As School Library Month now comes to an end, I would like to reflect on ways that school libraries make an impact on students. This year's theme was Making Connections, so lets talk about all the connections that happen in a school library.
Making Learner Connections
This is probably the connection made most often in my library. Students constantly come into the library specifically looking for a book recommendation. Several students have found their favorite book by just chatting with me about books. I love this part of my job!
This past month, I held a 'book tasting' with the fifth grade students to encourage them to read more genres. At each table, I had a different set of books that were a certain genre. Tables had scary, historical fiction, realistic fiction, literary nonfiction, free verse novels, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. The activity went over very well, and it sparked some interest in kids that had not really read a book in a while.
Also, to celebrate both School Library Month and National Poetry Month, I put a reading challenge in Biblionasium for students to read 3 or more books of poetry. I had a few students tell me they had never really read poetry before except when doing STAAR passages, but they had really enjoyed reading the poems for fun. Makes this librarian heart happy!
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| Look at these smiles! All because they shared their poem with me. |
Making Educator Connections
Educator connections is my passion, and I love to talk about connecting with teachers. I believe this is one of the biggest impacts we can make on our campus. While I make connections throughout the whole school year, this month in particular I made a point to reach out to more teachers to collaborate with. I was able to pull my first grade teachers in for note taking and research lessons. I also sent out several Smore newsletters this month highlighting different activities we could to together with a collaborative partnership.
Making Community Connections
Community connections happen all school year at my school. This year we have hosted a school wide Read-A-Thon, a book drive for schools in the Houston area impacted by Hurricane Harvey, and a family reading night just to name a few. During the month of April, my favorite community connection was made during kinder and first grades lunch. Some of the parents were asking me about books for their students. During our conversation, I invited them down to the library to check out a few books to read with their students that week. They were extremely grateful!
My absolute favorite activity that connects the community is our annual Book Swap! It takes place closer to the end of the school year, but it is an event where students find gently used books at home they don't read anymore and bring it to swap for a "new to them" book. Parents in our community bring me boxes of donated books for our students. Last year, I received enough donated books that EVERY student, whether they brought a swap book or not, was able to choose a book to take home. It was AMAZING!! I even had a designated place in the library where parents and teachers were able to swap their books.
Making Global Connections
Throughout the school year, we had several global connections. With 3rd grade, the teacher and I conducted a book tasting focusing on books that take place in another country, or have a character from another country. With 4th grade, our biggest connection was with a meteorologist to talk about forecasting the weather.
Most recently, we had an author come to visit our school and speak to every grade level. Ellen Leventhal did an amazing job of speaking to our kids about using your imagination, being creative, and writing down all those ideas.
Another connection made was a second grade student came to me about a book series that he had been reading by Doreen Cronin. He wanted to know how he could ask her a question. So, together, we wrote a letter and I emailed it to her. We are crossing our fingers that we hear back from her very soon!!!
Throughout this month, I really learned a lot by looking over the
AASL website where I got a huge variety of ideas for my campus. Making connections is important not just during the month of April but all year long! Some yearlong ideas would be:
- Dot Day
- Global Read Aloud
- Book Clubs
- Family Reading Nights
- Book Fairs
- Book Swaps
- MakerSpace with a Cause
I also learned a lot and made many connections at TLA in Dallas this year. I met some amazing authors and other amazing librarians. Attending conferences, such as TLA, helps build our Professional Learning Network and makes us better in our profession.
What connections have you made recently to impact your school? I want to hear your ideas.
