March is reading month

There are tons of reading celebrations in March!

With Dr. Seuss' birthday on the 2nd (Read across America day), World folktale and fables week (3/17 -3/23) and United Nations World Poetry day (3/21), we have plenty to celebrate. 

In our library, we are going to participate in a Dr. Seuss reading challenge. (I can't take credit for this idea, I came across it while scrolling through Pinterest, but I am putting my own twist on it. Here is the link to the original). 

I am going to encourage the kids to complete the challenge and bring it back with a parent's signature for a bookmark and pencil (picture below) and the opportunity to win a free book. 

As further motivation for the students, I also wanted to award each class to complete 10 of these challenges an award that will be displayed on our "Reading Wall of Fame." 

In addition to the reading challenge, I like to offer the student's various monthly activities to do in the library that support literacy and encourage reading. 

One of these activities is what I'm calling "Rhyme Time." This activity also sticks with the Dr. Seuss theme as Dr. Seuss was the "King of Rhymes." 

I bought some dollar store* sight words, cut them and sorted them into rhyming pairs. I'm going to tape them in separate spots around the library. Students will have a sheet of paper to find rhymes and will have to write down each word pair they find. 

I will also have additional games available to play - a Dr. Seuss word search, word scramble, matching game and sight word game. 

*Dollar Tree has some excellent and affordable options for librarians! 

February is all about the love

I've always loved Valentine's Day - maybe it's the colors - the stark contrast of red against the pure white snow.

My mind always goes back to one of my happiest memories as a child - a little party my mom set up for my brother and I with a close friend. We probably did the typical things you do at holiday parties - decorate cupcakes, eat cookies, make Valentine's Day cards. Whatever it was...it left a mark on me and left me with a happy, glowing view of Valentine's Day.

With that said, I wanted to be a big part of the student's in our school having happy and fun memories of Valentine's Day. But how was I going to tie this in with the library?

Then it occurred to me - what if we made Valentine's Day cards for our favorite authors or book characters? What a fun way to celebrate our love for reading and the holiday that celebrates love. 

I gathered some paper doilies, foam stickers, pipe cleaners, kid scissors, glue sticks and some crayons and let the kids at it. 

To say that the activity was a success would be an understatement. The students LOVED this activity. I would say that the percentage of students that participated was 98% or more. I was thrilled to see that they were enjoying themselves. 

The best part was the children excitedly sharing who their favorite authors and favorite book characters were. They couldn't wait to show me their Valentine's  - and I couldn't wait to see them! 

After the students completed their Valentine's, they put them in a special Library mailbox. I plan to mail some of the Valentine's to the authors and let them know how much they mean to the kids! 

I made a poster to announce the activity by drawing, coloring and laminating some of the more popular characters in recent children's books and cutting out a huge pink heart. This was a centerpiece in the library for the month of February. 

Another large poster I made for the library was simpler to make and included a large Valentine's Day card and envelope, paper doilies, some specially cut letters from cardstock and some stickers. 

Overall, our February in the library was filled with love, appreciation, happiness and warmth.