Hit: Success with something new this year! (Long.)

[Debra Logan <jd3logan@bright.net>]

        A few weeks ago I posted the following request and got a modest
response with some great ideas.  Thanks to all who shared.


> Hi all!
>
>         Many of us are starting to think about vacation.  Before we get
> swamped with the end of the year I thought it might be fun &  valuable
> to share something new that you tried this year that was successful.  If
> you send a success story, I will group and post them to the whole group.
>
 Here are the successes that people generously took the time to share:

Programs/Events:

My best program this year was Woman's History Month.  I asked the staff
to
dress up or just wear a name tag of a woman they admired.  I prepared a
"Scavenger Hunt" for students -- they had to identify who was famous for

"Overcoming Dyslexia to become a famous singer/actress who supported
literacy programs" (Cher) or "Who was the first First Lady who was
divorced?"  (Martha Washington) -- questions they could not answer
without
speaking to the teachers who were dressed up as the characters.  Program

was a huge success and lots of positive PR for Library.
Betty

****

        Since April is School Library Month, I always have held a
contest of
some sort with bookstore gift certificates as prizes.  For the past
4-5 years I have held a 20 Questions Trivia Contest that was fairly
successful.  Questions about current events, geopgraphy, history and
literature were posed on the bulletin board.
        This year, however, we did something a little different.  We
asked
students to complete in fifty words or less "My library book was
overdue because..."  I can't tell you how much we are laughing over
some of the submissions!  The English teachers were asked if they
might require their students to use this as an in-class writing
assignment, homework or extra credit.  We are typing the submissions
and posting them on our bulletin board (with names only on the back,
for later judging).  My favorite so far concerns the "outlaw
librarians riding Harley Davidsons"  who are now "behind bars, except
for one, the leader, who is rumored to still be working in the local
community"!
        Also, in April, I hold a New Book Party for the faculty.  I used
to
do it after school, but had few attendees.  Now I do it during the day
and advertise it as "have coffee with us".  We get almost all the
faculty and staff to come and see the new library materials we have
purchased throughout the year.  And, of course, we provide
refreshments with the help of the Culinary Arts students.
 Our staff here is tremendous and very supportive of the library.

Tricia
****

For National Library Month/Week, I had primary students personalize the
"Library Sign" which is put up on streets to tell how to get to the
library.  They made the generic human into whatever kind of person or
animal they wanted and then chose a spot in the hallway to hang their
own
sign.  It's a way to teach them to watch for libraries and to reinforce
visiting the public library as an extension of the media center, and
they
were all justifiably proud of their work.  It's also fun PR for us.
Anne
****

These are not original ideas, and I think I saw them on LM_NET, but I
don't know who gets the credit anymore. So if you post this and someone
recognizes it as theirs, I am very grateful.  These both worked well,
and
we had a lot of fun.

Gr. 1 - Read the book Mean Soup  to class. Sorry I can't remember the
author.  I had a crab pot (even had a picture of a crab on the side) and
I wore a
crab pin ( I was crabby that day).  This works well in Maryland where we

are big crab eaters. THe crab pot has an insert that allows the crabs to

be steamed so I used that to hide a ll the stuff I threw into the pot
to make mean soup...i left everything in its container: creamers,
sugar bags, tea bags, little jelly containers from The Pancake House,
ketchup, mustard salt, pepper,etc. I covered everything with the false
bottom. Then the kids came up in small groups to make faces at the soup.

No screams aloud. Then we talked about all the words
that they could think of to describe when they were having a bad day.
I wrote them on the board.  I gave out different kinds of dictionaries
(shared between 2) and we looked up the same word: "sad" in this case
because I had determined that it was in each dictionary. (Some of the
first grade dict. do not have abstract nouns).  Then we compared what
the different dict. had. Some only had pictures .  It was fun and it
took
about 40 minutes. THey thought that everything had melted. I took
their pictures which I just picked up today. THink I'll do
a bulletin board.

Gr2.  Someone suggested that for Easter/Spring that  you could put short

verses in plastic Easter eggs.  We did it and practiced reading,
performing, and looked at poetry. They liked it alot.
 -
Eileen


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Overdues:

 I created a contract to use with students who have fines or lost
books.  (I charge late fines, but I give them a one week grace period;
also, I let them work off late fines in the library.)  The contract
states what they owe and why, and when they are going to work or pay.
They sign it and I copy it and send it home for parents to sign, with a
letter.  It doesn't always get it taken care off, but it gives me
personal contact with them I might not have otherwise, plus when I have
to turn it over to administrators it gives me a papertrail.
Nina

****

The most success we've ever had getting overdue books back at the end of
the
year is withholding the students yearbooks until library books are
returned
and fines paid.  We did this last year for the very first time and we
got
almost all of our overdue books back in.
Pat

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Signage:

I got tired of being asked "Where are the scary stories?," "Where
are the Spanish books?," "Where are the ...?," when I had spine labels
for those catagories, so this year I made a chart with the labels and
an explanation of what the label means.  Now when they ask me, I just
point to the chart and ask them to search for themselves first.
Nina

****
 --
Sincerely,
Deb Logan
Librarian/Media Specialist Taft Middle School
Marion, OH
KidsConnect Volunteer
jd3logan@bright.net

KidsConnect is a question-answering and referral service on the
Internet,
provided by the American Association of School Librarians, a division of

the American Library Association.
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