First Two Weeks of the 18-19 School Year

School always starts so quickly, and even though the librarians in my district are suppose to have two weeks at the beginning of school to get the library ready, I usually jump in with both feet. The middle school teachers wanted orientation as quickly as possible. I obliged, but I was not very clever with my presentation this year. Laptops weren't out yet to the students so the teachers were clamoring for the iPad carts. That meant that I would not be able to do something interactive with technology. I just didn't have time to figure out a way to complete orientation a different way. I revisited my power point from last year, made some edits and went with it. I did find a Buzz Feed list of the 18 Magical Ways that Harry Potter Changed my Life. I used this as my jumping off point of why books are important and that everyone can find their Harry Potter even if that book series is not the one for you. I went through a handful of the 18 ways and asked the students to explain what the speaker of the quote meant by what they said. It was interesting to note that the 6th graders had much more to say about the quotes than even the 7th or 8th graders. I even showed the list to my high school book group, and those students were really interested in all 18. Many of them could say that Harry Potter changed their lives. The biggest change was the way that it made them love books and reading.

Below are some pictures of our new students and returning students enjoying the first couple of weeks in the library with books and the makerspace materials---giving you a snapshot of what the day to day looks like.