End of Year Bulletin Boards

It’s June! So many of my students absolutely love to read, and I try to encourage reading all year round, especially during end-of-year testing season. I do allow students to check out during testing season, just at the beginning of the day (our library is used for testing and as the place where students who aren’t finished are allowed to work as long as they need to, so the option of checking out after school is out). My library’s bulletin board isn’t *exactly* in the library; rather, it is in the hallway on the way to the library. Since it is located on the way to/from the nearest restrooms, we’re not allowed to keep up anything academic, so below is my standard bulletin board during testing. It (hopefully!) allows students to relax and remind them of places to escape for a while during testing season.

I change my bulletin board once a month, so while the bulletin board above is usually for May, it really could be for any time of the year. I created the butterflies from pages of discarded books – it was SO hard for me to tear and cut those pages! They’re gorgeous, though, and at least they have a new purpose!

My school hosts only students in grades 7 and 8, so I don’t get a chance to develop the deep relationships that elementary and high school librarians do. However, by the end of 8th grade I feel like I know the vast majority of them. To keep them reading, I do a version of Oh, The Places You’ll Go, with the high schools they will be attending. This would be just as easy to do with colleges at the high school level! To make it even better, I keep in contact with the high school librarians, who send me the info for their required reading. This way, students know their library is always there for them, no matter what school they are in!