<div dir="ltr"><i>THANK YOU</i> to everyone who contributes to this list serv; I learn so much!!!!<div>Last year I shared some successful monthly ideas our small school library employed, and several librarians expressed interest. We host different themes & activities for every month. I re-ran some of last year's ideas with some tweaking, but started some new things too.</div><div>SO, below are a few of the new things we did at Princeville Junior Senior High School (grades 6-12) that were well received:</div><div><br></div><div><u style="background-color:rgb(255,255,0)"><b>SEPT: "Super Hero September"</b></u></div><div><b>1. Teachers' Super Powers:</b> In Aug., I'd asked teachers & staff to share with me their "super" power ... i.e. whistling, gardening, whatever. Then, with student volunteers' help (students need volunteer hrs. to graduate; totally works for me!), they glued teachers' faces to cartoon super hero bodies (from clipart images printed on bright paper) and attached word bubbles of the particular super power and put out other super hero-themed decor and posters.</div><div>2. <b>Kicked off our reading contest</b>, "Just Read It", send out e-mail of new books, book trailers, & other upcoming stuff.</div><div>3. Had a <b>display of "super" saves</b> - Real Life Heroes: true stories of how teens had made a powerful difference in the world</div><div>4. Of course, a <b>display of super hero books & Super Sept. superhero bookmarks </b>(made w clipart on a bookmark template, printed on bright card stock)</div><div>5. <b>Interactive post-it door (</b>unused exit door) with "What's YOUR super power? Kids had fun putting up their individual strengths (has to be checked daily for the very few who think they're hilarious & post non-school-appropriate thoughts lol.) :)</div><div><u><b style="background-color:rgb(255,255,0)">DEC. "Make a Difference December"</b></u></div><div>I try to keep Dec. low-key, considering how crazy-busy people are AND how short the month is for school days. However, in addition to the expected new books display, holiday books display, and Dec. book marks, we did 2 things that were really popular:</div><div><b>1. Collect items for homeless families: </b>After consulting with an area service that aids homeless families, we advertised a list of needed items (including kids books!). Had a great response. Think we'll do this again, starting just before Thanksgiving break.</div><div><b>2. Create-It Day: </b>This was for ANY student, whether or not they're a reader. Broken into different sections, depending upon grade, any interested student was allowed to come to the library and decorate the boring metal bookends during homeroom (making a positive difference in the room's look). I provided paints, glitter glue, foam stickers, fun-colored duck tape, glue on letters, paint markers, & hot glue guns. Kids were invited to bring add-on items (I'd e-mailed images of cool decorated book ends found from Pinterest). Shells were a popular add-on here. This was a VERY successful venture.</div><div><u style="background-color:rgb(255,255,0);font-weight:bold">FEB. "Fake-out February"</u><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> </span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">1. Sent to teachers lesson plans & ideas (gleaned from this list serv!) for teaching about determining the validity of information.(very well-rec'd!)</span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">2. Put up T/F fun facts around the library that were in hearts (for Feb., of course) that opened (like a card) to reveal the truth.</span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">3. Had a <b>board of true v. fake book cover</b>s (kids had to guess) and news articles.</span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">4. Included a <b>link to the free online game Factitious</b> with the Feb. google doc promo listing new books, etc. that was sent to students/staff.</span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">5. Had BreakOut game/scavenger hunt sessions (per grade group) at end of the month for Reading Contest kids.</span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">6. Of course, display of mystery/detective books and Feb. bookmarks with T/F fun facts to guess at.</span></div><div><b style="background-color:rgb(255,255,0)"><u>APRIL: "Animal April"</u></b></div><div><b>1. Cutest Pet Contest: </b><font color="#555555"><span style="font-size:12.8px">This was WILDLY popular with staff as well as students. Will definitely reprise! Anyone interested could e-mail or bring in a photo of their favorite pet(s), including pet name. Put all the pix (in no special order) on display with pet names but not owner names. Then people could vote for their 2 favorites (too hard to choose just one!). Half way thru the month, we added a Goofiest Pet vote, by popular demand. Student volunteers counted the ballots. Winning pet owners received a $5 gift certificate to the local ice cream place, and every owner received a snack size candy bar. Though it wasn't book-oriented, the activity really drew in people to the library who rarely come ... and then they found cool stuff to read here. Win win!</span></font></div><div><font color="#555555"><span style="font-size:12.8px"><b>2. For deco</b>r, we had many "fun with photoshop" images of animals around the room, animal fun facts posted about, and many teachers contributed their "funniest pet stories" which we displayed with the teacher's face pic attached.</span></font></div><div><font color="#555555"><span style="font-size:12.8px"><b>3. Of course, animal book display</b>, new books display & animal-themed bookmarks (coloring bookmarks with designs from adult coloring books)</span></font></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">If anyone wants to see further details of these or other themes, e-mail me off list. I'm happy to share the Word and Google docs we used. </span></div><div>AND please feel free to share any successful things you've done at your school.</div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Happy summer!!!!</span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">:) Kathy</span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> <a href="mailto:ksullivan@princeville326.org">ksullivan@princeville326.org</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br></span></div><div><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><i style="color:rgb(102,0,0);font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:small"><b>Kathy Sullivan</b></i><br></div><div dir="ltr"><div><b style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:12.8px"><i>Princeville Junior Senior High School</i></b></div><div><b style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:12.8px"><i>P.C.U.S.D. #326</i></b><br></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><b><i>302 Cordis Avenue, </i></b></font><b style="font-family:garamond,serif;font-size:12.8px"><i>Princeville, IL 61559</i></b></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><b><i>309.385-4660 x1574</i></b></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><i><a href="mailto:ksullivan@princeville326.org" target="_blank">ksullivan@princeville326.org</a> </i></font></div><div><font face="garamond, serif"><b><i><br></i></b></font></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9.5pt"><b><i><font color="#660000">"Literature is the safest key to a nation's treasure."</font></i> </b>- Chaim Nachman Bialik</span></div><p></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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