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Dear LM_Netters:
Thank you to all of you who were generous enough to share your
instructional ideas. There are some great creative minds lurking
behind LM_NET!! I am aware that some of you might have missed my
initial post, so if you want to see a longer HIT, please e-mail
your best instructional ideas for the elementary school level to :
antonyc@mail.firn.edu
I will be glad to post another hit.
----------------------------------------
My students enjoy a game I call trashketball.  We divide into 2
teams.  I ask questions about skills or literature.  A correct
answer earns a point for one's team and a chance to shoot a Nerf
baseball into the trash can.  If the ball goes in, another point is
scored.  Everyone gets a small treat of some sort at the end. They
enjoy this form of review.
Julia Steger       *** A Lap is a Terrible Thing to Waste ***
Librarian      *** Adopt a Pet from your Local Animal Shelter ***
Clifton Forge Elementary Schools
Clifton Forge, VA  24422
jsteger@pen.k12.va.us
---------------------------------------------
   I have nada to tell you about best instructional ideas, etc., but
I laughed at your observation that some off-the-cuff lessons went
better than the carefully planned ones.  I taught all grades from
6th to 12th in my nearly thirty years in the classroom and library,
and I have a theory about that very familiar phenomenon.  I think
that the more time you invest in a lesson, the more uptight you
tend to be about presenting it precisely just so, and the kids
prefer spontaneity.  Just a thought.
   Mary Gale, Salinas HS, alma mater of John Steinbeck
--------------------------------------------
I think one of the best units turned out to be very elementary--a
unit for my first grade teachers who were teaching dinosaurs.  We
could not have completed this unit if we had not been on flexible
scheduling as it lasted about 2 weeks and students came in 3-4
times.  All 5 first grade classes participated.
Objective:  students will be able to point out author, title,
illustrator of a book and make their own dinosaur book cover.
In advance, I prepared print-outs of a dinosaur scene from one of the
print shop graphics--a full screen page.  Also, copied the class
list of students' names for each student in class.
Showed the class the book cover "Gila Monsters meet you at the
airport."
Through discussion, talked about the basic parts of a book:  front &
back covers, spine, front cover with title of book, author, etc.
Asked class"What is a gila monster?"  Had video camera set up and
recorded responses.  Quite a few were funny!
Watched the video from Reading Rainbow "Gila Monsters meet you at the
airport."  Would stop video in many diff. spots and discuss what
students were viewing.
After video, we discussed the relationship of a gila monster to a
dinosaur (can't remember now as I'm away from school but I think
dinosaur/gila monsters were cousins)>
Using overhead, discussed what were facts from the book and which
items were not true fromWent back to the book cover and pointed out items
on the book
cover-author, title, illustrator.  Held up 2 more dinosaur books
for examples and discussed items on the front of a book:  author,
title, illustrator.
With blank transparency, I quickly drew a dinosaur picture for my
book cover and for an author and illustrator, I used students'
names from the classroom.  Then, we did another example with input
from students for a book title, author, illustrator.
Explained to students they were to use the dinosaur sheets given to
them and they were to make up a book title, an author and
illustrator for their book.
Students enjoyed the assignment and learned the author, title,
illustrator placement for books.
Good luck with your hit!
Bookheart
Noblesville, IN
--------------------------------------------------
        I know what you mean about last minute success lessons.
Here's one I did on teaching the kids about fiction call letters.
When they came in I had a bunch of goofy book titles with their
teacher, me, the principal, etc. as the authors (ex: _The Mystery
of Room 228_ by R. Bailey)  I got the kids to construct the call
letters.  Top letter tells the section.  We are in the fiction
section, so what letter is that??  F, that's right.  Now who knows
what the three letters here are?  (Someone usually knows its the
author's last name.)  So together we construct three or four goofy
ones, then some real ones with catchy titles (these books are
*really* over there in the fiction section!!).  Then I hand out
slips of paper and pencils and tell them, "You are going to write a
book, but actually all you have to write is the title of your book.
 You can make it up or you can write a real title.
Then decide who the author is.  Then draw the spine label and put the
call letters for your book in it."  Some kids got into writing
goofy titles and authors. They all enjoyed it.  I'd pick someone
who seemed to understand it well and who finished first and read
the title and author (dramatically) to the rest of the class and
ask, "What are the call letters for this book??"
The kid who answered correctly got his/her example read (if they had
done all the parts correctly.)  Unfortunately I did it near the end
of the year so I wasn't able to gage retention very well.  I intend
to do it early next year.
Please post the hit!
Johanna Halbeisen
Rebecca M. Johnson School(K-8)
Springfield, Mass
jhalbei@k12.oit.umass.edu
------------------------------------------
This is a little thing I've been doing for a couple of years that has
made life easy for me in that when a child asks where a book is, I
can give him the call number (for E or F) and he can find the book.
 I made sets of shapes of construction paper (footballs, pumpkins,
turkey drumsticks, baseballs, hearts, raindrops, etc. to fit the
season we're in) put one call number on each:
                E
               PAR  I use the same set of call numbers for each
shape, about 35, and make them common enough so there will be a
book with that call number. Each child gets a shape and has to find
a book with that call number.  They love seeing what the new shape
will be. They show me the book and then put it back, or check it
out if it looks good.  We talk a lot about what the call numbers
mean, and they each tell me what their call number would be if they
wrote a book.  I do this with 2nd and 3rd grade.  By 4th, I give
them old catalog cards from the fiction section and they have to
find the exact book.  It really has helped, as I said, to enable
them to find books on their own.
Another idea that wasn't my own that I used to help with the idea of
Dewey Call numbers was:
I took half sheets of construction paper and wrote a subject on each
one. I used the same color for each 100 set.  300s,400s, etc.  The
children picked a subject and illustrated the card and then we went
to the shelf, found the call number for that subject and I wrote it
on the card. I laminated them and another day, handed them out and
had the children find a book with that call number.  They loved it.
 I did this with 2nd grade, but would also do it with 3rd another
time.
Book Party:  a fifth grade class (can do at any level) sat in a big
circle and I put 30-40 books that 5th graders like in the center.
They each found one they had enjoyed and told us a little bit about
it.  It really stimulated interest in checking out books.  You can
go around the circle or this can be done as a "Quaker Reading"
where the children, when they want to share, stand up and speak, as
in a Quaker Meeting.  They take turns naturally without speaking,
just using body language and eye contact to see who will go next.
If you talk about this first, they do really well.
I used this quaker reading to introduce a new unit a couple of other
times with great success.  I put out a lot of books on tables
(native American for 3rd grade, colonial for 5th, biographies for
6th) and the kids chose a book and found one interesting thing in
it.  Then we sat in a circle on the floor and shared that fact or
passage in the Quaker Reading format.  It got them into the books
and the subject.  When I did this, each child said a specific thing
to begin and end his turn so we'd know when he was done.
Like for biographies, he'd say the name of the person, then the
interesting fact, then the name of the person again.
I'm rambling, I'll quit.  I am anxious so see your hit.  I have
gotten such wonderful ideas from this group.
Laurie Carter- Library/Information Teacher      3195 Woodside Rd.
Woodside Elementary School                      Woodside, CA 94062
                    lcarter@woodside.K12.ca.us
"Minds are like parachutes.  They only function when open."
-----------------------------------------------------
   My favorite unit this year involved our fifth and first grades.
Both grades study oceanography. We paired each fifth grader with a
first grader. Each first grader selected an ocean animal (from a
prepared list) and each pair researched in the library together. We
prepared a large chart for them to use and the fifth grader would
read from the book/encyclopedia. Together they would decide what
facts to put and where. (The fifth grader thus modeling
note-taking, which they have been doing all year.) Then they used
the facts on the chart to create a book together. The first grader
would dictate, the fifth grader would write, and the first grader
would illustrate the completed page. The last page of the book was
a poem they wrote together.
   Wonderful things happen when older students work with younger
students. It just brings out the best in the older ones. These
pairs of students also did other activities together throughout the
year - reading aloud together, working on the computer, dictating.
We've expanded the pair activity since last year, our first time
with this project.
   I'd love to get a copy of your other responses.
Best wishes,
Anne Shimojima                  braeside@nslsilus.org
Braeside School IMC
150 Pierce Road
Highland Park IL 60035
708.433.0155
----------------------------------------------------------
I don't know just what kind of lessons you focus on, but I would say
it is the nature of what you ask students to do not the length of
planning time that gets positive or negative reactions.  For
example during a food unit with first graders I have them come and
we discuss what part of the plant they are eating when they eat
different vegetables.  On the top of  their paper we collect data
(tally marks in sections labeled leaf, seed,  stem, flower, seed
pod, and root).  At the bottom we construct a bar graph with the
same information.  We conclude with a discussion of which  format
makes it easier to grasp relationships and make generalizations.
Kids identify the graph as being easier to interpret. Older students
are given excerpts from Columbus's diary to sequence using
inference and context clues.  They work in groups -- 2 gps. doing
the beginning, 2 the middle and 2 the end.  We then share with the
total class and build the total document.  We use a lot of primary
source materials and ask them to analyze point of view, arguments
pro and con of an issue, fact and opinion etc..  What ever we are
doing the content relates to class work and the activity builds
information handling skills. The assignments ask students to
identify relationships, use graphic organizers, support or justify
from a source etc.  We don't teach skills for their own sake or do
drill and practice activities.  Cooperative problem solving carries
over from classroom instruction.  I could suggest some materials
which support this approach to a media center instructional program
if you are interested.
Ellen Jay
mejay@umd5.umd.edu
----------------------------------------------------
        This is a great idea for all levels.  Thanks for thinking of
it. One class that is always successful is teaching the elements of
a plot using _The True Story of the Three Little Pigs_.  I first
review the plot elements students learned from their language arts
teachers.  I ask students to watch for these while I am reading the
story and tell them they will be helping me later by acting out
these elements.  Out students ma all be hams, but this usually
guarantees good attention.  Then I read the story, they take notes
or not, and afterwards I read the story again. Students are to
raise their hand when they hear a plot element.  I usually pick the
student I call on as one of the actors.  We have a pig and a wolf.
They act out what I am reading, then hold up colorful signs with
their plot element on it.  We go on, picking new pigs and wolves as
needed, until the whole story is reread.  By then most of the class
is at the front, part of the cast.  They are all holding their
signs, hopefully in correct order, and we once again go through the
elements of a plot, using their names and the story points to
illustrate.  I summarize by telling them that whenever they want to
remember plot elements, they are to think of _The True Story of the
Three Little Pigs_!
        Other things I try involve games--relay races using the card
catalog and locating books on shelves, Dewey relays, arranging 10
books in Dewey order as a team, cooperative learning for theme,
etc, but I will look forward to your HIT and rethink all these when
I read all the great ideas I'm sure you'll get.
Eddie van Rossum Daum
Miller Creek Middle School
San Rafael, CA
edaum@marin.k12.ca.us
------------------------------------------------
My most successful days are when the students are up and moving
around. i.e. locating a particular hardback fiction, biography,
nonfiction, or paperback book.  I have strips of tag board labeled
with the "address" or call no. of a particular book and the title
of the book.  Students are then given a shelf marker (usually a
paint stirrer) and a book strip.  They are then sent out to
retrieve the book.  They return to me to show me the book and the
strip.  I keep the strip and they return the book to the shelf and
retrieve the shelf marker. To ensure that the book will be on the
shelf, I will insert "reserved" cards into the pocket so that they
do not get checked out during the week of lessons with all the
classes.  Another method to ensure successful retrieval is to have
the students retrieve a book (any title) from a particular author
in the fiction section or a book about a particular person in the
biography section.
This is done just after the location lesson on fiction.  Then when
biography location skills are completed, both fiction and biography
are practiced, and so on until all areas of the library are covered.
This is done with 4th and 5th graders.  Even the LD students are
successful.  In fact, I would say that there is a 99% success rate
and the lessons "take".  Students come to the library and locate
their own books and are very proud of their new location skills.
I will be interested in seeing some of the other responses you
receive.
Doris Renfro
So. Range Middle School
SRAN_DR@access.ohio


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