HIT: Observation lessons for 3,4,5

[Karol McCool <Karol7@AOL.COM>]

Dear fellow librarians:  although I did not receive many hits, (but I did get
tons of requests to post a hit) the ones I did get are great!!  I again want
to express my appreciation to the librarians, listed below, who took the time
to write and share their ideas and experience.

Karol McCool, LMS
Delran Intermediate
Karol7@aol.com
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I work with my sixth grade math classes when they do place value to let them
see practical applications of this.  I have copied a page from World Book on
classification which shows scientific classification of animals, from
general (all animals) to specific (a ground squirrel I think) and then have
copied pages from my Dewey analizing 796.332028 (apparatus, equipment,
materials having to do with American football).  After we look at that
number, I ask them to put several Dewey numbers in order and then talk about
why they are or are not in order.

I have sometimes put a number of books on each table and asked the group to
put them in order and I have sometimes gone to the shelves and asked each
student to put one shelf in order.  Both work well and give participation.

Hope this helps....

Beth Pounds
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I have been observed doing this lesson and it has gone very well.  I call it
my Dewey bag of treats.  I bring in items from home, a measuring cup, a dog
leash, a lightbulb, etc, (enough for every child in the class) and we
classify them as we would with Dewey.  I make a huge chart of Dewey, but
very detailed to fit our library.  (ex, each 500 section is labelled, such
as Science, Math, Space for one shelf, etc.)  Then we discuss the different
areas and I hand an item to each student.  Your principal could get an item
too.  Then they each come up, tell what they have, and explain where it
would go in "Dewey".  It is a lot of fun and the students get excited
because it is your real stuff from home.  Also, I make sure to compare the
non-fiction section to a grocery store and we talk about our favorite aisle
in the grocery store and how we find our favorite "aisle" in the library
too.  I did this with fourth grade and it would work with 5th too but might
be a bit difficult for third.  Hint:  Underline which areas your items will
be found on the chart or the students may be overwhelmed.  Good luck.  Let
me know it you use this.

Michele Immordino
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**
I have a great lesson for observation, but it's about Caldecott books.
The students pair up and each pair has a different Caldeoctt Book.  I
use the ones I have but I try to include several of the older books.
The pairs get a post-it note and number 1 - 5.  THey  look at their
books and write down the year it won by #1. They usually have to add 1
to the copywright date, but I have a poster for checking on the actual
date.  I use fold and silver winners.  By 2 they write yes or no if the
author and illustrator are the same person. For 3, they write if there
are few or many colors in the illustations.  4 is the style - cartoon,
realistic, etc.  5 is the medium.  I usually send down to the art
teacher for confirmation of style and medium.  Then the students draw
conclusions about Caldecott books - The authors can use a variety of
media.  The older books have fewer colors.  Any style can win.  And the
author and illustator are usually one and the same.  IF there is time we
discuss reasons for these conclusions.  WE talk about Random Access and
Sampling, also.  I have used this lesson successfullly with third grade,
undergraduate and graduate students and it is always intersting.  If I
have time, I let the pairs tell about their book, also.  And I have put
more students than 2 in a group when necessary.

CAthy Roach, LMS
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A favorite of mine is to review the information found on a title page (front
and back - I use overheads).  I put a selection of non-fiction books out on
the tables where the students are seated, and they have a worksheet to record
the title page information in bibliographic format.  For younger students,
the worksheet could first ask them to fill in author, then title, then place,
publisher and year (note bibliographic order).  Then a separate space for
them to build a citation in proper format.

They know what bibliographies are at the end of a research paper, and I am
amazed how much the kids really need and get a kick out of practicing this
skill.

Hope you like the idea!
Alison Cuyler, LMS
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**
I do a set of really odd questions for use in a lesson teaching
encyclopedia skills.
eg    Is a peanut really a nut?
        How long did the Hundred Years War last?
        What animal were the Canary Islands named for?

The kids think they know the answers but they are always wrong!
The answers are easy to find - usually in the first couple of lines of
text -
and you spread the questions over the whole 22 - 24 volumes of your
hard-copy encyclopedia.  The kids enjoy the hunting, and sharing
the answers they find.

This also makes a great lesson on the reference collection as a
whole if you add questions for gazetteers, Guiness book of records,
atlas, almanac, Brewer's phrase and fable etc.

I prepare the questions four to a page with space for the answer (2
lines)
and the source (full bib details plus page No). They can get a page done
in a lesson - and maybe the principal will learn something too.

Please post a hit - I'm sure there are some great ideas out there.

Robyn Cavanaugh
Darwin
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*********
I have a lesson relating to call numbers that is very interactive.  The week
before this lesson, we discuss the five types of call numbers in our Media
Center (Enjoyable, Fiction, Dewey Decimal number, Biography, and 920 for
Collective Biography).  The week of the lesson, we review those (using a
prepared overhead with examples of spine labels showing the five types).
Then I divide the class into teams.  Each team is given five bookmarkers
(long strips of laminated construction paper).  At the top of each strip is a
call number (one for each type and each type has its own color of
construction paper i.e. blue for Enjoyable, orange for biography, etc.)  At
the bottom of the strip is a team letter (i.e. Team A, Team B, etc.)  The
task for the children is to place the bookmarker on the shelf in the Media
Center where a book with that call number would belong.  (I actually give
some kids regular Biography call numbers and some 920 call numbers for the
biography section.  Then I have two bookmarkers for the Dewey Decimal
numbers.)  As teams finish the assignment, they take a "number" (prepared
from small post-it notes) to be "checked."  The principal could help you with
this.  I begin with the team who has number 1 and then we go around the Media
Center and collect their bookmarkers as they show me where they placed them.
(Of course, you have to emphasize two things: first, they need to remember
their team number so that you are sure you are collecting the correct
bookmark; and second, they should try as best they can to remember where they
placed their bookmarks.)  As teams finish placing their bookmarks and are
waiting to be checked, I have a simple scavenger hunt for them to do around
the Media Center (i.e. Find a book in the Fiction section of the Media Center
that has a color word in its title and write the title here. Etc.)  It is a
hectic lesson, and having someone to help check the kids is invaluable.  The
kids really like the lesson and I think that it is really beneficial for them
to be in and around the Media Center -- sometimes in areas that they might
not get into regularly.

I hope that I have explained this adequately.  If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to ask!

Good luck!

Janet Pfadt, Media Specialist

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