[LM_NET] HIT: book care lessons for grades 4-6

[D Morris <drmorris2000@YAHOO.COM>]

I just sent this HIT but forgot to post my name and
information.  Sorry about that.  I was so busy copying
and pasting that I totally forgot to add that at the
end.  Please forgive the omission.

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question about
how to teach book care to grades 4-6.  You all are a
wonderful group!  A couple of people asked me to post
a HIT so here it is.

* I use a small group of books that have made it to my
Book Hospital, and even though I've talked about it
with students since Kindergarten, they finally get it
when they reach 4 and 5th grades.  We talk about the
condition and "injuries", and we discuss how these
things happen.  Which leads us to how we can prevent
these problems.  It's a nice discussion time and they
really seem to understand more fully.

* I do a "Dr. Book Love" lesson with the 4-5th graders
where I dress up with a white lab coat, the glasses
with a nose and mustache attached, and a stethoscope
around my neck. I use a fake accent as I take a number
of damaged books, and a few good ones too, and one by
one go thru a routine where I examine the books, and
ask the students whether or not "this book can be
saved/go to the book hospital" (repaired) or whether
it must be "put to rest." We discuss what may have
caused the damage, and I take the stethoscope to
determine whether or not there is still a "heartbeat."
We also talk about how to prevent this from happening
from other books in the coming year.

* Can you find any really damaged books? Put them out
or show them and ask the kids to guess what happened
to them. Get them to tell how to avoid these book
injuries.

* I am using The Shelf Elf with my K - 3 and The
Library Dragon with my 4 - 5.  I am going to read the
Library Dragon and have the students explain their
responsiblity in the library. 

* For 4th grades I usually play a game called "Media
Manners" - class is divided into two teams.  Kids pick
cards with either good or bad things to do in the
library and directions on each card like "You spilled
food in your book - go back two spaces."  Game board
is a poster that I hang on the board with spaces that
go all around the board.  Kids put used cards in card
pockets in the middle of the game with a happy or sad
face on them (they put card in appropriate pocket). 
Each team has a clip clothes pin as a game piece (two
different colors). The game ends when one team reaches
the finish or whoever is ahead when you run out of
time - if I run our of cards I just recycle the used
ones.
For 5th and 6th grade I stress the importance of
having a library card for the public library and then
read two different picture books - I am in an area
that is highly ethnic diverse so the books that work
for me are: 5th Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia
McKissack and 6th Richard Wright and the Library Card
by William Miller.  We also review library procedures.
You could also try a library scavenger hunt so they go
over where things are located. 

* If you don't have any damaged books to show to the
students, maybe you can find some at ..flea markets,
garage sales.

* One of my way old way old books had an idea about
using happy and sad faces. You can make the faces, put
them on a popsicle stick, and after teaching use your
example books have the students decide whether you
have a happy book or a sad book. You can ask them to
tell you why each book is happy or sad.

* I will be a brand new elementary librarian in a
preK-5 school next year and was going to use a
different book to introduce book care/bring up the
subject of book care.

preK & Kinder= Mr. Wiggle's Book and I Took My Frog to
the Library
1st=Beverly Billingsly Borrows a Book
2nd=The Librarian from the Black Lagoon
3rd=The Library Dragon
4th= Library Lil
5th=Tomas and the Library Lady

I haven't decided which grades I am going to use The
Shelf Elf and The Shelf Elf Helps Out with. I was
thinking about using them with 1st-5th.

* I forgot about two more. But Excuse Me That is My
Book by Lauren Child (I am going to read it with 5th
grade and play up the fact that they are the "big"
kids of the school and might need to help a younger
student or sibling select a book) and Stella Louella's
Runaway Book by Lisa Campbell Ernst (which I will
probably do with 4th grade and play ip the sequencing
of ee\vents in the story).

* Dana, if you can turn up a stack of damaged books,
try displaying them with information on what it costs
to repair/replace and what could have been purchased
instead (I pick the books that the kids consistantly 
want to read--Eyewitness, art books, Series of
Unfortunate Events, etc.). Doing this made a huge
impression. 

I put up a very large, very noticable display along
with the cart and several crates of books that were
damaged and wouldn't be available until the next
school year because I didn't have the time with
teaching and trying to work with them to find books
that they liked and hopefully finding more books that
they would enjoy to actually do the repairs. I also
reviewed all of that information with classes coming
in to check out.

This of course made a larger impression with the older
students, but my display closet which was packed with
dead and damaged books, written information and those
frightful numbers got more attention from students, 
faculty, and visitors than any other display I've
done. I also put up a list of books that were MIA. I
offered rewards for students who found and returned
those books--pencils and bookmarks.

I totalled up the cost of lost (as in moved away
with), damaged, MIA books and presented those numbers
to the students along with the fact that it would take
my entire budget to pay for all of that ($11,000.),
the light bulbs started going on over their precious,
yet scattered little heads.

My parent volunteer who helps me check each and every
book for damage noticed a decline in the number of
damaged books coming in after that and except for the
books lost by students moving, all but one book 
checked out to students was returned or paid for by
field day (losing that is part of the contract
students and their parents have to return signed 
before they are able to check out of the regular
collection as opposed to the alternate check out
collection which is good, but very small. 

Students who are found to be chronic about returning
damaged books are given two chances once this has been
brought to their attention. After that they go on
alternate check out until they have returned three of 
those books in a row in good shape and on time. 

Sometimes I feel ruthless, but we've only been in our
building 3 years and I repaired 27 crates plus one
huge cart full of books this summer. I'm starting off
with the display again this fall and we'll keep a 
tally of the damage to show them along the way. When
we chart things like this, and students can see the
percentage of books that can't be checked out, they
begin to realize how serious this problem is. 

Good luck. The truth of the matter is that children
aren't taught to take care of books at home (in our
case many students don't have books at home) and the
entire responsibility falls on my shouldars to teach 
them.

* I always pull a variety of books from my "To Be
Repaired" shelf and have the students discuss what's
wrong with the book and how it could have been
prevented.  I also include books that have been abused
by baby or toddler siblings.  I remind students about
Mr. Wiggles.  Finally, I ask students to let me know
if they find a book that is damaged.  I need them to
be my detectives.  As usual, some kids listen and some
don't.

* I've used Book! Book! Book! , A Quiet Place, Going
Someplace Special, and Library Lil for 3-5.  If you
are into technology,  have the upper grades write a
script and video a Book Care lesson for you to play
for the younger grades.  The older students love doing
it, the younger students see siblings sometimes and
you incorporate technology in the mix. 

* I used a Book Doctor lesson a few years ago. I wore
a scrub suit, carried book repair supplies in a bag,
and showed various "injured" books. I geared it to the
age of the children and all seemed responsive. Showing
them the actual damage to beloved books has a huge
impact. I also took dirty books and wiped them with a
clean rag to show them how dirty the books are. 

* I found that the older kids damaged the books more
than the younger ones.  I just thought of another idea
that I'm going to do this year.

I'm going to use a backpack to show students how to
place a library book in correctly.  I have had several
books with damaged jackets returned.  The children
told me that the book got caught on something  
inside the bookbag.

I will suggest that they keep a ziploc bag to put
their library books in.  This will protect the book
when placing it in the backpack.

I have also had books returned with sticky substances
like pancake syrup on them.  Be sure to cover that and
remind students to be sure to have a clean table if
they're going to read at the kitchen table.  I always
make a face and say "Gross!" when this happens.  I act
out in front of the kids when I show them books with
damage.  Like I pretend to pick  up a book with food
on it.  I make a face, say "Gross!" while I'm
pretending to get the stuff off of my hands.  I ask
the children how would they like it if they put their
hands on a book with stuff stuck to it.

Dana Morris, Librarian
Bayou Lacombe Middle School
Lacombe, LA
drmorris2000@yahoo.com


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
  You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
  by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET  2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL  4) SET LM_NET DIGEST  * Allow for confirmation.
 * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
 * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
 * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/
 * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------