In conjunction with election year we decided our yearly theme would be "ELECT TO READ" and "VOTE FOR BOOKS." We decorated in red, white and blue and used stars and balloons cutouts around the room. We gave each grade a poster that said, "Elect to Read," on it and asked the kids to sign their names and write how many books they planned to read during the year. We hung these posters on the bulletin board.

We wanted the kids to have the experience of voting for something so we had a bookmark contest. We had over a hundred entries, so we, the librarians, narrowed the choices down to about 15 possibilities, then the children got to cast their vote for best bookmark. We had the kids vote for one from the younger grades 1-3, and one from grades 4-6. After the winners were chosen we had the bookmarks printed on bright cardstock to pass out in the library. The winners all got a gift bag which included a new book and other fun items. The kids really enjoyed making the bookmarks and voting on them.

We did the bookmark contest the same week in November as election week. We also gave the kids a sticker that said, "We Love Books," after they had voted, just like their parents got after they voted.  The ballot box we used is now used for the Beehive nominee book voting and we keep encouraging the kids to vote, vote, vote.

During that week we read election books, the older students, Grace for President,  by Kelly DiPucchio, and Duck for President, by Doreen Cronin to the younger students.

Bell View Elementary

Bella Vista Elementary: First Complete Digital Public Library

Bella Vista Elementary's Educational Technology Specialist, Sallie Warnecke sent this link via email, perhaps others have received it too.  The article is worth reading.  It sure got the wheels turning in my head.  Ebooks are changing how we read books and the future of libraries' offerings. In my opinion, ebooks are the trend and have their place but I hope they will not completely replace physical books.  There is something bonding and identifying with a book when holding it and turning its pages as it is read.

What is your opinion? It would be interesting to hear other Media Specialists opinions on ebooks and the future of libraries, feel free to comment if you would like.

From Sally Warnecke:

Is this the library of our kids' future?

http://www.springwise.com/government/texas-county-plans-launch-digital-public-library/

Texas set to open the first completely digital public library later this month!  I find this to be very thought-provoking…and look, they're all macs!  :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year from Oakdale!

Check out our display of books about China!

Chinese New Year starts Sunday, February 10.

This is the Year of the Snake!

Module 7 Lesson 3 Assignment 4

We are having a promotion at Oakdale! Every student will collect a card which is divided into nine sections.

These are the Dewey Decimal sections by hundreds, except we combined the 000's and the 100's .

For every non-fiction book they check out and read they get a stamp on their card in the appropriate box.

When they have completed their card,or read a book from every section, they earn a prize!

ART and BOOKS in the library at OAKDALE

At Oakdale in the sixth grade, our curriculum includes Ancient Egypt.
In this display we have informative and fun books ready for check out!
This art work includes the creations of some of our great 6th graders.
The art that is displayed here are stone coffins used for mummy's.

 The correct name for this coffin is called a "sarcophagus".

 

This year at Draper Elementary Media Center.  Our theme is Catch A Good Book.  We are taking four series a month and talking about the books and the author and the main character. We are doing book displays and activities about the books with the students.

Our media experiment at Sunrise Elementary

     What is this Media experiment? Well, at our last Media Assistance Meeting we were challenged by Barbara to make our Media Center a fun place and maybe a more inviting place.  So, we decided to take on that challenge. 
     We really enjoy decorating our Library. Every year we have a certain theme. For our theme this year we chose "Mediawood" and decorated the whole library in stars, red carpets, popcorn, reels of movie tape and of course movie stars. We already thought our library looked pretty fun but was it as inviting as it could be?
     We decided to put many books on display, just on the shelves themselves. Nothing extremely fancy, but we also looked for books which had not been checked out too often and also had an inviting cover that could peek the interest level of each student.
      It was amazing to see the results. We would no longer put the book out for display and a student would bring that particular book up to us during the same hour and explain to us how excited they were to read that very book, a book they have never seen before. Suddenly the 700 section and the Magic Tree House Section were no longer the same old standbys, but the kids were searching through books for exciting new finds because if that fun book was on display, there must be more where that came from.
     It made us realize that we really are creatures of habit.  We tend to do that same thing over and over again and seem to expect a different result. If only we take the time to look around a little, maybe even search and look at things a little different, we can find a wonderful experience may be waiting for us RIGHT BEFORE OUR EYES!