Program 1: Makerspace Mondays
Planning: Prior to the first club meeting, available activities will need to be planned based on materials that are available in the library. In my case, I do not have many high-tech options available until my grant materials arrive. Options include origami, crafts with beads, ribbon, and duct tape, Keva planks, a K'nex helicopter kit, magnetic building blocks, Legos, and 4 Jimu robot kits I purchased with Scholastic Dollars. Frequency of the meetings and time frame will also need to be determined. I my case, the club will meet every Monday after school from 4:15-5:00.
Promotion: The Makerspace Mondays club will be promoted in the library with signs and posters, on my Destiny Discover Homepage, on the morning announcements, and on the library's Facebook page. Students will sign up for the club with a Microsoft Office form so that I will know how many students to expect.
Link to the form students use to sign up: https://forms.office.com/r/irvK3Vncg2
Preparations: Prior to the first meeting, materials will need to be set up at the meeting location. Origami and crafting books will need to be pulled from the shelves. Ipads will be needed and the Jimu app will need to be dowloaded on at least one iPad since that is where the directions for assembling the robots are found. Snacks will need to be purchased if the librarian is providing those based on the number of students who signed up.
Procedures: To run the club, the librarian can either set all activity options out for students to choose from or select a different activity each week for all students to participate in. I decided to let students choose their activity each week. If students decide to do the same thing every week, I will encourage them to try a different option the next club meeting so that they have experience with a wide variety of the activities that are available. I keep my makerspace materials on a cart that I roll out each Monday afternoon, and I place the different options out on tables for students to see easily. I have a small side room attached to the main library where I hold the club meetings because the Lego building board is mounted on the wall there.
Payoff: There are several payoffs for students. They get to socialize in a low pressure setting with their friends at school and gain access to materials they may otherwise not be able to obtain at home. Depending on the activity they choose, they may also be able to take items home. In the case of origami and the bead and duct tape crafts, the student can keep whatever they make. For those building the robots, they can later learn how to code with the model they build using the Jimu app. I also award students who attend each week PBIS points, which is the incentive system my school uses.
Program 2: March Book Madness
Planning: This activity will need to be planned in late
February so that it can start when the NCAA March Madness starts. Students will vote for books on the same days
that basketball games are played, so the librarian will need to look up the
March Madness game schedule. Tasks that
should be accomplished before March are selecting the 16 books, finding book
trailers or audio clips for each book, arranging the brackets, and creating the
initial 8 voting forms.
Promotion: In addition to the bulletin board display listing the Sweet 16 books that will be “competing”, promotional flyers will be shared on Destiny Discover, the library website, and the library Facebook page. Announcements for students to vote will be included in the daily announcement videos.
Preparations: The librarian will first need to decide which
16 books will be in the March book Madness brackets. I plan to pair two books from the same genre
for the Sweet 16 voting rounds. The Sweet
16 list will be selected from the top 10 books from each genre according to
circulation statistics in Destiny. A bulletin board display will need to be set
up with the book covers arranged in the March Madness brackets, and it will
need to be updated after every voting session to show which books advanced. An
O365 or Google form will need to be set up for each voting session. The librarian can post the voting links by QR
code in the library and on the school’s LMS library page. It would also be preferable to include a book
trailer or an audio excerpt of each book on the voting form to refresh
students’ memories about each book.
Teaching Books is a good resource to find audio and video links. Links to voting forms will need to be updated
frequently as NCAA basketball games occur.
Link to sample voting form:
https://forms.office.com/r/eNUa1XfDnY
Sweet 16 book
list:
Fantasy: Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling VS. Percy Jackson and
the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Humor: Diary
of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney VS. Dork Diaries: Tales of a
Not-So-Fabulous Life Rachel Renee Russell
Historical
Fiction: Refugee by Alan Gratz VS. Allies by
Alan Gratz
Adventure: City
Spies by James Ponti VS. Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
Realistic
Fiction: Wonder by R.J.
Palacio VS. Slay by Brittney Morris
Romance: The
Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han VS. Love & Gelato by Jenna
Evans Welch
Horror: Creep
by Eireann Corrigan VS. Into the Pit by Scott Cawthon
Sports: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander VS. Knockout
by K.A. Holt
Procedures: On the day of the first NCAA game, students
will vote on two Sweet 16 books from the same genre. Students will vote on a different genre
bracket each day. Once voting has
closed, the librarian will notify students which book won by updating the
bulletin board and posting messages in the LMS and library Facebook page. The librarian will update QR codes for voting
forms as needed for the next voting session and also update in the LMS. Once all rounds are complete, the librarian
will host a book reading of the winning book during each Den Time for students
who are interested.
Payoff: The
goal and anticipated payoff of this program is that the voting process will get
students interested in reading the books on the bracket, and hopefully more
students will visit the library to check them out to read for pleasure.
Resources:
Greenberg, K. (2019, March
26). March book madness: A library tournament. Knowledge Quest. https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/march-book-madness-a -library-tournament/
Program 3: Banned Books Week
Planning: Banned books week 2023
takes place October 1-7. Planning will
need to begin in September, 2-3 weeks before the event. The librarian will need to post flyers in the
school and digitally, procure technology and supplies needed for the
activities, and set up sufficient space to accommodate students before and
after school.
Promotion: Flyers with the schedule will be posted in the hallways, library, parent newsletter, daily announcement videos, LMS library page, Destiny Discover homepage, and library Facebook page.
Preparations:
Materials will need to be gathered the week before banned books week begins. The material needed for day 1 will be
handouts of the banned book survey, a SMART board for showing the video, and
food/drink for breakfast. For day 2, the
teacher will need access to laptops or iPads for students to research banned books
and access Destiny Discover, copies of the shelf talkers, and markers. For day 3 the teacher will need 8 ½ x 11 in.
cardstock for posters, markers, colored pencils, and other art supplies. For days 4-5 students will need access to
iPads to research a banned book and record their podcast. The podcasting app will need to be installed
on the iPads prior to the activity.
Procedures:
Day 1: Banned Books Breakfast (before school)
Students will meet before school to kick off banned books week with
pastries and juice.
They will watch this video to introduce them to banned books week: https://youtu.be/5TGow3XRWGk
After watching the video, they will take this survey:
https://www.bookweb.org/sites/default/files/diy/BBW-2022Checklist-FB%26Twitter_0.png
Day 2: Banned Books Shelf Talker (after school)
Students will browse the list of banned books for each year from ALA,
and they will select a challenged or banned book that is in the school’s
library to create a shelf talker.
ALA resource site: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10
Shelf talker template: https://bannedbooksweek.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/BBW_2022_Shelftalkers_Freestanding.pdf
The librarian will use the students’ work to create a Banned Books Week
display with the books they selected.
Day 3: Banned Books Week Poster Contest (after
school)
Students will create an 8 ½ x 11 in. poster to illustrate the Banned
Books Week theme: “Books unite us, censorship divides us.” Posters will be displayed in the library
windows, and teachers will vote on their favorite poster. The top 3 posters will receive vouchers for the
upcoming book fair.
Day 4-5: Banned Books Week Podcast Contest (after
school)
Students will create a podcast with the following information:
·
What is intellectual freedom?
·
Why are books banned or challenged?
·
Highlight of a banned or frequently challenged
book
Completed podcasts will be posted on the library’s website, and teachers
will vote on their favorite podcast. The
top 3 podcasts will receive vouchers for the upcoming book fair.
Payoff: Students will become
aware of the concept of intellectual freedom and how it relates to the
Constitution. Also, if students
participate in these activities outside of the school day, they may be more
likely to visit the library and check out books for pleasure reading during the
school day. Finally, knowing that a book
was challenged or banned may spark interest in a book because it is perceived
as “taboo”, and they may be more likely to read these books than if they had
not participated in the program.
Resources:
American Library Association. (2023). Top 10 most challenged books
lists. Banned and Challenged Books. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10
Banned Books Week. (2022). Banned
books week shelftalker. Banned Books
Week: Promotional Tools. https://bannedbooksweek.org/wp- content/uploads/2022/09/BBW_2022_Shelftalkers_Freestanding.pdf
Banned Books Week. (2022). How many banned books have you read? Banned
Books Week: Promotional Tools. https://www.bookweb.org/sites/default/files/diy/BBW-2022Checklist- FB%26Twitter_0.png
DeMonte, J. (2020, Sep 27). What
is banned books week? YouTube. https://youtu.be/5TGow3XRWGk