Friday Five

Here are the five interesting things about the library this week:

1) Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover was so much fun! And very popular, even in this last week of the challenge. Stay tuned next week to find out what March's challenge will be!

2) Reading is fun! Don't believe me? Just ask our 6th graders. I worked really hard on creating a FUN reading game (which will be used for 2nd semester) with a couple of our 6th grade LA/SS teachers. Well, they worked really hard on putting my vision on paper...I got to be the muse. I love working with people that you can walk into their classroom and say, "this is what we're doing. Ready? Go!" But now the entire 6th grade team is on board which means ALL these kids get to "play" the reading "game." LOVE IT! 

3) Many, many years ago, when I worked at a K-8 school, I took time out of library to read aloud to the middle school classes. Because no one reads aloud to these kids any more, just for fun (I'm not talking about reading aloud the assigned novel/textbook). And you know what? They enjoy listening...and they miss it from their "little kid" days. Read-alouds (or audiobooks) are important for any age, but almost more so in middle school (and high school) so they can be reminded of the magic of books. Last week, I checked out a book to one of our teachers who loves historical fiction. I told her that she had to read this book (Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys) because it was simply beautiful. Well, she took my advice and started reading it. And loved it so much that she decided to read it aloud to her classes a little bit every day until it was finished. YEAH! Of course the kids are enjoying it also, and this week several of them have made a dash for the library to get their own copies (probably because they want to know how the story ends NOW). But it reminded me of the power of reading aloud. And now this will become my next mission with our classes here...watch out!

4) Every book I read last week (and loved) was about a teen with cancer. Ugh. Why do I do that to myself?! But every book I read this week I found to be "meh." Now, I'm sure that they will be read and enjoyed by many of my students, but they just didn't make a connection with me. Meh. Desperately looking for the next great book to fall in love with...because I need a new "favorite" book every week and I just haven't found this week's.  :)

5) 7th graders are currently reading non-fiction titles for 3rd quarter. I really love this unit every year as there are SO MANY good books to choose from. (Yes, I could talk for DAYS about non-fiction books). Non-Fiction...not just for research any more! Want to find some of my past suggestions? Check out these posts:
Favorite 15 (from 2010)

Search all posts with "non-fiction" tag here. Make sure to click on "show all" OR when you scroll to the bottom, click on "older posts" also to get all of them, not just the most recent 10 or 15.
And stay tuned the rest of this year for random "Non-Fiction Friday" posts.

6) Yes, I know, it's called the Friday FIVE. But I couldn't resist this one. We have made some posters to display around school to remind students of important things (charging your laptop, saving your documents, etc.). These posters utilize some popular memes and have been quite the hit with students and staff alike. One student stopped me in the lunch room yesterday to say, "Mrs. Yusko, Mrs. Yusko! THANK YOU so much for making a Picard poster. I love it!" We had fun making them. Here's a sample of my favorites: