As a new school year gets underway, we are eagerly anticipating the great activities that students will be able to take part in when they come to the library. The books have been waiting patiently for your students to pick them from the shelves. This year, we want to welcome any and all library volunteers. You might ask yourself what is required for volunteering in the library. Listed below are some ideas of ways that library volunteers can help this year. Whether you are able to come several times a week, one day a week or even just a short time during a specific day, your help would be greatly appreciated. Please fill out the district volunteer form or contact the campus where you would like to volunteer to find out more information.

Volunteer Application Packet

Volunteering:

Ways that library volunteers can help this school year:

• Spend time reading with students or listening to students read.
• Help the librarian with various projects that the students will be participating in during library time.
• Assist in a Makerspace Activity.
• Help with the Book Fair.
• Work with the librarian to organize materials within the library. (Help shelve books, process new materials, etc.)
• Share information with students about your profession. There may be times throughout the year where the librarian will want to have individuals talk with the students about their jobs or special skills. (ex. Authors, Artists, Illustrators, etc.)

Donations:

This year, we are working to collect materials to begin creating a Makerspace area within the library. The idea behind a Makerspace area is to allow students to be creative and “think outside the box”. Students will be able to utilize this space to construct projects and participate in activities that relate to what they have been learning. Some ideas for items that we would like to collect for this space are found on the list below. If you are interested in donating items for this purpose, please contact the school or drop off your donations at the appropriate campus.

Donation Ideas:

• Craft items (cotton balls, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, beads, yarn, felt, scraps of material, magnets, styrofoam and cardboard pieces, etc.)
• Art items (markers, sticky notes, colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, index cards, construction paper, colored copy paper, stickers, stencils, etc.)
• Legos (Grades Pre-K through 1 will need the Duplo legos, as these are larger than traditional legos. Grades 2-5 could handle traditional Legos.)
• Games (Any traditional board games that are age appropriate. Ex. Candyland, Monopoly, Chess, Checkers, Yahtzee, Scrabble, etc.) and puzzles of different sizes.
• Play Doh or modeling clay
• STEM Kits (kits that are designed to teach students elements of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)

Thank you for considering volunteering or donating to the library this year. If you are interested in Volunteering or would like to Donate something to the Makerspace area, please feel free to contact me. Help from individuals like you greatly adds to the wonderful things that we can offer to our students. We look forward to a wonderful year at Gladewater ISD!