Sometimes a change is all you need: a visit sparks an idea

Each spring, the librarians from the children's room of our local public library visit our elementary school libraries. They talk about the summer reading program, share reading lists, and booktalk books from those lists.  

With fifteen elementary schools in the district, this makes for a planning challenge. Someone had a great idea over the summer. (It wasn't me, but I wish it was!)  The school visits will now happen twice a year. The kindergarten first, and second grade students will now have their visits in the fall while the third through fifth grade students will still have their visits in the spring.

I jumped right on board so our K-2 visits were this week. I am exceedingly excited about this new schedule because it gets the younger students connected to the public library throughout the year.

My goal for the students were met:

1. Make a connection to a librarian at the "big" library

2. Learn about some of the programs being offered there (like "read to a dog!") 

3. Understand how to get a library card. 

The visits in kindergarten and first grade were great, but it wasn't until the second graders were having a conversation with the public librarian that I had an epiphany. "Why don't we organize a field trip to the library to do some research?" This is not really an extraordinary idea, but it is a great idea. 

I having been trying to build collaboration with our public library. This may just be the spark that we need. I am excited to work with the classroom teachers and public librarians to organize a research field trip for the second graders to the "big" library. Sometimes a change is all you need to spark an idea!