What to Teach After Library Orientation: 5 Easy September Activities
Looking for easy September library activities after your beginning-of-the-year orientation lessons? These simple ideas are perfect for reinforcing library skills, book care, and reading routines while adding a little fall fun.
The first few weeks of school are usually filled with library orientation, book care, rules, and routines. But once students know the basics, what should you teach next?
September is a great time to mix simple library skills with seasonal activities. Here are five easy ideas that work well for primary library classes.
1. Celebrate the Change from Summer to Fall
September is the perfect time to bring seasonal picture books into your library lessons.
Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak is a beautiful read-aloud for helping students notice the changes happening around them as summer turns to fall.
After reading, students can talk, draw, or write about the things they are saying goodbye to from summer and what they are excited to welcome in autumn.
My Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn Activities include printable activities and headbands that make an easy follow-up to the story. This is also a great activity to add to a fall library center or leave for a substitute teacher.
2. Review Book Care with a Game
Even after your first library orientation lessons, students can always use a little book care review!
Instead of teaching all of the rules again, turn the review into a quick game. Show students different situations and have them decide whether each one is a good choice for taking care of library books.
My Library Book Care Guessing Game is an easy way to review book care while keeping students involved.
You can also give students a Book Care Bookmark to keep inside their library book as a simple reminder.
3. Teach the Parts of a Book
Once students are comfortable using the library, September is a great time to introduce basic book vocabulary.
Use books from your own shelves and have students find things like:
front/back cover
spine / title
author / illustrator
You can even give partners a book and turn it into a quick scavenger hunt.
My Parts of a Book Library Lesson includes a ready-to-use slideshow and printable activities.
4. Start Exploring Book Genres
This is also a good time to start helping students discover the kind of book they enjoy reading.
Introduce a few genres at a time and pull examples directly from your library shelves. Look at the covers together and talk about the clues that might tell students what kind of book they are looking at.
My Book Genres Library Lesson introduces ten popular genres and gives you an easy visual lesson to use with your classes.
5. Add an Easy Independent Library Activity
Some weeks you just need something simple!
Word searches work well for library centers, early finishers, sub plans, or as a quick activity after a lesson.
My Library Word Search Activities reinforce three important beginning-of-the-year topics:
book care
parts of a book
book genres
Keep September Library Lessons Simple
You don’t need to introduce a completely new topic every time students visit the library.
September is a great time to enjoy seasonal books, reinforce your library routines, and gradually introduce skills like parts of a book and genres.
A few simple activities can take you from those first orientation lessons right into your regular library routine — without creating hours of extra planning.
Looking for more easy activities? Check out these Easy Library Center Ideas for the Beginning of the Year
Happy teaching!
Jenn
