Episode 25: DINO-vember with Jacquelyn Wilson

Every November, Jacquelyn Wilson's elementary library becomes DINO-vember and it started because her coworkers were too good at their jobs.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Jacquelyn Wilson, library media specialist at Stonebridge Elementary in Spanish Fort, Alabama, and current president of the Alabama School Library Association.

When teachers at her campus took over Balloons Over Broadway and the Veterans Day read alouds during November, she went looking for something nobody else was doing and landed on the one subject every kid already loves. The promo is half the fun: a $35 inflatable T. rex, a Jurassic Park–style commercial filmed by her PE coach, and Jacquelyn greeting car line in costume while kindergartners wonder if a dinosaur is loose in the building.

Behind the costume it's a month of scaffolded research: fourth graders prompting an AI image generator to render their dinosaur accurately, first graders meeting research through Pebble Go, second grade doing media literacy, third grade guessing a fossil photo before anyone says what it is. Plus fossil rubbings, dino origami, and measuring how many second graders long a brachiosaurus is in masking tape across the library floor.

Pillar: 🩵 Discovery

💡 Steal-this-idea: Three from Jacquelyn:

• Teacher bookshelf
• Book of the day
• Musical chairs with chapter books

🛠️ Resources:

• Pebble Go graphic organizer — her dinosaur research organizer for early elementary
• Project Look Sharp — free media literacy lessons, including the one she uses on dinosaur imagery
• Her DINO-vember book list — constantly growing, fiction and nonfiction
• Pebble Go -- research for elementary students

Follow Jacquelyn: 📱 Instagram: @the_story_teacher

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: thenextgenlib@gmail.com

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

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The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.