Displays Work!

I had some very encouraging comments from a 6th grade Language Arts/Reading teacher today.  I was doing a mini-lesson on conflict and previewing the 6th graders' upcoming thematic unit (unlikely friendships).  I did this, as I often do, with the help of a picture book.  Knuffle Bunny Too, by Mo Willems, to be exact.  After going through the lesson, I introduced the students to the three displays that are currently up in the library: Egypt (requested by the 6th grade SS studies to coincide with their current unit), Spooky Chills and Thrills (cause it's October), and 30 Years of Back to the Future (see previous post). 

While the students were looking for books and checking out the displays, their teacher came up to me.  She said, "These displays are a wonderful idea!  I didn't even know we had some of these books, and you forget about some of these great books if you don't see them."  All day the students have been pulling off books from the displays faster than I can replace them (always a happy librarian problem).  The teachers coming in have also been looking through them and seem quite happy with the variety of texts I've put out there. 

So far I've been trying to change up the displays once or twice a month.  It keeps students interested, it keeps me busy and creative, and, as the ELA teacher commented, it keeps books out there that students might not know (or have forgotten) about.  I continue to try to include many different types of books with each display: fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, and picture books if possible. 

Here's a quick look at the Spooky Chills & Thrills display before we come to a close for today: