The start of the school year is always hectic, and 2025 has been no different!
This year I’ve got 11 classes from year 7, 8, 9 and our Support Unit participating in the Wide Reading Program, which is super exciting. The first lesson of the year is always an orientation to introduce our resources and services.
For our new year 7 classes I go through a Canva presentation with them, followed by a Scavenger Hunt activity designed to familiarise them with our different collections. This year I’m also using these activities to emphasise “shelf-care”, or proper treatment of the resources on the shelves. So far the feedback from students has been positive, with some students choosing to borrow books from the collections that they’ve been exploring. This orientation is split across two lessons, with the first introducing the library’s physical resources and the second introducing the library’s digital resources.
For the year 8 classes, most students have participated in the program last year so already have an idea about the resources and services we provide. I therefore run a revision Kahoot, which the kids always love!
Having the students participate in these lessons has proved to be such a great way to familiarise them with our library, which has in turn translated to increased patronage and loans. Over the last two weeks we’ve loaned 220 books to students and each book in the hands of a student represents an opportunity to improve their literacy and wellbeing!