Supporting Learning in the Library
Kim Beeman, Librarian, Shrewsbury International School3 October 2015
How Best to Use Your Library
Get to Know Your Library
Staff!
Your library staff can help you
with:
● finding books
● learning about new books
● ordering resources
● answering research questions
● promoting reading in your
classes
● teaching research skills to you
and your students
● and more!
Is Your Library on Social Media? Find Out!
Get to Know Your Library
Resources
Books and Ebooks
Other Resources
Activities You Can Do in the Library
Library Scavenger Hunt
For Younger Students
Materials: iPads (at least one for every three students)
Activity: Using PicCollage or a similar
app, ask students to take pictures of the most
important things in the library
When they have put the pictures together, ask them
about what they saw and what they thought
Make sure they know: How to find suitable books and who to ask for help if they
need it
Objective: Get the students to think
about what the library means to them
For Older Students
Objective: To encourage students to feel confident about
finding and using library resources (example 1, example 2,
example 3)
Materials: Pen and paper or iPads
Activity:
This could be included in a beginning
of the year orientation for your
students. Decide what you want the
students to find in the library and
come up with a creative way to have
them find it.
Another variation: Where’s Waldo in the Library?
Working with Genres
Genre Bookmarks
Objective: Get students to identify the characteristics of
different book genres (source)
Book Buffet
Materials: a timer
one book per student (in a variety of genres)
Activity: Give each student a book. Set a timer for 5 to 8 minutes and ask them to
read the first few pages of the book. When the timer goes off, the students
swap books. Allow enough time for students to read at least four or five books. At the end of the activity, ask students if there are any books they
would like to continue reading.
Objective: Get Students to Try Out
New Genres (Source)
Book Covers and Trailers
Ways to Extend the Activity:● Use Aurasma to connect the
book cover with a student’s video review
● Use QR codes to connect the book cover with an author’s website, book trailers, or other content
Promoting (Pleasure) Reading
Why is pleasure reading so important?
“The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a
pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and
letting them read them.”-- Neil Gaiman (source)
VS
You, the Reader
Find Great Books to Read and Recommend
Make it Fun!
Idea #1: Bookface Photo Contest
Idea #2: Spine Poetry
Idea #3: Shelfies
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