Blog

Literacy Week

February 2, 2022

This week students participated in a book tasting! My awesome BPS librarian friends shared the idea with me, and my friend and I turned it into a week-long lesson and event for our school’s Under-the-Sea themed Family Literacy Night! It was so nice to have families stop by the library after “Escaping the School” (seriously—the coolest idea for a literacy night—all of the teachers involved in planning and pulling it off are my heroines).  I had to snap some pictures of the library because all of the hard work put in by our students needs to be remembered! This was the first time the library was open for an evening event that wasn’t a Book Fair. I loved seeing the kids show their families around the library and teach them how to do our lesson. They loved that they had a chance to check out an extra book! 

Happy Computer Science Week!

December 9, 2022

We’ve been talking about careers in tech and the kids have had a blast writing their own lines of code. I put together a couple of choice boards to make things quick and easy because we are on a 40-minute activity rotation (which means we really had a 1/2 Hour of Code, of course).  I made some bookmarks on Canva with a link to the choices so our students could keep the party going after school!

Check out the "Choice Boards" page for links to Hour of Code activities. <3

FAME Conference

December 3, 2022

Wow! This year’s FAME (Florida Association of Media Educator) conference was exactly what media specialists from our state needed. From incredible and empowering keynotes, to eye-opening author panels, to workshops that empower educators and students, I’m positive that I’m not the only one leaving with a full heart.  I can’t wait to share all I’ve learned with my school! 


Do you know who some of these incredible authors are?

Book Fair & Fall Family Night

October 29, 2022

Woo hoo! What a day! I only wish I had more pictures of all of the fun at last night’s Fall Family Night!  Thank you to everyone who helped make a night of memories! We also kicked off our book fair fundraiser, which will be open all of next week. I just love seeing our kids empower themselves as they add to their home libraries!  Thank you for supporting our school! 

Everybody Picture Books

October 16, 2022

Picture books: weeded and reorganized.

I added another cubby case and “rounded” the corners of the book nook so it will be easier for kids (and grown-ups) to access our beautiful collection of picture books.

Last step:  the cubbies just need to be labeled properly! 

I’d like to give a big “library shout out” to my Junior Librarians, especially B & L, for helping make this happen!!

It's Coming!

October 14, 2022

The Scholastic Book Fair will be here before you know it!  Visit the Book Fair page for more information about this year's fundraiser.

Library Media Memo 2022 Q1.pdf

Thanks, BPS!

October 5, 2022

Houston, we have a Promethean board!!! We had so much fun trying it out. It’s not 100% complete, but our amazing school tech imaged it for us and we have officially launched into the digital age 

Lots of Thank Yous!

September 22, 2022

You just can't imagine how touched I am to have received so many incredible tools and resources for students at our school.  A little less than a month ago I made an Amazon wishlist, requesting items that could enhance our Student-Led Library program.  It's been a dream of mine for years to transform the library into an interactive classroom with learning exhibits (aka centers or workstations).  Every year we have made changes to get closer to this goal.  Thank YOU for making this happen!  Enterprise learners are eager to try to things and challenge their thinking.  I can't thank everyone who has donated items enough.  The kids' faces are priceless, though!  


Holy moly!  Thank you so much to the Harding-Duflo family for gifting our students some incredible STEAM resources!!  I can’t wait to set these up at learning centers! The kids are going to LOVE them!  Thank you so much for supporting us. 

Thank you to an anonymous supporter of our library! It is so nice to have multiple copies of this year’s most popular titles!! 

I am not sure who to properly thank for these heavy-duty bins that were donated to our library, but I can’t thank you enough! These will be at student workstations to hold books and related materials. Thank you! 

Thank you Mrs. Terapak and family for this AMAZING reading rocket!! It makes our library look so cool! Can’t wait for kids to blast off reading a great book! Thank you! 

Oh my goodness!! Thank you so much to the Denman family for donating these amazing SSYRA Jr. books to our library!! I can’t wait to read them with our kiddos and hear them giggle!  The amazing BPS Librarians have shared excellent STEM challenges and resources to go with these books, and I know our students will just love every bit of the lessons! 

Thank you!

August 13, 2022

Thank you to Mrs. Marlatt for donating tons of tape rolls to our library! It’s sooo critical for our kids because our library is color-coordinated! Last year we started with nonfiction (see the bookshelves in the background?), and this year I plan on tackling fiction!  


August 8, 2022

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

July 27, 2022

I’m cryingggg right now you guys!

I came in to work today and Mrs. Patty gave me a fun and mischievous smile.  You know the one!  Then she said “look at all this stuff… somebody loves you!” She and Mrs. Tammy received all of these packages from our Amazon delivery person over the past two days and helped me pack it up in the wagon while they listened to me blubber like a baby. Love you ladies!

It’s just so wild. I can’t thank everyone enough for helping to make my librarian dreams come true. I cannot wait to set everything up and take pictures of the stations.

I. Just. Can’t. Wait. I’ve never been more excited for a school year to begin! It will be so incredible seeing the kids faces during library orientation.

I haven’t had a chance to open everything yet so I don’t even know who to thank, but I promise I will post an update when everything is set up.

Thank you for making this little corner of the school so magical.

#imnotcryingyourecrying


July 23, 2022

Summer update

July 10, 2022

Hey there!  It’s that time of year again! Big changes are coming to our library—and our students and teachers need your help! 

The students have spoken: they want learning centers!! I’ve been working with students and teachers to plan and create learning centers in our school library.  We’ve been talking about it—and it’s finally happening!!

Two years ago I shared an Amazon wishlist and I was overwhelmed with the kindness and generosity of friends, family, colleagues, students and their families as we prepared the library to be safe in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last year, I asked for help adding high-quality children’s literature and materials to help make our library more accessible to students through the creation of a color-coded shelving system and self-check stations.

Thanks to everyone who donated items, time, and expertise, our library program has grown significantly, and circulation has been on the rise! (7,568 books were checked out in 2020-21 and 16,449 books were checked out in 2021-22. It’s incredible!) [edit: during the year pre-COVID there were 12,376 checkouts, isn't that something?]


This year I’m putting out a little wish into the world that we can enhance our library program and inspire kids to love reading.  We are fortunate to have what we have, but our kids deserve more!  If you could take a look and consider purchasing an item on this list (or better yet, donating something that you already have and don’t need anymore), the 600+ students who use our library will benefit tremendously in the upcoming years.

Thank you!

Mrs. V.

Summer Reading Challenge

May 10, 2022

Check out this year's Summer Reading Challenge commercial!  

Summer Reading Challenge FAQ

Question:  What if I lose my reading log?

If a reading log card was lost, turning in a regular sheet of paper listing the book titles is fine. 

Question:  How many books do I need to read?

For K-2 we ask that students read 10 picture books or beginning chapter books. For students in grades 3-6 our goal is 8 age/ability-appropriate chapter books ("just right books"). We trust your judgment! For really long chapter books, Mrs. V. and Mrs. Hurley shared that 100 page increments would be accepted (we have a lot of students reading Harry Potter, for example).

Question:  When is the Reading Log due?

Turn it in to your teacher in August 2022.  Make sure you may attention to the morning announcements for more information!

Library Media Memo Q4.pdf

⚠ 3/28/2021 Library "Under Construction" Update ⚠

Wow!  It has been a little bit of time since I have last made an update on the library's progress.  Things are looking better, and our circulation has increased!  Student interests and feedback are the driving force for the changes still yet to come, including improvements to our collection.  

With feedback from students, we have determined that there are still some areas in need of assistance--so in other words,  our makeover will continue!  I can't wait to share photos of the transformation.


Keep on reading and dreaming!

Mrs. V.

⚠ 9/29/2021 Library "Under Construction" Update ⚠

Thanks to input from students at ALL grade levels, we've been making some big changes this year.  In developing a student-centered library, we've been brainstorming solutions and creating better ways for all kids to access the information and quality reading materials they desire.  The ultimate goal is for students to be self-sufficient in all aspects of library circulation procedures.

Works in progress include:


As your librarian, I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our Enterprise Explorers for their ideas and willingness to try new things as we adjust to this new way of interacting with our library.  I'd like to give a special thank you to Mrs. Herold's, Mrs. Milton's, Mrs. Wimberly's, and Mrs. Forand's 6th grade classes for identifying areas in need of improvement, collaborating on developing solutions, and sharing the vision for a library "run by students, for students."  6th graders, you inspire me every day! 


Keep on reading and dreaming!

Mrs. V.

Library Media Memo Q1.pdf