Tuesday, May 9, 2023

April Recap from the Library

 I know it's already May and I'm just doing a recap of April, but this year has been a little extra crazy! I have not been doing a great job at keeping up with my blog this year. 

Poetry 

We started the month with a poetry breakout. Our students here love ❤️ the Breakout boxes! They love the digital ones but they extra love getting to solve and open the physical boxes and locks. For this breakout, they worked in teams using clues with different types of poems, poetic devices, and figurative language. It was lots of fun and a good end of unit review for the 7th grade classes. 




Later in the month, some of the 7th grade classes came back to the library to create Blackout Poetry with discarded book pages. I was amazed at their creative creations!! 




Text Evidence


I was chatting with a 6th grade English teacher who brought up that her students needed some more practice with Text Evidence and writing SRQs for the STAAR test. I suggested we come up with a fun game or stations, and we ended up with a Scoot game where they went to different tables to read a short passage. They had to use the passage to answer questions and write an SRQ stating text evidence to answer questions. It was helpful to hold this scoot game in the library because there is more room to move around than in a middle school classroom. 



Historical Fiction

One of my favorite units that I get to collaborate with 8th grade teachers on is the historical fiction unit. It is one of my favorite genres, so it is really easy for me to book talk. We discuss what makes a book historical fiction, I do a few book talks, then students browse the tables where I have the books set out by time period. 

Every year I realize I need to purchase more books in other time periods besides holocaust. Do you every realize how many middle grade and YA historical fiction books are set in WW II and discuss the holocaust. I need some authors to write about some other time eras so I can up my collection. 



After choosing their book, students will read with historical lense, research the setting and time to determine if it is historically accurate, then present their findings. 

6th grade research 


Our school campus has recently been moving toward becoming an IB MYP school. Part of the requirement is to have a cross curricular unit in each grade level. Students have a summative assessment and must present their projects. The best part of IB is that the librarian is very involved! 

6th grade's unit has taken place all year long beginning with a grade level read and participating in the Global Read Aloud. 6th grade read the book THIRST which fit in perfectly with their unit over Water. Students were able to research the water crisis in Mumbai while reading the book. The second semester, English classes read the book LONG WALK TO WATER, which is set in another country, but again about water shortages. 

For the summative assessment, students must research a developing country, determine the challenge that country faces, and use the UN Sustainable Development Goals to find a solution. Students will create a video, comic strip, or poster to present their findings. 

I put together the directions, rubrics, and resources for them to use in a Wakelet. Each class came to the library for a review on how to use the resources and how to cite their sources. Students started their research with me and took Cornell Notes over their chosen developing country. 

















Saturday, March 18, 2023

Favorite Middle Grade / YA Books of 2022

 


I read over 70 books in 2022, and there were a lot of good ones. Here are my favorite YA books I read during the 2022 year. 

Ground Zero by Alan Gratz 


Alan Gratz has done it again you guys! This book is amazing, and I purchased two copies for my middle school library.  In typical Alan Gratz style, the story is told in two perspectives.

Brandon is visiting his dad at work when the planes hit the two towers. They are both trapped inside, but on different floors. In present-day Afghanistan, Reshmina has grown up with her country in war, but dreams of peace. She finds a wounded soldier and puts her entire family in danger.  

This book is an emotional look at the events of both 9/11 and living in Afghanistan in 2019.  Alan Gratz always does an amazing job of tying the stories of characters together and this book does not disappoint. 

A must read for ages middle grade up to adults. 




The Companion by Katie Alender 

I don't usually like horror books, but I could not resist the cover of this book. I have a lot of students that love psychological thrillers, so I decided to try a few so that I could be more confident with readers advisory when it came to this genre. 

Margo is an orphan who has been told her whole life that she is lucky to have survived the accident that killed the rest of her family. Then, the Sutton family comes to the orphanage and asks Margot to come live with them to be their ill daughter's companion, Agatha, who doesn't speak. At first, Margot thinks that watching after the mysterious Agatha and hanging out with the handsome older brother is much better than the orphanage. But then, she starts seeing things, and the house is playing tricks with her mind. Are things what they really seem? Margot starts questioning everything about the Sutton family. 

The Last Cuentista 

I cannot say enough about this book!! First off, THAT COVER : it is amazingly beautiful. 

Very much deserved winner of the Newbery award, this science fiction / dystopian novel is an enchanting and impactful story. Petra wants to be a storyteller, just like her abuelita. But earth has been hit by a meteor, and her scientist parents have been chosen to take their family to another planet to carry on the human race. Petra must leave her abuelita behind. 

Hundreds of years later, Petra awakes and discovers she is the only person that still remembers Earth. A group that calls themself The Collective has wiped the memories of all the humans aboard the ship, a mission of wiping out all of humanity's sins. Petra gets her chance to be the storyteller, and hopefully can save the stories of Earth and hopefully continue the stories into the future. 

Starfish 

In this novel in verse, Ellie has been fat-shamed and bullied all her life. Her safe place is the pool, floating, weightless. Her best friend has moved away, but then a new girl moves in next door who befriends Ellie. With her new friend and through her therapist, Ellie learns to stand up for herself and love herself as she is. 

This is a story everyone should read! Every middle school library should have this book. 

I love the theme of the book, standing up for yourself and your right to take up space in the world. 


Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame 

Set in 1857, Meera has her future planned out for her, including who she will marry. The night before her 13th birthday, as she prepares to move in with her husband, British soldiers destroy a village in Delhi. In the attack, Meera's husband is killed. Following an old religious tradition, Meera's father insists she ends her life by throwing herself onto her husband's funeral pyre. Meera escapes her family, running away. Her newfound freedom is short as she is captured by a British commander and forced to be a servant for his wife. While working for the commander's family, she finds out some secrets that will bring down the army. Will she face the fire and write her own destiny? 

This is a part of history you don't see often in middle grade historical fiction. Very eye-opening about the British colonization of middle east. I highly recommend this beautiful story about strong young women who make their own destiny.

Queen of Ruin 


This one is actually the second book in a duology about girl power and sisterhood. Naomi and Serina are attempting to lead the women of Mount Ruin to freedom after being banished there by the evil Asa. Both sisters grow stronger in the book and truly find their inner strength. 

The best thing about this book are the characters. The author not only does an amazing job with the main characters, but all the side characters, the women of Mount Ruin, are important to the story. 

This duology, Grace & Fury, is a must have for middle grade libraries with fans of fantasy. 

Thirst

A MUST read for every school. The perfect example of a book described as a "window": this book allows us to see the realities of the water crisis in other parts of the world. 

Minni lives in the poorest aread of Mumbai where access to water is limited, and even the water they have access to must be boiled to be safe. Minni's brother witnesses a water theft, and from fear of the water gang is sent to the country to live safely. Then her mom falls ill, so Minni must take over her mom's maid job. Minni sees how the rich live, with water flowing from a faucet and not having to carry it in buckets to their home. She also discovers that the man owning the home where she works is the water mafia boss. Does she expose him and risk her job and maybe her life?

Part of the Global Read Aloud, this book is an important read. We often don't pay attention to what goes on in other parts of the world, but seeing the reality of the water crisis is important for students to see. 

Shape of Thunder 

THE SHAPE OF THUNDER by Jasmine Warga is one of our Lone Star list books for 2022. I am pleased with the book, and think my 6th graders will love it. The time travel concept was a little off, but not too weird. That's why I think this book will be more for my younger readers. I think my older readers will have a hard time believing that these two girls really believe that they can find a wormhole and travel back in time.


Other than the time travel concept, the characters are done really well! I wish a little more info had been given about Cora's mom. The relationship between the two girls and how it ties into the school shooting is written very well.

Highly recommend for 5th - 7th graders, but be sure they understand the school shooting concept and can handle reading about death and grief.

Blackbird Girls 

A powerful historical fiction set in 1986 in Ukraine about Chernobyl. Told in alternating perspectives of Oksana and Valentina, two enemies who find themselves teaming up together to find their fathers who worked in the factory. After the explosion, families are evacuated to but the families are separated. The girls end up with Valentina's grandmother, who lived through dangers of being a Jew in 1941. 
 
This story is beautifully written and about an event that isn't often written about in historical fiction. The characters learn to be resilient, have hope, and who they can truly trust. This is an emotional book that readers of historical fiction will devour. 

Alone 

This book was unique: survival story, dysptopian, and novel in verse. Three things you don't usually see put together.

I really enjoyed this story of survival and the author's writing is beautiful. Being a novel in verse makes it a faster read, but the poetic devices the author uses builds the story and setting.

The biggest mark down, and which I almost even gave it 3 instead of 4, is that the conflict is not built up or even well explained. There has been an emergency evacuation of the entire western side of the US, but no reason is given. Is this taking place in the future, has a different government taken over? More explanation is really needed.

Some have marked this as a children's book, it is absolutely not. 6th or 7th grade and up only. I would not have this for 4th/5th graders due to a descriptive animal cruelty scene, among other details.

Rivals 

Americans Royals book number 3!!! I love this series so much, and I have had great conversations with my students about this series. There was a 7th grade male student my first year as a middle school librarian that introduced me to this series; he loved reading romance books. We had our own little lunch time book club where we would discuss this book. I wish I knew what school he was at now so we could discuss the second and third book in the series. 

If you haven't read this series, and you like YA, go get this series now. It takes place in an alternate reality where George Washington became king instead of president. Now the Washington family are the royals of the USA, and Beatrice will be the first female queen. 

In the third book, Beatrice is now queen and rivalry is in the air. Betrayal, love, friendships, and enemies are all part of this exciting book. 

Gallant 

Olivia has grown up in an orphanage, but then receives a letter to come home to a family she has never known existed. She arrives at Gallant and immediately knows something is off. Her cousin wants her to leave and she begins seeing ghouls. Olivia sets out to solve the mystery of Gallant. 

This horror/gothic was very emotional at the end, even though the beginning was slow moving. I'm not usually a fan of horror, but this one was exciting and left me turning pages. Highly recommend for middle school and high school libraries where horror and fantasy are popular. I would rate this 7th grade and up. 





 



Thursday, February 16, 2023

How to Set up Speed Dating with a Book

Speed Dating with Books

Speed Dating with Books is one of my favorite activities! I did this in elementary school as well, but we called it Book Tasting. Whichever you want to call it, it is simple to set up. 


Gather the books 

I sort my tables by genre, so I start pulling about 10 - 15 books from each genre. I start by putting them on a cart. I try to gather popular titles, but also less loved books in hopes that they find a reader. 

Make table signs

If you are going to divide the tables by genre, you can make genre signs for the table. Mine are simple and just have the genre listed along with a clip art image. You can use my images, or use them as an idea to create your own. I suggest using Canvas to make the signs. 







Set up the Tables 

You can make this part as simple or extravagant as you'd like. Some people have menus for the students to fill out as they visit the tables and put placemats down. I do things simple and quick. I buy the cheap table cloths at Wal-Mart or Dollar Tree. We always do this activity in February so the theme is Valentines and Romance. I purchased some inexpensive decorations and put them in the middle of the tables.  

Next, the table signs are placed on the tables. And then I put the books in a circle around the table centerpiece. 

Most importantly, I put together a playlist songs for the event. I like to play Oldie Love Songs. The favorites from teachers and students have been:
  •  Can't Take my Eyes off You by Frankie Valli 
  • God Only Knows by The Beach Boys 
  • Be My Baby by The Ronettes 
  • My Girl by The Temptations 
  • One Fine Day by The Chiffons 
  • Earth Angel by The Penguins 
  • These Arms of Mine by Otis Redding 
  • Close to You by The Carpenters
  • And I Love Her by The Beatles
  • Sugar, Sugar by The Archies 
  • Happy Together by The Turtles
  • Don't Worry Baby by The Beach Boys 
Amazon has an already put together playlist of Oldies Love Songs if you have Amazon Music.

The Big Event

The students always get so excited when they enter the library and see the tables all decorated. I have them choose a table, limiting how many people can be at each table. I have these instructions on the big screen. 
  • Choose a table. 
  • When time starts, look through the books, but not reading yet. Be sure to not leave out any books at the table. 
  • You will have about 3 - 4 mintues. Pick up a book that looks interesting. Read the summary on the book jacket or back. Read the first page. You have a short amount of time to get to know your book. 
  • If you like your book "date", keep it with you. You are still going to explore the books at other tables. 
  • If you decide later during the activity that you don't want that book "date", place it back on the table where you found it. 
  • When the music stops, switch tables, and REPEAT!  


Even the teachers participate in the Book Speed Dating and usually find a book to check out. 

Benefits

No matter if you call this Book Tasting or Speed Dating with a book, or how much or little you decorate the tables, there are huge benefits. 
  • You can do this activity with all grade levels, from elementary to high school. 
  • Students are exposed to different genres that they may not typically read. 
  • It is a great way to get books that don't get much love, but that you know are amazing, checked out and read. 
  • Students are engaged and get exciting about reading!! 
Do you have any tips for conducting book tastings or speed dating with books in libraries? I would love to hear from you! 

 

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

January Recap

 
I know it is the 2nd week of February, but I'm still playing catch up on the ice storm and days off we had last week. I was at the TCEA conference, and was planning to come home on Wednesday, but the weather had different plans for me. I was not able to come home until Thursday afternoon, and school was cancelled due to ice on Friday. School was closed for 4 days! In Texas we don't get ice very often, but when we do it is dangerous ice. 

Favorite book of 2022

Let's go back to the beginning of January. I love to assess my year in books for the previous year the first week of January. In 2022 I read 66 books, and had set a goal of 60. I went over my goal this year. I do not count the picture books I read, only chapter and professional books. 

My favorite middle grade/YA book from 2022 was THE LAST CUENTISTA by Donna Barba Higuera. This book also won the Newbery Award for 2022. It is a dystopian / Science Fiction book, and is absolutely beautiful! A must purchase for the school library collection. 


Professional Development Days 

I love professional development days! It gives me a day before the students come back to process my thoughts. But the best thing about PD is that I'm with my people! All the district librarians were together for this day, so I even got to see my former elementary peeps. It was a great day of learning - we looked at STAAR 2.0 questions and how we can support the teachers in the library with the new test format. Then the afternoon, we did a quick book study of HACKING SCHOOL LIBRARIES by Kristina Holzweiss and Stony Evans. It is a must read for new and seasoned school librarians. 



Fun in the Library


This month was short due to trainings I had to attend and the library being closed for CBE testing. However, I was still able to see most of the English classes, plus schedule "Book Blasts" for the reading classes. 

8th grade has started a unit over persuasive writing, so I showed that all the amazing things in our Gale Opposing Viewpoints database. We discussed how to build a better argument by looking at both sides of an issue. Then we explored some of the issues in the database. 

6th grade had a BLAST coding with our favorite robot, Ozobot. I found an Ozobot activity that ties in with Lunar New Year. We first talked about the holiday, then I told them about the tradition in China where the adults give the children red envelopes with coins. So, their challenge was to code Ozobot to go around the path to collect the red envelopes from the family members. It was so much fun watching the different ways the students coded the robots. 


January Statistics 

I was surprised at my statistics this month, being closed 3 days for testing, and gone for training a few days. The library was open when I was gone for training, but not as many students come in if they know I'm gone. 

Even so, we had 1,314 books circulated through our library. My student aides were super busy this month shelving. Plus we are trying to keep up with the dynamic shelving. It definitely increases circulation, but you are almost constantly replacing the books on display. 

My goal is to advertise eBooks more often - they don't get checked out as often as I'd like. 

How was your January?





















Building Arguments with 8th Grade

 8th grade will be starting the Persuasive writing unit soon, so the teachers approached me about reviewing the databases the students will be using. I decided to use Gale Opposing Viewpoints to practice building an argument. 

First, we did a quick review over how to use the database, what was included, and how they can find and cite their information. 

To model looking at both sides of an issue to build their argument, we looked up the issue Fast Fashion. I asked the question why we need to look at both sides in order to build an effective argument. It took every class a little bit to get to the reason, but we did get there. I needed the students to understand that when we are writing a persuasive article, we are not trying to persuade peope that already think the same way we do, we are persuading people that think differently. If we look at their side of the issue and the reasons they think the way they do, we can build better arguments. 


Group work 

The next step after modeling is to get in groups to look up their issue. For time sake, since I only have the classes for 45 minutes, I assigned each group a topic in Opposing Viewpoints. I also assigned them a slide number so they knew which slide to work on. 

Students recieved an editable version of the google slide. *I made a copy of this for each class coming to the library.* On their slide, they write the two sides of the issue giving the two strongest arguments for each. Then, after reading both sides of the issue, students write their opinion stating reasons and support from the articles. 






Conversations 

This activity sparked some really good conversations about hearing both sides. Several of the students mentioned that they had never thought of certain issues in this way after reading the opposite side of what they believed. 

Feel free to grab the template to do this activity with your students. 



Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Freedom to Read Stations

 The month of September I like to celebrate Banned Books Week. I feel like this year was more important that ever with the amount of book challenges we have seen in our state. Thankfully, we have a district that follows policy and has a committee decide instead of just pulling books. 

I wanted the students to understand what was going on with the book challenges. Most of the time, this encourages them to read. When they find out adults are trying to take books away, they want to read them. You would think adults would figure that out by now. 

Banned Books Week Stations 

I found stations on Twitter that @Mrs_Bongi had created. I took hers and changed them up to fit my students and time restraints. She had 6 stations, but since I only see the classes for 45 minutes, I knew I wouldn't be able to do all 6. 

Station 1

At station 1, students looked at the Pros and Cons of books being challenged. I explained that no matter the issue, and no matter our opinion, we should always have an open mind and hear the other side. You probably won't change your mind, but at least you looked at both sides. 

I copied an article from our Gale Opposing Viewpoints database in TexQuest. Students read the article, then formed their own opinions. 


Station 2 

For station 2 I created ten cards with book summaries. Eight of the books had been challenged, and two had not been challenged. The students' task was to decide which two had not been challenged. They were surprised to find out some of the books that had been challenged and the reasons. 






Station 3 

At station 3 students had a choice between two articles: Police protests two novels on summer reading list and Texas banned more books than any other state. 

After reading their choice of article, they were to write their reactions on post-it notes and stick to the poster. 


Banned Books Week Stations by Joni Harris



Our Banned Books Weeks display



FREADOM bulletin board outside the library. 

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Citations and Curation

The past two weeks have been fun, seeing all of 7th grade and all of 8th grade English classes. Collaborating with the teachers is a favorite part of my job! 


Digital Book Portfolios  

The eighth grade teachers asked me to help them come up with a place where the students can write about what they are reading this school year. So, we came up with digital book portfolios using a Google Site. 

The main goal when they visited the library was to set up the Google Site and learn how to write a good book review. The students spent about 10 miintues setting up their site, exploring the themes and fonts, and choosing background photos. They also spent a little time coming up with a title: some were simple titles and others were really creative. One student name her site Book-Tacular! 

Next, we learned what to include in a good book review. 






Coming up with creative titles for their book portfolio sites. 


Citations 

The 7th grade English teachers asked me to teach citations because they will be doing research this year. A requirement is MLA citation page. I didn't want to just teach them to go to Citation Machine or another site that creates it for them, but instead I want them to start to understand the format 

I did tell them they won't memorize this format until using it a lot, and that I still have to look up using MLA citations sometimes when I cite my sources. 

We first talked about the importance of citing our sources and why we do so. Most of them said plagiarism, and a couple said so we don't go to jail. We talked about the reality of the consequences, especially how it can affect you in your higher education. We then looked at 4 types of citations: book, magazine, website, and online database. 


I wanted to make the practice fun, so I decided we would use manipulatives. I created citations for the four types that we discussed that day. I then cut up the citations and put them in bags. Each group had a set, and they were color coded so they knew which parts went together. 

The students' challenge was to put the citations back in order correctly within their groups. I think it went well. Even though they didn't have it memorized, they now have a better understanding of citations and sources to look at when they have to create their works cited page. 


National Dog Day

While my dog doesn't visit my school library, I can't leave her out on National Dog Day. This is our cutie, Bellatrix. She is a silky wire haired miniature dachshund, and spoiled rotten by every member of our family. And  YES, she is a slytherin.