LOL Librarian

What's the point? Having students identify and describe the main idea of the story is an important skills. I was amazed this week by our multiage students who easily identified the point of Stone Soup as being all about giving and sharing. Traditional tales are often told so kids can get the point. But who knew that you could use Dr. Seuss for some deeper messages? Maybe I'll try some of those next week since connections is a focus for Gr. 2 and Gr. 3. This week with Gr. 2 and Gr. 3 we talked about connections and how they often help us decide whether or not we like a story. There is a relationship between the number of connections you make and your enjoyment.  Kindy's and Gr. 1's made connections between traditional fairy tales and twisted ones. Sometimes we over think things, I have to stop myself when teaching students connections from not going overboard and connecting to myself, other books as well as the world all in one story. This article about school playgroun

“It is an error … to think of children as a special kind of creature, almost a different race, rather than as normal, if immature, members of a particular family, and of the human family at large,”  J. R. R. Tolkien Browsing for new books is one of my favourite parts of being a librarian. And getting input from others is great. Social Media has changed the way I browse for books, I often look at other librarians or educators blogs, Facebook pages, Scoop.it and random newspapers. A Mighty Girl does have great books that encourage girls to be empowered but she has a wider range of genres as well including some interesting multicultural books and some hilarious humorous books. The Facebook page I recently used for my shopping list is the PYP Library , which has the latest books and includes articles about the latest strategies and happenings in education. Scoop.it allows people to share articles or scoop them with others. You use tags to help people find topics and keep your own article

Grade 4 students will soon be creating their own book trailers using iMovie. There's are some examples to help them see what the program is capable of doing. Watch this space!

Browsing bookshelves has evolved! Scholastic has some great ways to encourage young readers to read a wider range of books. This week with the older students we are looking at different ways to choose books. BOOKPRINTS Celebrities choose 5 books that impacted their life. It's an interesting way to share the message 'you are what you read'. BOOK TRAILERS Like the name indicates, these are similar to movie trailers. Instead of reading a blurb on the back of the book, students can watch a short video about the book.

What's new? Like many of us, I've set myself some 'New Year's Resolutions'. I'm sure the exercise one will fail like it does annually, but I am going to try share more regularly digitally.  I've taken up the 100 Happy days challenge and I'm going to tweet and post a pick about happy moments in the library. You can follow me at Mel Cooper @aisb_mel. I'm new to Twitter so forgive any faux pas! Students were excited to be back and there was a great buzz around school. We reviewed basic library skills to find books at all levels and talked about new books and traditional tales, 3 grade levels are looking at them and it's a good way to start the year. Traditional tales are so powerful, they teach our children morality and ethics in a fun and engaging way. During my browsing I found an article 'Learning to Read is Learning How to Live' about how reading traditional books, not an e-reader or iPad or tablet, helps young children be transported