Listen. Connect. Empower.

The crafter and engineer in me LOVES origami. That has rubbed off on my students. Students' love of origami grows and evolves in our library Why origami? It is active! Active nonfiction books guide students through DOING something. It has a different feel from most books that share facts.  It supports literacy - both spatial and the traditional literacy. Origami encourages reading through the visual appeal of the pages - no heavy text is required to read to be successful. Captions or short directions do the trick. Short spurts make students feel successful! Leadership! Student leaders will emerge from the group and become "coaches" for the others. It is often the least likely candidate who will lead these groups.   Paper knows no language barriers. Students can sit side by side and fold together despite the fact that they do not speak the same language. Folding is its own language! It is practically FREE! Students can borrow a book and grab a stack of paper to take home a...

Winter is here.  The temperature is sometimes too low for our students to go outside for recess.  When it snows, we don't have space cleared outside for kids to play.  These means long periods of indoor recess.  This is a perfect opportunity to invite students into the library.  Typically we have a very busy Lunch Bunch program, but the change of season warranted a change of program.  With a supportive principal who releases me from lunch/recess duty to offer additional programming, I was on my way to extending our library into recess time. I want students to feel welcome in the library.  I want them to embrace it as a place of comfort, excitement, escape, whatever they need it to be.  Opening the library during recess gives provides them another opportunity to access the library in a way that is best suited to their needs of the day. To make or not to make... (Where I wrestle the word Makerspace) Initially, I wrote up a sche...