Summer Check Outs and Summer Library Hours!

     My role is all about getting kids to read and keeping them reading. It simply doesn't make sense to close up the library for the summer. All those books sitting and waiting for the children to come back... So sad for the books and the children. Why not do things a little differently? 

I decided to try Summer Check Outs with my students for the first time. 

http://www.demco.com/

I ordered bags from Demco: 









This has been done before by our sister school, Founders Memorial School, as well as other neighboring districts. It was time to try it ourselves.

A letter went home in late May giving families the option of not participating. During the last week of school, each class came to choose their 5 summer books. Each student received a bag for their books, plus a print-out of their checkouts.  

2nd graders with their bags o'books!

But why stop there with summer checkouts?  Why not be open during the summer? Our principal, Peter Farrell, approved my proposal. Letters went home advertising our hours. It was posted on our website, and we used a sandwich board on the roadside to advertise.

       

               

                              

     The school library was open for six weeks on Wednesdays. I choose an early opening time to accommodate parents who might stop by on their way to dropping off their children at camp. Each week we had between 30-40 children and parents stop in, which was pleasantly surprising. I had so much fun! It was a great time to get to know the parents and younger siblings better, talk about summer plans, and even what adult books were being read.

     I think it would be worthwhile to do this again next summer. However, what I would really like to see happen for the community of Essex is the establishment of a book mobile that would bring books right into the hands of children who cannot make it to the public library or our school. 

Welcome Back From All Your Friends!

I have to admit it - I have always loved stuffed animals.  Even now, if I see a really adorable stuffie I might stop to check it out.  It's usually the expression that's the clincher, but sometimes it's the color or the material.   Normally I can resist, except if it happens to be book related.  If the stuffed figure is a book character, I simply can't help myself.  Resistance is futile at that point.

I have been a librarian for many years, so it should be no surprise that I have quite a sizable collection by now.  A favorite thing I love to do at this time of year is to set them all on display in our huge case to welcome back the 400+ children that will stream through those doors in less than a week.  This display is so much fun!  Children and parents love it, spending a long time checking it out.  They recognize many but also discover a few stories they aren't familiar with.  It's a visual literacy of the soft kind!

Here are pictures from last year.  The challenge this year will be how to squeeze in a few more characters.  A trip to Livres Babar on Greene Avenue in Montreal this summer yielded a large Gruffalo (Julia Donaldson) and a small Wodney Wat (Helen Lester).  I will start work on it tomorrow.  I can't wait to get out all those old friends.  Bring on the stuffies!

Please don't let the pigeon drive that bus!

QR Codes and Authors' Websites

First and second graders use the ipads to explore how QR codes work.  Various QR codes were randomly placed around the Learning Center.  

Each code led to a website, most of which were popular authors' websites as well as the library's homepage and this blog. 

Students worked in teams of two and took turns scanning the codes with the app Qrafter, and were able to explore the websites.  Mary Pope Osborne of the Magic Tree House has a terrific website for children. 

Other authors' websites in this scavenger hunt were those of Daniel Kirk, author of the Library Mouse series; Ron Roy of the A to Z Mysteries; Victoria Kann of Pinkalicious fame; Charlie and Lola's author Lauren Child, Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey, Tedd Arnold aka Fly Guy, Mo Willems, John Scieszka, and the popular Franny K. Stein, to name a few.

I was very proud of how careful they all were, and how well they worked together!

Campfire in the Learning Center ?!?

     How many of us love sitting around a campfire, gazing into the flames and listening to stories?  There’s a kind of peace that settles over all who sit within its ambiance.  For many it conjures up summer nights when bedtime is far away, crickets and katydids are playing their songs, the marshmallow bag is bottomless, and stars are glittering above.  Everyone becomes a skilled storyteller – there must be some kind of magic in its glow.

     But here in Vermont, in February, summer nights are only wispy pieces of dreams.  And winter is making us all a little cabin-crazy by now.  Our pitiful snowfall was just a tease this year.  So to brighten up our winter blues I had a week of “campfire in the library.”

  This is the third February I’ve held this event and it always generates a lot of amazement.  Children gather around the "fire.".  “Is it real?” some ask.  "How did I make it?" "Is that real wood?"  "Can we touch it?"  "Why am I doing this?"  Yes, the wood is real firewood, and that's the closest it gets to a true campfire.  I have used a string of lights with orange and red bulbs to simulate authentic color. Underneath the firewood pyramid sits a small fan that blows upwards on some strips of colored cellophane that are meant to mimic flickering flames.  I tell the children it's a real pretend campfire.  And with the lights off, it looks pretty close to real.  Real enough that the kids all hold out their hands as if to warm them.  And we have great fun pretending to roast marshmallows!  A great companion book is Kristine O'Connell George's Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems.

 I love to see the children enjoying the unexpected surprise of a campfire inside the school.  They’ve done their book shopping and have returned to the “fire” with their selections.  There they sit with their books and their peers in the warm glow of the fire.  This is what memories are made of; good feelings, happy times, and good friends.  Top it all off with a great book and a campfire!

Taking Care of Our Books @ EES

It’s our fourth week back in session.  The children are thrilled to be back in the Learning Center looking for their favorite books, discovering our new ones, and simply enjoying spending time pouring over their selections.  

Currently we are in the midst of learning about book care.  This is a two week unit that includes the story, MR. WIGGLE’S BOOK by Paula Craig and Carol Thompson, a puppet show entitled “Don’t Monkey Around With Library Books,” and a visit from Dr. Bookster who diagnoses “medical” book symptoms.  Dr. Bookster consults with the students and together they arrive at a diagnosis for each book.  The students see examples of books with chewed corners, scribbles all over, ripped pages, torn off covers, and  wrinkled and/or stuck together pages.  Some of the students are convinced that I, myself, purposely did this to each book so I would have examples for my lesson, but I assure them I would never ever do that.  Each book is a true example of what can and does happen when they fall into the hands (or jaws) of baby brothers or siblings or pets, or seemingly innocent water bottles in backpacks.  

The goal of course, is to have all children learn to be responsible for the books that belong to all of us here at EES.  Ask your child what things they learned about taking good care of books.  You’ll be amazed at how much they know!