Summer Bookish Bucket List

 Anyone else counting down the days until summer? I love working in education- but that doesn't mean I am not also excited about a break (also- public education has been a little much lately)

I love social media- and I saw a SUPER fun idea where a group of friends created a summer bucket list that was attached to points (and a little bit of money)  Thanks @thymephillips on TikTok for the inspiration. 
* You can find the official game that also has money attached to it here -----> THE BEST SUMMER EVER (I personally think I am going to do the Best Holiday Ever.

I loved this idea so decided I wanted to make one of my own.

Check out the Summer Bookish Bucket List- You can find the template HERE--->TEMPLATE

I was going to create a Google Form to collect points- but I decided that was going to be too much for this first year- so I am sharing it with you! I am promoting this to my staff and plan to have prizes for when we get back from the summer vacation.

Want to play along this summer- use the hashtag #readyoursummer25 and tag me!! @akbusybee on X and TikTok- @beeinthebookends on Instagram. You can also use the Total tracker shared below.

Bookishlist2025 by akbusybee

I am ending the year at school with another Book Basket Party that is summer read themed.  How are you promoting summer reading? Will you be joining my challenge?

Using AI for Productivity

 I can't believe that we are already in May! The end of the year my checklists tend to get longer instead of shorter, but that doesn't mean that there is not great learning going on.  

In high school the end of the year also means SO MUCH TESTING.. and that means that often times the library space is being used.  Thank goodness I can travel to classrooms.

A teacher came to me a couple of weeks ago and asked for a lesson that talked about AI and Productivity.  Now, I know that AI is a hot topic.. some agree with the usage and some disagree with the usage. I personally use it EVERY day.

To Prepare:
-looked through Common Sense Media 
-conversed with a fellow librarian (Jessica Ross) on how she had worked with students and using AI tools
-revisited the amazing presentation that I saw while at TLA called Do I Need AI in my Life that was presented by Lindsey Brewer-Munoz and Ami Uselman

After compiling resources (and also thinking about the attention span of a high schooler in May) I came up with a quick lesson.  

To prepare for the Magic School- I did have to create a classroom.

Below is the video of me walking through the lesson- want the whole presentation-

TEMPLATE LINK------>HERE and see below

To Share AI and Productivity by akbusybee

Things I loved about this lesson:

-the kids loved that my friend used Chat GPT to help us go to 7 Buc-ee's in one day- 

-they loved the Which is Real Face page where they had to figure out which face was real

-I LOVED using MagicSchool to write Thank You Notes for Teacher Appreciation

On that note- the list that I made in Goblin.Tools tells me that I need to get started on preparing the books out list of seniors.

Do you use AI? If so- how?

National Library Week 2025

 Wow! We are almost to April! I haven't blogged as much this year- but I have been sharing a TON on different platforms.  Right now I am preparing for the Texas Library Association Conference (will I see you???) and National Library Week

After being inspired byMiranda at @bilingualbibliotecaria on Instagram  I realized I wanted to share even more of library land.  My word this last year has been Adventure- so Adventures in Library Land began.

I share these snippets of various library adventures through TikTok-but I also cross-post on Instagram and Facebook as reels, share on X and I am trying to get better at sharing them as Shorts on YouTubeb

Links:
-TikTok- @akbusybee
-Instagram-@beeinthebookends
-X- @akbusybee
-Youtube

National Library Week is coming up- and I want to make sure that I am continually advocating for the importance of the library in all that I do!  We are also about to be knee-deep in testing season so I wanted to think of ideas that I could do with different spaces.

I started out by seeing what American Library Association had posted for National Library Week- and I LOVE the theme!! They also have resources in Spanish.

They have ideas associated with days for April 7th-10th and graphics that you can use.

Here is my plan (and these are pretty much the same things I have done the last couple of years- but I am at a new campus)

I am sharing each day- but also below is my Canva Document- I will be sharing them across platforms- but I found that my students spend more times in Insta Stories than the actual Insta feeds.

Monday-April 7th- Right to read- stop by the library to pick up items to make your own bookmark (also- I don't know what this will look like yet- but I have a couple of days to figure it out)
I am also going to have a Read and Recommend Board outside of the library

Tuesday- April 8th- National Library Workers day- I am going to invite students and staff to stop by and grab a water bottle sticker because I am stuck on our students and staff.

Wednesday- April 9th- National Library Outreach Day- Stop by the library to check out one of our new books or pick a free read from our book cart!  I am going to also offer for staff to stop by and create a bookmark using the Glowforge (students too..but I might have to figure that out the next week when the library is more open- the Glowforge is amazing.. but loud)

Thursday- April 10th- Take Actions for Library Day- I am going to use the ALA page and invite students to pick up a sheet and they can share what draws them to the library.

Friday- April 11th- Library Time Capsule- I am going to invite students and staff to help create a Library Time Capsule! Write down your favorite book, book quote or a message to future readers, and we’ll seal it up to open in a few years.

--->TEMPLATE LINK FOR CANVA<----

Library Week 2025 by akbusybee

What are you doing for National Library Week?