I've written before about my library's cowboy theme this year: Saddle
Up and Read, Bookaroos! (Courtesy of Upstart). Then I wrote a message
about Upstart's Wanted: Readers theme that I was using for Library
Week. I just wanted to let you know how it turned out.
I took a picture of every staff member in our school. Wearing a
cowboy hat, they each held open a book that told something about them
in front of their face so we could only see their eyes. Then I
uploaded the pictures into a Wanted Poster. There's a wonderful site
http://www.glassgiant.com that makes great wanted posters in just a
snap! I figured out a "western" name for each person and a crime they
had committed. For instance, our principal would love to live in
Arizona. So he held up a book about Arizona. His name on the poster
was Travelin' Tom and his crime was "dreaming about deserts." We
numbered them and hung them all in the hall. I gave each student an
entry blank where they could write down the names of 10 people they
could figure out. It was so cute watching the kids, especially the
little ones, very earnestly writing down names on their papers. At
the end of the week I drew winners from the entries that had been
turned in. I only checked those that I drew so I didn't have to check
all of them. The winners received $5 gift certificates to a book
store. (The fact that I then discovered it was illegal in our state
to use school funds to purchase gift certificates left me personally
funding the prizes!)
I purchased some blank Wanted posters from Upstart (they are actually
reading records) and used my camera to "catch" students reading
books during the week. I then printed off the pictures, cut out the
student and trimmed it so it looked like they were wearing the hat.
Every student was stamped with a "Caught Reading" stamp (also from
Upstart) when they checked out books that week.
At the end of the week I sent a form home with all students. Each
student was giving a certain number of minutes to read each night for
seven days. The time varied from 10 minutes for kindergarten students
to 30 minutes for 5th graders. Students who returned the forms had
their picture taken in a cowboy cutout (Upstart!). I printed off each
picture 3" x 5" (black and white) and attached it to a certificate
stating they were Wanted Readers (also purchased from Upstart!).
We've had a fun time this year. My principal says this theme is going
to be hard to beat!
Belinda Holbrook
Teacher Librarian
Harrison Elementary
Davenport, IA
bholbrook@mchsi.com
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