Massachusetts School Library Association - Spotlight Archive

READ posters

6/9/2023

Anna Bognolo, Library Director
Eaglebrook School, Deerfield

Promoting reading with personalized posters.

Each school year I try to come up with a new, fun campaign to promote reading on my campus (we are a boarding school). Past examples include “Bookface Friday,” “Name that shredded banned book” and a “Book Tasting.”

This year, I wanted to create something that could be seen all over campus – in the classroom buildings, dormitory common rooms, on our social media pages. I’ve always loved the ALA’s READ posters but didn’t want to spend the money to purchase the Design Studio package. Instead, I asked the students on the library committee (the equivalent of a student advisory board) to suggest a plan for us to create our own READ posters. Since many of them are fans of the free, online graphic design platform Canva, they suggested that we use that. I agreed!

The students sent an email to their classmates, teachers and staff inviting them to pick a favorite book and a location where we could take a photo of them “reading,” which we would then turn into posters for our campus. Much to our surprise, we received a huge response, and the students and I had a great time taking the photos and creating the posters.

All-in-all it was a great, easy campaign that we will certainly do again in the future.

NOTE: Instructions on how to create your own READ posters at the end of this article.

Here are step-by-step instructions to help you create your own READ posters:

1. Invite your community to have their photo taken with their favorite book in their favorite reading spot at your school. We chose Banned Book Week this past autumn.
2. Use your mobile phone or iPad camera to take the photos.
3. Create a Canva account.
4. Select a blank Poster or Flyer template.
5. Upload your photo into the template and tweak as necessary.
6. Add text – READ or any other text to help spread the word about reading - and any other design elements you’d like to include. (All of our READ posters were slightly different).
7. Print, laminate or paste the poster onto a foam board.
8. Display throughout your school!

Love is in the Air @ the Lynnfield High School Library Media Center

2/7/2023

Janice Alpert

Janice Alpert, Library Media Specialist at Lynnfield High School

Blind Date with a Book...Speed Dating...Makerspace Chocolate-Making

As a high school library media specialist, I am continuously seeking ways to spark excitement in high school students about reading, books and the library media center. I strive to make the activities and displays fun, educational, and eye-catching enough to get them to avert their eyes from their phones and perhaps even pop out an airpod.

Little Free Library at Lawrence Academy

12/6/2022

Carine Aurelio, School Librarian at Lawrence Academy, Groton
caurelio@lacademy.edu

Lawrence Academy is an independent day and boarding high school with an international and diverse community. https://www.lacademy.edu/academics/mcdonald-library

Little Free Library:
Building community, inspiring readers, and sparking creativity

The Transformational Impact of Weeding

1/24/2022

Allison Connelly, Marti Smallidge

Alison Connelly and Marti Smallidge. Ms. Smallidge is finishing her MEd at Salem State. She will start a contract position at Stoneham Middle School in January.

Alison Connelly, Librarian
and Marti Smallidge, Library Intern

Stoneham High School
How a weeding project together with repurposed technology created a new and more functional meeting and learning space and increased the utilization of the library facility.

Virtual Escape Rooms: Another Tool in the Librarian’s Toolbox.

10/20/2021

Sarah Feldman

Sarah Feldman, Librarian
Gann Academy, Waltham

Last year, when access to the library was severely restricted due to our school’s health protocols, I needed to find a way to foster student connections with me and the library, provide instruction, and set up collaborations with teachers. One answer to this challenge came in the form of virtual escape rooms.

An escape room is basically a scavenger hunt, where, by solving clues, you move around a space until you can “unlock” the door and escape; a virtual escape room is a digital version of the escape room experience.

Student Podcasting - Building Community

12/28/2020

Luke Steere, Librarian
Wilson Middle School, Natick

Librarian Luke Steere and the students in the Library Advisory Committee used podcasting as an innovative way to build community and to reach out to students and teachers when the school pivoted to remote learning.

Bringing the Past to Life for Students

2/25/2020

Allison Connelly

Alison Connelly

Alison Connelly
Stoneham High School Librarian

The Stoneham High School Library officially opened its "History Learning Lab '' this past January. We turned one of our old library storage rooms into a hands-on museum! The History Lab is filled with artifacts from the time periods students are learning about in their classes, which is primarily the 20th century that includes WWI, WWII, Depression Era, Cold War, etc). The museum is curated and overseen by me, the school librarian. The idea is that students will be able to touch and interact with these items, making history and the people who lived it more real.

Messy Makerspace Sparks Big Thinking

1/17/2020

Aaron Reuland

Aaron Reuland

Aaron Reuland, Library Teacher
C.M. Callahan Elementary School, Norwood

Two years ago, I decided to transform my library into a makerspace. It was the best professional choice that I’ve ever made. Students still check out books and learn digital citizenship but now we also build, tinker, play and code. We make a lot of messes! We (me included) make mistakes and we (hopefully) learn from them. I’ve received and purchased materials from grants and also scrounged cardboard and unused supplies from every closet and attic at school and at home. I've spent summers building wind tubes and soldering circuits. It’s been hard, fun, work.

Revitalizing Your Library on a Budget

12/9/2019

Patsy Divver

Patsy Divver

Millis Middle/High School
Patsy Divver, School Librarian

With a little creativity, wise spending, and organization, YOUR library can be brand NEW! The Millis Middle/High school library definitely needed a change. When I started here in 2002, I updated the books but they hadn't been updated since. The 8’ high shelves were out of place and we hadn't changed tables for about ten years. The 30 year old rug had seen better days and the library was just not as inviting as it had the potential to be. Other than a new cafe table, the space needed some work.

Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School Makerspaces Inspire Students to Think and Create BIG!

11/5/2019

Jennifer Gordon

Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School Librarian, Jennifer Gordon

Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School Library
Jennifer Gordon, Librarian

Think, Create, Make - Makerspace Challenges - Big and Small
A few years ago, our technology director came to me with a question : Had I ever thought about creating a Makerspace in the Library? The answer was simple : yes! I’d already had the idea brewing in the back of my head, I just wasn’t sure how I wanted to work it into my schedule and my space. I took a few months to tinker, do a little bit of research, and test out my plans with a couple of classes. Fast forward to now: my students have a variety of opportunities to THINK, CREATE, and MAKE!

New Collaboration Space Showcases Students

5/21/2019

Three women are gathered next to one another. The one on the left has long blond wavy hair and she is wearing an ivory colored turtleneck sweater. The woman in the middle has shoulder length straight blond hair and is she wearing a tan shirt with a black cardigan. The woman on the right has short blond hair and she is wearing a teal sweater with a striped print scarf around her neck.

Westford Academy Library
Suzanne Harde, Library Media Specialist
Christin Monaghan, Library Media Specialist
Sarah Sullivan, After-School Library Assistant

Over the last few years the Westford Academy Library has undergone a physical transformation. Print resources were shifted to the periphery to open new spaces to allow students to collaborate more easily.

Building Fifth-Graders' Critical Thinking by Investigating Banned and Challenged Books at Hardy Elementary School

3/14/2019

A woman with shoulder-length dark hair is smiling. She is posed against a wall with her arms crossed. She is wearing a camel colored vest and a light gray, long-sleeved top.

Hardy Elementary School Library Teacher Lisa Rogers

John D. Hardy Elementary School Library
Lisa Rogers, Library Teacher

What? Harry Potter banned? Scary Stories II? The Lorax--challenged?
My students are outraged that someone would limit their freedom to read these favorites. Yet as we delve into the specifics, they become cautious. What about that masked man with a gun threatening a sleeping child in Steven Kellogg’s Pinkerton, Behave! What about the concealed nudity in Amy Timberlake’s The Dirty Cowboy—a book that first-graders find hilarious and but that fifth-graders find embarrassing?

Freshmen Foundations Class at Minnechaug Regional High School

2/4/2019

A female-presenting individual with curly black hair is pictured in a car. She is wearing a black top.

Dr. Georgina Trebbe, Information Specialist, Minnechaug Regional High School

Minnechaug Regional High School Information & Research Commons
Dr. Georgina Trebbe, Information Specialist

Each year, I especially strive for opportunities to reach every freshman. This year the opportunity came in the development of a new course. Starting in the 2018-2019 school year, Minnechaug Regional High School introduced the Freshmen Foundations course. Similar to other Massachusetts schools, Minnechaug’s Leadership Team determined students needed to build strong and consistent skills to meet the necessary rigor and metacognition aptitude surrounding independent reading, writing, and researching.

Laker TV at Silver Lake Regional High School Library

1/9/2019

A woman with short blonde hair is posed against a gray background. She is wearing a black top.

Linda Redding, Silver Lake Regional High School Librarian

Silver Lake Regional High School Library
Linda Redding, Librarian

From newscasts to sharing creative writing to weather reports, the Laker TV Studio provides an opportunity for students to go beyond being consumers of information to being creators of information. Students gain experience using television production technology, as well as develop and practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening .skills. The Laker TV studio is a fully operational studio with equipment donated by PACTV.

The Westborough Public School’s Diversity Literature Collection

11/26/2018

A woman with shoulder length brunette hair is smiling. The rest of her body is not really visible, but she is posed against a bookcase in the background.

Laura Beals D'Elia, Armstrong Elementary School Librarian

Laura Beals D'Elia, School Librarian
Armstrong Elementary School Library

It just so happened that 3 years ago when I started my position at the Armstrong Elementary School, the district also relocated the K-12 ELL Director, Maeve Hitzenbuhler, to the tiny office in my library. And it just so happened that I had been to enough of Judi Paradis’s ELL conference sessions about her relationship with her ELL staff that I knew that this was a good thing. And because we were so close to each other every day, it just so happened that Maeve and I began to talk about diversity, picture books, ELL students, and plenty of other interesting topics.

Makerspace at McDevitt Middle School

10/23/2018

A woman with curly dark hair is smiling. She is wearing glasses. There is a wall behind her.

Lucy Clerkin, McDevitt Middle School Librarian

McDevitt Middle School Library/ Ms. Clerkin's Tech Literacy Class
Lucy Clerkin, Librarian
Barbara Walsh, Library paraprofessional

When you have a library full of kids long before the start of the school day, it’s time to get creative, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. About three years ago, Library Teacher Lucy Clerkin and Library Paraprofessional Barbara Walsh, like many other library professionals, decided to build a MakerSpace. For us, that meant a space stocked with stuff mostly borrowed and found that we hoped would someday and somehow be transformed into something.

Kicking off the School Year at Algonquin Regional High School

9/16/2018

A white female-presenting person with short, red hair is standing against a green-yellow background, wearing a beige top.

Kimberly Honey, Algonquin Regional High School Librarian

Algonquin Regional High School Library
Kimberly Honey, Librarian

And they’re off! Every year I feel like the number seven horse charging out of the gate … the start of school is a frantic pace of get the library set up, supporting teachers, and jump starting all of the programming that you dreamed about over the summer. Well, seven days in and my head is spinning, but the Algonquin library has been rocking. September is still young, but we have had wonderful opportunities to work with the English and History departments.

5th Grade Student News at Greenlodge Elementary School, Dedham

6/6/2018

Sarah Bickel

Sarah Bickel, Greenlodge Elementary Librarian

Sarah Bickel, Librarian
Greenlodge Elementary School Library

After many iterations of school announcements, we have found success (for now)! We have a great crew of fifth grade news reporters who create a weekly video called Greenlodge News. This has allowed the school to cut down on the length of morning announcements, and more importantly, gives fifth graders the chance to become news reporters! In addition to collaborating with peers to interview and write up news reports, produce a video product, and use a green screen, students are much more confident because of the experience!

Banned Books Week at Stoneham High School

5/10/2018

Allison Connelly

Stoneham High School Librarian Alison Connelly

Allison Connelly, Librarian
Stoneham High School Library

I thought I’d share my experience from this past fall on the expansion of our yearly banned book week display to include an activity. We've been doing banned book displays for several years, and have invited teachers to bring their classes down to the library to take a look, but we’d never had a request to teach a class on banned books. I assumed no one had time with their jammed packed High School English curriculum to do it.

Happenings at the Concord-Carlisle Regional High School Learning Commons

3/29/2018

Three people are dressed up in Halloween costumes. The woman on the left side is dressed as a witch, the man in the middle is dressed as a ship captain, and the woman on the right is dressed as a cheerleader.

Robin Cicchetti, Assistant Librarian Max Close, and Assistant Librarian Lou Ann Franke in their Halloween costumes.

Concord-Carlisle High School Learning Commons
Dr. Robin Cicchetti, Head Librarian

The Concord-Carlisle Regional High School Learning Commons is a busy place! For the past ten years we have conducted head counts once per block, and our data tells us that last year we hosted 65,718 student visits, not counting visiting class or before/after school activities. Our lively after school club program, overseen by library assistant Max Close, runs until 5pm daily.

Graphic Novel Unit at the Fenn School, Concord

2/20/2018

A woman with shoulder-length dark hair is posed against a blurred background of trees. She is wearing blue earrings, a black pearl necklace, and a magenta top.

Liza Halley, Library Teacher, Fenn School

Fenn School Library
Liza Halley, Library Teacher
Sam Kane, Library Director
Teaching graphic novels is a great passion of mine. The following is a brief overview of a graphic novel unit for fourth grade students at the Fenn School in Concord. What follows is an explanation of how the unit was structured, what I learned from the experience and tools you can use if you decide to try something like this in your own library.

Robotics at Norwood Elementary School Libraries

1/13/2018

A woman with curly brown hair is pictured against an outdoor background of trees. She is smiling and wearing a pale purple top.

Donna Miller, Norwood Public Schools

Norwood Elementary Schools
Oldham Elementary (Donna Miller)
Balch Elementary (Lora Roberts)
Callahan Elementary (Aaron Reuland)
Cleveland Elementary (Annmarie Higgins)

Podcasting and Media Production at Winthrop School

12/8/2017

A woman with black hair is wearing glasses. She is taking a close-up selfie of herself.

Karen Sekiguchi, Winthrop School Librarian

Winthrop School Library
Librarian: Karen Sekiguchi
In the 2016-2017 school year, Winthrop School, a PreK-5 elementary school in Ipswich, purchased new computers and podcasting equipment to create a media production center in the library. Winthrop has encouraged content creation vs. consumption over the years by providing cameras of all types to students and teachers, but the school did not have a dedicated space for working on multimedia projects.

Library Renovation at Lunenburg Middle-High School Library

10/27/2017

A woman is standing in front of a house wearing sunglasses. She has long, curly, dark hair, and is wearing a scarf around her neck.

Lunenburg Middle-High School Librarian Pam Vallee

Librarian: Pamela Vallee The new Lunenburg Middle-High School library opened in August 2016 and includes a sunny room of comfy chairs, outdoor seating, a Media Cafe, library classroom, and lots of group work spaces. The new library is gorgeous and spacious, and my goal has been to transform the empty space into a welcoming library shared by all students in grades 6 through 12. I have been the Lunenburg High School library media specialist since October 2000, and this is my second year as both the middle and high school library media specialist. Although it has been a challenge trying to assist so many students and teachers, I realize I am uniquely situated to know and reach every student in the building.

Library Internship Program at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School

9/18/2017

Two women pose in front of a book case. One is blonde and wearing a denim jacket over a coral colored top. The other is a brunette wearing a black dress with a gray sweater on top.

Librarian Amy McHugh and senior intern Katie Wrobel

Librarian: Amy McHugh

Is there anything better than a win-win? Not at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School’s Library, which is hosting its second year of a pilot library internship for students. Student interns were put to work after brainstorming ways to get reliable helpers who would understand all aspects of the job and be a consistent presence in the library. The results have been fantastic.

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