As mentioned, the month of April celebrates school librarians. It's the month we have our statewide conference, national library week and join in conjunction with Earth Day, Poetry Month & National Humor Month! April is the only month that begins with a Fool's Day and ends with a May-day! Lol!

But since there's a grave injustice going around banning books and firing librarians, I want to take the time to share exactly how librarians choose books. The lesson is above. All you have to do is click on the title as it's a hyperlink. Students will learn the process of selecting books and "grade" books according to the American Library Association for Book Selection Choice (disguised as a handy rubric). Additionally, there are virtual book titles on slide 6, in case you can't make it down to the library. Thank you to Mrs. West and Mrs. Lorch for allowing me to collaborate with their classes on this writing prompt:

Write a proposal in which you argue which book would be most effective for a school-wide book club. In your proposal, choose an informational or literary text. Use text evidence to help explain how the text you chose is worthy.

To create a mimic poem, students begin by performing a close read of their mentor poem — making note of specific elements such as stanzas, line breaks, rhyming patterns, and syllable count. Once students have a firm grasp on their mentor poem’s structure and style, they can begin brainstorming ideas for their own. Create a collaborative poem as a class first, especially if your students don’t have a ton of experience analyzing or writing poetry yet. Feel free to use the above simply sweet poem as a model to begin. Then, turn those students loose to create their own magic!