HIT: Elementary Curriculum

[Karen Grayson <kgrayson@JUNO.COM>]

Here are the responses I got in answer to my question about curriculum
for 1st and 2nd grades.
Karen Grayson
Ward Elementary School
New Rochelle, NY
kgrayson@juno.com

  I see 1st and 2nd graders weekly.  Sometimes I tie into a classroom
unit
(if the teacher is doing dinosaurs, you could read dinosaur stories -
find
out what she is reading so you don't do the same)
  Whenever a holiday comes along, do a story and activity with that!
  With 1st grade I like to read a story and then do an activity - maybe
draw a favorite part of the story, have kids tell about their favorite
part, etc.
  With 2nd grade I go more into "units" - will do a fairy tale unit and
compare/contrast different versions (various ones of Ciderella, 3 pigs,
etc), do a big one on Native Americans and some folklore prior to
Thanksgiving ; do Black folklore with Black History month ; will do
extensive on holiday reading and activity.

 I am in a K-5 school so I deal with both first and second
graders.  With first graders I often start in the Fall with an animal
unit.  I tell them we are going to read books about different anikmals
each week and they will be able to guess the animal when they come in.  I

hase a little stuffed animal, or a puppet, or a picture or even a pin or
some such to let them find out the animal.  I try to read them old and
new books, eg Harry the Dirty Dog but then a new book on tigers.
I later go into parts of the books the cover, author title illustrator,
the spine label, fiction and non fiction books, Caldecott books, and
often end up the year with fairy tales.  I love first grade and taught it

for 7 years so it is the easiest grade for me to deal with.  They are a
great age, just starting to read and by the second half of the year many
are taking out books, beginning to read ones, that they can read.

Try doing an author study with the year 1 class. Eric Carle is a lot of
fun.  The students love his books, and it is easy to tie the books to art
lessons, that make great displays in the library.  Find out a little
about Eric Carlen and how he produces his illustrations.
Carle's books also lead to great research on insects, spiders and hermit
crabs, as well as talking about colour.
There is an Eric Carle web site, that will give you tons of ideas.
Sorry, I don't have the
address with me (I'm at home).  Good luck. [I do: The Official Eric Carle
Web Site:
http://www.eric-carl.com/]

I am a PK-8 librarian in Wisconsin.  1st and 2nd graders are just great.
The most important thing to do with them is have fun in the library!
Share as many great books as you can with them.  Do units on favorite
authors and illustrators.  Turn them on to reading and books!  Always
note the author's name.  Mention how the book can be found on the shelf
each time you read/discuss a book.  They will pick up location skills
without formal instruction.
In our school 2nd graders get alphabetical order in the classroom.  Build

on that, or other classroom skills and topics.  I spend alot of time
discussing how useful alphabetical order is in the library.  The teachers

appreciate this support of their lessons.  Use topics in science or
social studies from the classroom curriculum to select books to read, or
to teach research skills.  Collaborate with teachers to make the
connection between class and library.  I spend time with 2nd graders on
encyclopedias.  Don't forget parts of books, too.  The difference between

a table of contents and an index.
Build all these things into the lesson, but I believe the most important
thing you can do is present great books with enthusiasm!
You probably know all of this.  I always hesitate to respond to questions

because I feel like a beginner myself yet, and don't want to insult
anyone's intelligence with such basic stuff.  But, sometimes we all need
reminders.  Hope this is helpful.  Good luck and enjoy them!

You could do a wonderful author study using Leo Lionni and teaching about
his
art techniques.  He tears construction paper into the shapes of almost
all of
his illustrations.  One of our 1/2 teachers used him with great success.
There is a video in the Meet the Author series which could be used in
excerpts and there is a video Five Lionni Classics (very good and
inexpensive) by Random House.

A thing I hope to try this year is to write down the start of various
stories I read to these kids. We often read a book or more after they
come
in for checkout, and one lesson (half hour time slot that included
checkout)
we read numerous picture books and wrote down the start of each story on
the
computer (projecting it for students to see). The idea of making kids
aware
of the start of stories came from a workshop last summer, and I thought
it
was wonderful. The problem is that I didn't take the time to work with
the
teachers on this idea, so they went back to the room with this great list
and nothing came of it. This year I've asked for a day a quarter for subs
so
I can meet with teacher and plan the activities for the quarter. Last
year
this was done in meetings before and after school, and our teachers are
meetinged to death. Anyway, that would give me a chance to discuss the
story
starters and how we both might use them to help children select good
literature and begin writing their own wonderful story.
Another idea from the same workshop was to have flash cards of the first
250
words or so that kids learn to read. This was a classroom idea, but I
thought it would be a great activity for those students who can't check
out
because there book is at home. I also didn't get to that but hope to this
year.
The last idea that I've used repeatedly is to have all the letter written
out on index cards - one letter per card. We practice saying the
alphabet, I
demonstrate how the books are in alphabetical order by author (we use the
picture book section for this for this level), demonstrate with a few
students by giving them each a letter and having them line up in the
proper
alphabetical order, then each child is given a letter, and they are
supposed
to silently get in the correct order. It's vital to show where each
letter
is for young students, and I do this by saying, "A will be right here,
(take
a step), B, (take a step)," and so on. The first try we have to usually
begin several time because they always want to talk and tell each other.
I
stress they need to quietly go to their place, hold their card for all to
see, and point to help others rather than talk. That can be carried
further
by having them take their card and find where that letter begins on the
book
shelves.

Way back when I had a primary library, :), my second graders loved
dinosaurs.  My first graders and second graders both loved any kind of
participation story -- we always began their visit with a story. After
they had turned in their books, they knew to sit on the floor in a
semi-circle in my story area.  Sometimes we did flannel-board, sometimes
apron puppets, sometimes I just held a stuffed animal while I read.
(First graders LOVED Clifford the Big Red Dog and my big stuffed
Clifford).  Some of their favorite participation stories were It's Too
Noisy, I'm Going on a Bear Hunt and The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't
Afraid of Anything.  They also loved for me to tell a story instead of
read it.

I have been using the theme of authors/illustrators for 1st grade.  These
have included Keats, Burton, Crews, Freeman, Peet, Stevenson, Zolotow,
Wells,Seuss, DePaola, etc.  I give a biographical introduction and then
read a book written/illustrated by the person.  I keep the same person
for
several sessions (usually 3 and often have some type of art activity for
the final session.
For 2nd graders I do a study of Caldecott winners.  Each session has the
biographical info and a book/books illustrated by the featured
illustrator.
We discuss the art form used and do some comparisons with other works by
that illustrator.  The students have a booklet with a checklist that they
use to keep up with the books I have read, they have read or the
classroom
teacher has read.

The art teacher and I have done a great Eric Carle unit with our
first graders.  I introduce Eric Carle in the library and read lots of
his
books to the students.  We talk about how the pictures are alike, etc.
There is a fantastic video called "Eric Carle:  Picture Writer"  which I
show the kids, and it features Eric Carle telling and showing how he
makes
his illustrations.  The kids are fascinated by it.  Then the art teacher
has
the kids make their own "papers" as he does, and then they cut their
shapes
and make pictures as he has done.  This would be great to bring in the
classroom teachers here and have them write a story to go with their
pictures.  This unit takes about 6 weeks, and has been very successful
for us.