HIT: Kindergarten check-out and activities (long)

[Madeline Buchanan <mlbuchan@SCOTT.NET>]

Here are the replies that I received concerning kindergarten activities and
kindergarten check-out.  Hope this helps.

>Our kidergarten kids get to check out 1 book on their first library visit.
>We are going to start something new this year - we are going to take their
>pictures with a polaroid and the picture will be their library card.
>We'll write their name and stick their patron barcode label on the back.
>I think this will help them find their cards and it will help us get to
>know the new kids.  I'll let you know how it goes - feel free to use the
>idea!  ;-)

>In the past I started checking out books the second week of school
>but I jumped right in the first day this year and it is working out
>fine.  They are so excited about taking a book home.
>It might help to have them check out books with help from their
>reader buddies
>
>I let my kdg students check out 1 book the first week, 2 the second if
>they brought first back, then 3 on the 3rd week.  I start out with
>stories about loose teeth.  They love to put on impromptu "plays" about
>books I read the week before.  Also like Anansi, giants of any kind,
>Arthur.  Anytime you can incorporate a song do so.  They like to sing
>like opera stars using soprano and then bass voices and lots of dramatic
>hand motions! To promote proper book care I have a backpack filled with
>damaged books. Show them one at a time and they guess what happened to it.
>I ask would they want to check it out!  (I have some HUGE orange rubber
>gloves
that I use to pick the books out of the backpack - this gets their
attention right away.)

NOW!!  Why wait?  The kindergartners, I have found, are often more
responsible than older kids.  In fact, I had a K class visit for orientation
yesterday morning at 10:30-- on their very first day of school!!  It was so
cool!

     I allow kindergarten to check out now... I ask the teachers to keep the
books in their class to get the students used to returning the books and
checking out new ones before they begin to take them home. I pull easy
readers (high interest for K's) and put them on a book cart for them to
choose from. This keeps our shelves in order and I keep the new books for the
older students.

We see our kindergartners every other week.  they start borrowing books
at the beginning of October, after they've been to the library a couple
of times and have learned about our check-out procedures, book care, and
using shelf markers.  I usually have kids color pictures showing how to
take care of books.  Other times, I have activities related to the
stories I read or what I'm trying to teach.  So they may do some
alphabet activity such as connecting dots for the first part of the
alphabet, or they may paste up a picture that helps them with the
alphabet.

Madeline, I've got Kinder for the first time ever this year.  I'm not
going to check out books to them for a while yet.  For this whole first
two weeks of school, I've done 30 min. lessons with them based on very
easy-to-read books.
   I used _Whose Mouse are You?_ and got a full-length mirror so that
they could practice the mouse's expressions in the mirror.
   I used _Titch_ and counted 3 of everything I could find and had the
kiddos pick up three of things and put them in three plastic buckets.
   I used _Ask Mr. Bear_ and made color enlargements of the animal
pictures in the story.  We practiced hopping, skipping, trotting, and
galloping.  Then we put the pictures in the correct sequence and we made
animal sounds.
    I used _Me Too_ and made paper airplanes while the kids watched me
follow a pattern in another library book.  When we had 4 planes we took
turns flying them.
    I'll be doing this kind of thing for weeks.  I'm using for ideas the
FANTASTIC book _Story Stretchers_.
    Eventually I will let them handle books I select.  Then SOMEDAY I
will send home a letter to parents telling them library books should be
read aloud to the kids.  THEN I'll let them check out.  One step at a time.

When kinder comes to us to check out--we make their teachers send strips
with their names on it with them. That way it's easy to look up their
cards & charge the book out to the right little person. Some schools
attach the parton barcodes to the strips too--& disperse them to the
teachers; we keep ours in a rolodex sorted by room #. We make the kids line
up, present us with their name strip, we check out
the book, put the name strip INSIDE the book, & stack them all on the
desk for the aide to take back when she picks up the kids. That way the
teacher also knows what book is each students'. If you're not computerized,
I guess you'd have to write down their name
con the card, but the name strips would help with that, too. Maybe just
last name, or first name, last initial?

My Ks start the first week checking out books.  I also send home with
them the first week a letter to their parents about the library, what is
expected of kids, how many books they can take out, etc etc.  My kids come
in with mixed backgrounds.  I do a lot of nursery rhymes,
usually one each week and go over the old ones to be sure they have them
in their heads.  Then I do a lot of old favorite books which I would like
them to be aware of, like Lionni's Alexander and Wind up mouse (I use a
mouse finger puppet to introduce this), Flack's Ping, and so on.  I feel
that the K year is a year to build on and try to give the kids a general
basic common knowledge.

They sign a book out the first time they come -- first week of school.  We
limit them to one book and it needs to be returned before the next is
signed out.  Those who do not have their book to return are provided with
a table of books to look at while others sign out new books.  Why wait?
If it is a problem of having them be able to write their name we had an
adult write it initially until they could do it.  Kids brought the book to
a table and we took the book card out wrote their name on it and replaced
it with a 3X5 card with the student's name written on it in big print.  On
occasion we have had a class sign books out and take them to their room
but not home.  Having the name card in the pocket kept track if books were
shared within the classroom.  Now that we are automated these kids can do
as well as all the rest.

I love meeting with my kindergarten students! I use puppets, stories,
and storytelling. Here are a couple of my favorite "beginning of the
year" story times.Whose Mouse Are You? (Kraus) I read it with a big book.
The children love it. First I read it and discuss every page and then I
read it
straight through so that they can get the rythmn of it. I have a "shy"
mouse puppet who is afraid of the students which makes them laugh and
feel "in control" on their first visit to the library. The mouse finds
out that all of those scary big kids are really his friends. At the end
of the lesson I have each of the students color a mouse finger puppet
and they can talk to each other in their little mouse squeaky voices.
It's very good to have them begin to verbalize.Poppy the Panda is a really
cute book which makes the children giggle. I have a panda bear. At the end
of the lesson we put a blue ribbon around
"Poppy's" neck to make him feel happy. I give the children a Poppy
puppet on a posicle stick. They can color Poppy's ribbon any color they
want. They then say, "Poppy's ribbon is red" or Poppy's ribbon is green,
etc. The children always respond to Clifford the Big Red Dog. At the end of
the story I have a big (red) bag of small items. Most of them are red
(balloons, hearts, riboons, crayons, etc.) but some of them are other
colors. I tell the children that Clifford's favorite color is red and
today he only wants red things. I let each child reach in and pick out
an item and identify what it is.(Again, we try to speak in sentences:
this is a red feather, etc.) If it is red they give to Clifford
(puppet). If it is not red they put it in a different place. Be sure
they get another turn to find something red for Clifford or they will
feel sad! Well those are some of my favorite lessons, but I have many more. Glad
to share if you want.After a couple of weeks, we begin learning how to
check out books.(Late September) I have a modified "flexible" schedule so I
am able to meet with the kindergartners every day for 4 days in a row to go
step-by-step
how to care for and check out books. My kindergartners can check out 1
book at a time, but they can come back every day and get a new one if
they like.

My kindergarten students start checking out books the second time they come
up to the library.  The first time I go over the rules, discuss the checkout
procedure, and talk about their library numbers.  If you get any good ideas
please post a hit or forward them to me.

>Kindergarten students at our school can check out one book. From
>Sept-Jan, they choose from a preselected group of books; after winter
>break, they do their own choosing.
>One activity that worked well for me was: share concept books (i.e.
>opposites), then play a simon-says game to demonstrate, reinforce, get
>them thinking of other opposites.

RIGHT AWAY! The kids are so much more invested in everything we say to them
if they can choose a book of their very own. The first lesson has to be about
caring for books- clean hands, away from babies and pets, keeping dry, etc. I
usually put out a preselected bunch of kindergarten level sure fire winners
for them to choose from. Good luck!

>Our kindergartners start later in the year after they have mastered the
>basics of coming to the library, sitting down to hear a story and looking
>at books quietly.  Then we start checking books out.  We also set books out
>for them at the tables and on their own rack (kinder-size) for them to
>browse through and look at.  These vary with each visit. We are getting
>kindergartners, too, for an additional half-hour each week.
>One activity they will do consistently is making books.  These are books
>the teacher has put together with simple illustrations and captions.  They
>will color them, have several activities specific to them (Find page 2 --
>i.e., number recognition, learning that pages can be numbered to help you
>find things), and practice reading them to each other, to the group and
>with the basket of hand puppets that our kindergartners' parents generously
>made and donated last year.  Would love to see a hit on this -- this half
>hour has us kind of stymied, especially since once a week checkout confuses
>them!

Hi, I like to do gross motor skills with the k's and use words that
the teacher would use with the writing or language program upper, lower.
left right.  Or course I ask the kids to cloase their eyes....
good luck

My students usually checkout 1 book when they come the second or third week
of school. It depends on the teacher's orientation schedule.
They love several books surrounding a theme! Carle's Chameleon story with
Lionni's -A Color of His Own- and NF books comparing true animals.
Greet them pulling a roller skate and read -I Want a Pet- and -Arthur's New
Puppy-.
I usually plan for 20 minutes of sharing, reading, and talking about the
books before checking out.
Books about bears, cats, colors, counting, rhyming...
Most of all share your love of books and get them HOOKED!

I let the kinder kids start the first week checking out a library book. I
choose about 25 books and lay them on the floor. I call several kids at a
time to pick their book. It works wonderfully and the k. teachers are
appreciative.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Madeline L. Buchanan           Voice:  (205) 838-7620
 Library Media Specialist       Fax:    (205) 838-7622
 W. J. Christian School         Email:  mlbuchan @ scott.net
 725 Mountain Drive             http://www.scott.net/~mlbuchan/
 Birmingham, AL  35206          http://www.bhm.k12.al.us/~wjc/

  W. J. Christian School is a Birmingham, Alabama public school.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 To quit LM_NET (or set NOMAIL or DIGEST), Send an email message to:
 listserv@listserv.syr.edu          In the message write either:
 1)  SIGNOFF LM_NET         or
 2)  SET LM_NET NOMAIL      or
 3)  SET LM_NET DIGEST
 For more help see LM_NET On The Web:  http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=