As planned, this weekend I dropped off some copies of the winners of our bookmark contest at our local independent bookstore. Less than an hour later I got a text saying - “Customers LOVE these. They are being grabbed up, we don't even need to point them out to folks.” #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Woohoo! 🎉 It’s great to see your wonderful, community-building work spotlighted, Melissa!

This unit has been such a joy to teach and share. ⛷️❄️🏂 The PE teacher stopped by the other day to say that lots of kids are able connect what they’ve learned with some fun activities she is doing in her class! #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Each week in our school-wide Humor Award competition after we read two books back-to-back Ss vote with Plickers. We do two book-related questions just for fun (and Plicker practice) then vote on our favorite title of the week. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

I’m taking the books I’ve collected for our African American Read-In, sorting them into grade levels, then assigning a guest reader. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

B-E-A-utiful! I love the added benefit of any lesson that gets kids’ hands on books in the collection. They find books they weren’t aware the library owns!

Our annual school-wide humor award kicked off this week with two VERY funny titles! It is endlessly entertaining to read reactions from Ss on their scoresheets, especially one that slowly gave the book a higher score as it progressed. 😆 #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Got the green light to plan a buddy reading event for Read Across America week! We’re pairing: Kdg & 3rd 1st & 4th 2nd & 5th Since we’re the teachers that know ALL the Ss in the building, my fellow teachers (Art, Music, PE, Science) have agreed to help me pair kids. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

I love how Wendy has broken down the Sibert criteria for her young learners!

If you had asked me to name a weakness when I was a newbie school librarian I would have said, without hesitation, “Event Planning”. It feels like such wonderful growth to now be campaigning to host more events and bring more of our community into the library! #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

I love our public library! Attended a kick-off event last night for our community read and everyone in attendance received a free copy of the book. 📕 💜📘

Kdg wrapped our author study of Antoinette Portis by reading her new title, To Activate Space Portal Lift Here, and built a spaceship to visit the aliens inside! (I try to line up our building challenges in multiple grades so the blocks can stay out) #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

THIS BOOK, y’all! It is such a perfect encapsulation of a moment when you see something marvelous that others don’t. Mr. McCoy did a double take on these pages and related it to some natural wonders that we’ve seen. I want so badly for all Ss to have this feeling of awe. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

We’re wrapping up our illustrator study of Juana Martinez-Neal with a building challenge! Ss were asked to build a structure 20 inches tall (for the 20 mattresses) and adjust their structure to accommodate a pea (marble) underneath. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

It’s Selection Sunday here at the McCoy house! Which books will make into the 2026 Schoolwide Humor competition??? 🤔 Stay tuned! #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Our Kdg author study of Antoinette Portis continues with her simple, but oh-so-relatable Wait. We spend time with the pattern of the words in the book, practice mixing them up together, then we cut & glue to make our own patterns with only the words “Hurry” and “Wait”. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

3rd, 4th, & 5th grade Ss built some background knowledge for our Winter Olympics unit by getting a quick intro to this year’s location, then searching the library for the pictograms of each sport created for the 2026 games. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Another great day in 2nd grade exploring the work of Juana Martinez-Neal, this time with her book Zonia’s Rainforest. After reading and discussing deforestation we did a write-the-room with South American animals to extend our learning. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

This year’s Global Traveling Mural pieces have arrived from our partner schools! They are adding beautiful art and color to our library space. We love this project! #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Students are coding and I wanted to give them language to ask for help. These are at tables to help them troubleshoot who/how to ask and what to ask for. #HourOfCode #TLSky

Today in 2nd grade we started an illustrator study of Juana Martinez-Neal with her excellent Fry Bread. One S told us all about fry bread at their house and how they sell it at powwows! Then we explored the library’s collection of cookbooks with a recipe scavenger hunt. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Y’all, I just got approved to host our school’s 1st African-American Read-In! We’ll host it in February to celebrate Black History Month, books, black creators, and community. I am SO STINKIN’ EXCITED!!! #TLSky #SchoolLibraries ncte.org/get-involved...

We’re starting the year with an Antoinette Portis study in Kdg and a Pete Oswald study in 1st. Unintentionally programmed two sunflower seed titles in the same week AND just a bit before Kansas Day at the end of January (the Sunflower is our state flower). 🤣 #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

We are kicking off the year with some small group practice, talking about our books and why we chose them. I created sentence frames to support students. It feels like this is just what we needed! #TLSky

I was JUST pondering how to bring an emphasis on pleasure reading back to our library program. Fantastic work on this front and THANK YOU for sharing!!! 🎉 Y’all rock!

Ha! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Happy New Year, y’all! #TLSky #SchoolLibraries #Skybrarian

❄️🏂❄️⛸️❄️ Want a way to introduce your students to the Winter Olympics? Here's a four lesson unit I created to use with my 3rd-5th graders. It includes slides, worksheets, and a student-friendly research website with multiple videos and links for each sport. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Kdg learned the definition of media, distinguished between media and devices, then created a gallery of their favorite media. Just typical Kdg things, like K-Pop, a snake book, Roblox, and…ASMR videos. 😂 #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

After discussing how media can be made to Teach, Entertain, and/or Sell us things, 1st grade created their own media! I didn’t get a pic of the K-Pop Demon Hunters sequel movie. 😂 #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

The search for funny books to include in our 2026 school-wide humor competition is in full swing! Do YOU have any picture books that made you LOL this year? I’d love to hear about them. Already in: Don’t Trust Fish Can’t wait to read: E-I-UFO #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Finally digging in to the 5th grade digital literacy lessons on Common Sense Media. There is a lesson on parasocial relationships!!! Can’t wait to tackle this one with our Ss. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries www.commonsense.org/education/di...

Continuing our Common Sense Media’s Literacy lessons, we paired the Internet Traffic Light lesson with “That is Not a Good Idea!”. Our discussion included listening to the little voice inside you that says “this is not a good site or app for you”. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

I am working my way through Common Sense Media’s new Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum seeing how these new lessons will fit into our library time. Today in 2nd grade we paired the incredible BIG by @vashtiharrison.bsky.social with Dealing with Online Meanness. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

I am so ready!!!🎉🎉🎉 TWO days dedicated to funny books, I can’t wait!

Dear Olympics YouTube channel, Are you going to make my school librarian dreams come true and post one of these videos for each of the winter events? We have a unit combining research, sports, and infographics scheduled for Jan. and these will make a great addition! #TLSky youtu.be/7inZC8wwROM?...

Thank you for your service @exlibrismrhunt.bsky.social ! THIS is the kind of review school librarians need. “This book is amazing and it will take some creativity to maintain in our collection.” #TLSky

I’m so grateful to know stellar teacher librarians like Wendy who: 1. Acknowledge when something isn’t working with their Ss 2. Make adjustments 3. Share with the rest of us so we can all be better for our Ss! #TLSky

3rd & 4th graders are excitedly witting down choices for their annual country one-pagers to display at our school’s International Night. I’m asking them to give a reason each country came to mind to encourage more reflection on their part. (It’s also a great relationship builder!) #TLSky

Speaking of our Space bin, I continue to LOVE using book stands to help our books in bins stay visible no matter how many books are checked in. 1. I have a bunch of extras around (free!). 2. They can be turned forward or backward depending on the number of books in the bin that day. #TLSky

Continuing our Nonfiction Know-vember celebrations, today Kdg read a great book from our Space bin, which we then located. They traced the names of the planets, then drew a planet and wrote the name to display on their own special poster. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

So proud to organize a panel with the amazing @amybrownlee93.bsky.social on reorganizing collections to fit our students! Each panelist did some show and tell and answered questions. At the end we walked through the process of planning the panel, encouraging others to do the same. #TLSky

Prepping for our 5th grade translation projects in the style of A is for Bee by borrowing a GREAT set of language books from another librarian in the district. I’m also tweaking our 1st week exploration thanks to @wendygarland.bsky.social making me more comfortable with a checklist. 💜 #TLSky

I love this lesson! As part of our Nonfiction Know-vember focus, 2nd graders searched through our nonfiction neighborhoods. Ss always discover new sections and I ask them to tell me their favorite neighborhood on the back. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

I STILL find making library videos so useful to teach hyper-specific procedures that help our library run smoothly. Like this one! It’s how we solve a student being distracted the whole class period because someone else might get to a book first at checkout. #TLSky youtu.be/5rHhGFfs5V8?...

To wrap up a Monica Arnaldo author study 1st grade Ss built pedestals for Mr. S so he could been seen while teaching. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Putting some AASL ideas into practice…..we started Nonfiction Know-vember today. To infuse some extra math into our library class 1st graders made tally marks for the type of books they checked out. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

I always appreciate a good pop-culture-that-the-kids-likely-won’t-get reference during the school day (especially as an elementary teacher). Double bonus when it’s this hilarious! 🤣🤣🤣

As a direct result of a student request, Ss are decorating the library with creepy carrots, underwear, and crayons. My intent was to honor more student voice, but it is happily also resulting in increased ownership. The variations on the theme are fun too! #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

If you run an elementary school library in the Midwest can you ever really have enough tornado books? 😂😂😂 These are just our new ones. #TLSky #SchoolLibraries

The entire “No, David!” series has been a HOT commodity in 1st grade this year. Upon seeing they were all checked out today, one student grabbed this and announced to the class they were checking out the book with “David’s girlfriend!” 🤣🤣🤣 #TLSky #SchoolLibraries