Our library resources were always available to parents and carers, often
grandparents. They were
added to the system as regular borrowers (after all, it was their money paying for
the books!) I
even made special grab bags of seven read-alouds so busy parents could grab one and
have a bedtime
story for every night of the week!
If parents were responsible borrowers (and those that made the effort to borrow
usually were) then
their children also developed those habits.
Knowing that parents would be my greatest allies if there were ever threats to the
budget or the
position, I went out of my way to work with them. The following is part of a post
I sent to our
local list recently.
Barbara
1. Knowing that the support base is the parents of the very young, I built on
this by having
strong ties with the pre-school, made easier by their close proximity, and now, in
the ACT, they
also come under the administration wing of the local primary. Twice a week they
came to 'big
school' for storytelling -it was part of their regular routine and became an
integral part of their
transition to kindergarten.
2. Pre-school parents were invited to come in to read to their little ones
while they waited
during the gap between pre-school and big school being over for the day. This was
really popular in
Canberra's cold.
3. I adapted an idea from a Tasmanian library and made 20+ fabric book bags,
into which I put
seven pre-selected read-alouds suitable for K-2 so that busy parents could call in
when they dropped
the children off and, in an instant, have a story for each night of the week.
4. I had a Busy Bookworms reward system so that there were certificates and
such like for when
the little ones had read/ returned 10 books - Kinder borrowed one at a time until
they got used to
the routines - and 10 looked-after and returned books proved they could have three
like the big
kids.
5. I negotiated a discount with a private bookseller so our parents got a
small reward for
taking their business there.
6. In the fortnightly newsletter I kept the parents in touch with what their
children were
doing across all the grades and I kept the school website up to date with
recommended reads. If I
were there now this would be a blog for each year level and the children would be
writing what they
had done.
7. I created pages of hotlists for the website to accompany the themes being
followed in
classes so parents and students didn't have to search the WWW aimlessly. There was
also a page
called Schoolbag which provided links to interesting sites for kids covering all
the curriculum, and
another called Cubbyhouse that had links to safe game sites, mostly those
associated with their
favourite book or TV characters.
8. There was a clear explanation of InfoLit on the website so parents knew
what the process
involved and I developed a Project Planner that could be downloaded and filled in
online so that
everyone could manage their tasks and their time. The kids loved this because of
the intrinsic
appeal of the computer being used for 'real' work. Some even got precedence over
their older
siblings' computer time
9. I was an integral part of the P&C inaugural meetings each year and parent
orientation nights
so the library looked its best and I could share the services I offered. The
library was also the
venue for those meetings, and, in the very early days I teamed with another teacher
to offer
'evening classes' in using Office, email and the Internet.
10. Book fairs were huge events, especially the Christmas one, as we offered
the opportunity to
do all the Christmas shopping in one hit.
Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
COOMA NSW 2630
AUSTRALIA
E. barbara.288@bigpond.com
Together we learn from each other
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