Ahh, the first day of school! Call me crazy, but I’ve always loved it!
I will see my first middle school library orientation classes this Wednesday. We have a book fair coming Thursday, so we will be frantically setting up. I will see one class at a time for orientation, checkout, and book fair. It will be a whirlwind for the next two weeks!
You can find lots of great ideas for middle school library orientation from the SLJ blog! I especially love the Library Bingo/PowerPoint game and the Scavenger Hunt ideas!
Some ideas for library orientation, many of which can be used for any grade level…
Upper-Elementary and Middle School Library Orientation Scavenger HuntThis activity helps students in Grades 4-7 explore the library and find important items and places (printer, book return, circulation desk, pencil sharpener, different genre sections, etc.)
I used QR codes and a secret message from Dumbledore to help make it interesting. You can edit the scavenger hunt card to suit locations in your library. Directions are easy-to-follow, and it’s a fun and easy way to help students become familiar with the library!
The students and faculty in this video do such a great job acting, singing, and getting into the music! The boy singing the main song is one to watch–so much personality!!! It’s a perfect way to begin your middle school library orientation!
No middle school library orientation is complete without some discussion of volume in the library. In this video, some really funny kids and adults demonstrate why it’s so important to keep your voice down in the library!
Okay, this isn’t the most fun part of library orientation, but it is very necessary for our new sixth graders. I included the Google Slides version I use–please feel free to download and modify to suit your needs. This could easily be adapted for middle school vs. high school libraries for ninth grade library orientations.
Good little singers in this one! I love to see so much talent in young people!
If you are looking for a fun, low-prep game for upper-elementary or middle school library time, check out my Library Orientation Trivia Game!
This is a PowerPoint game with 25 questions and answers. All text is editable, so you can adjust any question to suit your own library.
A heads-up: My PowerPoint Trivia Games ONLY work in PowerPoint. You can technically import them into Google Slides, but the trigger animations on the game board will not work properly in Google Slides.
The trigger animations are necessary for smooth game play. Every now and then, a buyer will email me to ask how they can get the animations to work in Google Slides. The answer? You can’t.
Please trust me on this – they will not work. I have tried and researched and tried and researched. There is currently no way to make trigger animations work the same way (where the dollar amounts on the game board disappear after they are selected) in Google Slides.
This is another video from the adorable Dowell Middle School Library. Definitely some creativity flowing there!!!
Just try to stay in your seat while this one plays!
This idea isn’t necessarily for library orientation, but it’s great to show on a loop at the beginning of the school year.
I have lots of Digital Booktalk presentations like this one on my blog. They represent a wide variety of topics, from Sharks to Ramadan. All of them are 100% free and editable!
See all my Digital Booktalks here
Who doesn’t love Mr. Bean? Clean and truly funny, this episode shows students what NOT to do to your library books…
No collection of library videos from me would be complete without a clip from my favorite TV show of all time! This Mr. Bookman guy is hilarious–even Jerry can’t help but laugh when he talks about pee-pees being drawn in books. This one is probably best for the adults, but you know I had to include it!
