ABCs of DCGMS Library: M is for #MGBookTober

We're officially half-way through the ABCs of the DCGMS Library--that means we're on letter M for #MGBookTober.

During the month of October, my advisory students and I participated in #MGBookTober, sharing the books and authors as determined by the month's postings.

We highlighted several different days as a full advisory, taking pictures with our books and collaborating on a Slides presentation, and students also shared responses on Flipgrid. Two blog posts share details of our work.

To celebrate each day in #MGBookTober, I also posted responses on Twitter. You can find them by searching for @ccls531. Didn't participate last year? No problem! #MGBookTober is only a few short months away!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: L is for Library Orientation Breakout

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter L for Library Orientation Breakout.

As a former elementary librarian, I recognized the need for a library orientation activity, especially for our sixth graders, who are new to our building. What better way to get students up and moving around and looking at various sections of the library space than with a physical breakout! 

Over the course of two class periods, students read through an introductory letter (that also had clues and combinations included), as well as worked through solving all of the locks. You can read about students' work on an earlier library blog post. After a lot of problem solving, teamwork, and critical thinking, many groups were indeed able to break out.

Over the course of the school year, students participated in two additional breakouts--a completely digital breakout related to book series and MG/YA literature, and a poetry breakout that was a combination of physical and digital work. 

After successful breakouts last year, it's certain that 2019 - 2020 Literacy Studies students will be participating in more of them--stay tuned!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: K is for Kahoot!

Making our way through the ABCs of the DCGMS Library has us at letter K today--K is for Kahoot!

Access Kahoot! HERE

Our DCGMS students are familiar with Kahoot! as it's used in a variety of classes and in advisory, so it was a natural fit to use Kahoot! in the Literacy Studies class, too. After a quick search on Kahoot!, we came across the public Kahoot! called Fun With Reading, which was a great way to wrap up recent activities related book series, book recommendations, and book review writing.

Access the Kahoot! HERE

A good time was had by all as we worked through the Kahoot!, and with so many of the books already on our library shelves, it was a great way to book talk titles that may have been new to students.

ABCs of DCGMS Library: J is for January Jackets

Today's ABCs of DCGMS library post is brought to you by the letter J for January Jackets.

Photo by Thom Holmes on Unsplash

Here in Iowa, our winters--and January in particular!--can be wicked cold, but the jackets we featured were book jackets, of course! With just a little passive programming, we were able to focus our attention on several books, many of them new to the library just that month. Using a white board speech bubble from the Scholastic catalog, we highlighted multiple books from several different genres. Every book was spoken for after 3 days' time on the shelf; students were quite eager to read them! Mission accomplished!

See a book you're interested in reading? We still have them, and you're welcome to ask about the January Jackets books when school resumes. See you then!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: I is for Iowa State Award Books

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library post is brought to you by the letter I, and what better choice than looking at our middle grade Iowa State Award books!

Our state award books are some of the most circulated books in the collection every year, and previous years' nominees and winners are nearly as popular as the current nominees! Not only are these titles getting heavy promotion in our library, but they also are available to students in their reading teachers' classrooms.

Here are lists featuring this year's nominees:

Every year students participate in activities that highlight the state award books; you can read about our work with the Iowa Children's Choice Award nominees HERE, and our work with the Iowa Teen Award nominees HERE.

Maybe you've already read a few of this year's nominees? Stay tuned--we'll have new activities to relate to this year's nominees when school resumes! 

ABCs of DCGMS Library: H is for Hyperdoc

The letter H brings you today's ABCs post--H is for Hyperdoc. Another new activity from the Literacy Studies class was an activity in which students used a collaborative Hyperdoc to talk about books.

Image from Pixaby

The Hyperdoc that students used was a book talk/book share document that allowed them to complete a row within the document. Student chose a book, included the book cover along with another image, and then they linked a related website (author site, interview, book trailer, etc.) to one of the images. Finally, students wrote about something they learned from the book. The Hyperdoc appears below, and a copy is accessible by clicking on the link below the image.

LINK to access the template

Once students had completed their own row in the document, they read through one another's work and responded to at least two classmates with a question or comment related to the writer's original thinking. What a great way for students to see several books represented in one place and to be able to "talk" to peers and classmates about books!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: G is for Graphic Novels

Today's ABCs post features some of the most popular books in the collection--G is for graphic novels.

Photo by Miika Laaksonen on Unsplash

A quick search in circulation reports showed that graphic novels were checked out 1,282 times during the course of the school year! When we look at total circulations, that's 15.3% of all items checked out! Certainly, graphic novels are popular among students, and it's no wonder *why* they are: graphic novels are an easy-to-read blend of text and images with ever-expanding topics (family struggles/dysfunction, historical content, LGBTQ issues, and school themes to name just a few).

Some of the more popular graphic novels appear below:

And this particular interview with author Jarret Krosoczka prompted several students who'd not read a graphic novel before to try out his book Hey, Kiddo:

Haven't tried a graphic novel yet? Just stop by once school starts--we're happy to recommend something for you! Happy reading!