Friday, September 10, 2010

Star Power and Horseplay



After reading this article I decided to use the idea in our library. Students can request a gold star sticker to put into the inside cover of a book they loved. The opinions of their peers usually mean more than my recommendations so it allows students to rate their favorites. I have had several students ask for stickers already and had overheard conversations about choosing a book. They usually go something like this, "Oh, this book has a star. I want it!" I look forward to seeing how this idea will continue to promote reading at Palmetto.


Horseplay is a gaming program I am organizing. This program will provide opportunities for our students to play board and video games in the library during lunch. Research shows that gaming increases media literacy, problem solving, logic, and social skills. This program will also lure reluctant readers into the library where they can learn about reading programs and check out books while they are here. I plan to begin with board games and work our way up to video games including days for sports, music, racing, and adventure games. I have been busy finding and reading as much information on gaming programs as I can. I attended a session on gaming at the Upstate Technology Conference in Greenville, SC, but wasn't able to get as many details as I hoped for. I did find a site that gave recommendations for readers advisory to correspond with gaming. The School Library Journal has a gaming column in every issue as well as online resources. ALA has a gaming wiki and there is an online guide for media specialists. I would love to hear from other librarians with gaming programs.

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