "go to section # (Book Title)" to the book title you enter.

I found it easiest to walk around the library and make a list of books I wanted to include from a variety of sections my 5th and 6th graders would typically access, then I just crossed them off as I added them to the forms. Also only use HARDBACK books!

I made the forms accessible to students using Symbaloo to create color coded squares for each one.  This is made it really easy to access and students knew exactly which one to click on.

GAME SETUP
You will need enough Jenga sets for each team to have their own game.  You can definitely find these at second hand stores or ask around for people with sets they no longer use.  I ended up buying mine because I was in a bit of a hurry and no one responded to my plea on Facebook, they run around $10 a game. Rather than writing directly on the block I used round sticker labels to label 15 random blocks with numbers 1-15.

You will need need 1 or 2 laptops or devices for students to access the forms and search for books in the catalog.  I am in an elementary setting and I only have 27 minutes with students each week so I used 2 Chromebooks for each team and I had them logged in to the form Symbaloo page and the catalog to cut down on setup time so they could get to the game as quickly as possible.

GAME ROLES & HOW TO PLAY
This slide deck goes through the game roles which also help students understand how the game works as you go through each job.  Students should rotate through jobs after each book is added to the tower.

Hints
I made it clear that students could use 2 hands when pulling blocks and if needed they could return blank blocks to the stack to stabilize it. If the Jenga tower falls early on it is pretty much game over at that point or they have to re-stack, so I altered the standard Jenga rules for this game!

You will also notice on the Search Party slide that if they see that the book is OUT in the catalog, they should still write down the call number and go to where that book would be located and choose a HARD BACK book next to their books shelf location.




Basic Gist of the Game

1. Pull out blocks until you find a numbered one
2. Enter the number into the form and click Next
3. Note the title of the book
4. Search for the book title and write down the call number
5. The search team locates the book using the title and call number
6. The book is brought back and added to the tower

Hint

I did have to give students a hint of how to stack them by standing one up and the laying one flat on top of it and so on.  It's not supposed to be a pile, it's a Book Tower and the taller the better!

My students absolutely LOVED this game and I had 100% engagement in all of my 5th & 6th grade classes!  I was impressed by how well they worked together and each team came up with different strategies for how they wanted to approach the game.  I plan to do this again later in the year with my 3rd and 4th graders once we spend more time in Destiny Discover since this is the first year they are using this version of our catalog.

Please let me know if you have any questions on this game! The setup does require some time and effort on your part but I promise the results are totally worth it! #KidsDeserveIt

Advocating to Teachers

As I mentioned this is my first year in my current building.  I knew I was bringing a different perspective and approach to the table so I wanted to make sure my new coworkers knew my vision and philosophy along with ways I could support them.  I also included my expectations for the students when they were in the library so we could all be on the same page!

Kindness Week

This week was Kindness Week at my school and it was planned and implemented by a 5th/6th grade Girl Scout Troop!  They planned the entire week which included classroom presentations tailored to different grade levels, making signs to hang all over the building, some sidewalk chalk love for all to see and even breakfast for the teachers!  They talked a lot about how to fill other people's buckets and had a competition among grade levels to see who could fill up their classroom bucket with acts of kindness!

To top it all off they donated ALL of the books the used in their classroom presentations to the library! The future is bright with student's like these in the world!

Library Orientation

As mentioned in a previous post this is my first year at a new school, but my 10th year as a librarian.  I spent the summer changing my new library into a completely different space.  I enlisted the help my dear friend and fellow librarian Tricia and we got to work! We reworked the space, moving shelves and tables, weeding books and moving EVERY single book in the library to a new location...sometimes more than once and with some very unfriendly book carts I might add!

As the beginning of the year approached I knew all these changes and also my way of doing things in the library was going to give my students a lot to take in when they came to the library for the first time.  I wanted my students to know from day one what they could expect from me, what I expected from them and also what to expect from the library overall.

I created this Slide Deck to share with students at the beginning of the year.  Of course my mini me had to make an appearance! If you aren't using Bitmoji in your library  you need to start NOW!

This is obviously specific to my library and my way of doing things.  As mentioned some things are subject to change throughout the year based on what is working or not working for my students. If there is time we may play a four corners type of game called Sections of the Library, which the kids love and it get them moving!

I want to know how you orient your students to the library?

Follow Your Path...

This is my 10th year as an elementary school Teacher Librarian! I can't even believe it's been TEN years! At the end of the last year I decided to take a leap and make a change, switching to a different school in my district.

This was a huge decision for me.  I had been at my previous school for eight of the nine years I had been a TL and I definitely called Kirkwood my home away. The staff played an integral part in shaping the educator that I am today (cheesy, I know but 100% true). Long story, short it was going to be hard to leave.

Well, an opportunity presented itself that just seemed like it was meant to be.  After getting the job at my new school, Garner Elementary I just knew I was making the right decision.  It felt as if this job had been waiting for me.  I knew it was going to be a new challenge, but one that I was ready for, and one that I needed. 

Now the school year has started and things are a bit crazy and hectic and all new, but I feel refreshed and renewed with my practice, I feel like I am headed into one of the best years yet and I can't wait to see what this year brings!