A8: I can still, all these years later, remember the joy & excitement I felt when I first realized I was reading the words on the page & understanding, not just remembering them from all the times mom had read the bk w/me. My greatest wish is that my Ss feel that same joy & wonder in a bk #TLSkyChat

Our school district is lucky enough to have a public library, bookmobile, independent book store & comic book shop. They all Have different, fun reading programs and promotions for the summer. I love to try to connect students and their families with that info so reading can be fun! #TLSkyChat

A6: I think just getting to relax and read for pleasure helps remind me how great it is to be a reader. And I try to carry that feeling with me into the fall and instill it in my students. #TLSkyChat

A5: I’m sure there’s more I could list but the first thing that came to mind was sending quite a few teachers and parents to Graphic Novel village to expand their horizons and open up their minds to the wonders GN have to offer our readers. #TLSkyChat

A4: Flora from”Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures” Read it for battle of the bks several years ago and I still think of her, and that poem the squirrel wrote her at the end, often #TLSkyChat

A3: 🧡 to read outside on my deck during the summer! That’s a tough one to replicate in the depths of winter. maybe I could find a summer forest soundtrack & rd w/ ear buds? i know my students love when we put the Cornell bird feeder livecams on in the library #TLSkyChat

A2: I just ordered this one after finishing a class on blended learning and I’m pumped to dive in and shake up our learning model next year #TLSkyChat

A2: I just ordered this one after finishing a class on blended learning and I’m pumped to dive in and shake up our learning model next year #TLSkyChat

A1: I’m excited to read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes & Sunrise on the Reaping. They’re the top of my tbr once I walk out those doors June 27th #TLSkyChat

A7: love it all! What I want fluctuates depending on the time of yr, what else I have going on, what my goal are etc. I’m just a big nerd that loves learning lol #TLSkyChat

A6: don’t do it alone! Reach out to other librarians whether they are in your district, county, state etc. This is when you lean on your PLC for ideas & support. if you haven’t joined your local/state/natl library orgs yet give it a shot-they’re a great place to start building that plc #TLSkyChat

A5: we are currently obsessed w/ the Cornell bird feeder live cam from sapsucker woods. Ss & staff alike love watching the birds. We keep it on all day! We temp take it off for instruction but it goes right back on when instructions are done. The sound of birds is a real mood lifter! #TLSkyChat

A3: it’s a +/- situation but the copier and laminator are right out in the open in my library so the teachers are constantly coming to me. But, I struggle w/the best way to capitalize on all that traffic! Sign don’t always get read but I’m often teaching and can’t stop to talk to them #TLSkyChat

A2: I literally do one shelf at a time to keep it from getting overwhelming #TLSkyChat

A1: I love seeing what bks currently practicing librarians recommend after using them in their libraries. My fav school librarians to get recommendations from are the book wrangler and the read aloud librarian. And Mr. Schu 😍 #TLSkyChat

Serena Waldron, elem school librarian (k-6) in central New York State. Should be working on my presentation slides for my Ignite session at the upcoming NNYLA/SSL conference but hey, it’s break week and this seemed waaayyyy more fun lol #TLSkyChat

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A8:this is an area I could work on & can’t wait to rd others ideas. I tend to lock in, keep my head down & just exist in my busy library bubble but sometimes you gotta burst that bubble! 😂 #TLSkychat

A6: bright & colorful for our website-it’s an ele school after all. For that same reason, I tried to keep everything the kids would need right on the main pg. Also tried to inc interactive elements as well. (FPS Libratorium)[https://sites.google.com/oswego.org/fpslibratorium/home] #TLSkychat

A5: our district libraries are allowed to have their own social media accounts but I’ve let mine go a bit dormant post Covid. These #TLSkyChat nights are really inspiring me to get back into posting again though…

A4: I have had a library newsletter at various pts in my career but I often struggle to maintain it for the long term. It’s also hard to put in the time &effort when it doesn’t always get read. I’d love tips and tricks on how to make putting one together easier! #TLSkyChat

A3: I think this is a spot I get hung up on often when trying to design signage. There are so many options and I want to try them all and I get overwhelmed lol #TLSkyChat

A8: my intermediate students are LOVING any version of Choose your own adventure/You choose bks I have-which as a child of the 80’s who exclusively checked out choose your own adventure bks and Garfield comics from the bookmobile, makes me very happy lol #TLSkyChat

A7: we got some cheap bins & put popular series/topics together in a bin & turned it front facing so kids could flip through it more easily & even take it off the shelf if need be. It has been amazing to see them “discover” bks we’ve had for years & help others find them on the shelves #TLSkyChat

A6: I’m here for everyone else’s tips on this question! I’m def the type of person who blanks when asked things like what’s your favorite book or read anything good lately? Suddenly I’m like, book? What’s a book? 🫣 #TLSkyChat

A4: one year library helpers could put a thumbs up bookmark sticking out of a bk they liked & write a quick note about why they liked it on the body of the bookmark. When that generated buzz we let any kid who inquired do it too for a bk they liked…time to bring that program back I think! #TLSkyChat

A3: I wish we still had DEAR time in my building…what’s this feeling I’m getting…I think it’s inspiration…to campaign w/my principal to bring it back?!? Seeing adults reading for fun, not just the curriculum would be soooo good for our students #TLSkyChat

A2:k-2 Ss want anything & everything I read to them or w/ a new book sticker on it. My 3-6 are tricker! I’m no longer cool & my opinion is even less so 😂 I have had some luck when I’ve done a 1st ch read aloud with them (why don’t I do that more?!?) or other kids post reviews on shelves #TLSkyChat

A1: I think an epic book talk needs 1) enthusiasm 2) tailoring to the audience/their interests 3) a backup plan for book suggestions when the books you’ve just hyped get scooped up immediately #TLSkyChat

I’m Serena Waldron and I’m in my 12th yr as an elem school librarian in a k-6 bldg. While I consider myself to be an excellent read aloud giver, I am not a great book talker! Looking forward to learning ways I can strengthen that skill tonight #TLSkyChat

A8: I think a foundational concept for me will always be “cite your source”. Where did you hear/read/see it and how do you know you can trust them/it? And if you can’t answer those things think before passing the info along #TLSkyChat

A6: we try to dive into what algorithms do and how it feeds you want you want & how that can be good for entertainment but bad for info & we explore the idea of finding & confirming info in more than one place before believing it #TLSkyChat

A5: dial up internet, encyclopedias (or any physical ref book), phone books, floppy disks, that phone number you called to get the weather report, looking up movie times in the paper #TLSkyChat

A3: I think this is where the SEL skills we’ve been building the last few years come in handy. We already have some of the language to talk to kids about big feelings& managing them. We can carry that through to these discussions as well. #TLSkyChat

Ohhh this is a good one! I often feel disheartened when looking at social media. It’s hard to even know where to start with combating bad info & so many people don’t seem to care when you try to point it out. It makes me feel like, “what’s the point?” but I know that won’t help either #TLSkyChat

I’m Serena Waldron, an ele school librarian in central NYS. I love the entirety of the reputation album but one of my favorites is Don’t Blame Me #TLSkyChat

A8: my very first exposure to games and gamification in the library came from the amazing and lovely mary zdrojewski! I also loved the Teach Like a Pirate book #TLSkyChat!

A6: kind of a game, I bought a bunch of finger puppets and little background scenes years ago in the Target deal spot and we use them to create our own little stories when learning about characters, settings and plot. #TLSkyChat!

A5: I think the choose your own adventures, you choose etc series are great for this. I also love books like Book Scavenger for kids who love puzzles, solving problems. There’s an also a beginner chapter book series called Press Start about a rabbit in a video game world #TLSkyChat!

A4: to get my 3-6 S’s to read and participate in our state’s 3 apples book award, they earn stickers on a book-it style pin for every nominee they read and review. They looovvveeeee earning those little apple stickers #TLSkyChat!

A8:we do read alouds at all grade levels & make sharing a story & reading as fun an experience as possible. We also don’t make a big deal about it when kids don’t want to checkout a book at the end of class. #TLSkyChat!

A7: does forgiveness over permission count? 😬 #TLSkyChat!

A6: when in doubt, I go to the OT/PT, auditory & vision specialists who come to our building & work with Ss. Our special ed teachers often have great, simple, cost effective strategies to share as well. For example, that’s who taught me a simple binder could be used as a slant bored #TLSkyChat!

A5:our library entry way! We have a word wall, a word of the month they can learn in ASL and hear in different languages, see the books we’ve read together so far that year etc! They love it and I love that they are so excited to explore language and words! #TLSkyChat!

A4: students who struggle with reading often have that same stress and frustration associated with the library-even when we do so much more than just checkout books! #TLSkyChat!

A3:our current major bureaucratic hurdle is lack of subs. When I get pulled to cover for another classroom or my sub gets pulled when im out classes get canceled :-(. My clerk can still do open book exchanges thank goodness but still…#TLSkyChat!

A2: some of shelving is a little high for our youngest students but the size of our library is the biggest physical barrier. It’s great to have the space when we need it but when we don’t it can feel difficult to monitor & assist everyone. Plus the younger kids just get overwhelmed by it#TLSkyChat!

A1:I can control me and the energy and attitude I bring to the library, my students, our lessons and interactions. #TLSkyChat!

A8: Exploration #TLSkyChat!

A7: our IT director generously gives us money every other year or so for fancier gadgets- we try to coordinate amongst our buildings so we get the most variety with the money and loan things to each other & I love the dollar store for the tech free steam materials! #TLSkyChat!