LOL Librarian

" “Mother Tongue language” isn’t about a day in a year, it’s about a lifetime of language.  " - Eowyn Crisfield As a part of our United Nations Week, I began a read-aloud program inviting parents to read aloud in their mother tongue to our student. This is my third year running the program which I do twice a year, once during UN Week and again during our Book Week.  Being an educator and having a love of teaching reading, I know the value of maintaining a students mother tongue. It is the foundation for a child's literacy learning journey. The structure is fairly casual and simple, students are invited to listen to a story read by a parent during their recess. Teachers are sent a schedule of which languages will be featured during morning and afternoon recess, and they share it with their students.  I used a google form to invite parents to read about 2 weeks before the event and then a week before I set up a schedule, send confirmation emails and ensure there's ...

After an action-packed, at least from my perspective, Book Week I began to wonder what is the value added?  My Book Week included daily mother tongue read alouds by parents in two different locations in the school, 5 local author visits so that every grade level saw someone, mystery readers hosted by the facility and the traditional Character Day.  Inside the library, there was a 'Genre Graph' to track students from K-12 favourite fiction genre and a 1 question survey to ask about genrifying them. Also in the K-3 library was a 'Wonder Wall' for questions and students could add a book recommendation to a padlet . The Gr.4-6 students could make recommendations on a padlet and use a variety of QR codes to watch student trailers and publisher created trailers. Our last big event was a competition for our book club groups in a Kahoot team showdown with about 70 kids. However, after all of this by Friday afternoon , I felt like Drew Daywalt's pink crayon, who I happe...

As a former classroom teacher, I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that one of the things to get bumped out of our schedule during a hectic week was the read aloud. I know, it's the last thing that should go but in the rush to complete, reflect, post, it was often done. I'm not alone in this and that's why having a good old 'Drop, Everything, And Read' session to celebrate International Litearcy Day worked.  It was heartening to see the number of classes who participated, and enjoyed doing it. Teachers and students alike kicked back, relaxed and read. DEAR sessions have their place in the world, and this is the 5th country in which I've tried it. An important component for teachers participating is to model, either by reading aloud or reading along side the students.  The students need freedom to enjoy as well, and should be able to read whatever genre or format they wish. Too much structure destroys the joy of these sessions. The video below shows us loving l...

Back to school is a time to change gears and sometimes habits, both for adults and students. At home, I have my own emergent reader to act as a guinea pig for new resources and strategies. In addition to the suggestions on the infographic, there's also the 'device'. With the online literacy being here to stay as educators we have an obligation to support our learners in how to read devices, it is a different skill set. And just like when reading books, it should be done and aloud and together. Modelling is a great piece. Luckily, there's a fun variety of options to guide parents to viewing, like  Tumble books  which has different audio options and also highlights text.  Just books aloud  sorts popular titles into a wide range of categories for easy browsing. Want to support EAL students then  Unite for Literacy  offers different languages. Another avenue are eBooks. Our library has some  interactive eBooks  that are great when viewed on computers ...

Reading Aloud Sit down Curl up With a book With a puppet With your tiny little muppet. Take a breathe Let the stress Easy away And enjoy This special moment of your day. Do you love reading aloud to children as well? Are you a parent at AISB and have some free time? I would like to start mother tongue read aloud sessions during the students morning nutrition break. Children from different classes and grade levels could come listen to a story read in their mother tongue. If you want help support this initiative, please contact me at mcooper@aisb.hu Do you want to try a new way of reading aloud. See below for some online books: 1. Tumble Books 2. Multilingual books 3. International Children Digital Library 4. Symbaloo - National Geographic, 5. Symbaloo - Barnes & Noble Online Stories