LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Thanks to all contributors. There are many of us benefiting from your ideas
and generosity. Here are the responses I've received.
For learning Dewey/shelf order I had students choose a partner. One of
the partners puts his head down on the table and doesn't look while the
other student hides a bookworm cutout (Ellison machine) in a book's
pocket in the library and writes down the call number on a slip of
paper.
He gives it to his partner, who has to find the book. The person who
hid the bookworm goes with him and can only say "hot" or "cold",
"warmer" or "colder" as the person searches. Tip: the searcher cannot
remove a book from the shelf to look for the bookworm. He has to point
to the spine of the book and if his partner says "yes, that's the one",
he can recover the bookworm from the book's pocket.
When the bookworm is found the students trade out and the other guy
hides the bookworm. My third and fourth graders loved this game and we
played it all fall until they had shelf order and the Dewey system down
pat. ---- Becky Smith Rusk ISD
This is just my second year of teaching in the media center myself. My
problem is finding things that interest and teach skills for grades
3-5. Just a couple little things I do with my grades.
3rd grade:
I use the Almanac for Kids. We use the index and look up different
interesting facts especially the entertainment and sports section. Then
I have the kids write their own questions on index cards to ask their
classmates the next week. They really like this, they have to write the
question, the answer, and the page number. Their classmates must answer
the question and tell the page number they found the answer on.
4th grade: To reinforce the Dewey Decimal System. I assign a group of
students to a Dewey Section. They need to locate what subjects and
books are found in that section. Then they write a script for a radio
ad to advertise their section. We discuss that ads need something to
grab the attention of the listeners. After writing the script they
record their ads on cassette recorders and we play them for their
classmates. (This takes several class times to complete but they love
it)
Gail Wisner
Number one rule to remember - tie in any lesson you teach with
what students are learning in the classroom. In third grade this year, we
have completed mini-research on China, an African country, a European
country, an African animal, and Colonial America. We've used many
different reference sources because they kids needed to find and use
information to complete timelines, maps, art projects and classroom books.
In fourth grade, we worked our way through the Big Six Research skills,
using topics chosen from the science textbook - kids narrowed topics, took
notes, did a mini- bibliography, wrote paragraphs, developed a table of
contents and produced a classroom book. Kids actually think this is fun
when they see a purpose to it. -----Judy Smith
This is an idea a fellow librarian had. We teach the basic skills - Atlas,
Almanac, Encyclopedia, Online Catalog - and then I make up a Research
Rally, which is an oval track with 8 - 10 questions on it like: "How long
is the Statue of Liberty's Nose?" "Who wrote the book Soup?" "On what page
of what volume of the encyclopedia does the article on Florida begin?"
"What is the latitude and longitude of Pensacola?" and so on. The kids work
in teams of three or four to see who can finish in the shortest amount of
time. It's fun, and they love it!
Faith
Faith Van Putte
I like to teach skill/drill lessons followed by a game. Look at 50 Games
to Play in the Library and Classroom by Carol K. Lee and Fay Edwards
ISBN: 0-913853-06-2. The games are easy to construct, patterns included,
and easy to adapt to different skills you are trying to teach. They all
involve large groups of children, not centers. I like to use Star Walker
and Castles and Creatures with my 3rd graders.
Available from Highsmith (1-800-558-2210) --- also my favorite supply
company!
Kaylene S. Keen
I teach 4th grade library skills class. I have 30 minutes each period once a
week with each section. Here are a few of the things I do with them. If any
of them sound good to you I will be glad to fax you my materials that go with
the lessons.
1. To teach parts of a book. The first day of class I have the students fill
out a worksheet about themselves and their interests. Then I ask them to
bring a picture of themselves to put on the worksheet. I then put their
worksheets in those protective clear sleeves back to back like a book. Then I
use a gift bag (large), cut it down the sides and across the bottom, tape the
cut sides to the inside to make a front and back cover. Put the sleeves on
the inside, use a three hole punch on the covers, and use those gold fasteners
to make a book. The string at the top of the gift bag allows you to hang the
book up if you wish. Do one book for each section that you have.
The next lesson(s) are spent learning the parts of the book: spine
(author, title, call number), cover (author, title),
title page (title, author, publisher, place of publication, illustrator), and
verso (mainly copyright date).
Then I use the books they made and ask each section to come up with a
title for their book. I ask them to tell me who the author of the books is
(they are), the publisher (I put the book together so I let them guess me and
tell them to use my last name + Press), place of publication (your city), and
the copyright date (current school year). Now they have learned the parts of
a book and applied it to the book they created. The kids have looked at their
books and their friends' books all year in the library.
2. I made a BINGO game that we play at Christmas (or any other time) that has
five library categories instead of the B I N G O. I used as categories:
Parts of a book, Authors, Things in a Library, Kinds of Books, and Christmas.
They love to play this game. I have used popcorn or MMs for markers. Of
course they love the MMs because they get to eat them at the end of the class
period but it does get expensive for me.
3. When we do card catalog, after teaching the kids about the three types of
cards and what's on a main card I play a game with them. I put several card
drawers on a table, divide the class into teams, and ask one person from each
team to come to the table where the drawers are . Then I tell the students at
the table to find a certain type of card and raise their hand. The first one
gets 5 points, second 4 points, etc. I always reward correct answers with
points instead of just giving the first person points. Another thing I do
with the card catalog is send the students on a Trip Through the Card Catalog.
I wrote a story about an airplane trip where they choose a traveling
companion and togethr they use the card catalog drawer to fill in the blanks
on their Trip worksheets. It usually takes them at least 2 class periods to
do this. It helps them find cards and recognize types of cards.
4. I have author days and book days. I choose an author and have my
assistant pull the books that we have by that author. I then show the kids a
picture of the author, give them some bio about the author, and show them the
books we have. My assistant tells me that the books always go out that week.
When she gets new books ready for the shelves I take a few minutes and show
them to the kids and try to tell them something about the book (usually
whatever it tells me on the back).-----Kathy Simonsen
***********************************************************
Marcia Dressel, Instructional Media Specialist
Osceola Elementary and Intermediate Schools
250 Tenth Avenue, PO Box 128, Osceola WI 54020-0128
"Be well. Do good work. And keep in touch." Garrison Keillor
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