Tag Archives: Students

Communication, Writing

Students in grades 4-12 can participate in Letters About Literature!

 

Do you work with students who love reading? Help them enter the Letters About Literature Contest! Readers can write a letter to an author of any genre, living or dead, describing how their book changed their views of themselves or the world.

“Minnesota students in grades 4 through 12 are eligible to enter the annual essay contest. Sponsored nationally by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the contest asks readers to write a letter to an author describing how his or her work touched their life in a personal way.”

There are three different levels of the competition, divided by grade level, as well as a cash prize for national winners! You can get more information on this PDF flyer, or find out rules and enter the contest by visiting the contest’s website.

Children's services, Writing, Young Adults

Tech Resources for Poetry

April is National Poetry Month! Poetry can sometimes be intimidating to students, but there are fun ways to get them involved in appreciating and creating poetry.

This article from School Library Journal is packed with a ton of unique ideas for helping students uncover the delights of poetry. Some of these ideas include:

Plus, the article describes initiatives different libraries are taking to incorporate poetry into student activities. It’s always encouraging to see the cool things that happen in libraries across the country.

Happy Poetry Month!

 

 

Books, Young Adults

Young Adult Nonfiction Display

Shelves of Language Books in LibraryPassing this on, to get your suggestions!

“I am working on a presentation at the end of April on boosting our youth NF collection and want to see what everyone is doing out there. The more we can share, the merrier!
So far, I have seen/heard/done:
CATALOGING
  • Grouping NF in larger non-dewey order using BISAC or METIS
  • Combining non-fiction and picture books together under broad categories
  • Simplifying NF by radically shortening Dewey numbers and creatively replacing Cutter # (so all football books become 796 F; all baseball books become 796 B)
DISPLAY
  • Lots of face-out displays in or on top of shelves
  • Creating “book bundles” with 2-4 related NF books inc. bios and poetry and/or mixed bundles of NF and fiction
  • Include in “blind date with a book” and “mystery read” packs
OUTREACH
  • Include NF in all grade specific booklists
  • Include NF in booktalks at school
  • Include NF in book collections sent out to schools, day care sites and etc
PROGRAMMING
  • Display NF books in all STEM/STEAM programming
  • Include NF in any passive programs or room scavenger hunts
What else do you have?
I will share results on the Tiny Tips blog in May!
TIA, Marge”
Communication, General, Resources, School Media Specialist, Writing

Notable Date to Celebrate: April 10th is Encourage a Young Writer Day!

You probably already know that at CMLE, we offer a service called “Notable Dates for your Noggin” which feature special holidays and birthdays of authors, as well as publications of well-known books. In an effort to help you get more from this service, we’ve decided to select one “Notable Date” each month to feature. We will include a few fun programming and activity ideas too, all for you to use!

April 10th is Encourage a Young Writer Day.

There are lots of ways to encourage a young writer in your classroom, library, or life.  Check out these great gift ideas for young writers or find some neat journals from Amazon. If you’re feeling crafty, work together and make your own book to write in!

Looking for words of wisdom on the subject? This article is written from a homeschool perspective but has great suggestions for encouraging writing in kids of all ages. Check out what author Anne Lamott has to say to aspiring writers, or read this article specifically aimed at helping teen writers.

Of course, the best way to get kids writing is to make sure they read! Going to the library is probably the best encouragement of all! 🙂

Conference, Research

CFP: Improving Library Services in Support of International Students and English as a Second Language (ESL) Learners

ELL
CMLE members: I know many of you are working with international patrons, and patrons who are emerging bilingual/English is their second language. This is a good opportunity to share your work with other people! If you would like some help with this proposal, or with writing about your work – just check in with us at CMLE Headquarters! We are always available to help you with research, writing, conference proposals, or anything else you might need!

Call for Chapter Proposals 

Improving Library Services in Support of International Students and English as a Second Language (ESL) Learners (working title) 

Editors – Leila Rod-Welch & Kendra Skellen  
Proposal submission deadline: April 30, 2017   
Continue reading CFP: Improving Library Services in Support of International Students and English as a Second Language (ESL) Learners →