HIT: Elem Beg. Year Ideas Pt.2

[Anastasi - Lisa <lisaanas@UMD5.UMD.EDU>]

Here is the rest of the responses I have received regarding ideas for the
beginning of the year.  I truly appreciate everyone who took the time to
respond.  Thanks to you all, the beginning of my first year will be great!

Lisa Anastasi
lisaanas@umd5.umd.edu
_____________________________________________________________________________
From: ALHynes@aol.com
To: lisaanas@umd5.umd.edu
Subject: Re: Elem Beg. Year Ideas

There are so many things I could share about the beginning of the year...each
year I revise and improve my beginning units. I always go through a sort of
Frequently Asked Questions about the Library. This includes everything from
"How many items may I check out?" to "Where do we go in a fire drill?" I
started this as a talk, then developed transparencies with cartoons and
illustrations to accompany my talk. Have also printed these questions on
cards, distributed them to students and had students quiz each other (This
worked well for review!)

This year I tried out something new: Meet Your Librarian. I wanted the
students to get to know me better and I wanted to know a little more about
them. (I work in a K-6 school w/ over 875 students. Getting to know each
other is a bit of a challenge!) I developed a set of twelve true-false
questions about myself such as:

1. When she was taken to see Santa Claus, Miss Hynes cried and cried.
2. When Miss Hynes was in elementary school, the students in her school all
dressed alike.
3. After school, Miss Hynes liked to ride her bike and do the hula hoop.
4. Miss Hynes had several  favorite tv shows: Lassie, The Brady Bunch, and
Get Smart.

You can see I tried to develop questions that would give students an idea of
what I was like at their age. Also, I made transparencies to accompany each
question using photos from family albums and items from scrapbooks. (I used a
local copier place after experimenting with our transparency maker. They were
pretty inexpensive and the quality was much improved.)

I asked students in each class to think about what I had been like when I was
their age and then guess the correct answer to each question (We used thumbs
up, thumbs down). I used a different transparency for each question and tried
to keep a poker face as they made their guesses.

Then, I went back through the transparencies and revealed the correct
answers.
As a follow-up activity, I distributed a form to each student asking them to
write down a true-false statement about their childhood that they thought
might surprise others in the class. In the following weeks, I'd share three
or four responses, with students guessing about each other. For me, this
worked with 2nd - 6th grades. It was fun to do. They learned a little about
me and I learned some surprising things about them. And, it was the best
attention getter for the start of our lessons for several weeks to come. Best
of luck to you. Andrea

Also, Eric A. Kimmel has a picture book, "I took my frog to the library"
that's fun to use with primary classes as an introduction. I've also used
John Burningham's "John Patrick Norman McHennessey" about a boy who was
always late to school. If you photocopy the endpapers, you can cut them into
strips for bookmarks.
___________________________________________________________________________
From: MEngelbrec@aol.com
To: lisaanas@umd5.umd.edu
Subject: Beginning of year

The first week, I have all the classes in for orientation in my Pre-6 school.
 I give introductions, discuss check-out procedures, use of shelf markers and
number of books allowed to be checked out.  (For younger students, this may
take 2-3 weeks).  Pre-K students check out 1 book per visit, gr. 2-6 check
out 2.  Students are allowed to come to the Library with a pass anytime
during the week, so if they finish their books early, they are always welcome
to get more.  When older students begin doing research, I allow them to
check
out more books as needed.  During the first weeks of school, I book talk
Young Reader's Choice Nominees for grades 4-6.  (Every region has different
competitions going on - check to see what is in your area).  My upper grades
also start book reports right away, so I usually explain the genre for the
month, and do some book talks of my suggestions.  Younger grades I start in
with some upbeat literature choices, and teach computer catalog use.  Good
luck in your new position!  (If you could post a HIT, that would be great!)
 Michele
____________________________________________________________________________
From: Jane Snibbe <jsnibbe@monterey.k12.ca.us>
To: Anastasi - Lisa <lisaanas@UMD5.UMD.EDU>
Subject: Re: Target: Elem. Beg. Year Ideas

Lisa,
        You will love being an elementary librarian.  I've worked on the
secondary level, as well, and elementary is harder, physically, but lots
more fun, especially the literature.
        A couple of ideas: In grades 4 and 5, we do a treasure hunt to
locate various parts of the library.  Each team of 2 has 10 questions i. e.
What color is the American Book of Sign Language?; How many shelves of
fiction have authors beginning with R?; What is the call number for
dinosaurs?, etc.  It means making a number of sets of questions and making
an answer key, but it gets the students moving around the library - I give
a brief overview of where things are generally located first and then they
go at it with prizes for first correct finishers.  We are located in
military housing, so we have a big turnover every year and this helps the
new ones.
        In the primary, I go over our rules: shelf markers, not pushing
books back, book care, etc.  and also the privileges: 2 books checked out,
media stations at recess, computer use, Word-of-the-Day, etc.  For our
kindergarten, I select a group of books and put them on the tables for them
to select.  They do not learn to browse the shelves until the second
quarter.  They only check out 1 book and do not have recess privileges as
the teachers want them in their yard.  I begin a series of lessons of "good
authors" to know, usually who have written multiple books i. e. Marc Brown
and Author, Babar, Madeline, Beatrix Potter, etc.  I generally leave the
"Back to School" things for the teachers to do.
        We usually get new books over the summer and I introduce those to
the teachers with a punch and cookies party either on one of our workdays
or the first day of school - after school, they appreciate some
refreshment.
        Hope this helps.  Best wishes.

Jane Snibbe, Librarian
Marshall School, Seaside, CA
_____________________________________________________________________________
From: "Lee A. Morris" <75761.3427@CompuServe.COM>
To: Anastasi - Lisa <lisaanas@umd5.umd.edu>
Subject: Re: Target: Elem. Beg. Year Ideas

Dear Lisa, I am presently in a K-3 Elem. School previously it was K-5.  In the
beginning of the school year the kindergarten children always discuss care of
books and behavior in the library.  I have a little booklet made up with
pictures illustrating different ways of caring for books...Clean Hands, Quiet
Voices, Keeping books in a safe place, etc.  I always start the year with
reading Corduroy by Don Freeman and follow up the next week with the Corduroy
video.  I have the children in K-2 a half hour each week and each marking period
I have either 1st or 2nd grade twice.  The second time they come to the library
we work at stations, CD ROM, Listening Center (books with cassettes).  There are
several other books that are excellent for the beginning of school and when my
brain clears I will send you the titles.  In first grade there is a great series
of books about students in first grade by Miriam Cohen, Starring First Grade,
there's a Halloween one too.  The first couple of weeks I spend time with all
the grades discussing, reviewing, and illustrating library procedures and
becoming familar with the library. Some years I start out with an author study
about Kevin Henkes and read all his stories beginning with Chrysthaneum.
Second Grade:  I do an author study about Marc Brown and read his Arthur books
as well as show them other books he has illustrated and a video about Marc
Brown.  In third grade I love to read Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg, The Widow's
Broom...
We start off with book talks, they discuss what they read in the summer with
each other and I then book talk some of the new books as well as some oldies but
goodies.  During Thanksgiving Read Aloud Molly's Pilgrim you probably are
familiar with it but just in case I wanted to mention it.  Third Graders love
books by Suzy Kline, Johanna Hurwitz, Patricia Reilly Giff, Matt Christopher,
Beverly Cleary, Louis Sachar and I'm sure after I've sent this I'll think of
many more but try those for starters.  I read aloud Donna Jo Napoli's book,
Prince of the Pond to second and third graders and they just loved it.  Try the
sequel too!  I have regularly scheduled classes and only mother volunteers to
help shelve books.  Kindergarten children take out one book all year starting in
September, First Grade starts with one book and usually by December or January
they begin to take out two books, Second and Third Grades take out three books
and if they have an assignment that requires a library book they may have a
fourth book or sometimes the teacher checks them out in her/his name.  I place a
wide selection of books (picture books and non-fiction picture books) on a table
or two for the K-1 children to choose from and on occasion will locate a
specific request for those who have special interests.  Around December or
January I place I Can Read books(beginning to read books) out  for first
graders.  I check with the classroom teacher every so often to see if any
particular student may be ready for something more challenging.  Always
communicate with your classroom teacher because she is aware of  any particular
needs.  I hope this helps and if you want any more information in the future
I'll be more than happy to share it with you.  I'm sure you have a lot to share
with me and others too.  Look forward to hearing from you again.  By the way, we
are automated and come September hopefully we will be online with our catalog.
Supposedly in September I will have eight to ten brand new computers/cd roms in
the library and we will be on the Internet too.  Our school has an enrollment of
about 408 students.  We are approximately forty miles from NYC.  Where are you
located?  Good luck and congratulations!! Mary Rose Morris (I will have a new
internet mail address around the end of the month, morris@nic.com and at school
my address is dater@nic.com)  Sorry to be so wordy! MRM

_____________________________________________________________________________
From: Kathy <klibrary@adrift.harbornet.com>
To: Anastasi - Lisa <lisaanas@UMD5.UMD.EDU>
Subject: Re: Target: Elem. Beg. Year Ideas

Most important, follow your style.  Beyond that... here's what has worked
for me..or, at least I allowed myself to think so.
Ask every teacher in the school to write a brief "talk" on a card about
their favorite book in the library.  Display the book with the card for the
first day.
Have a photo "bio" of you and your family displayed somewhere in the media
center to help the students get to see you as a real person.
Start taking pictures and begin an album for the media center.
Don't do it all at the beginning.  Don't try to hang on to what doesn't work.
___________________________________________________________________________

One thing that I do every few years for orientation is "Library in a
Can."  I put important "reminders" in a bright yellow trash can and
invite students to come draw something out that I then talk about.  I
include shelf markers, library cards used for check-out, library rules on
strips of paper, various types of books so I can remind them where they
are located in the library, etc.  This activity is done with grades 3-5.

For primary grades, I always read Mr. Wiggles' Book.  He is a bookworm
(my mind's gone blank where I ordered the book from).  I have a large Mr.
Wiggles made of large pompoms, and I make little ones to take to the
classroom for their library to remind them proper use of books.  The kids
really like him -- even the 2nd graders.

Hope you have a great 1st year!!

Cheri Jantzen                           Edgewood Elementary School
Library Media Specialist                8655 Emnora
Spring Branch ISD                       Houston, Texas 77080
cjantzen@tenet.edu                      (713) 365-4000


____________________________________________________________________________
Greetings Lisa and thank you for the fine HIT.  As a freshman member of
LM-NET I found it most helpful.  I have been a media specialist for
12 years and I hope the following ideas will prove useful.

I always begin the year with a series of orientation lessons for primary
students.  Whenever possible I use children's literature as a
foundation.  My favorite introduction to the media center used Ron Maris'
book "Are You There Bear?"  Echoing the book, the children entered a
darkened media center.  I explained that my friend Bear had a surprise
for us but I could not find him.  Will you help me look . . . So we
called out "Are You There Bear?"  Then we hunted for Bear with a big
flashlight.  Along the way to the story place where we eventually located
Bear we discovered puppets and books for the Frog and Toad Books, Angus
and Babar.  Once we were settled in the story place with the lights on I
then read the book.

The next visits found us getting acquainted with Angus (from Marjorie
Flack's delightful and timeless books) and dramatizing "Angus and the
Ducks."  Along the way we learned that every book has a special place on
the shelf and we located Angus' books.

I named the tables located in the Easy section after  book characters --
Angus, Curious George, George and Martha, Babar, and Frog and Toad.
Again, the location thing works in neatly here.  If you do this be sure
to select series which are plentiful as the demand for these books will
be high.

Oh, each table had a windsock sign hanging over it made of poster board
and crepe paper which featured  enlarged illustrations from the
appropriate book.  (I had written permission from the publisher to use
specific illustrations.)  The windsocks are stored as I am in a different
school now.

Before that first check-out I met with half a class at the time and
explained the routine, demonstrating use of my brightly colored paint
paddles to mark the place of the book on the shelf, et. al.

Jacque Hornsby                                  /\__/\
Media Specialist                            /  (      )  \   ^
West Side Magnet School                    (( o\      /o ))  \\
301 Forrest Ave                            ((   \    /   ))  //
LaGrange, GA  30240                         ((   \  /   )) ///
============================================____  ~~  ____===================
=============================================================================
Why not select a mascot for the media center.  (The armadillo is my
unofficial mascot as he is too shy to be official.) Pick a critter which
offers tales and nonfiction titles to build instructional
opportunities.  My mascot, named for Diego Rivera, sent messages to the
children all year.  (Yes, indeed there are actually about half a dozen
picture books about the armadillo.)  At anyrate, a mascot is a great
hook as it were.

Here is an addition for the wonderful book doctor.  Create a
hospital box for sick books by covering a cardboard box with white
contact paper.  Trim the edges with wide red tape and add a big red
cross on several sides.  Find a permanent place to display your box
and encourage the children to help you keep track of new patients.

I do hope that your have a splendid year.  --Jacque.

 Jacque Hornsby                                 /\__/\
Media Specialist                            /  (      )  \   ^
West Side Magnet School                    (( o\      /o ))  \\
301 Forrest Ave                            ((   \    /   ))  //
LaGrange, GA  30240                         ((   \  /   )) ///
============================================____  ~~  ____===================