🐉♥️🌮 Back to School with a Storybook Walk!

With the start of school approaching, it was time to consider what to do with the hallway that now cuts through the library. The hallway alleviates congestion by providing another pathway connecting the two sides of campus, and while it's certainly not ideal, it does provide a literacy opportunity. 

While the "library side" of the hallway is decorated, the "hallway side" has remained bare, but no longer! After some consideration, I decided that a story walk might work. If you're not familiar with a story walk, please visit StorybookWalk.com to learn more. I knew that some alterations to the original concept would be necessary--we're inside, not outside, and physical activities might not be reasonable given the space and passing time constraints. 

During my time in the district, I have also served as an elementary librarian, and I wanted to choose a book that students would perhaps recall from their time in elementary library classes. Several books came to mind; however, choosing a book would ultimately depend on what was available in double copies at Half Price Books. :) I was so pleased that I could pick up two copies of Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri.

It was time to get to work! First, I prepared the double spreads of the story by carefully removing them from the books, taping them together, and putting them on a background. This creates a larger image and makes the spreads more eye-catching.

To ensure that I could keep track of the story and place the images in the correct order, I numbered the backs of the posters before I laminated them. When I was finished, I had 14 double spreads, as well as the title page and the final page of the story.

While traditional story walks can include physical activities, I knew that wouldn't work well in the library hallway. Instead, I used AI to suggest reflection questions or polls to connect to the text. Students are allowed to use their phones during passing time, so I included 4 different questions/polls (Canva and Google Forms to the rescue!) to insert among the posters. Each item has a QR code that students can scan to respond.

Other supplemental items included "page numbers" and introductory signs to generate interest and prep students for the story walk.

One of the introductory posters

Examples of the "page numbers"

After taking the time to space out the posters, I only needed to hang them along the hallway wall.

I'm so excited for students and staff to return to the building to see the story walk! What was a frustration for me has now become an opportunity to promote literacy--and a little nostalgia! I'm eager to see everyone's responses--and hopefully many smiles as they move through the hallway!

📚 Welcome Back to the Library!

We've kicked off the 2024 - 2025 school year! Many things remain the same in the library, like the different look to the shelving and the check-out process, but there's a different look as we prepare for a shared space alongside a hallway to ease congestion during passing time. 

This new construction allowed for some new display space, so after seeing The Book Wrangler's vintage book covers on display in his space, I was inspired to create young adult book covers. These now hang along the wall and are already generating quite a bit of conversation among students!

Back this year is the dynamic shelving that features series and popular authors' books, making browsing more engaging and easier for students. 

Stop by today to see what's new in the space itself, as well as what's new in the collection!

💗📘 Heart Book Recommendations

Our library was buzzing with creativity last week, thanks to an awesome book craft that our students recently took on. (Thanks, Lacey Librarian, for sharing the activity!) Imagine a world where book recommendations take on a whole new shape – literally! 💗✨

During advisory students dove into the world of crafting with enthusiasm, turning their love for books into 3D heart-shaped book recommendations. Each heart not only showcased their ratings for the book but also held a special place for summaries and favorite parts. From fantasy realms to mystery adventures, the diversity of genres reflected in these heart-shaped recommendations was surprising. It's great to see how our students bring their favorite reads to life through art. Not only did this craft unleash their creativity in the short time we had to create them, but it also sparked conversations about the books at the tables where they worked.

These heart-shaped book recommendations are now displayed at the front desk for everyone to read and enjoy. It's a visual celebration of the diverse tastes and interests of our reading community. Swing by the library, take a look at the hearts, and maybe discover a new book to fall in love with. Who knows, you might just find your next favorite read! 💖📖

Keep reading, keep creating, and keep spreading the love for books! 📚✨

📖🔍 Dynamic Shelving Makes Its Debut in the Library

With the change of the semester right around the corner, it's time to unveil a transformative change in the library, too--a change that promises to elevate students' reading experience! 📚✨ Say hello to NEW shelf organization, thoughtfully curated to showcase favorite authors and popular book series. This dynamic shelving is influenced by Kelsey Bogan from the Don't Shush Me: Adventures of a High School Librarian blog and her work in her own library.

The image above shows what the historical fiction and supernatural bookcases looked like before dynamic shelving--👀 take a look at the image below to see how it's been transformed!

Imagine strolling through our shelves, where every turn reveals a newly organized collection of books. From the timeless classics to the latest releases, the revamped organization ensures students can effortlessly find the authors they love and seamlessly dive into captivating book series. Between the genre categorization and the chunking and displays of dynamic shelving, there's no more hunting for that elusive title or wondering where a preferred series is hiding. The user-friendly layout is designed to make students' literary exploration easier, allowing them to spend less time searching and more time lost in the pages of a great book.

The thriller genre featuring dynamic shelving.

Ready to embark on a new literary adventure? Visit the library to take a look at the new organization! Your next reading journey awaits!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

As we enter our last month of school, there's still time to promote reading and some of our newer books. The most recent library display features several of the SEMH titles included in social media posts throughout the year, as well as other titles that highlight responsible decision making, self-awareness, self-management, and relationship skills.

Many of the books appear in the Slides presentation below:

It's National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month, so that means a new library display! Inspiration was taken from The Book Wrangler's haiku book review work.

The haiku book reviews are already generating fun conversations, and students are eager to try their hand at creating their own haikus about the books they're returning. Good times talking about books--and a sneaky way to work in some poetry! :) You can see a close-up of two of the haikus below:

Feel free to stop by to share your own haiku! Happy National Poetry Month!

New Books!

Recently, the Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation generously awarded a grant related to purchasing books for the library!

The project summary on the grant application noted that students will strengthen existing connections and build new ones with the purchase and addition of agriculturally themed nonfiction and fiction materials to the collection. Even though some of our students come from rural backgrounds, many do not. These books will help reinforce students' understanding along with develop new learning.

Books arrived last month, and after processing, are now featured on the display table as students enter the library.

Already students have taken an interest in several of them, and upcoming AO offerings will feature the books. You can also see them featured on stories_from_the_stacks, our Instagram account.

📚😍 New Books!

Back from the holiday break, students can now browse and check out new books that have been recently added to the collection.

Clip art from EduClips

Many of the new books are fiction, but also included in the order are poetry books, narrative nonfiction, and graphic novels. Many are by authors already popular with students. You can see a lot of them below:

Students could also visit the library during advisory to watch book trailers for some of the new books. They accessed a Google Doc with links to YouTube trailers.

CLICK HERE to access the trailers document.

Feel free to stop by to take a look at the new books! Happy reading!

Reading and Book Memes

Today's advisory offering was inspired by other work students completed for a science teacher--memes! Students had access to a 1-pager with directions, and then the creating, fun, and laughing began!

Students visited a free meme generating website and started working from there. So much fun conversations about their reading and the books or characters they had in mind when creating their memes. Even some book recommendations among classmates!

A few examples that generated a few laughs:

Students often created several memes in the time we had together, and with so many clever examples, it was time to update the gallery wall display with their work. 

📚Fan Art

Today's offering in advisory was YA lit fan art, a joint endeavor with a colleague, and was one of the Wellness Wednesday choices students could choose to attend. After a brief Slides presentation to share examples of personal fan art and general ideas, students had time to choose from several things: explore examples online, share their own art with one another if they had it with them, and create.

Students were encouraged to look online for inspiration.

Some students even brought along their own sketch books.

Some students' work appears below, and many more pieces will be included along with these in a display featured near the bookshelves.