Classroom Resources > Resource Type
National Library Week is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries - school, public, academic and special - participate.
National Library Week will be observed April 7-13, 2024 with the theme, "Ready, Set, Library!"
Most students think of the library as a place to check out books or use technology, but do you know what else your library has to offer? To find out:
Check out your library:
- Head to your school and public library during National Library Week to see what's new and participate in all they have to offer.
Visit your library online:
- If you can’t make it to your libraries, visit their website or social media pages to learn about programs and services offered.
Invite in your librarian:
- Librarians are a wealth of knowledge, about the library itself and all they have to offer. Talk with your librarians to learn more!
Ilovelibraries.org is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA), designed to keep America informed about what’s happening in today’s libraries.
Learn more about the National Library Week 2023 celebration.
Learn more about the many decades of National Library Week.
Best known for his poems “We Wear the Mask” and “Sympathy” (the poem from which Maya Angelou took the title of her memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings), Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote dialect poems, other poems, novels, short stories, and essays. Dunbar had served as class poet at his high school in Dayton, Ohio; he later worked as an elevator operator while he wrote in his spare time.
Project or share copies of Dunbar’s poem Sympathy. Read it aloud and ask students to discuss words, lines, and images that stand out to them as particularly meaningful.
Then share with students the critical excerpts on the poem from Modern American Poetry (including earlier and later versions of part of the poem). Ask small groups to read the excerpts and then discuss how the ideas from the three critics change or deepen their understanding of the poem.
Dunbar's entry on the Academy of American Poets website contains biographical information, a collection of poems, and personal correspondence between him and his wife, Alice Nelson-Dunbar.
The Poetry Foundation's collection of resources on Paul Laurence Dunbar includes a biography and several poems.
The Modern American Poetry page for Dunbar includes curated criticism and online examples of Dunbar's illustrated poems.
Louise Erdrich was born today in 1954. Erdrich is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and is the author over a dozen novels as well as poetry, short stories, and books for children. Her work depicts Native American characters and settings and has won a number of awards, including the National Book Award for The Round House and the O. Henry Award for “Fleur.” She is also the owner of an independent bookstore in Minnesota.
Project for students the short video Louise Erdrich, author of LaRose, talks about her love of books. Briefly discuss Erdrich’s attitudes toward and associations with books before inviting students to write their own short memory piece about a pleasurable experience with a book, at a bookstore, or in a library.
Encourage students to include sensory details about the book, such as how it looked, felt, smelled, and so on. Then ask students to share their memories to join in Erdrich’s love of books.
Erdrich's Poetry Foundation page includes biographical information and links to several of her poems, including "Turtle Mountain Reservation" from Jacklight (1984).
This HarperCollins page offers a biographical sketch as well as information about all of her major works.
Louise Erdrich's blog is frequently updated and offers a glimpse into her work as an independent bookseller and reader.
This compendium of NPR resources includes booklists featuring Erdrich's works as well as links to archived audio content.
From the documentary series by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this page includes videos of Erdrich discussing her genealogy and the importance of ancestral history.
Winner of a 2016 National Medal of Arts, Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954. Best known for her collection of vignettes The House on Mango Street and her short story collection Woman Hollering Creek, Cisneros has also been awarded MacArthur and NEA Fellowships for her fiction and poetry depicting life of Latino/as in America.
Read aloud or project this quote from Sandra Cisneros:
The older I get, the more I'm conscious of ways very small things can make a change in the world. Tiny little things, but the world is made up of tiny matters, isn't it?
Invite students to select a "tiny little thing" from their lives—an encounter with a stranger, a small object, a physical feature of a loved one, a fragment of remembered dialogue—and freewrite about its significance to their lives. Then read aloud a vignette such as "Hairs"/"Pelitos" (also available as a standalone picture book) and discuss how Cisneros takes something small and finds significance in it. Give students time to write, share, and revise to take up what they learned from hearing Cisneros' writing. Let students choose a form for their writing: narrative prose, poetry, or essay.
Cisneros' official website offers a personal glimpse into her life, work, and favorites.
Learn more about Cisneros' life at this site from Biography.com.
This press release announces Cisneros as a recipient of the 2016 National Medal of Arts and contains links to media associated with the awards ceremony.
In this NPR interview from 2009, Cisneros discusses the history and impact of The House on Mango Street, then in its 25th year.
In this official video interview from KnopfGrou, Sandra Cisneros talks about the story behind The House on Mango Street and its relationships with her own life.
The first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City on September 5, 1882. It became an official federal holiday in 1894 and is now celebrated on the first Monday of September. Born out of the rise of unions as part of the American labor movement, the day is marked by parades, picnics, and other celebrations—and it marks the unofficial end of summer.
Students tend to know little more about Labor Day than it's a day off of work and school. Encourage them to learn more about the American labor movement by giving them time to research one of the figures from the list below. In paris or small groups, they can locate print and Web based resources about their lives and contributions to labor reform. Groups can use the Biocube Interactive to organize and share what they learn.
- Jane Addams
- Sarah Bagley
- César Chávez
- Samuel Gompers
- Dolores Huerta
- Mary Harris Jones
- John L. Lewis
- Lucy Randolph Mason
- Luisa Moreno
- Leonora O’Reilly
- Albert and Lucy Parsons
- Franics Perkins
- Esther Peterson
- A. Philip Randolph
- Walter Reuther
- Rosina Tucker
This page from the US Department of Labor explores the legislation behind Labor Day and the controversy over the identity of its originator.
The History Channel's section on Labor Day offers articles, videos, and speeches related to the holiday.
This Time Magazine article offers an accessible introduction to the history and significance of Labor Day.
The History Channel's section on the Labor Movement offers an overview of key figures in labor reform.
"Tom Swifties" are a special kind of pun associated with Victor Appleton's Tom Swift book series, in which the author avoided the use of simple "said" as a dialogue tag. The Tom Swifty evolved into a pun in which the dialogue tag relates humorously to what the character said. The figures of speech gained prominence when Time magazine sponsored a contest for the best Tom Swifties in 1963.
- Share some examples of Tom Swifties and ask students to notice what they have in common. Literary examples include Charles Dickens' "'You find it Very Large?' said Mr. Podsnap, spaciously," work well, but everyday examples such as "'I need to milk the cows now,' Tom uddered" or "'I dropped my toothpaste,' Tom said, crest-fallen" might give students more to work with.
- Together, generate a list of principles about what makes Tom Swifties work. Importantly, the way in which a speaker says something comments on or relates to what was said in a humorous way. Often the dialogue tag has multiple meanings; single-word or phrase-length dialogue tags work equally well; and product names (such as Cheer or Clue) offer potential for punning as well.
- Let students meet in small groups to generate some Tom Swifties of their own. After the have had time to develop and polish a few, have a contest of your own to celebrate the best examples.
Mark Israel's thorougly sourced collection offers some background on the Tom Swifty and an alphabetically categorized list.
This site is a catalog of many of the Tom Swift books, focusing on the scientific nature of their plots.
Though this site requires a subscription to view all its content, students can get a sense of the popularity of the Tom Swifty through the link to the contest in the Society: Games section.
From 1938 to 1986, the United States had "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress," and from 1986 forward the position was re-named the now more familiar “Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry," or Poet Laureate. The honored poet must present one major work of poetry and read poems at national ceremonies.
According to the Library of Congress, the Poet Laureate serves as “nation's official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.” Past Consultants in Poetry or Poets Laureate have included Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Robert Hayden, Gwendolyn Brooks, Rita Dove, and Billy Collins.
Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States (1997-2000), began the The Favorite Poem Project in which Americans of all ages named their favorite poem. After listening to a few poems nominated and shared as part of that project (scroll down the page to the heading “The First Events” for the media files), invite students to read or re-visit poems and collections of poetry in your classroom library to select a favorite poem they wish to share.
Use or modify the guidelines from the Favorite Poem Community Forum to host a celebration in your own school or classroom.
This site provides descriptions of and links to the projects of past Poet Laureates, including Billy Collins’ Poetry 180.
From the Library of Congress Digital Reference Section, this page offers information on poet laureate's life and work, as well as to external Web sites that feature biographical information, interviews, poems, audio, video, and other materials that highlight the activities of each poet.
Awarded by the Poetry Foundation for a two-year tenure, the children’s poet laureate aims to raise awareness that children have a natural receptivity to poetry and are its most appreciative audience, especially when poems are written specifically for them.
This website provides teachers with a variety of poetry resources, including a searchable database of poets and poems, curriculum units, teacher workshops, and more.
Inspired by William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, Frederick Douglass collaborated to found The North Star in 1847. The paper, named for the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom from the South, was published weekly and included current news from the abolitionist movement, as well as editorials, articles, poetry, and advertisements. The North Star took as its motto “Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and we are all Brethren” and was published until 1851.
After briefly sharing some background knowledge about Frederick Douglass, project or provide students copies with “Our Paper and Its Prospects,” the opening editorial from The North Star’s first edition. Read the text aloud while students follow along, explaining to students that Douglass is following a publishing convention when he uses “we” to refer to himself. Then lead a discussion around the text using questions such as
- What do you notice about the language and style of this piece? Who is its likely audience?
- What does Douglass explain are his purposes in founding the paper?
- How does Douglass characterize the ways in which African American and white citizens can work toward the abolition of slavery?
- How does Douglass use elements of his life story to explain his motivations?
- How is this piece similar to or different from a modern editorial?
After discussing the editorial, have students brainstorm social issues they feel passionately about. Then invite them to consider the needs of a modern audience and write an opening editorial for an imaginary publication devoted to the betterment of their cause.
This biographical entry on Douglass from the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture offers a brief but excellent overview of his life and impact.
The History Channel’s Douglass page offers biographical information and links to related video resources.
The Library of Congress collection of Douglass’s papers includes categories such as diaries, family papers, general correspondence, legal files, and more.
This collection includes letters from abolitionists, articles and accounts written by Frederick Douglass included in three of his famous newspapers.
The 100th day of school is celebrated in schools around the country, usually in mid-February. Your class will enjoy a break from the normal routine as they practice math skills using games and activities based on the number 100. Some teachers may also include a visit from "My Hero, Zero" on day 100 (or on dates ending in zero, every tenth day, etc.).
Have your class work as a whole and in small groups to create a class "100th Day" book. First, have students break into small groups to brainstorm a list of possible topics for the book. Some possibilities include:
- 100 poems
- 100 ways to improve the Earth (our school, etc.)
- 100 people who changed history
Each group should nominate one idea to be considered by the whole class. Have the class vote on their favorite topic, brainstorm specific ideas, and then create a book based on this topic. Proudly display your book in your classroom or school library!
This page provides links to numerous Scholastic resources for a 100th-day-of-school celebration. Included are short activity ideas, a booklist, student poetry resources, links to other websites, and several lesson and unit plans.
This page includes suggestions for simple activities to celebrate the 100th day of school. Activities were submitted by teachers around the world and include a wide variety of ideas.
One Hundredth Day of School teaching ideas and activities inclusing booklists.
Groundhog Day is observed each year on February 2. The famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil is pulled from his simulated burrow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to make the most anticipated weather forecast of the year. The legend says that if the groundhog sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If Punxsutawney Phil does not see his shadow, spring is just around the corner.
Observe Groundhog Day in your classroom with your own shadow-watching activity.
Begin by bringing in a stuffed animal to stand in as the "groundhog." Have students select a name–something catchy–such as "Fairview Fred" or "Springfield Sal." Then plan a Groundhog Day celebration by choosing a location on school grounds and inviting other classes to attend the event.
Model your celebration after the annual event in Punxsutawney by including a variety of activities such as a scavenger hunt, storytelling, and games. Punxsutawney residents always include music in their celebration. Invite your school's band or chorus to provide live entertainment. At a predetermined time, have your "groundhog" look for his shadow, and then make the official announcement.
Later, have students watch or listen to news reports describing what happens in Punxsutawney on Groundhog Day and compare it with their predictions. Then, watch the calendar to see if your forecast is accurate!
This page from the Stormfax Weather Almanac offers information about the origins of Groundhog Day. There is also a record of past Groundhog Day predictions and information about the Groundhog Day film starring Bill Murray.
Check out the area for Teachers to find activities, lesson plans, and gamesto share with students during your Groundhog Day festivities. Students can even submit poetry or video for inclusion on the site.
Students can read weather-related folktales and proverbs at this American Folklore website.
Students can meet real groundhogs from Lums Pond State Park in Delaware at this rich multimedia site. The site includes basic information about groundhogs, as well as audio, video, and images.