HIt Flexible Schedule pt.3

[Ann Marie Creegan <creegan@NECA.COM>]

In 45 minutes you can "review" a skill a week (orientation,
card
catalog, title page, Dewey, Dictionary, Atlas, Maps,
practice
alphabetizing old catalog cards once a month, etc.......),
read aloud
one or two chapters - just to whet their appetite and then
they can
check the book out if they are really interested, book check

out, and
silent reading time for them! The 45 minutes will fly by.
You could ask
the teachers what topics they are covering in class and gear

the lesson
to that topic -

****************************
This is my third year of teaching library in a K-1
building.  (I am also
the high school librarian).  I am on a fixed 30 minute
schedule.  Before I
had K-1 I had a 4th grade building and was on the same
schedule.

I teach library skills each week.  My period is divided into

three
segments.  I have a 10 minute lesson, a 10 min. activity or
storytime,
(sometimes these are a little longer than 10 min.) and then
about 5-7 min.
for the kids to look at/check out books.  In K-1 I teach a
lot about
library behavior, how to check in/check out books, book
care, how to use
shelf markers, a unit on nursery rhymes, a unit on fairy
tales, a unit on
tall tales, a unit at Christmas on Christmases around the
world,
difference between fiction/nonfiction, how to find a book on

the shelf,
etc.  I always try and make the lesson fun.  At Christmas
when I teach
them about different Christmases I decorate a tree the way
they would in
that country, bring a treat that they might eat at
Christmas, show them
decorations that they might use, and read a story from that
country if I
can find on.
********************
In 4th grade I did a newspaper unit, card catalog (if you
are still using
one), could do the patron catalog on the computer, almanac
lesson, finding
books on the shelf (race), etc.  It's been 4 years since I
taught 4th and
I can't remember off the top of my head what all I taught.

I always have author days and show the kids books that we
have in the
library written by the featured author.  I show them a
picture of the
author, give some personal info, and read a book written by
the author.
Then the kids check out all their books!!

**********************
My media director gave me a book called Hooked on Library
Skills that has an
outline of skills that should be covered in grades K-6.
Fixed scheduling
is not the best, but what I have done is to cover the skills

two weeks a
month and two weeks a month are mine to do book talks,
reader's theatre,
investigate information, etc.  My two weeks are the fun
weeks and we
reinforce and relate skills to those.  As the teachers have
experienced the
fun weeks (they stay with me) they ask me to collaborate on
projects.

I hope to moved to a flex schedule within a year or two.
Change is a slow
process and no one likes change except



I find that 3rd grade is a good time to really hit on
location skills.
My students are scheduled for 30 min., including checkout,
but we often
go over and I would like 40 minutes.  Fiction call numbers
and shelf
labels can be covered in a couple of weeks with actual
"hands on" work.
I have dispensed entirely with pencil paper stuff.  It just
didn't
transfer. The Dewey Decimal system can be done in a similar
manner,
hitting on the meaning of the call number and then actual
shelf location.

When I do more complicated lessons, such as the catalog, we
do subject
searching one week, title another, etc.

I also do an introductory encyclopedia unit during 3rd
grade.  For that,
I tell the teachers I don't want to drag it out for 4 weeks
(we usually
have 4-5 sessions), and schedule an extra session or two
each week so
that it is accomplished in two weeks.  I tell them I will
trade that time
for time at the end of the year--i.e. if I teach an hour in
one week
rather than have their students for 30 minutes, I trade that

for 3 weeks
of only 15 minute checkouts at the end of the year.  It is a

small step
into flex scheduling--my library time is not supposed to be
teacher prep
time; teachers accompany their students and generally do
their own work
while I am directly instructing.  However, when I need help
supervising
shelf activities or catalog work, they are expected to
assist, and also
to interact with students during book checkout.
*************************8

The truth is that you can do almost the same kinds of things

with a fixed
schedule.  In my dreams would I love flex scheduling but it
isn't a
reality in my "give teachers that prep time" school
district.  However you
can still plan with teachers and do those research projects
during  that
fixed time.  This year for the first time I have a full hour

so we can
have 45 minutes of work and 15 minutes for check out.  I
personally don't
believe in "library skills" so if there is a research skill
the kids might
need I hook it into whatever unit we are doing.  For example

our 4th
grades are starting with oceans so we'll probably do some
project relating
to researching an ocean animal.


You can still work with the teachers to find out what they
are doing in
their classrooms and plan library lessons accordingly.  Last

year I had 30
minutes for each elementary class and trying to teach skills

as well as to
check out books in that period of time is impossible.  This
year I have 45
minutes, which gives me at least 25 or 30 minutes to cover a

skill, read a
story, etc.  What I would do is to plan a 30-minute lesson
around a skill or
story and then give the students a follow-up activity to go
along with it.
My problem last year was that I didn't have time for a
follow-up and since
the teachers cared only about the library period being a
break, what I
taught wasn't reinforced in the classroom.  This year I will

reinforce my
own lessons.


My students (all grade levels) love folktales and I have
purchased several
audio tapes of storytellers telling the stories.  I also
plan to use library
skills lessons from the internet as well.

**********************

There should be a scope and sequence plan for your district
that would show
what is expected to be covered at what grade level.  It is
so hard to teach
that stuff in isolation but I am on fixed schedule, K-5 and
have managed to
do it.  You can do read alouds but I found it best to choose

short books and
just rehash every week before reading on.  I do author
studies where we study
the author one session and then spend the next few weeks
reading their works.
 Laura Ingalls Wilder is a great one to fit in with a 4th or

5th grade
westward expansion unit.  She has a great website that the
kids have fun
with.  Believe it or not, you can teach the skills in
isolation by doing a
research project that may end up dragging out 5 weeks but
they learn from it.
 And remember, since book checkout can take 15-20 minutes,
you really only
have 25-30 minutes a week with them.  Good luck.
*******************

I am at a k-6 school with K-3 scheduled and 4 - 6 flexible.
I
teach library skills to third grade throughout the year.  I
put a plan form
in teachers boxes each Friday.  This form lists the skills
for their grade
level and asks them for a classroom connection for the
week.  Sometimes they
pick the skill that fits the connection, sometimes I pick.
I teach them the
traditional skills like choosing appropriate books, book
care,
fiction/nonfiction, using the online catalog, using
Worldbook Online, using
dictionaries, thesaurus, atlas, almanac, etc.  I also cover
lots of
literature and writing/research skills like figurative
language, story
elements, using graphic organizers, listening, notetaking,
summarizing,
writing a topic sentence, Caldecott, Newbery and our state
award books,
author and illustrator studies.  Sometimes I use an
appropriate Reading
Rainbow video or read aloud to them.  There's usually more
than enough to
cover a year.  With fourth grade, I use a modified Big 6
research process
and walk them through completing a research project.  We end

up in the lab
producing their work with Word, Printshop or PowerPoint.

****************************
I am in a K-4 fixed schedule school. Each class 1-4 comes
for 40 min
each week.  I do the internet guidelines training for 3 & 4,

do lessons
on catalog plus, review accelerated reader, dewey, and try
to fit in
things like mythology, if time there is always something the

teachers
want me to specifically make sure the kids check out and
that
frequently takes up what little time there is to teach a
lesson. ( and
it is a short amount of time)


Yes, reading a book aloud once a week does work.  I am in an

urban, high
poverty situation which I am guessing is not where you are
(My sister lives
in West Hartford.).  I did it this year with my grade 3's (I

have half of the
class at a time so the teacher can have small group work
with the other
half.)  Each week I would start by giving a brief reminder
of (really
eliciting a brief reminder from the kids) of the characters,

setting, plot
and then I would back up one or two paragraphs to reread
what I had closed
with the week before (I would not tell them I was backing
up, I would just
say okay, let's start) and within the first sentence someone

would always
call out, hey, Ms. W, you already read that part!  It amazed

me at first.  I
also would pick "shoulder readers" which happened quite
accidentally but is
now a custom.  I choose (optional for the kids to accept)
two kids to stand
at my shoulder and read silently following my mark (I hold
an index card
above the sentence I am reading to keep my place).  This
gives the kids the
experience of hearing and seeing reading being done fluently

and up to speed.
 After a few pages each shoulder reader picks the next
shoulder reader based
on good behavior.  I will continue it this year.

*****************************

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