September: Facebook Display

It is the start of a new school year and new displays! I found an awesome interactive Facebook themed display on pinterest from The Punny Librarian and since the Library has a dedicated Facebook page I thought this was a great idea to begin the new school year.

Students were encouraged to "Like" their favorite books by taking a "Like" bookmark, provided on the display, and placing it in their favorite books on the shelves in the stacks. In the top left corner of the display I put a sign explaining the interactive aspect of the display. My sign is only about 8", which is all the room I had, in the Punny Librarian's Display she created a very large sign, which would have been great if I had the space.

I then made several signs using Facebook logos and icons that I found on google and placed them all over the display.

I created the bookmarks by putting the "like" thumbs up on the top of the bookmark and then the word "Like" below it. Below that I told the students to like our Facebook page and provided the link. To hold the bookmarks I made a small sign and folded in the sides and base and taped it to the display:

July: Summer Reading Had Me A Blast Display

 

Check out my new summer display "Summer Reading Had Me A Blast." Sticking with the "Grease" theme I created a Grease type logo using a red car and instead of the words "grease" I used "read."

  In our collection we have two books that have records on the cover: Telegraph Avenue and Half-Blood. I used the cover images to make two two records and I printed out a few copies of each to put around the display. I then created music notes in Photoshop and cut them out to put on the display.

I found a "grease" type font and wrote the display name and then cut out the words and put them onto red construction paper.

A very easy display, but it turned out great!Feel free to use any of the signage/pics.

Bulletin Board: Dive Into Reading!

Dive into reading this summer! Over the summer I am working as a teacher/librarian for a K-5 private school. For the library's bulletin board I came up with "Dive into Reading." Using ocean/diving/swimming themed books that the library had, I created this cute bulletin board.

For the fish/ sea creatures I googled "baby fish" "ocean nursery" "sea creatures" and I also looked at examples on Pinterest and Etsy. I drew some of the creatures myself like the octopus and crab. You might notice that a few of the fish are from Dr. Seuss books. I cut out all the fish and drew on faces using a sharpie. Then I cut out starfish, seaweed and rocks. I chose to cut out larger letters than the 4" punches that the school had available.

I used the following books, I found the cover images online and printed them out and then added a colors piece of craft paper behind each one:

Samson the Hot Tub Bear by Wendy Tokuda

                                                       Sea of Dreams by Dennis Nolan

Samantha the Swimming Fairy by Daisy Meadows

                                                   The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Dark Day in the Deep Sea by Mary Pope Osborne

                                                The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Fish for Jimmy by Katie Yamasaki

                              Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha! by Barbara Park

Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman and Jacky Davis

                                      The Seals That Wouldn't Swim by Steve Brezenoff

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

  The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

April: Book Spine Poetry

April is National Poetry Month, to celebrate we have created a book spine poetry display. This is our second year creating this display and it has only grown in popularity with our students. Last year we dedicated one bookcase to the display and by the end of the two week display period we had piles of books sitting on nearby tables because they wouldn't fit in the bookcase. This year we dedicated two bookcases to the display, it has been up for one week so far and we only have two spots left for poems, crazy!

The first time we created the display none of the students had ever heard of book spine poetry before. I wanted to encourage them to give it a try and also show examples of what a book spine poem was. I accomplished this in three ways. First I created a book spine poetry board on our library pinterest page. I then created a sign that said "need inspiration?" and I provided a QR code that would take you to the book spine poetry examples.:

Second I made fake books out of construction paper and then I wrote titles of books on them and stacked them to make fake poems. I taped these fake books to the back of the bookcase shelves, it was a great way to show examples while leaving the shelves clear for the students work.

The third thing I did was make small quote bubbles that said things like "place your poem here", "Create a poem", "Your poem goes here".... Just another way to encourage the students. I unfortunately did not save the quote bubbles with the text in it, but I did save the blank ones. You can open these in Paint and write your own words of encouragement:

Once a student created a poem they would put their name on it. I made small pockets out of construction paper and put a note on it saying "Name cards" and then in some of the quote bubbles I wrote "don't forget to add your name," I then made some note cards for them to write their names on and then place the card on top of the poem.

For signage I wrote out letters saying "Make a Poem" for the top of the bookcase. and then I had a sign explaining the display on one of the shelves.

This has been an extremely successful display. I hope you give it a try at your library. Please feel free to use any of my signage!