Meadows Elementary Transformed Their Library Into an Activity Center For Students
Meadows Elementary School’s library has undergone a transformation. Ms. Karin Thompson, the library media specialist at Meadows Elementary, has updated it from a traditional library to a multi-use space filled with engaging technology, building, and crafts activities and filled with spaces for students to relax.
Ms. Thompson’s goal is to turn the library into a space where students want to spend time. With the help of her library media paraprofessional, Ms. Trevi Schrempp, she has set up spaces throughout the library for students to do activities, lounge around and read books, and a therapeutic space with sensory tools for students. Elementary students range in age from 3 years old to 12 years old. Because of this large age range, there is vast difference in interests, reading levels, and even just physical size. Ms. Thompson wants students in every grade and at any reading level to feel welcome and have a space to relax, play, and learn.
Some of the ways she has made the library an inclusive space is: separating and marking books by grade level in order to help kids find books that fit their reading skills and interests, and creating a space for the older kids that includes series and books they might be interested in and which has bigger furniture, since elementary schools tend to have smaller chairs and tables.
The biggest change to the library is the focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). There is a tinkering station where kids can take apart and work on broken electronics, a device that is meant to teach computer skills, parts to make robots, and much more. These hands-on activities can teach the students new skills, give them a sense of discovery and independence, and get them into the library. Since students will be coming to the library for an activity, the hope is that they will grab a book while they are there.
Ms. Thompson has truly turned the library into a welcoming space for students to read and learn through play. Ms. Thompson’s intention when working on the library was to “make it more like a family room of a house where the kids want to be and want to gather and there's areas for them to sit down by themselves or sit down with others and be able to collaborate and be able to read quietly and be able to play. Play with toys and learn from their play.”
There is no doubt that she has achieved her goal in making an engaging space for all students. Students at Meadows are already begging their teachers to take them to the library.