HIT: Dewey Activities

[Dawn VanLerberghe <vanled01@HOTMAIL.COM>]

Original question:
I want to do a unit this year that selects different subjects within all the
Dewey subjects.  I want fun, quick little activities.  They will be geared
for the 3-6th grades and would appreciate any suggestions.Some ideas
include:
000's -
100's -
200's -
300's - STORYTELLING unit where students are center stage and "tell" a
legend or fairytale that they have selected.
400's - library bookmarks that repeat the same "library term" in many
different LANGUAGES.
500's - creat endangered ANIMAL posters -- Wanted!
600's - students are given food and they create their own healthy snack and
it's recipe to form a class COOKBOOK.
700's - make their own PAPER AIRPLANE and then we have a race.
800's - we act out a PLAY.
900's - students write their own BIOGRAPHY.

These are just some ideas, I would love to hear your ideas for all the
different catagories.Thank you in advance - I will post a hit.

I like your ideas so far.  I have also done cat's cradle for the 700s. It
goes over great with the kids and it doesn't cost much for the yarn for each
child.  They can take it home too. My lesson was essentially introducing the
700 section of the library, explaining what types of books the students
could find there and then telling them I had found a great book myself.  At
this point I pull out Cat's Cradle.  I think that last year I tought the
kids how to do "witch's broom" because I did the lesson around Halloween.
The book tells you step by step what to do with a piece of string that has
been tied into a large loop.  As I looked at the book, I taught the students
how to do this step by
step.


Great Idea!  Looks like you have everything pretty covered except those
pesky 0s, 100s and 200s.  Off the top of my head, I would recommend an
encyclopedia and/or computer activity for the 0s, a "random acts of
kindness" activity for the 100s, and a religious holiday celebration for the
200s.


000's - a Baraga almanac or book of records
100's - you could do superstitions
200's - a who's who of Mt. Olympus


700's
"Talent" show/display .....have them create their own 'works' wouldn't have
to be a picture, but could be a song, craft, picture, dance and then they
could share with their group or grade level. They teach a game to someone
else.

----------------------------------
900--develop a time line for their own life to date  (History)

000--the create annotated  bibliographies, using the books in your
collection, on specific topics..(elephant, lion, etc.) using both fiction
and non-fiction.  Maybe even include web sites if you have computer access

500(math) they create word problems,  make these into a worksheet for
another class

300   a calendar with holidays and a little bit of history on each holiday,
or how these holidays are celebrated in the different groups in your area
... Ethnic holidays  which may not be familiar  to all of the student body



During the December Holiday time we celebrate poetry by having POETRY AND
PUNCH in the Media Center.  Their last visit to the Media Center before
vacation, each student in 2nd and 3rd grade brings a poem and recites it. We
then serve punch and cookies.


How about a "hunt" for the right reference book for a quick answers to a
group of "fun" questions.  They could also do a Picture book of Mythology.
How about illustrating a Greek myth they have read or shared for the
200's?
Mythology is in the 200s.  There's got to be something similar to the fairy
and folktales of the 300s to do.



One idea I had was to make a magnetic bookmark and refer to magnets in
general in the 500s. I wanted to draw attention to the more unusual topics
covered in Science. You take a bookmark, stick a small magnet at each end
then fold the bookmark in half, magnets attracting each other. The bookmark
folds over the page and then the magnetic sides pull together. Does this
make sense?

Another idea I'm considering is to give students fiction books and have them
locate a nonfiction book that deals with a related subject (DEWEY) in some
way. For eg., Koala Lou by Mem Fox could be related to books about
Australia, Koalas, families. Then you give the book to another student who
has to find a second subject connection, and so on. It would be a way to
review Dewey classifications. I also like to have kids make a "pop-up"
sampler (from the 700s). I demo and they try. They use pop-up ideas in some
of their classroom projects. I hope this springboards you in your search.


For the 200's, do something with mythology.  I have read selections from
Classics Myths to Read Aloud by Russell (The Minotaur works well) and had
students act it out as we go (through pantomime and paraphrase using crowns
to identify the characters).  I had also made monster wheels which students
can use to draw their own mythological creature. Using 4 different sized
circles I write choices for each body part, head, body, feet, tail....e.i.
head of a bull, head of a crocodile, etc.  The students choose from the
wheel to create a 4-part unusual creature.   I have also done a similar
activity in groups of 4 called "exquisite corpse drawings."  Take a piece of
xerox paper and cut it in half lengthwise.  Each student gets a half. Each
student folds the paper in 4's  so there are 4 boxes approximately 2 1/2" x
4".   The first student draws a head of an animal, an alien, anything.  They
must draw the neck touching the bottom of the box and extend the neck lines
just slightly over into the second box.  Then they fold the head back so you
can't see it, and pass the paper to the next person in their group.  Next,
everybody uses the neck "guidelines" they have to draw the next section
which is neck to waist.  Extend waist lines
just a bit into third box and fold chest section back so it can't be seen.
The third section is waist to knees.  When  the knee lines are extended over
the fourth box, there will be 4 little guidelines from which the last box of
feet and shoes or feet without shoes can be drawn.  Then each person opens
up the folded paper and voila!! humorous creature drawings.    My last
suggestion in conjunction with the drawings is to do research in small
groups using the encyclopedia on different Greek monsters such as Cyclops,
Minotaur, Harpy, Hydra, etc.  Give the students guiding questions such as
describe what the monster looks like, what is the monster famous for, etc.
All these suggestions I have carried out with 5th and 6th graders, not
younger, but I bet you could adapt something.



An activity I have used in the past with fifth and sixth grade is "Dewey
Posters."  After explaining the Dewey categories, students are divided into
ten groups and  each group is assigned a Dewey category; sometimes eight
(then students don't do a poster on the 000's or 100's).  Students look
through magazines for pictures related to their category (example baseball
player for 700's; a farmer for 600's); cut out picture and glue on
one-fourth sheet of poster board which has been labeled with Dewey category.
By the time an entire grade (around 100 students) have worked on this
activity, category posters have been covered with pictures illustrating
subjects in that category.  If time is limited, have some pictures already
cut out and place in boxes for students to look through. I hang the posters
from the ceiling in the library media center.


Back in the "old days" when I was an elementary school librarian, I
used to do an activity called "where am I?"  I would say things like "I am a
book about dogs, where am I?"  "I am a book on George Washington, where am
I?" "I am a book that helps you learn how to play the piano, where am I?"
and so on?  The kids would raise their hands and say 300s, 400s, or whatever
the major group was for the question.  I would throw in some clinkers like
"I am a book on bigfoot, where am I?"   Then we would talk a minute aboaut
why it is in the 000s instead of 300s or 500s.  Those guessing right, would
get one of my "collector" bookmarks.  (I would do a different theme each
year... dinosaurs for Be a Readasaurous, endangered species for Don't be
endangered ....read! and so on) The kids would work to get a complete set
and it didn't cost much.    Some days, I would do a flip flop of this
activity and they would get to "Stump the Librarian".  I had to get it to
two places...like 560s for dinosaurs, 630s for horses, etc.

On days that I was really behind in shelving, we would designate each of the
round tables for one of the Dewey numbers and other tables for fiction and
easy books.  I would have all the unshelved books on carts or one big table.
  Then the kids would line up, I would give each one a book and they would
put it on the correct table and get back in line.  After all the books were
on the appropriate tables, we would stop and look at the tables and talk
about what we saw...which section of the Deweys had the most books checked
out and why, which section the least, etc.  (If I still had time left, then
I would start with the easy books and have the kids line up again. As I
handed each one the book, then the child would say the call number out loud
and  tell me where the book goes...Easy A,  Easy W, etc. and then the
student would put the book on appropriate shelf...and get back in at the
beginning of the line.  Using the tables of Dewey books, I would  have the
kids do the 500s because there are usually so many of them.  I would have
the kids each take a book then line themselves up in "shelf order" starting
with one student, then having the next put himself/herself in order, then
the next, and so on until all the "books" are in one line.  After that, I
would have them one a time go to the helf and find the books "home", put
their finger in the right spot and then I would "check" them.  If they were
right, they put the book in the spot, got a bookmark and sat down.  If not.
One of the "sitters" could come help them find the right spot.



This isn't really what you are looking for but there is a great website
called "Do We Really Love Dewey"  Check it out. It was written
by kids....for kids..... I love it. http://tqjunior.advanced.org/5002/
    Also, I've had the kids make chocolate fudge after reading Charlie
and the Chocolate factory. They love the cooking books. I have a really easy
recipe.


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