Greetings!
Many times we find books that need some repair. I have found that most of the repairs just need a little glue. I will demo a few basic gluing repairs and hope that you will be inspired to do some of these yourselves.

I recommend buying glue for book repair rather than trying to use something like Elmer’s glue. It just does a better job and lasts quite a long time. Check with a library supply for book glue. I buy it in a large size and decant it into a small Ziploc plastic container. The glue doesn’t stick to the container and if it does dry on the sides, it peels right off. If you keep the container closed, it will not dry out for a long time.




When the text part comes away from the cover of a paperback book, it is an easy fix. Just take a paintbrush and paint the glue along the back of the spine.



Then press it firmly back in place and hold it in place with rubber bands.





I also stack the books as I repair them using boards and a weight. The boards I use are from a piece of smooth plywood that I had cut into pieces (9” x 12”) at Home Depot. They cut the boards for free, so my cost was the sheet of plywood and two bricks. I think I paid less than $5.00 for all of it. I wrapped the two bricks in butcher paper and duct tape to keep them from scratching the books.





At this point, if I have more books to repair, I will take the first books from the bottom and set them aside. All they need now is to dry. I usually let them dry overnight, but if you are in a hurry, it should be OK in a couple of hours. I just warn others to be gentle with it for a while.

Sometimes we have an area that needs to be glued, but we just can’t get a paintbrush in the area. This next book needs to be glued along the edge next to the spine. Here’s a trick I learned. Dip a knitting needle in the glue and insert it into the area that needs to be glued. You may need to dip a few times, but the area will be glued, and the glue on the needle will wash off easily.





Set aside either with rubber bands or under a weight to dry. This particular book also needs more work on the upper and lower spine. When the book is dry, I will use repair wings and repair corners to reinforce the spine and corners.

The supplies I used today were from Highsmith library supply and other sources. Book-Saver Liquid Plastic repair hinge is available in three sizes: 8-oz, quart, and gallon; Ziploc container from my house, and knitting needle, rubber bands, and paintbrush from any craft store. Boards and bricks were from Home Depot. Highsmith also has a book care and repair guide for under $10.00 which will guide you through basic repairs.

I hope this has been helpful to you. I know when I see something it makes much more sense. Have a great week.

Audrey

Copyright and more

Greetings!

At this time of year our students are into the routine of school and are likely beginning to work on bigger projects. I notice more of these happening at our school. As children are beginning to learn research skills, let’s add copyright lessons. These are easy to incorporate as you present the parameters of the assignment. If students are old enough to read and learn information whether from print sources or the internet, then they are old enough to tell where the information came from. My May 11, 2011 post was on copyright and I encourage you to go to my blog and reread it to remind yourself of the simple basics of copyright. In the blog post I also have a link to a website that was created for teacher education on copyright for Henrico county schools. The great thing is that anyone can take the quiz to learn, but we don’t get graded on it!

There are a couple of pet peeves of mine regarding copyright issues. First, Google is NOT a source. Students often cite as their source “Google.com”. If your students do this, have them type in “google.com” and see what comes up. This should clue them in to the fact that Google is NOT a source.
Second, “Fair Use” does NOT mean that teachers can automatically use whatever they want without citing their source. I mention a couple of examples in the May 2010 blog post about what is fair use and what is not.

If you want to do some fun lessons on copyright with your students, check out the free educational program called “B4U Copy”. www.b4ucopy.com There is an Elementary school guide and a Middle School guide. I have used this guide in library lessons and we just discuss the lessons, rather than use them as worksheets. The kids like it and there are some wonderful teaching moments. This free program is part of the website www.ymiteacher.com site. Take a look at that site and you’ll find other free units already prepared for you to use. But make sure you cite your source!

I hope you take a look at the May 11, 2010 post and while you are there, peek at a few others. You might be surprised what you see.
Have a great week!
Audrey

Inappropriate Books Brought From Home

Greetings,

I am revisiting an old question that was asked in 2009 regarding inappropriate books that students bring from home. One teacher wanted to know how other teachers handled this issue. This is a good question because we all have had this happen. What should we as SDA teachers do?

This issue is more common in the upper grades than the lower grades. I believe that if a student needs to do a book report, the book should be approved by the teacher first. If the book does not appear to meet SDA standards, then I would tell the student to choose another book for the report. For example, you as the teacher have not read the book, but the cover and illustrations indicate that it is a fantasy novel, then the student likely should choose another book to read.

Some teachers avoid this problem by assigning certain genre for each book report. This month students need to report on a historical event, or a book of poetry, or a science book, or a biography. One advantage of this is that you can help students read other material that they might not otherwise be exposed to. You could also have students read across the Dewey numbers choosing a book from each of the Dewey numbers each month. Some teachers avoid the problem by having a class discussion about the kinds of books that will be acceptable and what is not acceptable. This will also make your expectations clear without causing embarrassment to a student.

As a teacher, when I saw a book that was inappropriate I would speak privately to the student and let them know that I thought it was wonderful that they enjoyed reading so much. Then I would explain that the book they had is not one that many of the other parents would like for their children to read and request that the student take that book home and read it there and choose a different one for school. I seldom had a problem.

I would like to hear from you about how you have handled this issue in the past and would be interested in sharing ideas in the near future. I will just use the ideas, not names.

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey

New Titles

Greetings!

This week I am in the midst of the fall book fair from Scholastic and my library is full of cases of new books. What a wonderful thing for a librarian! I have found some wonderful titles that I would like to share with you. These are not in any order, just listing them as I find them.

The Sandwich Swap by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah with Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Tricia Tusa. $16.99 hardcover. Which is better for lunch? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a hummus and pita sandwich? Lily and Salma are best friends but the sandwiches they each bring look strange to the other. An argument turns into a food fight which turns into a school-wide international foods picnic. This is a good story to help teach diversity and tolerance for the customs of others.

Pierre the Penguin: A True Story by Jean Marzollo, illustrated by Laura Regan. $4.99 paperback. There is a penguin at the San Francisco California Academy of Sciences museum who skipped molting for a few years. His feathers grew brittle and broke off leaving him nearly featherless. Without feathers, he was too cold and would not get in the water. The aquatic biologist worked with the vet and others and to make a tiny wetsuit for Pierre so he would be warm enough. Soon his feathers did grow back and he recovered. Questions and answers are at the back of the book along with a website to view the penguins online via a webcam. I have visited this and seen the penguins and also saw pictures of Pierre. Very cool! No pun intended.

Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby. $$16.99 hardcover. On Johanna’s family’s farm, a pig had a litter of piglets one of which was premature. They brought him inside and one of the dachshunds became mother to the piglet. She had one puppy of her own, plus being foster mom to other puppies. She took care of the pink piglet aptly named “Pink” until he was old enough to return to the barn. Photographs of the animals are the illustrations.

Friends: True Stories of Extraordinary Animal Friendships by Catherine Thimmesh. $16.99 hardcover. One page shows a photograph of an unusual animal friendship while a short paragraph tells the story of the two friends. One picture shows a darling baby macaque that had been abandoned hugging a white pigeon and the story behind it.

With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney. $12.99 hardcover. This is the newest of the Dear America series telling the story of what it was like for a young black girl to attend an all-white school in Hadley, Virginia in 1954 after the court rules in favor of desegration due to Brown vs. Board of Education. If your school does not have any of these Dear America books, you might take a look at them to see if this is something you would like to begin adding to your library. They are all written in diary format about an event in history. This is a good way to introduce history or to supplement a unit.

If your school has a Scholastic Book Fair, you will find these books there. If you don’t have a fair, consider a trip to a Scholastic warehouse or attend a book fair at the local public school.

Hope you a have a great week.
Audrey