Today is the last day of school at the International School of Beijing, so I start my summer vacation tomorrow. My family and I will spend our summer at Spirit Lake, Idaho swimming, cooking, playing, and of course reading. With a nice break ahead of me, I will resume posting in August for the 2010-2011 school year. (Although, when I get some really good questions, I’ll probably post answers. As your Dear Librarian, I too want to know the answers to many questions, so go ahead and ask me anything….)

For the summer, the Elementary Library at the International School of Beijing is promoting two different Summer Reading Projects. For the lower elementary, we’re asking students to make Story Sacks out of their favorite books. Then in August, when their favorite books get checked out, the new readers have a little treat to accompany the read. In the upper elementary, we’re asking the students to create a visual representation of their favorite books.  Again in August, we plan to run this student generated slideshow on our new, large, library screen.  Both projects are not limited to lower or upper school students. An upper elementary student may create a Story Sack and vice versa for lower elementary students if they’d like to make a visual representation.  Mainly, the focus, is to share your favorite summer reads when we return in August!

Click on the following links for the project details:

Summer Reading Project for LES

Summer Reading Project for UES

The “Learning by Hand” showcase will happen on Wednesday, May 26th from 5:00-7:00 pm at Pinotage Restuaruant in Beijing, China. Learning by hand however is a term referring to the learning that electronically may now take place in our hands with digital resources like iPhones, iTouches, and the new iPads (not to mention Google phones, Blackberries, Nokia, Sony, etc). Basically, so much more can now fit in our pocket than ever before.  As educators, how are we helping to utilize these powerful tools amongst our students? During this two hour informal seminar, educators and digital users are encouraged to gather and share their best uses of “Learning by Hand.”