April was School Library Month and also National Poetry Month, and our extraordinary teacher librarians offered all sorts of

tantalizing activities to their students to celebrate a love of reading and the joy of poetry.

Bay Farm School, for instance, hosted a “Dress as a Book Character Day,” as well as a “Book Tasting,” during which the library was transformed into a restaurant where kids could “sample” books they might want to read.

Paden Elementary School hosted a similar book tasting, plus their annual “Read Around the World” event, at which family members read books from their countries of origin to students.

At Otis Elementary School, two students per week got to serve as school librarians for a day, complete with cardigan sweaters, a budget for book purchases, and decimal practice as they shelved books. Students also were encouraged to curate their personal libraries by trading their gently used books with those of other students.

Fourth and fifth grade students at Love Elementary School had an opportunity to design their own school libraries using Design Thinking.  At Earhart,  students created joke books, wrote poetry, and  designed library cards. And Ruby Bridges students learned about the Al-Qurawiyyin Library by reading Behind My Doors: The Story of the World's Oldest Library. (Located in Morocco, the Al-Qurawiyyin Library was built more than 1,000 years ago.)

At Maya Lin School, students focused on poetry by reading Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of 'Poetry With  Beat' (edited by Nikki Giovanni) and A Library (also by Nikki Giovanni) and How Sweet the Sound and Acoustic Rooster by Kwame Alexander. Kindergarten and first grade students decorated poetry pockets, and selected poems to read with classmates, and second through fifth grade students created mini books based on their selected poem.

Alameda High featured highlighted poetry and books written by people of Middle Eastern/Northern African descent (April is also MENA Heritage Month) and set up a make-your-own poem station.

We appreciate the work of our teacher librarians to help students develop - and maintain - a love of books and libraries!