It's Almost Book Fair Time!

After not having in-person book fairs last fall, we elementary and middle school librarians have gained permission to hold fairs in our buildings this month around conferences time. Students and adults already in the buildings will be able to browse--and purchase, if they'd like--books and other goodies from our Scholastic fairs.

Middle school students recently received a fair flyer in Literacy Studies class, and you can access an online version HERE.

Students will be able to shop the book fair during Literacy Studies classes, as well as before and after school. We can accept cash or debit/credit cards, and new this year, we are encouraging families to use Scholastic's eWallet accounts. Families can create eWallet accounts from the MS book fair webpage, and students can then shop the fair using electronically deposited funds. Any money remaining in eWallet accounts at the fair's end will not be refunded. Students received eWallet information along with their book fair fliers.

Like our fall fair, this one is also accessible online, where students and families can access thousands of books and other items. With just a $25 book purchase, items will ship free to your home. You can access the online book fair HERE.

Looking for some quick information and details about the book fair? Families received emails from our main office with an attached letter, and you can also access it HERE.

We're very excited to be able to bring an in-person book fair to students this spring! If you have any questions, please reach out to the school main office to be put in touch, or families are welcome to email me; please see the letter above for contact information. Happy reading!

7th Grade Podcast Work

With one year of podcast work under their belts (see previous podcast posts), seventh graders were ready to move ahead with some different podcast activities.

Photo by Jonathan Velasquez on Unsplash

At the end of their podcast work as sixth graders, students completed a reflection that provided some important information to consider moving forward with podcast work. Overwhelmingly, 84% of all students said they "liked" or "really liked" the podcast unit, and 93% wanted to do more with podcasts in school. The two areas that students said needed improvement were time and choice; in their written responses, students said they wanted to have more time to listen to podcasts in class, and they wanted to be able to choose the podcasts to listen to.

So, in planning and revising and creating a new seventh grade podcast unit, students got what they asked for: time and choice.

The updated lesson for seventh graders became a digital notebook activity with background graphic organizer work to help shape their review writing. Even before that work began, students used Jamboard to include notes about things they recalled about our podcast work from the previous year. Many, many thanks to our school AEA technology consultant Cathy Hines who developed the digital notebook and graphic organizer! 

Before setting to work individually, we took two class days to listen to a podcast together and work through a graphic organizer example. Students listened to the first episode of "Six Minutes," then as a group filled in the graphic organizer. 

“Six Minutes.” Gen-Z Media, 5 Feb. 2021, gzmshows.com/shows/listing/six-minutes/.

The items included relate directly to the Iowa speaking and listening standards, as well as the AASL Learner standards.

The students' graphic organizer work will transfer directly to their digital notebooks that include a cover or title page for their podcasts and a review page.

Addressing students' request for more time to listen to podcasts was only a matter of structuring the lessons over plenty of calendar days. The request for more choice, however, was a little more tricky. After many conversations with Cathy and with the students, they were able to refer to a recommendations list as well as use Google Podcasts.

Screenshot of some of the podcast recommendations for students

Over the course of several class days, then, students had the opportunity to choose a podcast based on their interests, listen to it, and complete the Slides work. While many chose to continue to listen to more episodes of "Six Minutes," others returned to "The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel," which reflected their interest in last year's podcast work. With access to the Google Podcast search engine, students were also able to listen to podcasts about hunting and fishing, football and hockey, and dogs and cheerleading!

Students' work isn't quite finished; they'll be sharing out their work and reflecting again on the revising of the podcast unit. Stay tuned for a future follow-up post!

Celebrating Black History Month

 February is Black History Month, and one of our library displays reflects several important events and people associated with that. 

Mike Rawls's website thebookwrangler.com has a fantastic resource for February's celebration of Black History Month, and I tailored it to reflect our own library collection here at the Middle School. Each day of the month highlights an event or person, and it also includes a related book for students to learn more or explore an interest. While many of the featured books are biographies and collected biographies, some stand-alone nonfiction titles are also part of the recommendations. See below for just a few of the people and events recognized:

And you can see the full month here:

Take a look if you're in the library, or stop by each day to see that day's specific person or event. Happy reading!