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Staying Cool in the Library

A place for school librarians to learn and grow together

Teaching Summarizing and Paraphrasing

Summarizing and paraphrasing can be difficult skills for students to master. Often they do not understand the differences between the two and when to use them. In the library, I review these skills when I do any type of research project. Teaching a skill in context is always more effective than teaching it in isolation.  The Difference Between Summarizing and Paraphrasing Summarizing is retelling the main idea in your own words. A summary should be short and to the point. Only the ... Read the Post

Preparing for a Virtual Author Visit

Have you ever tried a Virtual Author Visit? Author visits can be so rewarding for students and schools.  I still remember the author’s visit from when I was in elementary school! It’s best to have the classroom teacher as well as yourself read the author's books to the students before the visit. You can do something similar to One School, One Book (or maybe 2 books to make it more appropriate for the age groups.). Schools gain a community feeling around an author that is visiting. Finding an ... Read the Post

Caldecott Medal 2022 Predictions

The 2022 Caldecott Medal award winner will be announced in just a few weeks, which means it's time for my predictions on which book will take home the top prize and who will be runner-up. The ALA awards will be given out sometime in mid-January. Members of the Caldecott committee work hard all year to choose the book they think is deserving of this distinguished award. Members of the committee read thousands of picture books throughout the year. Then they must narrow their choices down to 7 ... Read the Post

Tips & Ideas for a Positive Checkout

It’s important to create a positive experience for students in the library. Students form opinions about libraries at a very early age. I’m sure that many of us remember a lot about our elementary library. I know I can remember the way it looked, where each section of the library was, and how the librarian and librarian assistant treated us. My librarian always made sure that we had a positive checkout experience, and I like to do the same for my students. We want to make sure that the ... Read the Post

Biography Research Projects

Students need to read and learn about many different types of informational texts, including biographies. A biography research project can combine many important skills besides just learning about the life of an important person, such as: note-takingsummarizing and paraphrasing informationevaluating informationfinding the best sources for informationorganizing informationthe importance of citing your sources practice writing informational text Basics of a Biography Teach students ... Read the Post

Super Simple STEM Activities for the Library

STEM in the library...boy do I get a lot of requests for posts on this! I absolutely love incorporating STEM activities into the library as well as helping classroom teachers come up with fun STEM ideas. What does STEM stand for in case you don’t already know? STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Some may also refer to STEAM which adds in art as well. STEM education has become very popular in schools within the last few years. The reason that STEM education has ... Read the Post