First-year school libarian Gwen and I stumbled across each other on Bluesky, and I'm glad we did! We had a great time chatting about being new school librarians, and Gwen shared some of her methods for engaging her students with the library space. 

Guest: Gwen Blumberg

Grade(s) Taught: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Resources: 

• Strengthening Library Skills to Increase Independence & Engagement Lesson: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BwfwPZq5MHZVsokxd2L1_TbUMEg2CquA3VjULCuMcbk/edit?usp=sharing 

• Additional Links: The Card Catalog Effect, as explained by Courtney Milan on Bluesky

Book Break: 

• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

• Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Mary Azarian 

Where to find Gwen Blumberg: 

• Handle: @gwenblumberg

• I can be found on: Bluesky, Instagram

• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gwenblumberg.bsky.social  

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwenblumberg/# 

Check in with us, and check us out!

• Have an idea, a question, or a lesson you want to share? Email [email protected]

• Check out the curated list of free online resources & events at www.SchoolLibrarianLearningNetwork.org

Some Bluesky Resources

Starter Packs - These give you a list of accounts you might be interested in following. You can selectively choose among the accounts, or "Follow all" with one click!

• School Librarians by @techielibgrl.com

• UK School Librarians by @ljwattswales.bsky.social

• K-12 School Library Professionals in Canada by @dnevillebooks.bsky.social

Feeds - These are collections of posts that meet certain search criteria. They're a great way to see topics you're interested in! You can add feeds to your account for easy repeat viewing. 

• School Librarians Feed by ‪@davidbfox.com‬: Follow the feed to see posts that include "schoollibrarian," "schoollibrary," "School Library Journal," "LMTS," "AASL"

• School Libraries Feed by ‪@tljamesa.com‬:  This is a feed of posts from and for school librarians, teacher librarians, library media specialists, etc. #TLChat #FutureReadyLibs #SchoolLibrary #SchoolLibrarian #TLsky

• School Libraries Feed by ‪@debbieohi.com‬: Picks up posts that include hashtags related to school libraries and school librarians. Search parameters still being tweaked.

• TLSky Feed by ‪@techielibgrl.com‬:  - TLSky is a feed for Librarians. Share by using #tlsky