New Year’s Resolutions for the School Library

As we get ready to head back to school after a much-needed winter break, I wanted to share with you a way to celebrate the new year in the library – creating library New Year’s resolutions.

These resolutions are not the same as the ones adults make (lose weight, get more sleep), or the ones students will make in their classes (study more, practice multiplication facts). These are more general and are intended to get students to start thinking more about their reading, to make their reading intentional. Intentional reading is just being more selective in your choice of reading material.

With these activities, students will think about what they read during the previous year and what they would like to read in the upcoming year. It gives students a chance to reflect on their reading and their reading choices.

Since most librarians see students in multiple grades I created several different sets. For younger students, there is a one-page mini book. Students will write or draw what kinds of books they like to read and what books they would like to read. There is a second version as well with a page that says “I like going to the library”.

For older students to understand intentional reading, there are 3 different pages. Each page asks students about their past reading and future reading. However, there are slight variations with questions about what genre they want to read more books from and one with a spot to fill in a library behavior that they want to improve on.

Digital Version for Google Slides

I have also added a digital version of these activities for Google Slides. So no matter what your teaching situation looks like, you can still have your students reflect on their reading and write goals for the new year.