Kansas Association of School Librarians

Thank you, Bev, for your amazing contributions to the vision of Kansas school library media centers!

Please join us in congratulating our 2025 KASL Vision Award recipient, Beverly Buller! Her years facilitating the annual William Allen White Children's Book Award have brought great books to many, many Kansas librarians, teachers, and students.
#TLSky #SchoolLibraries

Many thanks to Elizabeth for all her efforts that benefit students and strengthen the school library profession here in Kansas!

Congratulations to our 2025 Kansas School Librarian of the Year Elizabeth Sherwood! If you were able to attend either of Elizabeth's presentations at the KLA conference this past week, you know that she is doing some extraordinary work at Valley Center Middle School.
#TLSky #SchoolLibraries

With this lineup, you'll want to make sure to same the date for our KASL NE Workshop!

So many KASL librarians have spent the last few days learning, sharing and growing at #AASL25 ! They’ll each bring back many new ideas and insights that will improve their library programs and services to students.

White background with an image of the SLLN logo - Black text in a circle reads School Librarian Learning Network, surrounding a red book with the letters SLLN on the cover in gray lettering. Across the top, red text reads: Episode 55: Active Learning: Mapping the Library with Amy Brownlee. Toward the bottom, a picture of Any Brownlee.

SLLN Podcast Ep 55: @amybrownlee93.bsky.social on having students map the library - fun & functional orientation!

Get it on your favorite podcatcher (search SLLN), or here: sllnpodcast.libsyn.com/55-active-le...

#TLSky #SchoolLibrary #EduSky #SchoolLibrarian #TLSkyChat

Make plans today to attend the Heartland Literature Festival and see author Jenn Bishop! Register at: www.thewritingconference.com/store-1/p/wa...

Check out the wise words of our own @amybrownlee93.bsky.social on the @aaslala.bsky.social Knowledge Quest blog and find yourself some #bookjoy!

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY! Connect with your Kansas school librarian colleagues at this great day of learning. Register at the link below.
secure.touchnet.com/C20725_ustor...

REGISTER TODAY to secure your seat while early bird rates are still in effect! Prices go up on June 23. Enjoy a day of professional learning just for school librarians with colleagues from around the state!
secure.touchnet.com/C20725_ustor...

KASL folks, if you have books to donate, our friends in Grinnell could really use them!

I'm presenting! announcement with the title "A Place to Belong: Using Lessons and Programming to Intentionally Construct a Thriving Student Author Section in Your Elementary Library" and a picture of Amanda.

I am PUMPED for #AASL25 and truly excited to share this work that grew out of listening to our students regarding what they needed and wanted from our library program.

Thank you @melissacorey.bsky.social for creating this easy-to-use template!

#TLSky #SchoolLibraries #Skybrarian

I am so excited to present at the AASL National Conference for the second time! Attending in 2023 was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to make even more connections in St. Louis this fall. @aaslala.bsky.social
#tlsky #schoollibrarian #AASL2025

Low-Cost, High-Interest Elementary STEM Activities Teachers can build an engaging STEM program on a limited budget by going slowly and adding one activity at a time—which also gives them time to learn.

Teacher & librarian Amy Brownlee dreamed of implementing an elementary STEM program, “but felt overwhelmed because I didn’t have the funds … or the knowledge of where to start.”

Here’s how she created a low-cost, high-impact model you can replicate at your school! 🤩

#ElementaryTeacher #STEM #TLSky

My episode with @slupodcast.bsky.social is now available. Our conversation touches on many topics, and I am grateful for the opportunity to share my experiences. @comicsatsdsu.bsky.social @funnypagespam.bsky.social #tlsky

Check out this whole thread showing how one KASL librarian is reworking her non-fiction section. 😮

If you would like to be featured in an upcoming week-in-the-life post, please email 5-6 photos with captions to kaslsocmed at gmail.com.

Circulation – just one classes check-ins for the day!

Curriculum support. These 4th graders were working on their Soc. St. Assessment. During our lib. classes we research Nat. Parks and then Ss write a booklet persuading people to visit their national park. They write a claim and have to support it with reasons and evidence citing their sources.

Technology – these 5th grade students are learning how to determine if a website is a hoax. They were working collaboratively to discuss a website and the clues to determine if it was legit.

Family literacy night, Community Engagement. We had families and community members from different countries come and share literacy activities and information about their culture with the families at our school. Students are learning how to write Chinese characters here.

It's time for our next week-in-the-Life of a KASL Librarian!
We'll feature hardworking KASL librarians and spotlight the myriad of roles they take on in support of their school communities.

Next up is your incoming KASL President: Kristy Oborny, Teacher Librarian, O’Loughlin Elementary, Hays

Save the date for this great opportunity right in our backyard!

www.facebook.com/share/1BT2Lx...

Big thanks to Amy for bring our first librarian!
If you would like to be featured in an upcoming week-in-the-life post, please email 5-6 photos with captions to kaslsocmed at gmail.com.

for Ss to use during STEM time; I was looking at my cal to schedule classes to make the best use of my time, which is challenging because I'm shared between 2 schools; and I was planning a reading challenge for Ss. This is on top of circulation and reader's advisory, which happen all day, every day.

Multitasking
My messy desk tells the story of just a few of the tasks I completed in a single day: I held a preschool storytime that included puppets and students playing rhythm instruments; I tested our 3D pens to be sure all were in working order and printed out templates...

Then comes research and note-taking. We also learn how to find an image, copy and paste it into a Word document, and resize the image before printing. The result: a poster that shows what they have learned. I am so proud of their work!

Research and Collaboration
Each year I collaborate with 3rd grade teachers to teach research and computer skills for the Famous Kansan project. I teach the research process, and we begin by creating questions: what do we want to know about our famous Kansans?

For the librarian, this represents many hours writing grant applications to fund the materials and skilled classroom management to keep a class of students working independently in five groups, each doing different STEM activities.