ORIGINAL QUESTION ( THANKS to ALL who replied)
Hello:
I will be at a renovated elementary school grades k-5 with 12 teachers.
Since there are 12 teachers, I will see each class twice totaling 24
classes. During the interview, the time frame suggested for each visit was
40 or
45 minutes. Has anyone worked in a similar situation and can provide
some scheduling ideas and suggestions? I have some written out but
looking for more. I am looking for workable ways for each of the 2 visits
each week. What is the purpose and function of each visit? Activities
for each? Should kindergarten's time be 40 minutes or less? reasons
for less? (getting your ideas , too; I have some) I am excited and
looking forward to my new work site !
Thanks to all in advance. I look forward to receiving your ideas.
REMINDER:
Please..only ideas from library media specialists who are or have worked a
schedule whereby each class visited twice, the amount of time for each, and
types
of activities/purpose/function of and for each OR can suggest.
Much appreciated !
Robert Joyce
robert@gcronline.com
Librarian/Library Media Specialist K-5
Brosville Elementary School
Pittsylvania County Virgina
I'm in a school similar to yours. We are a K-6 school with 10
classroom
teachers plus 2 BD classrooms (behavior disorder classes). I see every
class twice a week also, except kindergarten who only comes once a
week.
Here is how we have it set up:
K - once for 30 min.
1-3 - twice a week for 35 min. each time
4-6 - twice a week for 40 min. each time
What I do for those classes.................one of the times that I see
a
class is devoted to reading aloud, checking out books, talking about
state
book award nominees, activities to accompany the story I read, etc.
The
other time that I see each class is usually spent in the computer lab
working on technology skills, research skills, etc. We use Inspiration
software and talk about making an outline, we conduct research online,
learn how to make a bibliography, etc. Sometimes on that day, I take
them
to the classroom area of the library and we work on library skills,
reference skills, or do research using (gasp!) books and encyclopedias.
For kindergarten, we mostly work on reading aloud, nursery rhymes,
checking out books, etc. Toward the end of the year, I do try to take
them in the computer lab for about 10 min. during each class. We don't
get much accomplished but it's an introduction for them and they love
it.
---------------------------
40 minutes twice a week sounds like an incredible amount of library
time to
me! We see our kids once a week for 30 minutes -- however, I still see
30
groups a week that way, which fills up the schedule. When do they have
time
to accomplish the curriculum? Our minimum times for curriculum would
not
allow such a high amount of time in the LC. However, to answer some of
your
other questions -- if I had that much time with the kids, I would
arrange
the schedule so that one of the visits was spent on information skills,
and
the other was spent on something generated in the classroom, but worked
on
in the LC. For example, the first weekly visit would be a story
session, a
library skills session, etc. The second visit would be research time
for a
classroom assigned project. Or, better perhaps, the first 20 minutes
spent
on a skill or a story session, with the second 20 minutes devoted to
research or classroom developed projects. 40 minutes in the LC is also
too
long for kindergarten, whose attention span is really short. If the
K's
were in the LC that long, I would think you would have to move them
through
at least three different activities of 10 to 15 minutes each, i.e. a
story
session, a library skills game (putting themselves in alphabetical
order,
etc) and some finger poems, plays, craft project, etc
---------------------------------
teach in a k-4 school and I see just my kindergarten classes for 45 minutes
once a week. The other grades I see for 20 minutes. I have 23 classes in my
school. In that 20 mins I do a mini lesson or booktalks or just read a
story then they check out books. For kindergarten, I read a story and do a
story related project. Then they check out books. I usually teach some
library related skill also. Grades 1-4 also have a flexible schedule where
teachers schedule research classes or curriculum integrated lessons as
needed. I end up doing anywhere from 23-30 classes a week.
------------------------------
I don't know how much help this information will be but I am also at a
K-5 school with 12 teachers.
The library media schedule for my school has involved the K-2 classes
coming 2x/week, once for 30 minutes of instruction and once for 15
minutes to check-out. When I moved into the library last year the 30 minute
time gradually grew to a 45 minute time for most K-2 classes since I
encouraged the classes to bring their books for checkout during their
instructional time too. I see the 3-5 classes twice a week for 45
minutes. One time is considered "instructional" and the other is for
"check-out." Since students in grades 2-5 can actually check-out on their
own
at any time during the day, often the 45 minute "check-out" time became
"run-over" time where we continued working on projects. As far as my
principal was concerned all she asked of the 45 minute check-out time
was that the students be allowed to check-out and read. It was designed
more or less as just a break for the 3-5 teachers.
--------------------------------------------
I have 15 teachers
whose
classes I see twice a week plus 2 spec ed classes once a week. Each
class
comes for 35 minutes. Do the math and you see I have basically no free
time
for admin purposes. Sorry, but since we are prep time for the
classroom
teacher the amount of time allotted for K classes is non-negotiable.
The first time each class comes is for checkout. Students check out a
regular book and an AR book (K classes only check out one regular).
Sometimes I read a book to them and sometimes I let them look at
preselected
books/magazines on the tables. The second visit is used for
skills/enrichment. These lessons are usually centered around a theme,
author, or SOL (content area objective).
---------------------------------------
These are just suggestions, but developmentally, you do not want
kinders
for more than 30 minutes at a time- 10-15 min. for story & 15 minutes
for book checkout.
For your 1st - 5th grades- you could do 30 minutes of instruction
(check
at your district level for K - 5th grade guidelines for Library Media
Instruction) and 15 minutes of checkout. Perhaps for the 2nd class of
the week, you could do 30-45 minutes of computer instruction (if that
is
a possibility at your school).
I have two schools (500 kids at one site, 90 at the other site), and
they get 30 minutes of instruction 1 x a week. At my school where I do
a 45 minute planning time, I teach for 30 minutes and do checkout the
other 15 minutes. At my smaller school, I teach for the 30 minute
planning time, and the teacher comes back to assist with me with book
checkout (as I don't have a 6 hour assistant at the smaller school).
---------------------------------
I'm a librarian for 2 schools. I have a 6 day schedule where I'm at each
school for 3 days. At my k-3 it's a fixed schedule for 50 min.I have 15
classes but my assistant sees the 3 Kindergarten on the days I'm not there.
So I really only have 12. I personally believe that 30 minutes is sufficient
for Kindergarten, but as it is, I never release my classes on time anyway. I
cover author studies tied in with language arts activities, shelf
arrangement, book parts and care, note taking even with Kindergarten,
Fiction vs. nonfiction and with gr. 2-3 I also do dictionaries, and
reference and with the 3rd grade I also do the Dewey Decimal System. I also
allow 15 - 20 minutes for book exchange as part of the 50 minute block. At
my 4-6 school my schedule is flexible. I'm even busier at this school. I
collaborate on units as well as teach more extensive skills to the 4th grade
for a 10 week period. For all classes I tie in Reference, research, on-line
resources, dictionaries with whatever unit I'm working on with teachers. I
also do genres studies and book talks. I like this schedule because it also
allows teachers to plan on using the library for extended periods of time
without having to worry about working around a fixed schedule. My library at
this school is extra small so more than one thing going on at a time is
chaos.
My suggestions for you might be to get your principal to agree to one class
per week and the rest be for open library so teachers could work
collaboratively with you on units and have the experience more meaningful
and less skills taught in isolation. Another suggestion might be to have one
class be just for skill and the other be for book exchange and silent
reading or a time for you to book talk books.
--------------------------------------------------------
I am a new media coordinator. I was planning on scheduling my
kindergarteners for 30 minutes. Why? Having previously taught
kindergarten, they have a hard time sitting still for periods longer
than 30 minutes at a time. 15 minutes is a stretch, but they can
manage 30 for library time. I'm still debating on 1st grade - whether
to have them for 30 minutes or 45-50 minutes. Grades 2-5 will probably
be for 50 minutes - 1 class period.
Since I do not have a technology assistant, I will be teaching computer
literacy skills as well as information skills.
-----------------------------------------------
I work in a PreK-5 school and have a fixed schedule. I see PreK-3 for
30
minutes, 4 for 40, and 5 for 45. I could probably use 45 with 3rd, but
for
the PreK-2, 30 minutes is plenty. There's no way you should see
Kindergarten
for 45 minutes. It's December before they can pay attention for more
than 20
minutes at a time. Make sure you get Kindergarten scheduled first thing
in
the morning. I do, I've had make up times in the afternoon with them
and it
isn't worth the trouble. The little guys are zonked by then.
I have over 700 students, so I see them on a six day rotation. It's
really
hard to keep lessons coherent over that span. Twice a week sounds
great. My
only other advice is don't forget to read to the kids. Kids just aren't
read
to enough today and it is a valid piece of instruction. You can do
mini-lessons around a story and keep them entertained and wanting to
come to
the library.
-------------------------------------
for 40 minutes a class. That way, you can
have some open time each day for addditional research/instruction ...
You can do a book club during school hours -- that would be great for
your gifted kids who do not enjoy that much time with one specialist.
Also, you could do a boys reading club -- and do fun books like NASCAR,
sports, adventure, etc.
-------------------------------------
When I had two class periods I used 1 for lessons, skills, stories,
etc. The
second because Book Exchange and if needed a time to finish work from
the
first class, reinforce skills, etc. This always worked great. If you
find
the time is too long you may want to include a quick game, word search.
etc.
In my media center I have a shelf of educational games, puzzles, etc.
for
students to use after they have checked out their books. This includes
chess, checkers, connect four, guess who, matching games, dominoes,
geosafari, and both large and small puzzles. I allow the larger ones to
stay
out on a preselected table for everyone to work on. I also allow
computer
use during this time. I also have a table with markers, stamps and
stamp
pads, blank paper, blank paper cut in sizes for bookmarks, cards, etc.
The
kids love these items and I usually do not have to deal with problems
and
students putting off getting a book. The rule is you check out your
materials and then you can use the items. Students who do not return
their
books must wait until 10 students have checked out books before they
can use
the activities.
As for kindergarten, I have never had them for more than 30 minutes. I
feel
that is long enough for their attention span. It is long enough for a
story
and follow-up, or for book exchange. If it is any longer you just find
yourself trying to keep their attention and at that point the behavior
tends
to go too. I don't know if there is any study or anything about the 30
minutes, but it is the same for all of the special area teachers in my
district.
-----------------------------------
Where possible I would booktalk and allow time for checkout on each
visit.
With 2 visits per week you will have time for carry over activities.
Such as
if you connect an art idea to a book and there is not enough time to
finish
in the first lesson. I think this will take some time to learn just how
much
gets done and how much might get carried over to the second lesson. I
have
been using 40 minute lesson times for the last 2 years. I usually spend
part
of the time introducing the lesson, allowing for application or
practice and
book checkout. Once the books are selected the students return to the
tables
for quiet reading. K classes come for 20 minutes and they also checkout
books after the story is read. If I had more time with them I would be
looking for retellings/ act out the story and other ideas to make the
time
meaningful. This sounds like a rich time for you. You could even read
short
novels etc to the older kids. Children love being read to and it just
does
not happen at home or at school as much as it used to.
-----------------------------------------------
WOW! Only 12 teachers. That would be a dream compared to my 42 :)
I've
been in a situation like that, but I can try and give suggestions :)
In my
little experience, I have found that 30 minutes is about tops for
Kindergarteners (even 1st graders at times). Most teachers have told
me
that a little one's attention span is only good for about 20 minutes
anyway.
I would suggest some sort of an activity to coincide with the book
being
read. I don't know what kind of supply budget you would be getting,
but at
times a nice arts and crafty project can keep a little one interest for
the
extra time. I know due to my supply budget that a lot of my activities
lean
toward the paper and crayons, but I try to get a few crafty projects in
a
year.
You could also focus the 2nd class of the week on booktalks. You could
start out doing the booktalks at the beginning of the year and then
gradually turn it over to the students. Have them talk up the books
they
are reading.
Do mini scavenger hunts in the media center or on the internet to teach
information literacy skills. There are several books out through
Upstart
catalog and scholastic that have ready made searches, so half the work
is
done for us, which leaves us the time to focus on getting the kids
ready for
these mini scavenger hunts.
With being able to see the kids 2x a week I would think there would be
a
greater possibility of doing projects that fit right in with whatever
is
being taught in the classrooms. I don't know if the teachers will be
staying with you or not during this time.
-----------------------------------
have twice as many classes (k-4 - 26 classes) but only see them once
each week. K is 30 minutes and the others are 45. K just doesn't have
the attention span for any longer. The time they need for checking out
books is much less as most of them are less discriminate in their
selection than older children and they usually can only handle 1 look
through the book afterwards. They can only sit still and attentive for
a small amount of time...it does get better as the year progresses, but
even beginning 1st graders have difficulty with the 45 minutes.
'
With the older kids in particular you can really get into doing some
research projects. Set up some long projects in conjunction with what
is going on in the classroom. I assume that you are prep time so you
will not get much assistance from the classroom teachers, but you can
at least do some cooperative projects that complement the classroom. I
have done a multi-week project with the 4th graders on US statehood
where they created timelines using adding machine tape. They were given
a list of the states in alphabetical order and had to put them in
chronological order to make the timeline. They then had to graph how
many states got statehood during each given time period and then color
a map accordingly. It was pretty instruction for the growth of the US.
THis would also work in 5th grade. I also have done a 50 State Quarter
project, examining the quarters that are out and then since the quarter
for Washington State hasn't been designed yet, they followed the rules
from the Mint and designed quarters. There are great lesson plans at
the US Mint web site for the quarters. I got the ideas for both of
these projects there.
For the younger grades I do a combination of stories and activities.
One of them was a series on the Arthur books by Marc Brown. I read a
number of them over several weeks and we talked about how the
characters changed in appearance and how Arthur grew up and settled in
3rd grade. There are lots of materials out there for Arthur, including
one on how to draw Arthur. They really liked that. This was 2nd grade.
Whatever you do, read to the kids, particularly the younger ones but
also sneak in those library skills, particularly location skills. Make
it fun for them to come to the library. It will be hard since you will
have 12 different lessons to plan each week ... make sure that your
staff knows this!!! --- but try to set the lessons up so that they
complement each other or extend from the first lesson to the second.
I would designate one of the days as book exchange day and have the
major checkout then. Plan for them to need 15-20 minutes to checkout
and read (for the older kids) on one day and then on the other day,
have them bring a book they are reading and give them time to read
while those who have finished what they reading or forgot their books
have a short time for checking out. Plan the lessons accordingly. This
will work with 3rd - 5th...any younger and they usually don't have
enough reading skills to keep them occupied for that amount of time. If
you are doing AR you can incorporate that into some of the time also.
Another thought...are you computer savvy? Do you have access to a lab?
The second lesson could be a computer class! I would love to be able to
do that and actually have the kids using the computers as a tool and
not just for games!
--------------------------------------
kinders need to move after 15 minutes perhaps a three part activity with
booktalk as they return their books one at a time, then part 2 with
students moving around selecting books and then a short story aloud or a
flannel board or cut and paste activity as you read.
--------------------------------------
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