Ideas

In honor of National Poetry Month, School Library Journal shares a variety of books on haiku, a distinctive form of poetry that originated in Japan centuries ago.

While some readers may view particular story elements as clichés, a fan might see them as enduring archetypes...

Opening Day of Loudon County Library's newest facility, Gum Spring Library, has come and gone. More than 6,500 people checked out 14,000 materials in just under five and a half hours, and we issued over 1,100 library cards. And those are just the tangible statistics! Teens finally found a place in their community to call their own! Caretakers can now stop driving 25 minutes to the nearest storytime! An entire region of northern Virginia learned what it feels like to have free resources available to them in their own backyard. The looks of amazement and happiness that I saw on Opening Day filled me with amazement and happiness. The Gum Spring Library has arrived, and we're open for business!

Together we looked for ‘cheese holes’, or spaces in the story that allow the audience to participate in, contribute further to, and augment the original story using their own intelligence and imagination.

Knowing the research behind text complexity is critical to understanding the Common Core's call for more complexity, and how reading for pleasure fits in.

Is there a lack of Latino lit for kids or just a lack of awareness. Find out what our readers are saying.

The Pennsylvania study joins a growing body of research that proves the efficacy of librarians in our schools, but the findings of this study alone should take the decision to cut a librarian off the table.

The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies has introduced a program to encourage research, discovery and creative collaboration with project-based learning. Smithsonian Quests awards online digital badges to students (and teachers!) upon completion of their activities. The projects are aimed at students of various grade levels, and can be done as part of classroom lessons or independently.

It may start this way: you’ve just finished the first lunch period, and because of today's snow, there are massive amounts of students in your library—and a surprising number of them are on task. You’re just now welcoming a social studies class that's here to work on a research project and use the laptop cart and many of your book club students are bursting through the door excitedly.