The end of the school year is a perfect time for a book swap. Both students and teachers will enjoy having a new book or two to read over the summer. It's not too late, even with a few weeks of school left! Usually our school collects unwanted books for months, but all you have to do is send out a school-wide note asking students to bring in at least one unwanted book. In the past, my librarian or PTO have run it. All you need is a few tables for books to be displayed and organized by reading level or topic, a simple schedule of when students can come in with their classes, and viola! If you're worried about not having enough books, ask teachers to clean out their bookshelves of any unwanted books or stop by a garage sale. If you explain that the books will go to students, they may even let you take them for free! It's a perfect way to recycle books instead of having them go into a landfill. You can set up a permanent table in the teacher's room so adults can swap their books all year round! Our school decided to donate leftover books to Louisiana, a tradition since Hurricane Katrina.
And that segways into my next blog, hurricanes and tornadoes......stay tuned!