Middle School Madness- searching for ideas!

 It's October, and here at my ( new) Middle school , I have some real challenges. We have a few voracious readers. But most  students I am finding  do not read or  claim they do not like to read.  So one of my quests is to get these kids to read. Yes teaching skills is Very important!

I am thinking of adapting my book pass lesson to do one for  Middle school. What should I include?  Perhaps  I will include sports books,  and graphic novels.  Since I am targeting both boys and girls I will also include Fantasy, Adventure,  Humor and mystery,

What do you with your students to encourage reading?  PLease leave  some ideas below so we can all  support each other in our quest to motivate middle school students to read.

Shift Happens-2014

I showed this brief youtube video today and we had some really good discussions about technology and how we should us it. I was surprised that some students thought that too much technology was  not good for health and some even said that it was bad.  All in all most classes were good and  took notes on how technology is changing our lives!

  I gave them a list of topics to look for and they were to take  notes.Some found it hard(these are 7th graders)   I also had them thinking about  what careers would require them to know the latest technology.

Look up Do you Know-shift happens 2014- that is the one I used!

New Position!! New challenges!

   Well I am 3 weeks into my new position of Middle School librarian!  It is more focused than the Library Branch Manger and really more of what I am used to be doing- being in school and working with students.  I have 7th grade fixed classes- 5 a day!! Luckily my predecessor left me with a lot of stuff- she went up to the High school so she is my mentor!  The  women  who was at the high school left her with NOthing! ( that is just plain rude I think)
 So that is why I have not posted recently  but now I am finally getting more settled- am learning how to use School Tools which is a biggie.  I am searching for  7th grade lessons and ideas- so please please if you have any please leave comments  below!    I have started off with reviews of the major items. We are calling the class  Information Literacy so I will plug in a lot of tech stuff also. Please if you have ideas or sites to look at let me know!

I Love Libraries.Org

 ALA has a new public awareness campaign , Libraries Transform.  There will be tips on the site for integrating games, comics and graphic novels into your programs and  your collections,  Check this out and see how you like it!  I am going to see how I can use this in my new position! More later!!

New York Comic Con 2015

ALA will be presenting an exhibiting at New York Comic Con (NYCC) in the Javits Center on October 8-11th.
NYCC is the  east coasts largest  popular culture convention. There you will find the latest  in comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, movie's and television.

Visit the NYCC web site to register . A free Professional badge will be given for Thursday October 8th,  A 4 day Professional badge is $40.00. This does not cover any special event  tickets, they must  be purchased separately. Deadline to register is Tuesday, September 1, 2015.

VoteLibraries.org

   Every Library is the first national  & political actions committee for libraries   has a new online presence called Vote Libraries.  On this site  is an online gallery  free to use for all public libraries.  There is artwork  and tools for voter outreach ,new high quality Art and design   that is free for all pubic libraries across the country.   Check and see all that they have and how you can use this tool to help you spread the word  to tell the community what your library is all about.

Free Library Lesson!- Dog Loves Books!

Sign up so here so you can get the second lesson that goes along with this one. They will be on the blog for a limited time and then will be put on Teacher PayTeacher ! So sign up to follow The Organized Librarian so you can get the lesson for Free!

 Library Lessons  with Louise  Yates

    Two of Louise Yates’ books , Dog Loves Books – Alfred A Knopf, 2010) and Dog Loves Drawing ( Alfred A Knopf , 2012)  are a great way to introduce students to the love of books and also introduce or review  several library concepts in the early grades.

Main concepts that are learned: What does the Author do?

Discussion Questions   which can be used during or after reading,  Dog Love’s Books.

1. Dog loved books so much he ________________________________________.

2. How did Dog get ready for the opening of his book store?

3. What did Dog do to keep busy while he was waiting for customers?

4.What did Dog do when he got tired of waiting for customers?

5. What happened while Dog was reading?

6. How did Dog know which books to recommend?

7.Dog loves books, but what was even better that just loving books?

Library Vocabulary: Students should know these terms  for this lesson.

Author : person who writes the words in a story.

Illustrator: person who draws the pictures in a story.

Library Lesson  :Beginning-Middle-End

Have a discussion with students about the parts of a story.  This can be an initial lesson or a review type lesson.  Have a talk  about what  students think happened in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end .

In each box below, draw or write what happened in each part of the book  This can also be made into a bigger layout in the landscape format which may make it easier.

Dog Loves Books. ( Louise Yates)

Beginning

  

Middle:

End

     

Writing / Creative Activity  Dog Loves Books

1. Have student work on a small poster and  have them write and draw what they love.  Show them an example  of  what the poster of what they love will look like:

Cody Loves:

2. Book Recommendations: Poster or Paper Size.  

What book would you recommend to a friend or customer  ? Draw a poster or advertisement for a book that  you would recommend if you owned Dogs Book store.

Show students an example with the author, illustration, title , descriptions and picture of their favorite parts of the story.

    

      

  

     

    

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