Back to School 2022

 How did this happen? I am starting my 24th year in education, 8th year as a librarian. I spent 16 years in an elementary classroom, then 4 years as an elementary librarian, and now I'm in my 4th year as a middle school librarian. I still think I have the BEST JOB in the world! 

First day of school 

August 8th we welcomed our students back on campus. The first day of school I usually only see the kids in the hallways. I spend passing periods helping the 6th graders and new students find their way in this new building that is twice the size, or more, of their elementary school. Most of the students are looking for a smiling face. 

Teachers are setting the procedures in the classroom, so students don't get to come check out the first day, which is fine. There is usually still lots to do to get ready. I spent the day finishing up the new library passes and creating book lists for students. 

I got the idea for the book lists and this display from Melissa Corey and LibrarianBookEnds on Twitter. If you don't follow them yet, you should! They have tons of ideas for school libraries. 

Check out the books 

On the second day of school, students were starting to come visit since the teachers now had their library passes. My goal the first week of school is to get books into the hands of as many students as possible. In order to do this, I make a video with library procedures and send to the classroom teachers. The teachers show the video in class, then come for a 20 minute check out. This allows me to book more than one class in a period. This week, I had over 500 students visit to check out books. This is a little over half of our student body, so I call this a SUCCESS! 

Another goal my first week with students is to train my student aides. In our middle schools, we do not have paraprofessionals to help us in our libraries, so we have student aides. These student aides help me check in the book, shelf the books, and make book displays. I have a great group this year, and I cannot wait to see what they come up with for book displays. 

Bulletin boards 

I have 2 bulletin boards outside the library in the main hallways. This year I got an idea from pinterest and took an idea from a recent TikTok trend. 

My Pinterest find was a cute welcome board that I think I will keep up all year. It has a word cloud of all the things you can find and do in the library. 

The second bulletin board was an idea from the recent TikTok trend "He's a 10 but... " I wasn't really keen on the idea of our students rating each other, so I changed it to be "They are a good friend but...". So far it has been a hit and students have even requested some of the books. 

How is your first week going? What success did you have this week?