February 2024
Contents:
 The 2024 Youth Media Award announcements took place on January 22, 2024.
- The Caldecott Medal honors the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. The 2024 winner is Big by Vashti Harrison.
- The Newbery Medal honors the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The 2024 winner is The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers.
- The Michael L. Printz Award honors the best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit. The 2024 winner is The Collectors, edited by A.S. King.
Learn more about all of the Youth Media Awards on their webpage.
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Registration is now open for the 117th Annual Conference of the Oklahoma Library Association.
The conference will be held March 6-8 at the Hyatt Regency Downtown in Tulsa, OK.
Early-bird reduced rates end on Feb. 6.
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The Library of the Month is Oakdale's 5th-8th grade library. Principal Jill Willhoite submitted the nomination: "I would like to nominate our middle school library at Oakdale along with our middle school librarian, Mrs. Jenny Jones. She is amazing as a resource and educator for our staff and students. She goes above and beyond to make sure that our recommended reading lists and 'advertised' books are the right fit for our students and our community. She has book clubs, contests, teaches library lessons weekly, and sponsors our Builder's Club for our 7th and 8th grade students."
 Jenny Jones described her programming at Oakdale's 5th-8th grade library.
"Oakdale School is a small, K-8 dependent school district, with a little over 700 students. The Barnes-McKee Oakdale Middle School Library serves students in grades fifth through eighth. Fifth-grade students visit the library each week for a lesson and check-out time, while 6-8th grade students come every other week in their ELA class for a lesson and check-out time."
Library Advisory Board
"Library Advisory Board is a club of 7-8th grade students who have an interest in serving the library. Students must apply to be in the organization, including having three teacher recommendations and a parent signature. This group meets one to two times per month, depending on the needs of the library. The Library Advisory Board decorates the library for holidays, sets-up new book displays, creates bulletin boards, and offers student input on library programs like book clubs and contests."
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Sequoyah Book Kick-off and Contest
"Every October, the middle school library organizes a Sequoyah Book Kick-off event. At the beginning of school, classroom teachers of all different core subjects chose a book to read from their grade’s Sequoyah list. They read the book and prepare an eight-minute presentation. Teacher presenters have used varying methods to share about their book, such as videos, interviews with experts, guest speakers, crafts, games, snacks, races, dressing up as characters, and more!
On the day of the event, students are put into smaller groups with a student leader. Each group rotates to each teacher’s classroom to find out about that Sequoyah Book. After the presentations are over, students can enter their names in a drawing to win one of the books. The magic of this event is that students see that reading is important across the curriculum while at the same time finding out about that year’s Sequoyah books in an engaging way!"
"After the contest, the Sequoyah Contest is launched. Students get rewarded for every three Sequoyah books they read if they complete them by a certain date. This year's rewards are a canned soda for three books, a cookie for six books, and a Sonic drink for nine books. The grand prize for students who read 12 books is a field trip to Pop’s for lunch in May."
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An aside from Jason:
When I visited the library in January, I was drawn to the wall of bookmarks where students track and rate the Sequoyah titles that they read. Since fifth and sixth grade use a different list than the seventh and eighth grade students at this library, their bookmarks are different colors--red and blue, respectively.
Some students had already read almost all the Sequoyah books for their grade band, but one student's bookmark in particular caught my eye. Their bookmark, pictured to the right, shows their unique rating system. Instead of sticking to the 1-3 star rating, this student used half stars for some ratings and even added a bonus fourth star for a title they really enjoyed.
Students can use these displayed book ratings to find their next title.
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Book Clubs
"An integral part of the Middle School Library is book clubs. The goal is to offer at least two book clubs per grade each year. Students sign up for a certain book club if they are interested in the book. Typically, the book club meets at lunch and/or recess two or three times, but sometimes students read the entire book and only meet once. At the meetings, students discuss key events and characters, play games, do crafts, and always have some kind of snack/treat.
In the summer, the library also offers a Summer Book Club in mid-June at the school. There is one date for incoming 5th graders and another date for 6th-8th graders. At the end of the school year, students are told what Sequoyah book will be the summer book club selection. Then, they have a few weeks to read the book before the book club meeting."
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Thank you, Jenny, for creating so many opportunities for students to read and learn at the Oakdale 5th-8th grade library.
As a reminder, nominations are closed for library of the month. They will re-open in August 2024.
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