This post originally appeared on WeAreTeachers. Do you work with a librarian who fosters the library-classroom connection? Have an idea to submit? Apply for this microgrant today!
5 Ways to Foster Ownership of Your School Library
This month at WeAreTeachers, we want to know how you are fostering a great library program in your school, or what you would like to do to make your program even better. Our new grant, sponsored by Follett Software, asks, “What would $200 help you do with your school’s library?” Top ideas will be rewarded with a $200 grant as well as a Flip Video camera or iPod nano with video to help you capture the implementation of your project. Additionally, the top submission will get to take home an iPad!
In honor of this grant, we offer 5 great ways to create a sense of care and ownership for your school library.
- Make it the hub of student life. Many schools think the commons area or cafeteria should be where students congregate, but it doesn't have to be the only place. Try making your library the "Starbucks" of your school-a quiet, comfortable place to gather and relax. Remind your students that the library has all of their favorite magazines and that it's a place where they can get together to work on a project or complete assignments in the company of their friends.
- Help your librarian create a dynamic library environment by creating new reasons to visit the library. Hold a contest for the student who checks out books the most frequently (or the one who returns them on time). Create class projects that require library time. Allow students to "earn" free time in the library when possible.
- Create a connection to the librarians. Make sure your students know their school librarian and recognize him or her as a resource. Allow students to build a relationship with their librarian by hosting them in your classroom as a speaker, if possible. Have students participate in librarian appreciation days to make sure they recognize that their school librarian is the best!
- Comfort is Key. Making the library a place that students like to be will increase the time they spend there, thereby increasing the value of the library.
- Have a library work day for extra credit. Allow students who help the librarian keep the library in order earn extra credit. After an hour of shelving books and picking up pencils and candy wrappers, they will think twice about how they treat their library and encourage their friends to do the same!
How would you use $200 to help your library? Let us know today!
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