Hello,
I have two short subjects to let you know about. One of them is the subject of coloring books. You will likely have noticed that coloring books are very popular now. There are hundreds of kinds of coloring books; many for adults. I bought a few for the library thinking I would make copies of a particular page each week for students to take and color. As I read the small print, I realized that due to copyright, I was not allowed to make copies. I began to think how I could use the coloring books and decided to try something new and different. I would let the students check the coloring book out and actually color in it! I put a disclaimer in the front of the coloring book telling students that they could color in the book, but I would like for them to try to finish the page and also put their name on the page(s) they colored.
It has been a great plan. Only a few students actually check the coloring books out, but those that do love this plan. You might consider trying something like that. If you are currently copying coloring pages for your students, make sure you have permission to do this.
The second subject has to do with books that you have that you decide to not put in the library. I bought a book from the Scholastic book fair a few years ago that intrigued me. I read the book and really enjoyed it, but decided that it wasn’t worth putting in the library. It was the kind of book that I felt didn’t have universal appeal. I had it on a small bookshelf by my desk and a student saw the book. She had wanted it from the book fair, but was unable to buy it. I lent it to her and asked her to put her name and the date in the front cover of the book. It wasn’t checked out; if she had not returned it, there was no big issue since it was really my personal book. When she returned it, a few others wanted to read it, so I told them the same thing: read it and sign your name and the date inside the front cover. Hand it around and bring it back when everyone has had a chance to read it.
The main thing for me was to share the book with those who really wanted to read it. It’s kind of a special thing to borrow a book that way, so I have tried it with a few others. These are books that aren’t personal treasures so I don’t mind if they are gone a long time or even go missing.
Think about these two ideas. If you have other ideas that you’d like to share with the group, just send them to me and I’ll post them.
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are gearing up for the next few weeks.
Audrey
