A lot of these ideas could also work for a Percy Jackson party!! For us, we decided not to call it that so we could also focus on telling the stories too. The idea behind this program was to repli…
Don't let a short schedule keep you from providing engaging library programming. These 30-minute library lessons are perfect for librarians!
So, I posted recently that my sixth graders were writing a mystery that was going to take place in the library. I took two of the best mysteries that were submitted and combined them! Here's how our mystery looked: The Problem: Mrs. Svarda got to school on Monday morning and saw the mess. At first she was just mad that all of the books were out, then she saw that all the books were missing their endings. She picked up a book and noticed that the barcode was missing, too. She looked around and found that several books were missing their endings and barcodes. The scanners were also missing so no one could check out books! Then Mrs. Svarda was scared and mad. Who could've done such a thing? What happened here? How could this happen? She needed help. Starbelly Sneetch Alibi: It was 5:00 and I heard a knock on my door. It was Fox in Socks. He came in and I turned off my music and put away my IPod. We played at my house until we got bored. We decided it would be fun to go to the movies. We texted Hop On Pop and Yertle the Turtle to see if they wanted to come, too. Everyone came to the movie except Hop on Pop. After the movie we couldn't think of what to do so we walked around. We thought we might stop by the library to visit Hop On Pop. It started to rain as we walked so we stopped at Fox in Sock's house to pick up some blankets to keep dry on our walk. Hop On Pop Alibi: It was 5:00 and I was looking at my clock when the doorbell rang. It was Yertle the Turtle. He had brought me some homemade bread. He asked if I wanted to go to the mall. My mom said, "No. I had to work on my homework at the library." Yertle the Turtle got a text right after that asking if we wanted to go and see the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. Bummer. I really wanted to see a movie and hated that I had to go to the library instead. Yertle the Turtle left to meet everyone for the movie. I headed to the library with my homework. My animal report was due on Monday and mom said I couldn't do anything fun until I was finished with the report. The fun thing was that everyone came by the library after the movie and told me all about it. They had a great time. At 8:00, everyone had to head home. I had about thirty minutes left of homework, so I told them I'd have to stay around just a bit longer... Yertle the Turtle Alibi: It was 4:00 and I was cooking some homemade bread. When it was done I wanted to have some fun so I took some bread over to my friend Hop On Pop. I asked if he wanted to go to the mall, but then I got a text from Fox in Socks and Starbelly Sneetch asking if I wanted to go to the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. My mom said I could go to the movie, but his mom said he had to do homework. He tried not to show it, but boy, was he mad. I had to leave Hop On Pop to make it to the movie on time. I told him if we had time, we'd stop by the library after the movie to hang out with him. Fox in Socks' Alibi: I was sitting in my room when my mom came in and said when I finished my chores I could play. I decided to go over to Starbelly Sneetch's house to play. We thought it would be fun to go to see a movie and texted our friends to see if they could come, too. When the movie was over we went by my house to get some blankets because it was raining and we didn't want to get wet. Then, we headed to the library to visit Hop On Pop because he was doing homework there. At the library, I looked for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. I really liked the movie so I thought I would like the book. What the students do: When the students entered the library, they each grabbed a clipboard with a pencil, ingredients of a mystery checklist, alibis, map of the crime scene, and suspect list attached to it. They also grabbed a highlighter. I had the problem and alibis typed up on my SMART board including pictures of the characters. I read the problem and each alibi to the students. We walked through the ingredients of a mystery and checked off all of the mystery elements that our mystery had on the list. Then, I separated the students into two groups. One team surveyed the crime scene and drew the map of the evidence in the crime scene first. The second team worked in teams to read through the alibis and highlight evidence they found in the text that made them believe a character or characters might be guilty. After ten minutes, the teams swapped stations. We returned together as a group to discuss all of the evidence the students had found in the crime scene as well as the alibis that led them to believe that specific characters could be guilty of the crime. We completed the suspect list together. Students work in teams to highlight evidence in the alibis. Students sketched the crime scene. We taped off the crime scene with caution tape. The crime scene included Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, barcodes with fur on them (from characters), endings ripped out of the end of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books (these were really just copies I ripped), a blanket, movie ticketes (3), and a book about bumblebees (this was the book Hop On Pop was using to do his research for homework). I found the copies for the ingredients of a mystery checklist and suspect list from Beth Newingham's Scholastic post about the mystery unit she teaches in her classroom. The Solution The students really thought like detectives in this lesson! I did catch a few of them off guard with my red herrings, though. The fuzz on the barcodes made some of them immediately suspect Fox in Socks and the Starbelly Sneetch. One of the kids said, "This is the best lesson we've had in the library all year!" So, you can make whoever you want responsible for the crime. I decided that Hop On Pop was guilty. He was mad that he did not get to go to the movie with his friends. He was working on his report about bumblebees (since bears love honey) and had to stay later than his friends in the library to finish up. All of the other characters visited the library to visit Hop On Pop and they did not say anything about something being wrong in the library. Hop On Pop tore the endings out of the books when his friends left. To excite the kids about checking out mysteries in our library, we created a mystery display. All of the books were sealed in brown paper bags with the barcodes on the outside so we could check the books out without opening the bags. Each bag had a different mystery inside. This was a fun way for our students to try reading something new in the library and practice their detective skills we learned in our lesson together! Mystery books in mystery bags!
Practical tips and tricks to Teaching Kids to Sew. It isn't as hard as it sounds and kids will love to learn to sew with these great teaching kids to sew
The Library Adventure uses affiliate links, see our policies for more information.Kids ages 8 to 12 are often too busy with scheduled activities of their own to make it to library programs in the afternoons or evenings. For librarians who wish to increase attendance at programs for this age group, this can be very frustrating, […]
Struggle with making the library fun and engaging while keeping everyone on task? Try these 5 tips for school library classroom management.
Getting tweens into the library to do library activities and explore books takes some creative thinking. Activities that are interactive, fun, challenging, and hands-on are the best way to get started. We need curiosity and mystery in library activities that will keep them on the edge of their seats for more.
Haven't tried a book tasting with your students yet? This fun reading activity is an awesome way to introduce genres in your elementary classroom or library!
I want to try all of these.
This Football Jersey Name Sign requires very few supplies, is super simple, and creates a fun craft for your child and a reminder to put God first.
Don't you love simple crafts!? These pipe cleaner butterfly rings are so pretty and they're really easy to make. Pipe cleaner crafts are so much fun, especially when you can make something really awesome in less than 5 minutes using nothing but 2 and a half pipe cleaners! You don't need any glue, and you don't need any fancy supplies. Just pipe cleaners and a pair of scissors. This is such an awesome low mess craft for kids... and tweens, and teens, and adults... it's pretty great for all ages! These pipe cleaner butterflies are Part 2 in our pipe
Medieval period is a fascinating time to study, and these activities will bring it to life for tweens. From authentic recipes to knights and castles, there's something here for everyone.
Free library games and resources, including printables, worksheets, and slideshow presentations designed to help kids build library skills.
10 activity ideas to host a high-interest book carnival in your classroom to promote literacy and cultivate a culture of reading.
Teach your kids to touch type with Typesy, a homeschool typing program that combines video instruction and typing exercises that are customized to each individual student's needs.
To begin class, we talked about the basics of portrait drawing: your eyes are in the middle of your head, your head is 5 eyes wide, your neck is as wide as your pupils, etc. I had the students make…
oh! Guys! This is the funnest roundup ever! Grab some painter's tape and whip up some amazing activities, crafts and games with these fun hacks! Canvas Finger PaintingJumping Course Jump! Marbles Painting Craft Car
Explore ReadingChallengeGroup's 11 photos on Flickr!
These incredible sidewalk chalk ideas for kids will easily bust through summertime boredom with fun games, learning activities, & cool chalk art creations!
Over the last several years, I've done at lot of change up our library space at Stewart. Here's some of my tips to help you rethink your library.
Learn about France with this France preschool unit! Activities, crafts, food, songs, etc to give your child a taste of France.
These following directions drawing activity ideas will teach kids to listen carefully to instructions and interpret them.
Tessellations are a fun, hands-on way to explore STEAM, whether you are in art class, math class, or in a STEM or STEAM classroom. Certain basic shapes can be easily tessellated:
Use these 7 continents worksheet pagges to teach elementary age about CONTINENTS for kids. Grab continents book printable!
Download a set of 10 unique and creative printable drawing prompts that are sure to inspire your kids to create something amazing!
STEM teaching integrates the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics with a unique learning approach, presenting hands on and
Ozobots can be so much fun, but sometimes give you multiple problems. Here are some of the troubleshooting tricks I have discovered along the years of using Ozobots. I first purchased Ozobots for my classroom in 2015!! What really drew me in, was that that they do not need a computer or iPad to be ... Read more
Use a flat flashlight made by white paper to reveal the dark mysterious undersea created by kids
Use this free printable template to create paper quilt designs using squares. This geometry for kids activity is perfect for practicing spatial awareness, encouraging creativity, and can even be used as a collaborative art project! Are you following our Math for Kids Pinterest board? Recently we’ve been learning all about quilts! Studying quilts can provide …
Next week marks the start of National Library Week!
Reuse an old CD to make a spinning top- an easy craft for kids and a great science lesson on physics! This STEM / STEAM activity if perfect for kids of all ages and meets the NGSS for Kindergarten on pushes and pulls!
Use this crossword puzzle to introduce library skills to your class. It covers 27 vocabulary words and includes fun clues that kids will enjoy figuring out. Crossword puzzles make fun no prep activities for early finishers, bell ringers, morning work, handouts, homework, lesson plan supplements, sponge activities, introductions to new topics, classroom themes, and sub files and can be used for a test or quiz as well. The library vocabulary words included are: Archives, Biography, Books, Borrow, Call Number, Card, Catalog, Circulation Desk, Due Date, Encyclopedia, Fiction, Fine, Index, Internet, Keyword, Librarian, Loan, Online, Pass, Periodical, Quiet, Reference, Renew, Research, Section, Stacks, Study The puzzle comes in two versions: one with a helpful word bank (good for less experienced puzzlers) and one without the word bank for a more challenging worksheet. The puzzle also comes in color or black outline options, so there are a total of four versions for you to chose from. Solution included. If you like this library worksheet, you might also like: • Library Word Search • Library Bingo • Library Word Scramble We love FEEDBACK! And you earn CREDITS! • Log in to your Teachers Pay Teachers account. • Click on the drop down menu “My TpT”. • Select “My Purchases”. • Choose ratings and leave feedback. • Know that we love you for it! ♥ ♥ ♥ Puzzles to Print guarantees you the highest quality crosswords, word finds, cryptograms, Sudoku and number puzzles available.
here are over 70 best adorable back to school crafts that are guaranteed to get your kids excited about their first day of school.
Teen librarian Karen Jensen also shares where she gets her tween and teen craft ideas for programming in part 2 of this discussion
I want to try all of these.
As adults, we often walk into a bookstore with a certain genre we are ready to peruse the aisles for in order to find our next read. Would your students be able to do the
40 DIY Escape Room ideas for home! Ideas for puzzles and clues using materials from home for kids or adults. #35 is my favorite...
Looking for a fun way to hook kids into thinking about books, libraries, and all things literature? This resource has 40 kid-friendly, side-splitting LIBRARY JOKES to last you the entire school year! Since these jokes come on PowerPoint slides, you could easily project them onto the SmartBoard or Promethean Board, with no prep required! Short on technology? No problem! Just print the slides out instead! WHAT YOU GET WITH THIS RESOURCE: ☺ 80 full-color Library Joke of the Week PowerPoint slides (40 of the Question; 40 of the Question & Answer) ☺ A 3-page Library Joke of the Week Tracking List to help you stay organized ☺ An EDITABLE slide so you could add your own funny jokes (font and clipart not included) ☺ A PDF version to make printing easy WAYS TO USE THIS RESOURCE: ☺ On “Fun Fridays” to get the laughs rolling ☺ At the beginning of class to focus students’ attention ☺ At the end of class as a jovial goodbye ☺ As springboards for library discussions or conversations about word play ☺ As an eye-catching bulletin board display NOTE: You must have PowerPoint to use this resource. May the jokes be with you! CLICK HERE FOR MORE JOKE OF THE WEEK RESOURCES! Rating after downloading is greatly appreciated. Yours in Literacy, Sheila ☺
