Book Swap

At the end of last school year I made a goal to do a Book Swap this school year.  I had thought I would plan for one at the end of the year, but instead I am about to hold the first Book Swap next week and I am so excited!  I thought it would be a great way to get some "new" books in the hands of students over the holiday break.

To pump up the kids about the Book Swap, I sent home reminder letters and made weekly announcements about two weeks prior to the Book Swap to give them plenty of time to gather up their books.  I also mentioned it during our weekly Media lessons.

I sent home a letter about the Book Swap based on a letter that a fellow Media Specialist made up to use at her school. You can get a copy of it and all the Book Swap files by clicking here or by clicking on the picture above.  Feel free to use it as is or as a reference for your own Book Swap letter.

Students brought books this week for the swap and I will look through them to be sure they meet the requirements.  Then I will record the number and types of books that they bring in that qualify on a spreadsheet.  You can get a copy of it as well as all the Book Swap files by clicking here or by clicking on the picture above.

I also gave each student who brought in books a receipt so that they will know how many and what types of books they will be able to swap.  You can get a copy of the receipts I used by clicking here or by clicking on the picture above.

To set up, I covered all the tables in red and green table cloths and then put signs to label each table with what kind of books were at that table. This makes it easy for me to organize books when they were being turned in as well as already have the tables set up for the actual swap.

You can get a copy of the signs as well as the letter, spreadsheet and receipts by clicking here or on the picture above.

I even made a Pinterest craft for the occasion (based on this pin).  It didn't come out as well I had hoped, but it took so long to make that I wasn't going to attempt to try it again. It will do for this year anyway.

So I'm set and ready for the Book Swap.    You can stop by my blog next week to find out how it went.  If you decide to attempt a Book Swap, I'd love to hear how it goes.  If you have ever done a Book Swap in the past, how did it go?  Would you do it again?

Library Rules from the Black Lagoon.

Class rules are tiresome, boring, and quickly forgotten. It's too bad, too. Students should remember to be kind, safe, responsible, respectful, and silly as often as possible. 

So, taking inspiration from Mike Thaler's The Librarian from the Black Lagoon, our 2nd grades made up some new rules of their own. But be advised. Forgetting to follow the rules may result in some pretty sticky situations.

Displayed on the library office windows for all passing students to view.

• Do not rip the pages out of a book OR ELSE you'll be locked in a dungeon!
• Do not kick the shelves OR ELSE you'll be flattened by a pile of books!
• Do not steal the books OR ELSE you'll be locked in a yard with a 3-headed dog!
• Do not run OR ELSE you'll be stapled to the wall!
• Never hit a classmate OR ELSE you'll be locked in a room with hungry gorillas!

Here's the how to make this easy activity a big success:

1. Read aloud The Librarian from the Black Lagoon (of course) so the kids can have a sense of the horrible punishments a librarian could enact. 
2. Let students brainstorm a list of basic, daily rules for inside the library. (Think book care as well as behavior.)
3. Add on ridiculous OR ELSE clauses to each rule. Keep them appropriate, but silly. ("Sit in a tank full of spiders" is funny, but "Sit in a tank full of spiders who eat you until you die" crosses a line.)
4. Post for the whole school to see, but don't let them in on the secret. 

Each of our four 2nd grade classes came up with unique rules.

As soon as a couple students notice the posters, reactions ranging from bewilderment to bawling with laughter will abound... and you just may get a couple new rule-followers out of it, too!

- Matthew
busylibrarian.com

Book Fair Ideas

We just wrapped up our Fall Scholastic Book Fair last week.  The Fall theme was "All Star Book Fair."  I have to say, after completing two Book Fairs last year, I felt like I had the set up, run, and take down under control.

And I suppose that was a good thing, because the Book Fair was not delivered until the Friday morning the week before the Book Fair.  I didn't really want to spend the night at school getting things set up, so I closed the Media Center except for book returns and with the help of a parent volunteer, got to work setting things up.  By 3:30, everything seemed ready to go for the following week.

I tried to make decorating simply, quick and easy by simply carefully taping over the door decor I already had up so that I wouldn't have to take down and redecorate after the Book Fair.  It worked pretty well.

I used sports items to go with the All Star theme and traced "foam fingers" and megaphones onto bulletin board paper.

 Then I simply added some small cut outs of basketballs, footballs and baseballs because they were the easiest to draw and cut out.

Unfortunately, Preview Day had to be moved to Monday since the Book Fair was not ready on Friday.  I think this might have hurt sales a bit.  We made only about 66% of the sales that we made around the same time last year.  It was the end of the month, too, so that might have had something to do with it.

I was glad to see that less of the doodaddy stuff was bought this go round. I followed the advice of  Jenn Underhill of the Three Ring Library blog and made this board to display the junky stuff. 

Customers simply had to tell the cashier the number of the item they wished to purchase rather than digging through everything on the table.  Nothing mysteriously disappeared from that section either.  It did take me a couple of hours to put the board together, and I am not sure that it didn't negatively affect sales, but I realize the Book Fair is about getting books in kids' hands, not selling junky stuff, so I guess it was worth the effort.

If you're looking for some more Book Fair ideas, I've started a Pinterest board that you might like to check out.  There aren't a whole lot of pins on it, yet, but I do add a pin to it from time to time.  Check it out here if you are interested.

Do you have any great Book Fair ideas to share?

Read for the Record 2012

Tomorrow is Read for the Record day and we are all geared up and ready for it! Guest readers will arrive at our school around 8:00 tomorrow and make their rounds to classroom to read this year's book, Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad. Our county is very fortunate to be pared up with a great United Way volunteer who has hooked us up with 12 copies of this year's book for us to keep! It's going to be a great day for setting World Records. Are you going to join in the fun?

If you don't have a copy of the book, you can read it for free as an eBook on We Give Books (www.wegivebooks.org). You do have to sign up for an account to access this book, but accounts are free. So why not join in the fun?

 

Storytime in your School Library!

Need a FUN and easy library program? Try this! Once a month, I host a program called Lion Cub Storytime. Lion Cubs are children who will one day be going to my school. Most of them are 3 - 4 years old, but I have had some toddlers too. Usually, these kids are younger siblings of students at my school, but sometimes we have kids who just live in the area. Anyone is welcome! At the beginning of the year, I send a blurb to my classroom teachers about the program that they can copy and paste into their classroom newsletter. I post information about the program on the school webpage, library webpage, and in the school newsletter. I also make sure the folks who register new students in the office know about the program (this is especially important around Kindergarten registration time). When planning when to hold your monthly storytime, choose a day where your local pre-school does not have school (Fridays seem to work well for us). For the last few years, my storytime has been at 9am and we often have a good crowd. Select a theme each month and plan your storytime around that theme. I usually follow this format: read a book, do a fingerplay or flannel board activiy; read a book; sing a song; read a book; do a craft; check out a book; have a snack.
I get lots of ideas from Pinterest and from some of my favorite storytime blogs. I also write about each storytime on my blog - feel free to be inspired by one of my storytime plans!
My favorite places online to gather ideas are:
storytime katie
storytiming
Mel's Desk
I collect ideas I find on Pinterest on my Lion Cub Storytime board - follow it!
I love our Lion Cub Storytime and I have heard from many parents who love it too. The Lion Cubs who come to our school in Kindergarten are more confident when school starts. They feel familiar with the school and our library and knowing someone in the building helps both the student and the parent when the first days of Kindergarten roll around.
Have fun with this storytime - you don't have to worry about Common Core or other academic standards - you can simply encourage and foster a love of reading, storytime, and libraries. Perfect!

Valerie Byrd Fort, Teacher Librarian
New Providence Elementary School
Lexington, South Carolina
www.valeriebyrdfort.com

Taking Care of Library Books!

Kindergarten students came to my library last week for their first checkout! What an exciting day! They love to choose a book, are excited to learn they can take it home, and can't wait to come back the next week for a new book! Every year, before their first checkout, I do a lesson about taking care of your library books. It is fun, easy to plan, and seems to work! I start my sharing with them that they will get to checkout a book, but first we have to make sure they can take care of that book. I tell them that I have a friend who is going to share with them ways to take care of their books. I introduce them to my friend, Mr. Wiggle. I show them a Mr. Wiggle stuffed animal that I made with green tights and have them all say "hello" to him. Then, I read Mr. Wiggle's Book by Paula M. Craig. During the read aloud, I will ask them a lot of questions about what is happening in the book. For example, do YOU eat while you read library books? What's wrong with leaving a library book outside? After reading the book, I show them a book bag that Mr. Wiggle likes to keep all of his important book stuff in. I tell them that we are going to see what is in his book bag and that they are going to tell me if it is something GOOD to have around library books or something BAD to have around library books. I hand out laminated cards that we've made. One side is red with a sad face and it says BAD; the other side is green with a happy face and it says GOOD. After each student has a card, I go through the bag. In the bag is a water bottle, a pack of gum, a stuffed animal, a picture of a baby, a picture of a puppy, a container of yogurt, markers, a flashlight, scissors, and wet wipes (for clean hands). As I hold up each item, students show me if the item is GOOD or BAD. After going through the items in the book bag, I collect the cards, we say "thank you" to Mr. Wiggle and we check out our library books! I also send home a letter to our kindergarten parents introducing them to Mr. Wiggle and sharing some suggestions of ways to enjoy and care for library books at home. I also include in the letter when their child's library day is and a cut out template for a bookmark to color and use. I think Mr. Wiggle really helps our kindergarten students get started on the right foot when it comes to checking out and taking care of their library books!
Valerie Byrd Fort www.valeriebyrdfort.com

Get to Know You Activity

Well, today was my first day back at school.  This is the beginning of my second year being out of a school library because of budget cuts.  I am working as a program assistant in a Junior High.  Anyway, I just wanted to share a cute first day activity that a teacher did in her class.  I thought that a school librarian could do the exact same thing with a class on their first visit to the library.

She made a simple powerpoint of things that were true/false about her life.  If the item was true the students had to walk to one side of the room, if the item was false they walked to the other side of the room.  I liked this activity because it got the students moving.  The students were given a small piece of construction paper to fold in half hot dog style.  On one side they wrote their first and last name-perfect for name tags.  On the inside, each student wrote two things about themselves.  However, the statements could be true or false!  The rest of the class had to guess.  Simple, but yet fun and engaging.

Just thought I would share in case you were still looking for a beginning of the year activity.  Great for older students.