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You are here: Home / School Library / More Ideas for Back to School in the Library

July 28, 2020 by: Laura

More Ideas for Back to School in the Library

Last Updated on February 12, 2022 by Laura

Trapp Back to School Library Ideas

A couple of weeks ago I shared some ideas for school librarians as they get ready to go back to school. As more and more librarians find out what their unique back-to-school situations may be, whether face-to-face teaching, blended learning, or distance learning, they are scrambling to make back to school plans. So I’ve got a few more back to school library ideas for you!

(Be sure to read through the end so you can connect with 8 of my school librarian pals for more back to school library goodness!)

Make a Photo Badge

Back to School Library Ideas Photo Badge Behind the Mask

If you are doing any of your teaching in person, you will most likely be wearing a mask, and possibly a face shield as well. Remind your old students of the friendly face behind the mask with a photo badge that you wear. You can attach a larger version to your cart, or display in your library. This will help any new students know what you look like in real life too! I created my badge in PowerPoint and can print it full size for a poster, or a smaller size for a badge.

Organize Your Library Cart

Back to School Library Cart Ideas
Photo by Tim Gouw from Pexels

Traveling from room to room and teaching from a cart aren’t brand new concepts. But the reality of going back to school during a pandemic is creating a new. larger group of educators looking at the cart scenario. Education Week Teacher has some terrific ideas shared by educators who have already been teaching from a cart. Be sure to scroll down in the article to watch the video! I like the ideas about decorating and personalizing your cart, adding a bike bell, and a coffee cup holder! You will also want to make a list of the essential items you need to bring with you. Some items to consider:

  • baskets for book deliveries
  • a laptop
  • class folders
  • bins for individually bagged supplies

Let AASL Be Your Guide

AASL School Librarian Role in Pandemic

Take a look at the newly released document, “School Librarian Role in Pandemic Learning Conditions.” This chart and resource is a thoughtful guide as school librarians prepare for heading back to a variety of teaching and learning situations. AASL helps us consider our various roles of instructional partner, teacher, leader, information specialist, and program administrator. The resource breaks down each role in light of face-to-face, blended learning, and distance learning scenarios, presenting challenges and opportunities for each. Many helpful articles are linked up in this document – be sure to look at them too! For more helpful information from ALA and AASL, take a look at Pandemic Resources for School Librarians.

Build a Culture of Reading

Back to School Library Build a Culture of Reading
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

It’s no secret that I believe we should all be advocating and planning for safe and healthy procedures that allow our students to check out books. With guidance from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and revised circulation policies, most of us can make this work. Now is the time to plan for how it will work in your school. If you are going to be eliminating browsing and implementing a pick-up or delivery system, take a look at Shannon McClintock Miller’s Book Hub idea!

If you are not able to utilize your print collection for the upcoming year, it is a good time to collaborate with your local public library. Teach your teachers, students, and families about what the library has to offer, provide library card applications, and highlight online resources.

Now is the ideal time to help your school community learn how to access your eBook collection. Create some video tutorials for teachers, students, and families, and teach an in-person lesson on eBooks if you have the chance. If you don’t have eBooks yet, I recommend that you look into an Overdrive subscription. Be sure to take a look at the free access to Epic School for the upcoming school year as well.

Connect with School Librarians

School librarians are creative problem solvers. We find solutions and make things happen. And we are most definitely stronger together! So, please hop along through our blogs and make some new friends! We are here to support you during this crazier-than-ever back to school season.

You can read all of the helpful blog posts here:

Collaborate with your Specials on Classroom Management (That Library Girl)

Library Orientation Picture Books (Library Learners)

Google Sites and Google Classroom (Fifth in the Middle)

Creating a Culture of Reading (Teaching with Tiff)

Build Your Google Site (The Library Patch)

Tips and Tricks for Decorating Your Media Center (Mrs. Mollyโ€™s Menagerie)

Positive Powerful Affirmations for School Librarians at Work (Primary On the Prowl)

Organizing & Teaching Library Class on a Cart (Mrs. J in the Library)

Learn More!

Professional Development for School Librarians The Flexible School Librarian

Are you ready to dive deeper into being a flexible school librarian โ€“ ready for anything? This online, on demand Flexible School Librarian PD will help you become a more confident and effective school librarian.  In these sessions you will focus on the things you can control, and consider the strategies that can make the most difference in successfully adapting to changes in your teaching environment.

Sign up for my weekly email newsletter and I will send you the first professional development session on school library advocacy absolutely free!

Are you looking for back to school library ideas? Whether you are teaching library skills from a cart, face to face in you library, distance learning, or blended learning, find some helpful back to school ideas for school librarians. #thetrappedlibrarian #backtoschool2020

Be the light!

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    Comments

    1. Lisa Richards says

      July 29, 2020 at 11:04 AM

      Thanks for sharing these resources!

      • Laura says

        July 30, 2020 at 9:45 AM

        You’re welcome, Lisa! Thank you for stopping by!

    2. Tammy Todd says

      July 29, 2020 at 12:45 PM

      Great video. I learned a lot. I liked the idea of pre-recording our lessons or read alouds without a mask on.

      I liked the Book Hub idea, very clever.

      • Laura says

        July 30, 2020 at 9:46 AM

        Hi Tammy – Yes, I think recording some lessons will really be helpful! Isn’t Shannon so clever? I think Book Hub is genius!

    3. Julie Olson says

      July 30, 2020 at 9:24 AM

      Great ideas, Laura! I’m going to make a name badge today! Thanks for the tips!
      Julie

      • Laura says

        July 30, 2020 at 9:47 AM

        Thanks, Julie!

    4. Sandra Fitzpatrick says

      August 1, 2020 at 8:38 AM

      Thanks for sharing all these great ideas, Laura. Teacher-Librarians rock! Just an FYI, though, the links to the AASL chart don’t seem to be working. I was able to find the chart with a quick Google search, though. Best of luck to all with this coming school year!

      • Laura says

        August 4, 2020 at 10:40 PM

        Hi Sandra – Thanks for letting me know about the links. I think I’ve fixed them! Best wishes to you too!

    5. Marlana says

      August 1, 2020 at 5:36 PM

      I am so thankful for the link to the Tips for ‘Floating’ Teachers post, as I just found out this week that’s what I’ll be doing for awhile!

      • Laura says

        August 4, 2020 at 10:39 PM

        Marlana – Collette shares a lot of great ideas in that post, doesn’t she? Best wishes to you for a great year!

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    ๐Ÿ“š Elementary School Librarian
    ๐ŸŒŸ NBCT 2011
    ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿซ Teacher Author
    Blog: trappedlibrarian.org

    โ˜€๏ธ This summer, Iโ€™m updating my professional โ˜€๏ธ This summer, Iโ€™m updating my professional development series just for school librarians. Whether youโ€™re ready to recharge, reflect, or get inspired for next year, these self-paced trainings are made with YOU in mindโ€”and theyโ€™re coming soon!

โœ… Starting June 1
โœ… Free updates if you already own the bundle
โœ… New modules released weekly

Visit the blog to learn more and join the list so you donโ€™t miss the launch (and the discounts!).
>>>>> https://trappedlibrarian.org/professional-development-school-librarians/
    ๐Ÿ˜Ž Add some fun to your end of the year library ๐Ÿ˜Ž Add some fun to your end of the year library lessons with these Summer Bookmarks! Your students will love the summer jokes, summer greetings, and cute characters. Encourage summer reading and spread some end of the year fun in your elementary library or classroom.

โœ… 12 Summer Jokes
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๐Ÿ™Œ Use in a coloring center or print the colored versions for an end of the year gift! 
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    Still in school?? โ˜€๏ธ Grab these fun Summer Boo Still in school??
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โญ๏ธ 12 jokes
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Full color and black & white options included - great for early finishers or a coloring center! OR print the color version for an end of the year gift!

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 โœ… Scavenger Hunt Day ideas
 โœ… LOTS of recommended books
 โœ… Summer-themed activities
 โœ… PD resources to grow your library game

๐ŸŒž ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—ฝ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ผ to read it all! 
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    ๐Ÿ“š Do your library books get lonely sitting on t ๐Ÿ“š Do your library books get lonely sitting on the shelves during the summer break?โฃโฃ

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    โ˜€๏ธ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜„๐˜€๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ is a double issue for May AND June, so we've added some ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ to see you through to the end, and give you a head start on summer!

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This month I'm sharing some of my best ideas for May and June:
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โ˜€๏ธ A fun ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป-๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ Library Catalog Practice
โ˜€๏ธ My new ๐—™๐—ฅ๐—˜๐—˜ School Supplies Scavenger Hunt
โ˜€๏ธ 3 forthcoming books to add to your purchase list for next year
โ˜€๏ธ AND a sneak peak into my summer project (๐—•๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚'๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—ฃ๐—— ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—บ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ!)

๐——๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ >>>>> click โ€œ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜„๐˜€๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟโ€ at the link in bio.

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