Tales from a Loud Librarian

Why do I bother to celebrate Teen Read Week (TRW)?  Student interpretation of "It's Written in the Stars" I have a steady stream of students in the library every day at all three lunches, and I do not need a special week of programming to encourage students to walk in the doors of the library. But TRW is an annual event, and I want my kids to have fond memories of all our TRW activities over the years that they attend this school. I like tradtions, and this tradition started when I came to the school, so it means a lot to me to keep it going.  Playing the guessing game Over the years, my students and I have developed programming for TRW that is altered and edited every year but always has the same components. As such, planning is pretty simple. We look at the theme set by YALSA and adjust all our activities to fit that theme.  Crafting tissue stars These are the events that are always scheduled: showing of an episode from Twilight Zone with trea...

It’s Written in the Stars @ PFTSTA Library Teen Read Week October 9 th -12 th 1.  Annual Library Book Mark Contest : Two winners, one from middle  school and one from high school, will receive a $20 gift card to Amazon,  and their bookmark reproduced to give away to the PFTSTA community.  You can visit the library for a hard copy or  open here :  bit.ly/bookmarkcontest2018  to print out from the web. All bookmarks are due in the library by Wednesday, October 24 th  at 2:30PM.  3.  Now showing in your library : Visit the library at lunch on Tuesday to  watch "Third from the Sun" an episode of the television show  The Twilight Zone .  A treat will be served. 2.  Who is the star? Guessing Game : On Wednesday and Friday, visit the  library to get a clue about a starring character in a book or a starring  actor in a movie. If you guess the n...

Teen Read Week (TRW) happens during lunch in the school library. Since there are three lunch periods, we celebrated from 11AM to 1:10PM every day. In years previous, we had two lunches, and  it was so much easier to schedule students to help run the activities, but now it is just more difficult to manage multiple activities on one day like we did in the past. Also, with the number of students growing to 700 this year, it means that I have to simplify the plan for TRW to make it work and keep my sanity.  The theme of TRW this year was "Unleash your Story." We put the focus on character through all our activities. We started the week with a showing of a Twilight Zone episode. This year we showed "100 Yards to the Rim." This episode is all about the main character who travels in time from 1847 to 1961. All he wants is to find a new home out west for his family. His travel through time allows him to do just that. It was a hit. We also showed an animate...

If it is mid-October, then that means Teen Read Week must have arrived. We have been celebrating TRW at PFTSTA in some fashion since I became librarian there in 2006. Every year, I tap the library book groups in high school to help me plan. We take the activities we did the year before and fit them into the theme that YALSA has set for the year. There is always a video showing of an episode from the Tiwlight Zone, a guessing game, a craft activity, photo op, and guess the number of candies in a jar. It makes my life easier to have programs that work repeated every year, and the kids have something to look forward to that has generated some excitement the year before. You can find a list of all the activities that we have planned on the library website . When the week is over, I will post pictures from TRW on the same link. Happy Teen Read Week!

 2016 Book Fair I really did myself in by planning a book fair one week and Teen Read Week the next. Unfortunately, both weeks were out of my control. We now schedule the book fair during the two days that the grandparents visit the school for breakfast. This has proven very lucrative for the library, and I like promoting a fund raiser that promotes books and reading. The grandparents like buying books for their grandchildren. It is a win win situation. This year we grossed $300 more than last at the book fair, and the library received a net profit of $1500 plus just over $300 in Scholastic dollars to spend on new books for the library. This is the only fund raiser that the library holds during the year. I also raise a few hundred dollars a year in fines which I strongly believe in. More on fines at a later date. I always try to schedule Teen Read Week (TRW) during the week that YALSA has it on the calendar. I know that really isn't crucial, but it is what I li...

When the 2015-16 school year opened, PFTSTA had a growth spurt of 100 more students than last year. These additional students meant that the cafeteria could no longer fit the students in two lunch periods. Now there are three separate lunches. The library opens for the 6th and 7th graders lunch period at 11:00 and concludes at 1:07 when the 8th graders report to fourth period. I wasn't sure how this would play out for Teen READ Week (TRW) because the members of the high school book group always ran the events held during both lunches. The high school students are in third period when the little ones have their lunch. I decided that it was important for me to simplify this year, and in the end, I had helpers from both the middle school book group and the high school book group.It worked out that I did have the extra pairs of hands that I sorely needed. Also, I lost  a day of celebration when the students had no school on Monday due to the day of professional development and par...

      You too can TRAVEL to unknown lands through books Teen Read Week October 20 th —23 th 1. Annual Library Book Mark Contest : Two winners, one from middle school and one from high school, will receive a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card, and their bookmark reproduced to give away to the PFTSTA community. You can visit the library for a hard copy or open here: http://bit.ly/bookmarkcontest2015  to print out from the web. All bookmarks are due in the library by Wednesday, October 29 th at 2:30PM.  2. Now showing in your library :  Visit the common area outside the library at lunch on Tuesday the 20 th to watch “Elegy,” an episode of the television show  The Twilight Zone . In this episode, three astronauts find that their rocket has landed on a very strange but Earth-like planet. A treat will be served. 3. Travel Guessing Game :  On Wednesday the 21 st and Friday the 23 rd during Teen Read Week, yo...

Dream Catchers  Every year, I enlist the help of members of the high school book group, Bookmarked, to help me plan and execute all the activities for Teen READ Week . Because let's face it, it is the middle school students who get excited about the games and contests that we plan. There are always some high schoolers who participate, but it is the younger ones who get into the spirit of the week with gusto. This year was no different. Each day students could answer the clues for the guessing game that we play in some variation every year, as well as another special activity for each day during lunch.  No, she did not guess the correct number of candy bars Creating a dream catcher takes a lot of concentration When we began planning, none of us was taken by the theme Turn your Dreams into Reality. The idea of careers and jobs just didn't seem very exciting for TRW. It turned out to be a great theme. Our clues for the guessing game revolved around the jobs of ...