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Many thanks to those who responded! ORIGINAL POST: My principal said that she would like me to set up my library in literacy centers for next year. For example, I would have students working in groups of 4 at computers, in listening centers, independent reading in a cozy corner, and at a research station. I have always done whole group read alouds and library skills instruction with time at the end for book browsing and check out. I am wondering what that will look like and how I can teach the children to work independently in here when I see some of them once a week and some only once every other week. Does anyone here teach library in literacy centers or stations? What grades do you teach? How is it working for you? How do you teach the children to use them independently? RESPONSES: when I was at the elementary schools,I had centers for the little guys with some worksheets from commercial books on letter recognition and letter reproduction. This is good for fine muscle development,too. You can always have a coloring station of pictures from the author's website. I also had Arthur (fromT.V.)card games and a set of 25 piece puzzles of scenes from the books. I bought these at Target ,but I had similar stuff about Clifford from K- mart. You can,of course create your own puzzles and card games from pictures in the books. If you have older kids ,they could help you. they enjoy doing things for the little guys. what I found when i intoduced the games that MANY children are clueless about jig saw puzzles, any kind of card game and have little knowledge of cooperating with each other. A few knew how to play "concentration" type matching card games, but Go Fish,etc. were strange to them. I also had the same type of games and puzzles for the older kids,but 100 piece puzzles,instead. Once in a while you can work on sequencing,either from a pre-bought workbook or from pictures or sentances from the day's story. If you get American Girl Magazine, they used to have paper dolls that made a nice center and Zoo Book magazine and natinal geo.or Si for kids can be cut up and a game involving match the word or sentance to the picture can be created. once you start thinking these ideas will tumble out. change them often though. I saw your post on LM_Net and thought I'd respond. I work at a school that is very into the literacy center idea. I realized that it would be a great way to utilize all our resources. I would never have 30 computers - I only have 8, 30 encyclopedias, or 30 dictionaries all at once, etc. So I split the class into 3 - 4 groups, and assign each child a number 1 - 8. I assign 2 students to be "cleaners", 2 to be the one to ask questions, and 1 to be captain. I have them practice the first day - moving around, cleaning up, using comps, etc. This has worked really well with my 5th - 8th kids, and my younger students do group work in class anyways, so I would talk to the teachers and see if they have routines that you can follow or modify. It's a LOT chaotic the first 5 - 10 minutes of a class, but usually settles down. I also use "checkout" tickets - so that they have work to do, and aren't constantly asking "when can I check out?" The checkout ticket basically means they can get up and checkout, and after they check out the book (with me, at the computer), they pass on the ticket to someone else. This has worked really really really well with 1st - 8th. It keeps from having 20 - 30 kids all up at once, and they quickly understand that no ticket, no checking out, and to wait your turn! I work at an inner city school in Chicago, and I learned that having routines and procedures really helps them understand how to behave, and that it rotates groups, but the basic idea doesn't change week to week. I hope this makes sense and hope it helps ;) If you want more examples or other help, please let me know! We started centers this in the library, and the kids love it. I decided to run centers once a month, as it was a new idea. I have four centers: listening center, computer center, partner reading or individual reading, and finally word work. I highly recommend you look at the book “The Daily Five” by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser ISBN 1 57110429 1. Available from Stenhouse Publishers at www.stenhouse.com. It gives great ideas on independent center work and how to introduce it. Before you start, make sure you demo each center. For the listening center, I gradually instructed the kids, to become independent users. Obviously the younger kids needed more help, but now even the first graders know how to put in a tape/CD and push play, or at least stop and rewind. The computers are a bit harder, but it is a great way to introduce computer skills and basic research and search terms. I started by just finding a web site of the week for them to find and check out what is offered at that one site. Partner and silent reading is outlined well in the book above, but is always a favorite. For word work, they could complete word searches, trivia sheets and tie in with the computer web site, or other worksheets tied into your library theme for the week/month. Let me know how it goes. We liked it so well that some weeks I just added another center time. Good luck I am a high school librarian but when I was planning lit. center in my 7th grade language arts classroom, I talked to several elementary teachers who used centers and read all I could about centers in upper elem. grade. Here’s what I learned for the classroom: It takes at least one quarter to teach students how to use centers—procedures, manners, working independently, where to turn in work, etc Introduce each center/skills separately. Work on the procedures/skills as a whole classes and then in groups. It takes longer than a person thinks to train the students It is time consuming to develop centers It is time consuming to change centers. They are great when they work well, but that doesn’t just happen. It helps to differentiate for students. It gives the teacher time to meet with small groups. When applying this to the library and once a week meetings—Can you get the teachers help training the students to use centers? If the students use centers appropriately in the classroom, the procedures should transfer.The centers need to be simple and changed easily. Do you have different grade levels in the same day? If so, more changing. How much prep time between classes? <joke> I and the teachers I talked with recommend you start small. Work with only one teacher or one grade level. Have the same objective, but at different reading levels.-- Valarie Graham, Library Media Specialist North Bend Elementary Middle Lockerman Bundy Elementary Baltimore, Maryland sakinahteacher@gmail.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. 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