Gossard_Theresa_Free Choice

 Blog #7 - Free Choice - Blog Share

Link to Library Learners:  https://librarylearners.com/blog/

Library Learners is a website that has a tab for a Blog.  Under the blog tab, you will find several blogs that pertain to school libraries.  The blog's topics cover everything from supplies librarians should order to teaching library skills and everything in between.  As a new librarian, I am looking for activities I can use with the students that get them up and moving.  Anytime I can get physical movement added to my lessons I take advantage of it.  I enjoy stories where I can physically be involved in the telling of the story in some way.  As a teacher, I used to incorporate optional physical exercise activities for my students, even though it was optional I always had 100% class participation.  They loved being able to get up and move with the educational activities or brain teasers I would give them.  The students would look forward to snack time, not only because of the food, but they knew I would also have a physical activity they could participate in.  

As storytellers we can incorporate physical movement in our stories.  One way is to tell your story through a Story Walk.  This is a fun, great way to physically move and get storytime in.  One of the blogs is about the Recipe for a Successful Story Walk.  This is a recently published blog from August 13, 2023.  The blog gives step-by-step instructions to follow to complete a Story Walk through the book.  You will have to deconstruct the book and use it for the activity.  A tip is to get budget-friendly paperback books to use for this activity.  The pages of the book are placed on posters and posted around a walkable path and the students get to view it.  It would be great if each class could do one on the football field and allow the students to visit it one night under the lights of the stadium.  Students could bring their parents and view the Story Walk together.   

Another physical movement blog I found on the Library Learners site was about Musical Books.  On February 19, 2023, Library Learners published an article entitled, Play Musical Books to Promote Reading.  This blog talks about how some students get stuck in a rut while choosing a book to read. One way students could choose a book is by playing musical books.  This way students will get to experience other genres that they may not normally pick from.  The teacher plays music and the students move around the room to the different genres and when the teacher stops the music the students choose a book from the shelf in front of them.  If they can not choose a book from that shelf then they move when the music starts again.  This is a great way to get students interested in other sections of the library.  Some students will only visit the same sections over and over.  This activity forces them to at least look at some of the books in a different section.  

The last physical movement activity that I would like to highlight that the blog talks about is the Library Scavenger Hunt.  On September 13, 2023, Library Learners posted a blog entitled,  Five Powerful Reasons to Teach with Library Scavenger Hunts.  This blog talks about the benefits from having a library scavenger hunt.   Not only is scavenger hunts fun for everyone but they can be educational too. The students get to move around and collaborate with other students. A scavenger hunt is a great way to keep students interested in the topic being studied in the library.  Most library topics can be boring, so by doing a scavenger hunt they can get moving and stay engaged on the topic being discussed.  Library scavenger hunts can be easily differentiated to meet the needs of all the students.  

There was another blog that caught my attention as a librarian.  A blog that I enjoyed learning more about was the one from March 27, 2023 entitled How to Encourage Reading with Wrapped Books.  The wrapped books activity looks like a creative and fun way to encourage students to read books. Since students get to physically wrap the books this will help spark interest in this activity with students that like to do crafty activities.  This activity also has a writing component where the students write a summary of the story.  I am going to do this activity with my Book Club students this month.  The entire activity is broken into smaller lessons.  These lessons are detailed and easy to follow.  

How is classic literature used in storytelling?  We all know there are a few stories that we have heard over and over again.  Many of these stories you will hear told from different people and in many different forms.   Most classic literature books have movies or plays written about them.  Many classics are the same books that my parents and grandparents have read.  A lot of the classics have wording that is not normally used now and it is hard to relate to since times have changed.  I feel it is important for libraries to have copies of classic literature in their collections.  I also feel libraries should have copies of recently published updated classic literature stories.  I read six interesting, classical literature stories this week.