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Like it or not, standardized testing is a part of our education system. This article is not to debate whether standardized testing is good or bad – but instead to focus on what we, as librarians, can do to support the teachers and students during this stressful time of the year. Although we aren’t teaching a tested subject area, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a positive impact during testing season. Here are 6 practical ways you can help your campus in the days and weeks leading up to standardized testing. 1. Help with Review In the weeks leading up to the testing season, teachers everywhere are building in lots of review to their already busy class schedules. Offer to help with that process. If you see these classes for a set time each week or month, play a review game during your library time. As a reader and
Summer break is a time for children to finally relax and enjoy a break from school. However, educators know that students still need to continue learning and practicing skills – especially reading. During the summer months, it’s easy for kids to forget what they’ve learned during the school year, which can lead to a difficult start when school resumes in the fall. However, getting students to pick up a book isn’t always easy, so I’m sharing some strategies for boosting summer reading in your school. Create a Fun Reading Challenge A reading challenge is a great way to motivate students to read over the summer. You could create a simple challenge where students need to read a certain number of books, or you could get creative and design a scavenger hunt-style challenge that requires students to read books of different genres or on specific topics. Make the challenge engaging
As the school year winds down, schools everywhere host their annual field day. The day is filled with games, relays, and lots of laughs and memories! Let’s ramp up the fun and connect field day with reading and books! It’s a great way to tie together two things that kids love and make field day extra special. Here are 8 book-themed field day activities that your students will talk about for years to come! A book or literacy-themed field day is a great way to bring books to life for our kids. We can give them a chance to “jump into the action” of some of their favorite books. In the weeks leading up to field day, you can even give teachers a list of the books that they can read to their class to help build excitement and anticipation. Then on the big day, students will love connecting
My favorite May picture books does not have any type of theme. This list is more of a mish-mash of some of my favorite read alouds. Usually by this time in the school year my library is closed due to testing and I am going to classrooms for library. This is also the time for field trips. The books I end up using for read alouds go along with their field trips (usually the zoo) as well as high-interest books. These include books that are funny or silly as well as some engaging nonfiction. It’s tough to keep students on task as the end of the year approaches. Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I receive a small commission if you decide to make a purchase through one of my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure policy for more information. HOW TO CATCH A UNICORN
I have always loved the memory books and keepsakes that classroom teachers make at the end of the school year. It is so much fun to read about the students year and see what special memories they had. I decided that I wanted to do this with my own classes, through and create end of the year memory books just for the school library. There are 3 different memory books for different grade levels: K/1, 2/3 and 4/5. Google Slides Memory Books The digital versions are almost identical to the print, except they are in color. You will receive three Google Slides files as well as a folder of images. The images will allow you to upload the memory books to SeeSaw or other learning platform more easily. You can still upload the Google Slides file to SeeSaw, but you will have to delete the text boxes from each
As the school year winds down I wanted to share with you six of my favorite end of the year read alouds. As we all know it can be extra challenging keeping our students’ engaged during the end of the year excitement. Summer break is calling their name and they definitely have some ants in their pants! So you want to make sure your read aloud selections are ones that will hold their attention. There are so many wonderful books to choose from but these are six of my favorites. I also am including some activity suggestions you can do with these or other similar books. The activities are fairly simple because no one has the time or energy to plan elaborate activities this time of year! The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli The crocodile in this book has a fear: he is scared to swallow a watermelon seed.