Hello Everyone,
Thanks again to everyone for responding to my request! So many people
asked that I post the suggestions here. Because there were so many, I
tried to attach a document here but that didn't work. So, I am pasting
all of the suggestions in this message. Thank you again!
Ps..the Captain Underpants suggestion is my favorite.he he
April Mayo, Media Specialist
Crescent Elementary - Griffin, GA
amayo13@bellsouth.net
#1
April,
Besides the general rules (keep them simple and positive), the
procedure for checking books in and out, and don't forget to go over
what to do in case of a Fire Drill with your students and volunteers.
Some books I have used during the first weeks of school: I Took My Frog
to the Library, Book! Book! Book! and when I find my list I will get
back to you. Check the archives for ideas for beginning of the year
ideas and do post a hit.
#2
How about setting up stations at different areas of the library to
orient students to each resource like encyclopedias, Internet, OPAC,
dictionaries etc. Have fun questions at each station that need to be
answered by that resource. Switch groups after a set time. This can be
adjusted up or down depending on the age of students.
Dressing up like Captain Underpants always works too. Nothing like
showing up on your first day wearing a pair of mens briefs and a red
cape!
Good Luck!
#3
I have always found that a discussion of WHAT media is makes a great ice
breaker. Depending on age level, have kids brainstorm about what it
means, name as many kinds of media they can (with the littles it helps
to have some pictures). One year I had students then bring in as many
pictures as they could find to make a large collage for the media center
wall (pictures of computers, radios, TVs, telephones, cameras, books,
magazines, newspapers, etc., etc. and people using them). It's a great
way to hint about some the activities that may be upcoming in classes
for the year. Congratulations and good luck!
#4
Congratulations! I am sure you will love your new job. I like to read
funny
poetry to the 4th and 5th graders as part of their first day at the
library/media center. I read from books that have funny school poems.
k, 1,
2, and 3 I read one of the library type picture books. The Library
Dragon,
Library Lil, I Took My Frog to the Library, the Librarian from the Black
Lagoon are some examples. I also have everyone check out books that
very
first time too. There should be a lot of books with library related
themes in
the archives. (As well as reading I do a quick run through of the
rules,
expectations and send home a letter to parents explaining due dates.)
Judy
#5
Greetings and congrats on your new job! It sounds like you are really
excited--and that excitement will take you a long way! I wrote a book
specifically
for new librarians (K-12). There are lots of ideas in the book as far
as
classroom management and orientation activities. When I saw your
posting, I
thought you might want to know about it. The first book, 100 Library
Lifesavers: A
Survival Guide for School Library Media Specialists, was published three
years ago by Libraries Unlimited (www.lu.com) and the sequel, 100 More
Library
Lifesavers, is due out in the fall. Hope this helps--you can order from
Amazon.com or directly from Libraries Unlimited at their website. Good
luck!
#6
April -
It's a long school year and there is time for everything. I am
only beginning my fourth year... when I first started I replaced a
librarian of 25 years and needed to introduce myself (policies came
later) to the kids on day one. I chose a book to read aloud (a
different one for each grade) and sat down with the students and read --
it was a wonderful beginning.
Congratulations on getting the best job in the world. Enjoy!
#7
Hi-
Ideas for K's:
Will you see the little kids regularly, so that learning names would be
important? I loved the book Hello, Hello (new in past couple of years,
author??) for K's and 1's. It has big pictures of animals saying hello,
and very simple text. It was a great way to move into introducing
ourselves by saying our names. I also like to give the littlest ones an
idea of what they will be doing in library - they will not have a clue
if you don't tell them. Of course we do a walking tour of the library.
We don't borrow books with K's for the first few weeks till routines are
in place.
Have fun and please post a Hit.
#8
I would suggest that you will find amazing help in the books written by
M.
Ellen Jay. Try interlibrary loan or your university curriculum library.
These are not "copyable" via xerox for fill in the blanks.
These are adaptable ideas that make kids think that you have to adapt in
part to fit your collections and make the lesson a collaborative one
with
the classroom teacher. It is not "your" lesson unless that your is
plural. The newest book is Teaching with Computers from Neal Schuman.
Ellen is an elementary oriented creative curriculum developer. School
or
grade wide reading programs are in Ready-To-Go Reading Incentive
Programs
for Schools and Libraries. Motivation and the School Library Media
Teacher is another one. And for the littlest ones there is 250+
Activities and Ideas for Developing Literacy Skills.
#9
Hello!
Congratulations on your new post! I too, had the same dilemma a while
back, when trying to come up with something else besides just a
"lecture" to orient students to the media center. One suggestion:
students most always "hear" a message better when it comes from their
own peers and classmates. So, whatever you use, try to involve students!
I for one, love video production, so I had some of my helpers produce an
orientation video in which they played "parts" such as library lady, new
student, etc.
Hope this helps!
#10
Hi,
I'm thrilled for you and your new job! I try and vary my very first
lesson that I give to my K - 5th grade students each year...in a
nutshell, in a 30 minute lesson my assist and I show our worst samples
of ruined LMC books and ask students to help us suggest better ways to
protect their books. We emphasize that the LMC is for everyone, and
everyone needs to keep the shelves upright, use the shelfmarker so each
book can keep its correct "address" (i.e. call number). My most popular
eye catcher (I show it about every other year) is to wrap up one of our
newest books and put our daughter's clean cloth diaper and little top on
it. K-3rd grades think this is a hoot. We talk about how babies and
little ones need to be kept clean, etc. just like books.
Good luck!
#11
I put my orientation on powerpoint - about 7 cards, highlight the
basics. Welcome, staff, rules, checkout policy etc.. Include lots of
pics and kids love sound effects. I usually have an upper level student
assistant create it in May for August. Leave it on click through and
select a student to click it through for you - this allows time to talk
about each card and the kids love it. This also helps me since I'm old
and forgetful and have 1700 PK-8th grade students and can't remember who
I told what. Then I play a game with them on location of stuff according
to level...I call it the "OK - now you look ready for the super duper
super hard 3rd graders only media center test" they groan and I begin.
3rd graders should be able to put "eyes on the ceiling, eyes on the
floor, eyes on fiction, eyes on biography, eyes on circulation desk,
eyes on your last name", etc. start slow, add sections, when their eyes
don't move or everyone's looking all over for reference or whatever,
stop and show them. Explain, start over, go faster, add sections. They
love it and it's a good review for old timers and super for new kids
too. At the end I tell them they all passed and they are all winners
when they can find their way around the media center. Have fun!
#12
April,
My most successful initial lesson over the years has been a scavenger
hunt
appropriate to the grade level - which means a different game for each
grade.
You can start with pairs of children (PK-1) finding such obvious things
as: the checkout desk, the reading area, the poster of _____, etc., etc.
Each
group could have a different colored or shaped post-it note (for the
very young)
to attach to the item (you'll have to give the clues in "pictures" to
the
little nonreading ones). At the end of a certain time, the group that
found the
most could get a bookmark, etc. (I don't give out candy; some do.)
For the older children, you could give out clues for searches in
reference
books (who was the 18th President of the U.S., what is the population of
Sri
Lanka, etc.) or match title/authors (who wrote ______), how many titles
by
Beverly Cleary does our library have, etc., etc. Starting at 2nd or 3rd
grade some
of these questions could be answered from the computers. I tell some
kids
to work on their answer sheet from top to bottom, some bottom to top,
some do
odds/then evens, etc., so everyone is not at the same place at the same
time.
I usually say there is NO TALKING so answers won't be shared.
It is a lot of work to make these up (and there are some manuals in
bigger
bookstores that have some searches in them), but you can use them year
after
year with some editing and updating. And I do think the children like
them.
Good luck!
#13
Hi -
You might do some storytelling - or book talks. Get
their take on HP5. Ask what kinds of books they like
to read - good for future orders and displays.
#14
Hi April. This past school year was my first as a
media specialist (I previously taught first grade).
It was a LONG year with some challenges but a good
one. One of the first lessons I did with my K - 5th
students was about proper book care. Many of the
books in the media center were in bad shape so I
didn't think this topic had been addressed very much.
I used the book "Mr. Wiggle's Book" and a bag of
props. I found a poster set of Mr. Wiggle and some
stickers which I used with the kindergarten and first
graders at the local teacher store. I don't know the
author off the top of my head and the book is in one
of the boxes in the other room (I moved two weeks ago
into a townhouse I bought). Mr. Wiggle is a worm and
he's sad because someone has not taken good care of
his book. The book rhymes and the illustrations show
things like crayon writing, torn pages, etc. I read
the book to the students and then we looked at the
props in my bag to decide whether those things were
good for books or bad for books. For example - candy
wrapper is bad and bookmark is good. We discussed why
these things were bad or good. I have this written up
as a substitute lesson plan on a disk. The stress of
the new job, moving to a new town, and the assisting
resigning during the inservice week got the best of me
and I got sick and missed one day the first week of
school. Anyway, I'll be glad to send it to you if
you'd like. This year to talk about the same topic of
book care I'm going to use a PowerPoint presentation
that someone shared with me that is a take-off on the
book "Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing."
Another lesson that I did was how to use a shlef
marker when choosing a book. I quickly found out that
the little ones didn't have a clue how to choose a
book from the shelves because they'd never been
allowed to actually go to the shelves before. The
previous media specialist made them choose from books
she pulled and put on a table. The older children had
no idea how to put a book back in the correct spot if
they didn't want that book. This did help me
understand though why the books were in such horrible
order on the shelves! I purchased shelf markers and
talked about how to use them with the students. We
also talked briefly about how to decide whether the
book is a good choice for you or not. Then I had a
back to school type activity sheet for the younger
ones and word search for the older ones. I asked a
few students at a time to show me how to use the shelf
marker correctly and let them practice a few times
while the rest of the students worked at the tables.
I'm glad that I taught about book care and shelf
markers before the students started checking out
books. It made my life a little easier. My principal
and I had decided to delay the checkout of books until
the beginning of the 3rd week of school so that I
could get all the students in the computer, etc. Also
the students have to return a permission
form/agreement before they take books home so the two
weeks gave the students time to return the forms. The
child and the parents sign it.
#15
You could put together a powerpoint presentation about yourself. Maybe
you could tie in things you want to share about yourself through titles
of books. Import the covers of the books onto your powerpoint slides,
add sounds, etc. Kids of all ages love that stuff. Good luck!!!
Donna Forsythe
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