Programming: engaging students through events, displays, & more!
Teen Read WeekThis is one of the first programs of the year. It is a casual program, encouraging students to participate both in the library and beyond by completing Bingo Reading boards, display proposals, and scavenger hunts. There is also a tie-in with Banned Book Week as well as an opportunity for students and staff to feature in their very own 24" by 36" Read! poster thanks to the software from the ALA.
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Teen Tech WeekTeen Tech Week is one of our biggest programs of the year. It's a collaborative effort from the library, technology office, and Da Vinci Workshop. A different student club sponsors each day of the week by hosting a technology related learning experience in the cafeteria or library. This has including robotics, virtual reality, Makey-Makeys, tech crafts, and more. Additionally, there is an ever-growing “History of Technology” exhibit in the library displaying cameras, phones, computers, and more from the past five decades. Lastly, there is a technology scavenger hunt whereby students can earn points for each accomplished task. Prizes were generously supplied by our PTC. This year, we also promoted #sparkchange in honor of YALSA’s theme.
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Novel March MadnessThis is a school-wide challenge to name a single book the victor. Students and staff spend the month of February nominating titles for the competition and the top sixteen are randomly assigned brackets for the Library March Madness competition. Each week, students and staff vote for books in each bracket. With each vote, students are entered into a weekly lottery. At the end of each week, the bracket winners as well as the student lottery winners are announced. By week two, there are eight remaining titles and by week three, half as many again. In week four, the final two titles compete for the honor of Library March Madness winner. Last year, To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee won and this year, it was Tuesdays with Morrie by Albom.
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Poetry MonthThroughout the month of April, the library displays a wall of magnetic poetry, stacks of books with interesting titles, and piles of pages from discarded books paired with markers of different colors. Students are encouraged to create poetry out of anything and to see poetry in everything.
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READ BoxThe dynamic displays in the library are ever-changing, but this structure is always a student favorite!
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DiversityThere are many ways we celebrate diversity in the library, including cultivating a collection that contains books written by diverse authors and contain diverse characters. Shelf talkers are one way we highlight this component of the collection. These labels have photographs and biographical information about the authors and are found throughout the library.
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Book Blind DateNot everyone loves Valentine’s Day, but with a display like this, students can meet an unlikely book and walk away with a chocolate and a balloon at checkout.
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Goals for Growth
Book ClubThere is currently a small book club of graduating seniors which serves as both a challenge and opportunity for growth in the coming years. It is my goal that not only can we reach more readers, but that we will also be able to work with magazines such as VOYA, that can provide ARCs as well as a platform to publish teen-written reviews
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