Party in the Library

What I appreciate about the makerspace movement in libraries is that almost anything goes, as far as materials are concerned. Some schools or districts may have a non-existent budget for makerspace items, but that's okay. I found a blog called BubbleUp Classroom written by a teacher and a librarian. In one of their posts about makerspaces, they gave 5 ideas for  Low-tech maker challenges . It uses very budget-friendly items such as paper bags, pipe cleaners, paper, and tape. These challenges are for students who may enjoy coming in to experiment with makerspace items, but need some direction in what to create. They also encourage collaboration and communication among students.  Image from https://www.bubbleupclassroom.org/home/bubbleup-take5-low-tech-maker-challenges This is a video about making a mini makerspace using low tech tools: In The Making of Makerspaces Part 1, Lauren Britton reminds us that low-tech low-cost items can be just as popular as their costly counterparts,...

  Image from https://cybersecurity.alabama.gov/2018/10/12/help-to-stop-cyberbullying/ My experience As a classroom teacher, every year, I am asked to watch a training video on bullying, which includes a segment on cyberbullying. Also, every year, our school counselor teaches a classroom lesson on bullying, which includes a component on cyberbullying. My current students just had this lesson and they were excited to tell me about connections they made to becoming upstanders instead of bystanders in certain situations. I was proud of their enthusiasm. I thought maybe I would see some of this transfer over to the playground where we had recently seen some unkind behavior. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I tell this story because I think that education and awareness of traditional or cyberbullying can only go so far. I know these are eight-year-olds, but they will soon go off to middle school and high school where they will see an increase in bullying. These types of lessons...

Since I am not currently a school librarian, I created a fictional one called Sweet Valley Elementary (yes, you know why...) and decided to use Instagram to promote it. The handle is @SVEreads. I chose Instagram because I feel like it overlaps the target audiences of students, parents, and other school librarians with whom I would like to learn from professionally. Although I hope not many elementary students have their own Instagram accounts, I think that this is the most visual social media platform of the three, which appeals to this age group of students.  I am a newbie with all types of social media and so I am learning as I go. This was a great week to start a school library with it being Read Across America Week.  My plans are to highlight not just SVE's library events, but other literacy and book related events. I plan to promote new additions to the collection and spotlight books with a monthly or holiday focus. I will follow fellow teacher accounts, other school libr...