If you are a school librarian, you could be on the lookout for activities to make your library period interesting to the students. You can make a library class interesting with various activities that engage the students and help them learn.
Unlocking Knowledge: Engaging School Library Activities That Make Learning Fun
School library resources and learning styles
To plan activities for your school library, you must consider your library resources, student’s age group, learning styles, available time and occasion.
A school library period is beyond returning and issuing books. You can add some extra sparkle of learning and fun to your class with activities as simple as a quiz after completing your routine work.
Also read: Teaching Learning Process and School library
The best part of being a school librarian is you have a variety of resources with you in the library that are just right for different learning styles like audio, visual, kinesthetic, and others.
So you can utilise these resources for simple games and activities to make your library class interesting and break the monotony in less than five minutes.
Audio resources include audiobooks, music albums, speeches, podcasts, and others. Visual resources include anchor charts, educational movies, maps, diagrams, 3-D models, etc.
Kinesthetic resources include board games, hands-on task learning aids, blocks, and other activity-based aids. If you have any of these resources, simple and easy activities with the help of these resources will make your students think critically.
Use music, numbers, reading-writing, inter-personal, intra-personal, natural elements, linguistic, audio-visual and movement-based activities, to make your library class interesting.
Types of School Libraries
While a school library should ideally have learning resources like maps, magazines, diagrams, charts, and audiobooks, this might not be the case with every school library.
Due to scarcity of funds, a school library could have only books as part of their resource material. Some schools may have separate libraries catering to elementary, middle and secondary sections.
No matter what type of library you are in, there are some activities you could adopt in your schedule.
Activities and Ideas to Make your School Library Class Interesting
A vital part of a school librarian’s work is helping kids develop a love of reading and learning. Using a combination of creative ideas, you can make your library class fascinating with the aim that students will learn to collaborate, communicate and think critically.
1. Interactive Activities:
Include practical exercises such as book trailers, posters or scavenger hunts with a book theme game. You can make the class lively and involve the students actively with these exercises.
Involve students in question-and-answer sessions on identifying story maps, story sequences, and book genres, discussing author profiles and their literary works, and making them create a listicle of favourite books.
Additionally, you could have interactive sessions on
Difference between fiction and nonfiction,
2. Guest Speakers or Authors:
Call on local writers or figures from the education or literature field to address the class. This interaction could be exciting and provide exposure and insights outside the standard curriculum.
Invite guest speakers and authors to address students at your “Annual Lit Fest” or “Library Week” in your school.
3. Reading Challenges or Book Clubs:
Plan reading challenges or book clubs where students can read books aloud, discuss topics in the book, share ideas and experiences and offer book recommendations. Reward or incentive participation will keep kids interested in reading.
4. Themed Exhibits and Decor:
Every week or fortnightly update exhibits and topical book displays according to themes, seasons, or forthcoming events to keep the library visually appealing. Students become curious and investigate other genres or subjects due to such displays.
Put up striking displays with suggested books, popular books among students, or themes connected to current classes. Use vibrant posters, 3D book reproductions, or murals to grab the student’s attention.
5. Technology Integration:
To add variety, upgrade your conventional reading materials, and use technology like eBooks, audiobooks, or interactive educational apps. This offers your class the latest resources and accommodates a range of learning styles.
You could ask open-ended questions to students before, during and after using resource material. Alternatively, use a written questionnaire.
6. Creative Projects:
Motivate kids to use projects like writing original stories, book reviews, or designing book covers to express themselves artistically.
Developing a personal relationship with the learning material is conducive to learning and creative expression.
7. Flexible Learning Space:
If your school leadership team assigns flexible learning spaces in the library, students can work alone, in groups, or discussions. Students are then more empowered to select the setting that fits their learning style.
You can create mini makerspace projects, and arrange basic STEM projects in a special area in the library. Students may investigate practical science, technology, engineering, and math projects.
8. Community Engagement:
Organise literary contests, book fairs, and grandparent visits to help create a feeling of community inside the library. This enhances the relationship between the library, the students, and the larger community.
If your school conducts an outreach program at a local underprivileged school, you could help organise skits, language classes, simple science experiments and storytelling sessions by your students.
9. Add Multimedia:
Add multimedia materials on literature, literacy, or education, such as podcasts, documentaries, or TED speeches. This makes the class interesting and provides a variety of viewpoints. Relate or connect the multimedia with the school curriculum.
To get more resources for the library, plan a library resource drive in April, or School Library Month. Invite parents, instructors, and students to give gently used multimedia.
10. Student Input and Feedback:
Invite students to express their hobbies, tastes, and comments on the resources and activities available in the libraries. Include their reading recommendations and suggestions so the library period caters to learning requirements and student tastes.
When can you conduct these activities in your school library?
While returning and issuing books may be the primary purpose of a routine library period, there can be some time for a fun or learning activity before the students return to their class.
Two weeks before the written examinations begin, most school librarians withdraw or take back all the issued books from their students. Similarly, all the issued books are returned two weeks before the students go on their annual holidays.
During this time, you can conduct fun and learning activities in your school library, such as quizzes, circle time, role-play, skit, storytelling and the activities listed above.
If your school conducts an annual literary festival, conduct interesting activities as an extension of the library services.
Conclusion
You can use these techniques as a school librarian to design an interesting and rewarding learning environment. This will encourage children to love reading and learn new things all their lives.
You can include some of these activities in your annual planning for your school library. Bring some variety every year so there is novelty and develop love for learning among the students.
Document the activities and showcase a few of your library activities in the school magazine and online portal and discuss them in parent-teacher interactions.
Further reading: Project-based Learning in school library.