School Library Month is speeding towards us! Last year was my second year at my high school, and I was able to get a few small events and activities together in time for SLM. This year I challenged myself to up the ante, and dive in. Here’s what I’ve got planned so far. What exciting things do you have planned for SLM?
Feel free to reuse anything you find here, as long as it does not include photos of my students!
- Articles I will share with staff throughout April:
- Printable PDF versions of everything shown below:
- **My Menus
How I’ll Advertise for School Library Month
- I’ll send out an invitation/flyer to my staff, letting them know that April is School Library Month and which activities we will be hosting.
- I’ll present at our April faculty meeting for 3-5 minutes at the meeting to let teachers know about SLM, a couple library statistics, and to announce the events we’ll be hosting.
Hosting a staff party
I’ll invite staff to a party in the library to celebrate SLM. During the after school party, we’ll have:
- Snacks:
- I asked my Principal if she would use some of her building budget to provide snacks for the party. She graciously agreed! So we’ll have cookies and lemonade for the party. My assistant and I will also bring snacks. Snacks always get people in the door đŸ™‚
- Library Info Slideshow:
- I’ll have a slideshow playing on the projector screen during the party to advocate for our library. You can see the slideshow below. It includes information on our library, pictures, and some stats and data about libraries in general.
- 2019 School Library Month Slide Presentation
- Raffle Giveaways:
- We make large community coloring posters which the students color in the library. We’ll be making a few smaller ones and raffling them off to teachers who attend the party. This way they get free classroom decorations! You can see a picture of some of the posters we raffled off last year!
- Tour your library!
- I’ll post signs around the library with information about the library and the different sections of the library. Staff will be able to circulate the room and learn a little bit while they do, during the party.
- Selfie Station
- I’ll have a “photo booth” with library related props, as well as a “book face” station for teachers to play with during the party.
- This is the selfie station background bulletin board
- Here are the props: Printable Library Photo Booth Props
- Brain break activities:
- At the party, teachers will have the chance to enjoy some of the brain break activities we provide every day to students. They can play a game like connect four or battleship with each other, try out our giant scrabble board, create their own bookmark, or color at our coloring table. They will also be able to make bookmarks or blackout poetry.
- Infographics
- I will have various infographics printed and displayed around the library.
- Free posters
- I will have our copy center color print and laminate a bunch of these posters. Staff will be able to take a poster for their room!
- “What your library can do for you” handouts
- I’ll have my library services menus at hand so teachers can see the many ways their library can help them!
Offering Professional Development Opportunities
- During April and May I will be offering professional development sessions on hot topics for my staff.
Other Programs & Activities
- Author Visit!
- We are lucky to have authors Kwame Alexander and Kip Wilson coming to our school in April.
- Tell me what you love about the library!
- Throughout the rest of March I will have these cards out. Students will be able to fill them out and give them back to me. During April I will post them all around the library so everyone can enjoy seeing what our students (and teachers) love about the library!
- Printable version of I Love My Library Because cards
- Trivia:
- I’ll provide library trivia throughout the library and library social media throughout April.
- Contests & Giveaways
- I’ll do weekly contest and giveaways (using lollipops as the prize) for my students. Most of these will occur on the library instagram. To win, students will need to follow the instagram account. I did this last year and it is one way we got so many students to follow the instagram account lol!
Phew, I’m tried just thinking about all these plans! Could I be biting off more than I can chew? MAYBE! But I’m excited to give all these plans a try. I’ll definitely post an update at the end of April to let you know how everything works out!
Don't Shush Me! 
Ummmm – WOW! Just WOW! You are truly kickin’ butt as the GVHS librarian đŸ™‚
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
These resources are outstanding! Thanks so much for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re very welcome!
LikeLike
So generous with your resources! Thank you for being a leader in our field.
LikeLike
This is fantastic! I love your library menu but don’t see that included as a print out. Would you mind sharing? It’s just so hard to see on here that I would like to print it out and tweak it for my library. That is if you don’t mind!
LikeLike
Yep, Ill upload them in a minute onto the page!
LikeLike