Banned Books and Teen Read Week

In recognition of Banned Books Week, the 7th grade English teachers had their students read this article about censorship. After reading the article the students came into the library. I talked to the students about the purpose of Banned Books Week, how librarians are trained to protect against censorship, the policies we use for purchasing and challenging books, challenged books we have in our library and, even, challenges we have experienced in our district. The students had several excellent questions.
Our 8th graders read the Wall Street Journal article about how dark YA books can be and this response article.

To celebrate Teen Read Week: Seek the Unknown I placed books in paper bags. Students could check out one of the "unknown" books, write a short review and earn a free book. It was a fun, easy and popular event. It was hilarious to watch students try to find a strategy for choosing the books. A few students said they were too scared to do it because it made them nervous. It was NOT the silly sixth graders in my picture below.

I hope you enjoyed Banned Books and Teen Read Week at your school.

Chomp: Preparing for a Reading Adventure

Last year the Literary Cafe that I hosted for the book, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, went so well that the 6th grade teachers asked if I would put something together for the students before they read Chomp by Carl Hiaasen.
I love this book and had a blast putting this lesson together. Students watched the book trailer before coming to the library for this lesson.
The goal of the lesson was to provide the students with the background knowledge to understand the book. I created these four stations:
1. Poverty Infographics
2. Articles on Concussions
3. Survivalist Reality TV
4. Everglades Animals and Invasive Species

At each station I put books on display that relate to the topic. The students had a question to answer for each station. I created a different set of questions for the advanced class.

1. At the poverty infographics station, students examined infographics that I printed on our postermaker. I used these three infographics: Child Poverty, Food Insecurity, and Poor Enough. The instruction sheet reads:

Tuna and her father live in a camper in the Walmart parking lot. She is one of millions of children in the United States that live in poverty.

Poverty is the condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support.

Examine these infographics on poverty and answer the questions on your worksheet.

*Infographics illustrate data using pictures and graphs instead of just words.

I put books on display that related to poverty or had main characters living in poverty such as One For the Murphy's, Dicey's Song, Surviving the Applewhites and Middle of Nowhere.

Students had to list at least two facts from the infographics that surprised them about poverty. The advanced class was asked to explain how poverty impacts children.

2. Students were asked to read an article about concussions. This is an excellent opportunity to differentiate for reading levels by choosing more difficult articles for advanced readers. I found all of our articles in the state funded database DISCUS.
The instruction sheet reads:
Wahoo’s father suffers from a concussion he received after a frozen iguana falls out of a tree onto his head.
Read these articles about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of concussions.

I put the books Second Impact, Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am, Full Impact and Fourth Down and Inches on display because they relate to head injuries.

Students had to list some of the symptoms of a concussion. The advanced class had to explain whether or not they thought sports should have more restrictions and justify their answer using the articles.

3. Students watched a short clip of Steve Irwin and several clips of Bear Grylls' show.
The instruction sheet reads:
The character, Derek Badger, is inspired by well-known reality TV personalities like Steve Irwin and Bear Grylls.
Watch these clips to learn more about these two stars of survivalist reality TV shows.

I put Bear Grylls' survival book, Man Vs Wild, and other survival and nature books on display.

Students were asked if they watched nature reality shows and to list their favorites. The advanced class had to explain whether or not they thought these shows should be called "reality shows" and justify their answer.

The students probably enjoyed this station the most because of the gross out factor.

4. At this station students learned about the animals in the book. The instruction sheet reads:

Chomp is set in the swampy Everglades of Florida and includes many animals in the plot.
Examine the poster to become familiar with these animals, then watch the clip to learn more about the Everglades and invasive species.

I created this poster illustrating the animals mentioned in the book. I included a map of Florida with the Everglades marked and a picture of an air boat.

Students also watched this clip from the Everglades National Park Service describing the problem of invasive species in the ecosystem.


I put lots of animal books on display for this station.

Students had to explain the term "invasive species" and give an example. The advanced class had to explain how rangers were tackling the problem of invasive species in the Everglades.

Students had time to check out books when the lesson was complete. I had a huge display of other outdoor adventures and Hiassen titles ready for them.

Dot Day 2013

This year I celebrated Dot Day with my PMD (profoundly mentally disabled) class and their teacher (and future librarian), Mrs. Shockley.
I donned my best dot clothing and we read Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. This book asks readers, "How will you make your mark?". And it is an excellent, fun way to teach punctuation.

Then we watched The Dot video.

After the video my helpers and I assisted the students in coloring in their own dots that we put on display near the library entrance. Each students received a Dot Day certificate.

I love the message of The Dot and always enjoy celebrating with my students.

Navigating the Library: Teaching Genre

The genre lesson I'm going to share is one that I used for my National Board portfolio last year. It is an effective lesson for me that keeps the kids engaged and involved. I hope that you can take it and adapt it for your needs.
Learning genre is vital for my students because our fiction is arranged by genre. It is also one of their standards. I use this lesson with my sixth graders and they have fun while they learn.
I divide the lesson over two days. The first day I give them a modified version of the What's Your Genre? quiz created by Mrs. Readerpants. This is always fun because every student (and adult too) loves to talk and learn about themselves.
For the second visit I have small whiteboards and markers out at each table and a small printout of each genre sticker that I use in the library, one set for each table. I use these slides for the lesson.

What is genre? from Palmetto Middle School

Each student has a handout that they fill in as we go through the lesson. First we discuss and define genre. Then I show just the genre sticker and have them write down characteristics of that genre on the whiteboard and a book title that fits in that category. After we discuss it briefly and I look at their answers I show the description at the bottom. Then they fill in their sheet. We quickly go through each genre doing the same.
Then I do an informal assessment of their understanding using book covers. I show a book cover and they have to hold up the correct genre label at their table. I tried to choose book covers that would give them clues. We talk about how they decided on genre just using book covers. You could easily do this with a stack of books, but usually if I show a book they will immediately check it out so I didn't want to have to run around between each class to find another good example.
The teachers follow up this lesson by giving groups in their classroom a stack of books and asking them to sort by genre. That would be another easy informal assessment of understanding.
At the end of the lesson students check out books. It is always fun to see how they browse the library with a new understanding.
This lesson is simple, but effective.
How do you teach genre to your students?

Book Boot Camp Update

We have had 2 successful Twitter chats with Book Boot Camp and I'm looking forward to discussing historical fiction at the end of this month. I am really enjoying having this to challenge me to read a variety of genres and I believe I've read more this fall than in previous years.
The Book Boot Camp idea has morphed into an opportunity to encourage our teachers and students to read.
We have taken our Book Boot Camp idea and adapted it for the teachers in our district. We combined a few genres in order to fit into the school year and added a book related technology tool each month so that teachers can earn technology credit hours for participating. We're having our discussions on Goodreads instead of Twitter so that we can keep track of posts for earning credit. This is the flyer that Kristen made to advertise the course.

The tech tools include: Goodreads, Netgalley, Your Next Read, Fictfact, book blogs, Youtube channels for book trailers, and Sync YA.

All of the librarians in our district had a meeting and we agreed to create a similar program for the other grade levels too. The three high school librarians called their group the YA Hooligans and they are hosting the chats in Edmodo. Jen Chesney created the flyer. Instead of providing a list of books to read for a genre they selected a few titles for the teachers to choose from.

Our primary group for Kindergarten through 2nd grade called their club Milk and Bookies. They are using Edmodo for discussion. Here is their flyer. Another pretty Kristen creation.

Our elementary librarians are on a fixed schedule so I was enlisted to help put this one together too. I had a blast looking through picture books. The tech tools for this session are: Biblionasium, Day by Day SC, Storybird, book themed online games, reading apps, book bloggers and Youtube channels.  I signed up for this course so that I could read these with my son. We've already read 11 out of the 20 SC Picture Book Award nominees. If you want to see our book lists leave me a comment with your contact info and I'll share with you.

 Our fourth group is for 3rd through 5th grade teachers and they called themselves the Teacher Readers. They are using Goodreads for discussion.  They are using many of the same genres as Book Boot Camp, but adding the SC Children's Book Award nominees.

We just got started and we are already seeing a very positive and enthusiastic response from our teachers. We have several district administrators participating. Each of the four groups is also sharing hot new titles at a staff development day this month. 

Two SC librarians that are participating in Book Boot Camp tweeted to me that they are using a similar model with their student book clubs. I can't wait to hear how it goes.

How do you encourage your teachers to read? Is there a similar program in your district that gives teachers an opportunity to earn renewal credit for reading? I would love to hear about your efforts. If you would like more details about how we created these programs, leave me a comment with your contact information.

Tweaking SSR this Year

I'm very happy that, even though our school day schedule was changed dramatically this year, our principal kept an SSR time built into the day. You would think that having the administrator stamp of approval on SSR would protect this time, but alas I must defend it each year. There are some teachers that think it is a waste of time and try to make up tests, make students complete missed homework or just continue class time during these precious moments.
In a faculty meeting before school started we were all given a moment to talk about how our subject area changed this year and how we were addressing the new standards. I took that opportunity to share a few facts about why SSR is important. I also sent out an email with a list of ways SSR benefits students. You can see some of the things I shared here.
After the success of the all boy book club, the principal and one of our ELA teacher leaders wanted to implement something similar for each grade in the classrooms. The boys that came to me showed large gains in benchmark testing for reading after coming to me all year and reading together. This year the teachers are surveying the students and organizing a male and female group that will go to a classroom for a read aloud each day during SSR. Our hopes is that this time will target those that we suspect might just be staring at the page instead of reading. I know read alouds work so I'm looking forward to seeing how this program benefits our students.
To kick start the program the teachers will be using books that I already have on Playaway so that they can connect it to the SmartBoard speakers. From my collection we selected three or four choices for each grade. I put together a playlist of the book or movie trailers to the books so that students could vote on the book they wanted to hear first.



Does your school have SSR? Are you involved with SSR implementation?

Getting the Library Gussied Up

If you're not fortunate enough to live in the South you may not know what it means to "get gussied up". Basically it means to clean up and make yourself pretty. I've been busy getting the library ready for school just like many of you.
I'm always impressed with Mr. Schu's library decorations and appreciate him sharing pictures so I thought it would be worth sharing what I have on display in my library this year.
On my board in the hallway I have the beautiful "50 States of Middle Grade Lit" created by Monique and several book related eCards from Pinterest.
In the library I have a poster size print out of Jennifer LaGarde's Declaration of Students' Rights to School Libraries and My Reading Life poster. This poster is a great way to showcase all the types of reading I do and start conversations with my students.

On the bulletin boards in my library I have three other posters created by Monique: Newberry Buzz, ALA Youth Media Awards and our state Junior Book Award Nominees.

Monique, Kristen and I are working on our middle grade literature trend posters. This is our post from last year. We'll share when the new ones are ready.

I have Loo reviews of our Junior Book Award nominees ready to hang in the bathrooms.

And I have SC JBA fliers in the mousepads. You can find picture mousepads on Amazon and put whatever you want in them.

I'm really excited about my new "How many books have you read?" board inspired by Jillian Heise. I've read 7 novels in the two weeks we've been back and I've already had lots of conversations with students about the board.

I'm working on getting a #bookshelfie from each of my library helpers and I'm going to put them on display soon. Here's mine.

I've had first visits with my 7th and 8th graders. They know the library policies so we go straight to book talks and book trailers. Here is the playlist of trailers I put together. I varied which trailers we watched each class so that the teachers and I wouldn't get bored. The favorites were 52 Reasons to Hate My Father and The Fifth Wave.

What new bulletin boards and posters do you have on display?