We ❤️ Books in February

 February is one of my favorite months in the library. I could do without the middle school pre-teen dating drama, but there are so many fun activities to do the month of February. 

Speed Dating with Books 

One of our favorite activities is Speed Dating with Books, also known as Book Tasting. Same concept, I just call it speed dating because I do it in February. 

Each table is a different genre, and students rotate around to each table. They have about 3 minutes at each table to browse the books. They can keep the book if they are interested to check out at the end of classtime.  

This is really easy to set up. I cover the tables with pink and red tablecloths, and put a small centerpiece in the middle of the table. The centerpiece isn't necessary, but I found some cute ones at the Dollar Tree. Each table had a sign with the name of the genre and a definition of the genre. The morning of, I set the books out, but have a cart of books set aside to replenish the tables throughout the day. 

During the event, it's fun to play Oldies Love songs to listen to while they browse the books. The students love it, and most of them find a book from the tables that they are excited about. 

Blind Date with a Book 

This one is a little more difficult to set up, but it is worth it! The students get so excited about the mystery! 

I've seen this done up more fancy with actual wrapping paper, but I don't have time for that. So, we just use a brown paper bag and decorate it with markers. One year I used the white paper bags, but this year I couldn't find them. It was just as popular as any other year with just the brown paper bags. 

One the pink label, I put words and phrases that describe the book. This helps the students pick out which one they want. I also print out the barcode label without the title to put on the outside of the bag so it can be checked out. 

After they read the book, students fill out a review and their name is entered into a drawing. 

Monthly Statistics 

New School Year

 ** I forgot to post this back in September, so here it is late. 

Adjusting to a new school year 

Last school year was a huge adjustment with over fifty percent of our students learning from home. This school year, everyone is back at school in person. It was like the first year teaching again in some ways. Adjusting back to lessons in person instead of on a screen, and back to a full house in the library was necessary for all. 

I open up the library every morning before the first class begins. Together, the students and I decided that we needed it to be a quiet space in the mornings. The majority of students coming in were wanting to get away from the loud noises in the cafeteria each morning. Other rooms, such as the band hall and theatre room, were also loud. We discussed it, and it was decided that the library would provide a quiet area. I think it is important that I let the students help me make that decision. 

Banned Books Week

During the last half of September, we celebrated Banned Books Week. This year I teamed up with the 6th grade Social Studies teachers and tied it in with the Nazi Book Burnings. We disussed reasons why Hitler wanted to burn the books and why some people try to ban books from libraries. There were some really good conversations. The the kids are always really surprised to find out that Captain Underpants from their elementary years had been challenged multiple times. 

October

October is one of my favorite months! I like to highlight the scary books that we have, even though it is my least favorite genre. Middle school students just seem to flock to the scary books, and some of my reluctant readers get excited about the scary books. 

With the classes I did a lesson over Edgar Allan Poe. Together we researched his life, but then groups had to solve the mystery of his death. We learned in our research that his cause of death is unknown, but there are several theories of how Poe died. Groups took the clues from their research and came up with the theory they agreed with based on their information. They had loads of fun! This is definitely an activity I will repeat in the future.