Today's Classroom Activities :

National Library Card Sign-up Month

The Price of Libraries
Reading/Math September is National Library Card Sign-up Month. In order to show your students the importance of libraries, calculate how much money they save the students. The average cost of a hardcover picture book is about $16.95. Ask your librarian for information about the inventory in your school library. Have students calculate the library's total financial worth, then have students keep track of the number of library books that they borrow/use throughout September. How much would it have cost to purchase those books? Do some research on libraries. Who established free libraries? Why? Where do your school library funds come from? If possible take a field trip to your local public library.

Visit the Library of Congress where your students can join thousands of book lovers in the National Book Festival. Have them check out the 2008 lineup and start reading great authors like Jan Brett, Kadir Nelson, Andrea Davis Pinkney and Joseph Bruchac today!

Mapping the Library
In this activity, students compare their school library with another library -- your town library, for example, or a virtual library -- and identify their most important features. Then students use their observations to create a map of the school library that can serve as a guide for others.