Open Library Day

Organize an Open Day in your school library and invite parents and other members of the local community. Have students demonstrate the online catalogue, computer-based services… or show new books or other resources.

Vote your Favourite character

Have a vote for your favorite character. Give small pieces of papers to all and tell them to write the name of their favourite character.

Teen Advisory Group (TAG)

TAG members can plan displays, suggest books to be purchased, and write a newsletter.

Country Research

Allow students to explore the different research materials at the library with a geography project. Assign each student with a different country to research. Give them each a worksheet to be completed with research done at the school library. The worksheet can have questions such as: On which continent is this country located? What are typical holidays and festivals celebrated in this country? What is the weather like in this country? After the worksheet is complete, ask each student to share the information he found with his classmates in a small group.

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Famous Historical Figures

Assign each student, or small group of students, a famous historical figure such as Mahatma Gandhi, A P J Abdul Kalam or Sachin Tendulkar. Instruct the students to visit the school library to research the life of the person they were assigned: important facts, family life and accomplishments. Based on the research they find, instruct the students to write a newspaper or magazine article and poem or journal entry about this person or from his perspective. For example, a student may choose to write a journal entry from the perspective of Abraham Lincoln at the start of the Civil War. This project will allow students to perform library research and combine it with a creative writing exercise.

Reading days

Anniversaries of famous writers are chosen and their selected books are read out completely or in parts on that day.

Awareness & Volunteer Activities

Choose an important social issue, such as child labor, every month and hold an awareness event. Select relevant books to feature as part of a must-read list and find a community leader to give a talk in the school library on the last Friday of the month. Hold an essay contest regarding a topic during the month and award a prize to winning essay. Or, choose an organization and hold a fundraiser or volunteer project. Another idea is to hold a book drive and ask students to donate used books. Have older students sign up to volunteer in an adult literacy program, helping adults learn to read.

Theme Weeks

To encourage students to read books on all different subjects, feature a different theme each week or month. Base activities for that month on the theme you select. Set up a story time to read your favorite children’s book on that subject aloud to help interest even the youngest library patrons.

Book Mobile

A bookmobile is a neighborhood drive-through and drop-off of books. Those who run bookmobiles typically choose low-income and at-risk neighborhoods where kids are least likely to have access to books. Similar to an ice cream truck, the driver of the bookmobile will stop at different points throughout the neighborhood and let children choose from a selection.

Reading Workshops

Students who need help mastering reading- or writing-related skills could find a monthly workshop helpful. Devote a few hours a month (after school) to leading a workshop on skills such as creative writing, reading comprehension, standardized test-taking or speed-reading. For younger students, offer help with writing in cursive, forming letters or reading aloud. Ask older, high-achieving students to lead the workshops. Provide the workshops free of charge and serve light refreshments.

Historical Database

Students can gather general information about older residents of the neighborhoods around them, ask them about the development of the local neighborhoods through time and ask questions about historical events that older community members have lived through. After gathering this information in interviews, students can make professional text and audio documentation that will be kept in the school library.

Book reviews and book annotations

Students write book reviews about the books they issued from the class library on their library notebooks. It may contain name of the author, title, publisher 4 and year of publication of the book, a short summary along with an appraisal containing original ideas. Where as annotations are done by the pupil for the benefits of fellow students.Thease are recommendations about the books they have already read.

Annotations are prepared on cards of uniform size (eg: “Recommended by Priya”). The cards are pasted on the inside covers of the books concerned.

Stage conversations, Dramatizations and puppets

In assembly programmes, stage conversations between two or more imaginary characters from a favourite book are enacted by the students. Dramatizations and puppets provide opportunities for all students to participate in bringing to life their favourite stories. These may consists acting out a story read or told by a teacher or student, or improvising dialogue to accompany action.