I don’t know about you, but I’m REALLY looking forward to a fresh start in 2021. With a New Year RIGHT around the corner and a couple extra hours of free time on my hands (thank you, Christmas break!), I decided it was time to hit up YouTube and try to get inspired to make my New Year the BEST YEAR EVER!
(Or at least better than 2020. But preferably the best year ever!)
I was looking for motivational videos to give me some productivity tips, get myself goal-focused, and just overall inspire me to be my best self and hit the ground running as we start the year.
But Then…There Was Inspiration Overload
It turns out there are A LOT of videos to choose from. As I sat on my couch and YouTubed it up, I must admit found it a little ironic that I was spending a decent amount of time watching YouTube videos…in an effort to learn how to get more done, to stop wasting time, and make the most of my life.
But they DO say you have to spend money to make money, SO I rationalized you might have to spend time to make time.
Or at least I had to spend time – but now if YOU are looking to get some tips and inspiration to start your year…without feeling that couch potato guilt…here is a short list of some of my favorites from the search.
I picked out videos that are short with actionable steps and/or a strong, inspiring message. Now you can cut to the chase and get a strong dose of positive New Year’s vibes in about 40 minutes with these five inspirational YouTube videos!
Most Likely to Stop You From Hitting Snooze: Mel Robbins: Why hitting “snooze” ruins your brain
I ended up watching a couple of helpful videos by Mel Robbins in my YouTube binge, but here’s a quick one to get this party started. Robbins talks about the brain science about why we need to wake up when our alarm goes off the first time, and introduces her “5-4-3-2-1” technique for getting out of bed. (I’ve only tried it once, but so far so good! Check out some of her other videos too to find out more about her 5 second rule and other ways it can be applied).
Most Likely to Build a Couple of Extra Hours into Your Week:How To Multiply Your Time | Rory Vaden
In this TEDx Talk, Rory Vaden makes some interesting points about prioritizing our tasks. For me, the reminders to automate and delegate tasks were big.
Most Likely to Get You to Look for Half-Full Glasses: Getting stuck in the negatives (and how to get unstuck) | Alison Ledgerwood
In her TEDx Talk, Alison Ledgerwood shares her interesting research about negativity and positivity. It turns out there’s a reason that a negative comment can do so much damage. My takeaway was to watch my negativity this year and try harder to focus on positivity and gratitude, whether I’m talking to a student, a family member, a colleague, or even myself.
Most Likely to Light a Little Fire in Your Teacher Heart as We Start 2021:Motivational Speaker for Teachers | Professional Development | Jeremy Anderson
Not quite ready to go back from Christmas break? In a short clip of a speech he delivered to 1,400 teachers, Jeremy Anderson hits you in the feels, reminds you about why you became a teacher, gets you pumped and jacked to go back to school after New Year’s.
I hope those vids gave you some thoughts and ideas to get you going in the New Year! Happy 2021 from So Blessed to Be a Teacher. 😁
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It’s probably safe to say there has never been a wackier back-to-school season. With COVID-19 forcing schools to hop back and forth between different possible scenarios for how school will look this year, so much is still up in the air for everyone.
As it stands, it sounds like I will be teaching in-person, but going into the classrooms instead of having students visit me in the library. But who knows when we’ll turn on a dime and enact either the hybrid or virtual learning backup plan?
I recently started exploring Boom Learning℠, and with all the uncertainty surrounding the new school year, I’m excited about the possibilities it provides. If you’ve never used it before, Boom Learning℠ is a platform on which students can complete interactive digital task cards. I’m excited to get my students started with this platform because it seems like it will be super easy to transition from using Boom Cards™ for in-person learning to using them as a part of virtual learning and back and forth as needed.
The Basics of Boom Cards™
Your students must be connected to the internet for Boom Cards™ to work.
They’re interactive task cards, so your students will be clicking on correct answers, dragging and dropping, or typing in responses on each card.
They cover many disciplines – from speech therapy to algebra to library skills.
They are designed by “teacher-authors,” just like the products on TpT.
They are self-checking and provide instant feedback (including a cheery little “Ding” sound when you get an answer correct. Click here to try a deck and enjoy the “Ding” for yourself!).
You as the teacher can view the data it collects when a student completes a deck of Boom Cards™ to gauge mastery.
The membership fees for teachers range from $0 to $35 a year, depending on what features you wish to use and how many students you have.
In addition to your membership fees, you can purchase additional “points” that can be used to buy more Boom decks in addition to the free ones.
You can open an account for free. I love to try before I buy!
I purchased the Ultimate plan for $35, which didn’t seem bad at all for a year’s subscription to an educational website. With this plan I have access to the entire library of free decks and am able to create as many decks as I want for up to 200 students.
There are a lot of decks available for free, and any that need to be purchased seem like a good investment since they can be used over and over again.
If you use free or for-purchase decks, Boom Cards™ are no-prep.
But, if you want to create a customized deck for your students, Boom provides you with that option as well. (And making decks is really fun!)
In addition to buying decks with points through the Boom Learning℠ website, you can also purchase them on TpT (where I hang out a lot anyway…and where I can use TpT giftcards).
Make Room for Boom
Since you can open a basic account for free, why not give it a go? I think we can all agree that the more tools we have in our teacher toolbox as we head into this school year, the better!
Here are a couple of simple FREE decks I have designed…feel free to give Boom a try with one of these freebie decks!
Click above to try out a FREE deck for the elementary school library!
Click above to try out a FREE deck for practicing addition facts!
You can also check out the whole collection of free and paid Boom decks I’ve designed here:
OR take a peek at them in my TpT store right here…where they are all ON SALE until 11:59 PM ET on August 6, 2020. Wahoo!
I haven’t written in a long time, because, really, what do you say?
So far 2020 has brought us problems that have never happened before, like COVID-19, and issues that have happened all too often before, like racism. It has been a storm of confusion for everyone, and teachers and students have had to process it all while trying out an uncharted teaching and learning lifestyle called “distance learning.”
It’s a lot for everybody. And it’s even more for some, especially those who have experienced the evils of racism firsthand, or those who are struggling to manage during the widespread economic hardships of 2020, or those who have lost a loved one to COVID-19.
I want to start writing light blog posts again about things like free TpT products and awesome books and super-duper fun school library ideas. And posts like that are on the way, because any type of normalcy provides at least a temporary escape from the perils and pains of right now, both for me and (I hope) for you too. And because, despite the obstacles of 2020, education, and life, must go on, and things like cute children’s books and free printables do add to the sparkle of teacher life.
But.
First, I want to address the bowels of 2020, even if what I put out there might feel inadequate to some.
I don’t have any of the answers, guys. But things need to change, and here’s my take.
Driving Change
This is what I know to be true about making things change.
1. Money can drive change. I’m no millionaire, but thanks be to God, my family has enough, and I have this blessing of this teeny, tiny business that I call So Blessed to Be a Teacher. Knowing that I am a (very, very small) part of the solution is worth a lot to me, especially in these crazy times, so 100% of my TpT profits for June went to charitable organizations (Water for South Sudan and Catholic Relief Services). And, as I mentioned early on in 2020, I’m planning to continue making donating to charity a regular part of what I do here at So Blessed to Be a Teacher. I truly believe that every little bit helps, and I think we have a shot at making this world work better again IF we share with other people.
2. Mindset can drive change. I love that quote attributed to Henry Ford that goes, “Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” We will get nowhere on any of these issues if we have a negative mindset or a belief that things can’t change. I’m sure every single one of us has had a chance to spin our wheels in plenty of negativity mud puddles in 2020 already. I think we can all agree that we’ll get moving a lot faster if we get out of the mud.
3. Prayer always drives change. Prayer works on so many levels that it always drives some type of change, big or small. Prayer humbles us. It reminds us of our place in the scheme of things, helping us feel both tiny in a big world and significant enough to matter to God. Prayer helps us to realize all that we have to be grateful for and where it all comes from. Prayer softens our hearts, changes our mindsets, and slowly chips away at our fears. It weaves us together as part of something bigger than ourselves. Prayer works to align our will to God’s. Prayer connects people all over the world and allows for conversation and collaboration with our Creator.
I don’t know how to solve 2020, but I wanted to share what has helped me so far. Feeling like I am a (teeny tiny) part of the solution keeps me going. In a nutshell, what I have to offer is: in 2020, there are many things that we can’t do and can’t control, but we CAN trust in the Lord, we CAN encourage each other to keep thinking positively, we CAN pray for each other, we CAN choose to be part of a positive change, we CAN view this broken world through a lens of love, and we CAN keep moving forward, one day at a time.
Hi friends! I hope you are all doing all right during this crazy time. My school was among many that shut down suddenly and unexpectedly on the 13th of March, for a minimum of three weeks, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, so, like many of you, I’m getting used to a new way of living.
Now, two days before the 13th, aka a million years ago, on Wednesday, March 11th, I was all super excited because my Teachers Pay Teachers store had reached 500 followers. I was planning a little celebration involving a new freebie, a sale, and maybe even a dance party, wahoo! That Wednesday, ideas bopped around happily in the little TpT section of my brain. But by Friday, the TpT part went into a temporary hibernation as I attempted to process the strange, new information that COVID-19 was so serious that my school closed. Oh, and not just mine, but basically all of them, and the entire world. Heh?
So I took a few days to adjust to this new lifestyle, and eventually decided I still want there to be a little celebration in the So Blessed to Be a Teacher world, because celebrations are happy and we all need happy right now. So, I modified my go-forward plan for how to celebrate my 500 followers. Here’s what I came up with.
1. I made the freebie that was bopping around my imagination on March 11. (It turned out cute, if I do say so myself! You can download it here). But it’s a poster to decorate your library, and, well, you probably aren’t there right now. So I decided that when you download it, you guys might feel the level of joy you’d get if you were receiving a free bucket of rock salt in July.
SO
2. I made two MORE little freebies that can be used on Google Classroom. It was my first attempt at designing resources with distance learning in mind. I would love if you could try them out and tell me what you think! (They are available for FREE here and here).
THEN
3. I set up a GIVEAWAY for my 500 Teachers Pay Teachers followers! (Because giveaways are fun no matter what!) One lucky follower of my store will win a $10 gift card to Teachers Pay Teachers. If you follow me on TpT, check your Teachers Pay Teachers inbox for the link to enter the giveaway. (Don’t follow me yet but want to start? Click here to start following me on TpT, and then send me an email or use the contact link above to tell me your follower number, and I’ll send you the link to enter! The winner will be chosen at 12 AM Eastern Time on March 27, 2020.) (**UPDATED 03/27/20: Congratulations to Julieann, the giveaway winner! Be sure to follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store so you will hear about sales, new products, and my next GIVEAWAY!)
AND
4. I set everything in my TpT store to go on sale from March 22, 2020 to March 25, 2020. Even though school is closed for now, sales are always fun, and some teachers actually have a little time browse around on TpT, so I figured, why not? In the spirit of my last blog post, I am going to donate 50% of profits during my sale to Save the Children, this time to help out with all the needs that are arising due to COVID-19, so it’s actually a great time to stock up on resources that you can use when we are past this wacky period of time! (**UPDATED 03/27/20: Thanks so much to those who made purchases during my sale! Your purchases made it possible for me to make a donation to Save the Children! Yeah!)
AND FINALLY
5. The dance party is on, but, COVID-19 distance learning style. Right now, wherever you are, bust a move!
May God bless you guys during this strange-but-true time we are living in. Stay well and keep taking it day by day!
Hey guys! Happy 2020! (Well, Happy First So Blessed to Be a Teacher Blog Post of 2020, anyway! I’m a little late on the Happy New Year wishes!)
I try to be realistic(ish) with my New Year’s resolutions, so I did NOT resolve to blog daily. (I know myself better than that!)
But I DID resolve to do something new with my blog this year. So here’s the scoop.
As you can tell by the name of this blog, I feel SO blessed to be a teacher. My work is challenging, fulfilling, and fun. And now, on top of the career I love, through TpT and my blog, I am able to design and share resources with teachers around the world…which is also challenging, fulfilling, and fun!
When I reflect on the abundance of blessings God has given me, I feel like it’s time to give back in a more intentional way this year. So here’s my new plan. Occasionally throughout 2020, I’m going to plan special days in which I donate a percentage of my TpT store proceeds to charity. I’ll let you all know beforehand by writing a blog post the day before and sharing where the money will be going!
I’m starting off this new plan TOMORROW, JANUARY 25, 2020, by donating 50% of my profits from sales that day to Save the Children’s emergency fund in support of the children who were affected by the bushfires in Australia. I’m super excited because, thanks to a #TpTGivesBack initiative, Teachers Pay Teachers is going to match my donation (and the donations of all teacher-authors who participate!) up to a total of $10,000.
So, if you’ve been thinking about checking out my store or have one of my products on your wish list, tomorrow is an awesome time to make a purchase!
Let’s work together to share our blessings and change the world in 2020!
My last post was all about FREE products on TpT for your school library. (Go visit it if you would like to download 50+ freebies that you can use in the library!)
After writing that post, I decided I was due to add a couple of brand new freebies for school librarians to my own TpT store. And I’m going to be honest with you…I kind of like these freebies…a lot.
I’ve had some time over this summer to reflect on teaching and my place in it all, and my conclusion has been this: if I don’t help kids learn to be kind, loving, accepting, compassionate, and hungry for knowledge, not much else matters. Realistically, a lot of what our kids are learning is going into their short-term memory and is on its way out after it gets chicken-scratched onto a test. Who they are becoming will last the rest of their lives. (I know that I’m not the first one to come up with this idea, but I feel like during certain seasons of life as a teacher and a parent, you look at the big picture more…and I guess that’s where I am right now.)
With that in mind, I posted a free coloring page I developed for my own students when I read the book Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller to them last year. I didn’t put it up because I think the coloring page is that amazing, or anything like that, but because I really hope that other teachers and librarians will read this book with their students, or will take the time, for no particular reason, to talk about kindness. Like, often. And if one day the kids want to color a picture while that talk is going on, so be it.
The second freebie, which I literally JUST put up right before I’m writing this post, is a poster set that addresses the idea that libraries are for everyone and that there is something for everyone in the library. At the last TpT sale, I picked up some super cute clip art of gorgeous, diverse kids (by Illumismart), which got me thinking about the awesomeness of libraries and how they are a perfect place for ALL types of kids to gather and learn together. The knowledge, entertainment, technology, and enrichment available in libraries appeal to all groups of people and can benefit anyone. Kids might seek out libraries for different reasons, but libraries are spaces for everybody in a community to grow in knowledge. So I designed this poster set for school librarians, classroom teachers, public librarians, or anyone to download and print, hoping that it will help students with different abilities and backgrounds to feel welcome to learn and create at their library.
If you are interested in either of these freebies, please please please download them, and don’t hesitate to show them to a friend who might be able to use them too. (I don’t think we can overdo the ideas of kindness, acceptance, and loving libraries and learning!)
In other news, TpT is having a one-day bonus sale on Tuesday, August 20, 2019, until 11:59 ET, and you can get up to 25% off everything in my store and around Teachers Pay Teachers! (With the school year RIGHT around the corner, I have informed my son and daughter to keep a close eye on me to keep my spending under control! I guess we’ll see how it goes…I do have candy to distract them if necessary!)
Happy New School Year! Wishing you a new school year full of love, libraries, sale prices, kindness, free stuff, candy, enthusiasm for learning, and everything awesome!
_____________ Disclosure: The banner below is an affiliate link. If you click through and make a purchase, I will receive compensation at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support of my blog!
(Disclosure: This blog post contains several affiliate links, and if you click through and make a purchase, I will receive compensation at no additional cost to you.)
(Note: This blog post also contains NUMEROUS just-because-I-love-you links to MANY free products on Teachers Pay Teachers, and if you click through and download the free products, nothing particularly exciting happens for me, but you get the FREE TpT resources! Wahoo!)
So…I’m sorry it has been a really, really long time since I’ve published a post. I’ve been, you know, teaching and momming and stuff.
And then, when I didn’t write for awhile, I felt like I needed to prove that I was not a total blog delinquent by making sure my next post was worth the long wait…
…and…here it is! It’s time for another list of FREE PRODUCTS that you can find on TpT and use in your school library. I have over 50 goodies to show you today! (If you’ve missed my other lists of freebies, click here and here to cash in on over 80 other free TpT products available for librarians!)
Here’s a quick and easy and science-y activity that your students can try in your makerspace! Teaching Tidbits and More with Jamie designed this freebie that lets kids experiment with making 3-D shapes out of card stock and seeing which shape is best at holding up books. It’s a great challenge for the library, since you probably have a book or two kicking around! 🙂
And here’s a super fun STEM challenge for the media center – Build a Gingerbread Man Trap by Smart Chick. It would work well with so many gingerbread-themed read aloud books!
Looking for a way to keep track of what’s going on in your makerspace? That Library Media Teacher has created this free product that includes both printable and digital surveys that students can fill out to share what types of activities they explore when they visit the makerspace!
Get your little library learners’ minds ready for coding with this hot dog themed offline coding activity by iGameMom STEM Learning!
And here’s another free activity courtesy of Teaching with Jackie. This one is just spectacular for practicing coding skills without devices. I tried it with my first grade students last year and I could almost see the lightbulbs lighting up above their heads as they started to understand the basic idea of coding!
If you want to take screen-free coding to the next level, you’ve got to try this free resource by Tess the Krafty Teacher. This product will help you get started with using a Code & Go Mouse to teach your students about coding! She also has another awesome freebie that’ll get you going with Bee Bots.
When you’re ready for your students to begin with online coding activities, check out this freebie from Mrs. J in the Library, which will help you get your students started with Scratch and Lightbot!
Kids love the “David” books by David Shannon! This printable activity by Little Miss Librarian helps students to think about proper library procedures by inviting the students to imagine that David takes a trip to the library! Your beginning-of-the-year review of library rules can be so much fun as your kids can imagine good choices and bad choices that David might make at the library!
Using a Card Catalog
Practicing with an online card catalog is a must in the library today. Help your upper elementary students gain proficiency with a card catalog with this free product from That Library Media Teacher. (After all, the better they are at finding stuff in the library, the less you have to find for them!)
And here is another free resource that can help your students as they use the card catalog! That Library Girl has put together a free form that will assist your kiddos by giving them an easy way to record the information they find when they look up a book.
Dewey Decimal System
Here is a free printable by Pooley Productions that can be used when your students study the Dewey Decimal System!
For the Little Guys and Gals
This is a derivative of an image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Give your younger students a chance to practice with a basic table of contents with this freebie by Christine Reed!
This free activity by Katie Blair Young asks students to figure out whether books are fiction or nonfiction and why. It’s great for reviewing fiction and nonfiction with your littlest library students!
ABC Order
With this autumn-themed alphabetical order freebie by Differentiation Station Creations, your students can practice the essential library skill of using ABC order!
And Deanna Cappucci has designed a cute free product so that your students can practice ABC order by alphabetizing each other’s names! (In the library, I could see this working well with first AND last names so that kids can get the idea of alphabetizing books by authors’ last names!)
Students can practice alphabetizing to the 2nd letter with this Earth Day ABC order freebie, available in More than Math by Mo’s store.
And here is a fantastic set of ABC order task cards! Thanks for the freebie, Erin J Murray!
Research and Reference Books
This printable activity by Teaching with Tamara allows kids to practice their dictionary skills while looking up some homonyms. When I SAW this resource, I knew it would be JUST RIGHT for this CURRENT blog post! 🙂
3…2…1…blastoff! Give your kids a chance to practice their research skills and learn about the planets with this freebie by Imaginative Teacher! Students could use this activity to practice with encyclopedias, and the product also includes a list of suggested websites the kids can use to research this topic!
Or your students could use reference books, along with other library resources, to do some totally fun animal research with this free product from The Library Patch!
Book Review Activities
Asking your students to recommend books to classmates can get kids excited about checking out books from the school library. Here is a cute Halloween-themed book review template designed by Kim Miller that you can have your students fill out to share their favorite library books with their friends!
Looking for other book review options? Here is another great and free book review form by Amanda Rose Resources! Or try this book review freebie by Josie’s Place!
Many students love to color, so it’s wonderful to have reading-themed coloring pages on hand for your fast finishers. Here is a great coloring sheet for your library by EveryLittleThing!
I don’t know about you, but I have a few students who are constantly telling me, “I forgot it was library day! I didn’t bring my book!” The Swamped Teacher has developed a freebie that will help with this very situation. By printing out these reminders and making them into magnets to send home with your students, you’ll help students and families remember to return library books!
Do you want to get your library students curious about some of your favorite books? This free, printable sign by Library Learners will give you an excuse to start chatting it up about a favorite title!
Here are some simple, cute, FREE forms you can send home with your students who have done an excellent job in the library. This freebie by Andrea Walkup makes it so easy to acknowledge students for good choices in the media center.
This free product from The Librarian’s Literature Links gives you a super-easy way to give classroom teachers information about what went on in your library class each week. The form includes a spot to point out star students, students who struggled, and students with overdue library books, as well as some basic information about what you did with the whole class. I’m planning to try using these in my school library this year!
Bookmarks
For a FREE, cute, and library-ish birthday gift for your students, how about these free birthday bookmarks, courtesy of Library Learners?!
ElementaryVibes has designed these free bookmarks featuring the Good Egg, the Cool Bean, and their friends. (How adorbs!)
Next, from Librarian Vickie, we have some posters that you can use to teach your students about different genres!
Decorate the walls of your library with these great library freebies – a set of reading quotes posters by Alexandra Stewart and a set of library-themed posters by BlackCoffeeBlackNails!
Encourage your library students to read with this printable “READ” banner set by Josie’s Place! Or here’s a “READ” poster set by Erin E Townsend!
And for more all-year-long-decoration fun, you can download this free product from Primary Teacher Solutions by Mark Johnson. These posters show children reading during each of the twelve months of the year!
And…here’s a free product from my store that you can use to decorate your library! I call these “Strive Stars” because I’m hoping that they will inspire kids to strive to do great things. This set includes nine printable pages, each containing a large star with an encouraging message along with a smaller blank star (just to make your display more visually appealing). Designed to save ink but still make a colorful display, these understated black-and-white stars can be printed on bright printer paper before you cut them out. (I like me some Astrobrights, but any colorful paper will work!) The set includes some stars that have a Christian theme as well as some with messages that would work in any school setting.
Clip Art
Teacher-librarians always need book clip art for different projects, so download this free clip art by Allison Fors that includes opened and closed books!
And here is some gorgeous clip art of kids reading by SchoolBoxTreasures! Perfect for library newsletters, overdue slips, worksheets, or whateva!
Let’s Hear it for Teachers Pay Teachers!
TpT really is a beautiful place. I just highlighted over 50 FREE products for librarians, and there are so many more terrific resources available there that will help your school library to be the best it can be. Feel free to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store (or the stores of any of these great TpT teacher-authors!) so you can discover other nifty resources that will help you save time and increase the overall awesomeness of your library!
**Thank you so much to the Teachers Pay Teachers teacher-authors who gave me permission to include links to their free resources in this post! For more freebies, click here and here to check out my other posts about free resources for your school library. Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss my next post!**
Disclosure: The banner below is an affiliate link. If you click through and make a purchase, I may receive compensation at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support of my blog!
I have some exciting and fun facts to share today as we move toward “Back-to-School” time!
Exciting and fun fact #1: It’s August!
Exciting and fun fact #2: It’s my blog’s birthday today! Wahoo! My little bloggie is one year old!
Exciting and fun fact #3: It’s the Teachers Pay Teachers Sitewide Sale! Two days only – the sale will end August 2, 2018, at 11:59 EST, to be quite exact. My store and many others are chock full of deals! Check it out before it’s over! (Update 08/03/2018: Well, the sale is over. But please feel free to visit my TpT store any day!) 🙂
Exciting and fun fact #4: I’m running a back-t0-school giveaway on Instagram! I have teamed up with six other ladies for a gift card giveaway! There will three winners – but hurry! If you want to enter, you need to do so by Friday, August 3, 2018 at 3:00 EST! (Update 08/04/2018:Congratulations to the winners of this giveaway! Please feel free to follow me on Instagram so you don’t miss any future giveaways!) 🙂
I guess that’s enough excitement for one day! See you soon!
Since you all know I’m a book person, I guess it doesn’t come as a big surprise that I am also a catalog person. (Well, at least I was when I was a kid and didn’t notice all the clutter that goes along with being on mailing lists!)
I remember afternoons as a kid, sitting there and thumbing through the glossy pages of the JCPenney catalog, looking at all the pretty things set up on pretty pages. I don’t subscribe to many catalogs anymore to try to avoid unnecessary piles of paper in my house (as opposed to the necessary piles that already take up too much space!). But now that back to school is approaching, I do allow myself to flip through the occasional back-to-school circular…and I also spend some quality time with the digital (so, not glossy, but still pretty) Teacher-Librarian Stores Catalog by my TpT colleague Mrs. J in the Library!
TpT is awesome, but let’s face it – it can be overwhelming sometimes! If you go to the site without a specific resource in mind, but instead you just want to window shop to find inspiration and ideas, there is a ton of stuff to wade through. I just typed “library” into the search bar and got 42,236 results. What?!
Mrs. J in the Library has been compiling this catalog for several years now to help offer school librarians a simplified, streamlined process for shopping for Teachers Pay Teachers materials for their school libraries. This year, it features ten teacher-authors who specialize in resources for the library/media center, and each page is full of clickable links to fabulous products that will work well in the school library. The catalog also includes back-to-school tips and ideas so you can do a little PD while you are browsing.
I am excited that my store is part of the catalog this year! Feel free to download it and look at the beautiful displays of libraryliciousness…without cluttering your desk.
I love working in a school library, but one of the parts of my job I have a tough time with is saying “thanks, but no thanks” to some of the donations that come in. I think most teachers and librarians LOVE books, and even when you’ve already got two copies of one particular Clifford book, it’s hard to say “no” to a third. I mean, it’s a book! It needs a reader, and for a reader to find it, it needs to live in a library, right?
As a result, in my early years at my job, I collected quite a mountain of donations that I thought I would maybe, someday, possibly catalog…but obviously that extra time never presented itself and many of the donated books just sat there, waiting and lonely.
Then, one day, these books got a new chance at life when I heard about a fabulous organization that can turn used books into a library for people who may never have had one before. The African Library Project builds libraries in different African countries and fills them with books collected through book drives held around the United States. By working with this organization, my school was able to build a school library in Ghana.
According to their website, since Chris Bradshaw began the African Library Project in 2005, they have helped to build 2384 libraries in the countries of Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Malawi, Swaziland, Botswana, Nigeria, Lesotho, Cameroon, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana (which is where the books from my school now live!). In order to help the African Library Project start an African library, a U.S. school (or organization, sports team, Scout troop, family, or awesome person) must collect at least 1000 books and $500 to ship the books. The U.S. groups and schools are paired with a site in Africa, which is neat because the U.S. groups will know exactly where their donations are going.
When I heard about the ALP and signed up to do a book drive at my school, the mountain of extra donations to my school library became our book drive’s very first donation. In a few weeks’ time, thanks to more book donations from students and volunteers, we had collected way more than the required 1000 books. It was then time to sort through the books to identify books that would be a good fit for our Ghanaian partner school, since the ALP has guidelines about what types of books are best to send. We found 1000 good ones and donated the others to other charities that collect books.
Since I work at a Catholic school where the students wear uniforms, a couple of “dress down days” was all it took to raise the $500 needed for shipping the books. The ALP has a pretty cool and cost-effective way of getting the books to Africa. Each book drive is packed up by the U.S. school or organization and mailed USPS to a warehouse in Louisiana. Then, a whole bunch of book drives from all over the nation are shipped by boat to Africa. It usually takes about $250 to mail 1000 books to Louisiana (when we did our book drive, we hit that figure almost on the nose), and then the ALP asks the folks behind each book drive to send another $250 check directly to the ALP, which, together with the money from other book drives, funds the boat trip to Africa.
Building Awareness and Library Skills While Building a Library
It obviously felt good to know that my lonely donations were going to be loved by children who may not have had an opportunity to love too many books before. But I wanted to make sure that my students benefited from this project, too, so I tried to help raise my students’ awareness and give them a chance to use their research skills during our book drive.
I had my seventh and eighth grade students use library resources to do some research about the country of Ghana, and then they wrote and illustrated picture books to share what they had learned with my younger students. I also spoke to all my classes about libraries around the world, explained that access to books is limited in some parts of the world, and tried to help my students realize how blessed they are that they are learning to read and that they have access to information. (I mean, really!?! How amazing is it that most Americans have access to THOUSANDS of books at their local public library, not to mention all the reading material online! What a blessing that we take for granted so often!)
Overall, my experience with the African Library Project was wonderful, and it was a great feeling to know that my school was a little part of this amazing project that is spreading literacy. Since we ran our book drive in 2013, other teachers in my school have held book drives to support other great organizations, so I haven’t been able to get a second ALP book drive together at school, but it is definitely something I would like to do again! There is something so special about the idea of one school helping another and one library getting another one started.
How awesome is it to think that somewhere in Ghana, that extra copy of a Clifford book that started out in a box in my library is helping to bring the joy of reading to a child?!
