Library lunchtime activities

Another collation of ideas shared on the school library list serv, this time on lunchtime activities... (To subscribe to the list serv go to http://www.slanza.org.nz/listserv.html on the new look SLANZA website.)

This rang a bell for me today as I have just heard about two great local school libraries - wonderful environments /collections /systems... but which aren't open at all during interval or lunchtimes. Sigh. When I asked about it I was told in one instance that it was because it was such hot summer weather that all the kids wanted to play outside or in the pool, and in the other case "no supervision" - teachers all on duty and no one to be in there - and they didn't seem to think that student librarians were an option...

Anyway, good to read about other school libraries with a variety of activities going on for kids at lunchtimes...

• We have a range of board games available for lunchtime use. Ranging from Snakes and Ladders, Connect Four to Monopoly, Game of Life etc. also card games such as UNO, ordinary cards, My Word. A listening post with a CD player is available for those students who like hanging out listening to music. In the winter terms we have a jigsaw table set up with Wasgij puzzles. This is very popular and usually takes a week or more to be completed (unless the teachers join in then it may be finished sooner). We also run a lunchtime quiz on a Monday. This is a great draw card for those very competitive boys. Jay Shaw, Librarian, Central Southland College
• We have a huge range of activities/ games available including Duplo, Lego, Puzzles, Train track, Knuckle bones, Jigsaws, Word games, in addition we always have coloured pens, pencils, paper and scissors available. Helen Muxlow, Library Manager, Karori West Normal School
• How about board games like chess, draughts, snakes and ladders etc. or what about a group of children playing hangman using a white board, children love to try and guess the letters and to have their turn writing on the whiteboard, or what about having a really good reader or older children, read to a junior group of children (Buddy reading) or if you have a pod of computers in the library you could have a computer monitor/overseeing this and the children to use educational sites placed in their favourites for them. Jenny Whiting, Favona Primary
• It will depend on the age of your students, but we have had jigsaw puzzles here this year for the first time, and they have been very popular with Y10 students. Carole Gardiner,
  Librarian, Queen's High School, Dunedin

A few more suggestions :

• We did a thing the kids really enjoyed – involves a bit of planning though. We got staff members to have their photo taken BEHIND a book cover – so they sat or stood and held a book in front of their face so that just a little hair was showing. We then pinned them to the display boards and the students had to guess who the teacher was. You can make it easy or really hard depending on how much of the teacher you show. We printed them in colour onto A5 paper. The kids loved it. Oh, and we put in the head boy and girl just to confuse them. Cheers, Ryrie Wild, Librarian, Linwood College
• Absolutely – I’ve done that photoboard too! I showed hands on some and left a few harder ones with only hair (and bald patches!) showing. We did it as part of Book Week though and made it a week-long competition. I asked the staff to choose a book that reflected their personality so guessing that was a lot of fun too! We also have puzzle challenges, mainly during winter months, where informal teams assemble a puzzle of about 100 pieces (nothing too difficult if you have mixed levels). Usually they get so absorbed in the puzzle they forget to race. I choose sort of ‘Spot the xxx’ puzzles and challenge them to find the ’x’ in the picture once they’ve completed it. Tiny prizes (bookmark, freebies from magazines) if they remember to ask! Also, the 12 minutes game series as a challenge, or sometimes for the seniors, we have ‘Quiddler’ lunchtimes – excellent game.
  Saskia Hill (Ms.), RLIANZA, Queenspark School Librarian
• We keep all our off-cuts of book covering material and old Scholastic bookclub fliers or similar. The children simply stick the adhesive off-cuts to a desired piece of the flier and cut around with scissors and there you have a snazzy bookmark- very quick and easy. Very popular activity. Sarah Caldwell RLIANZA Meadowbank Primary School Auckland