A Little Reading & A Little Writing

Librarians can help the classroom teacher with standardized tests by making the content engaging and fun! This past week fourth grade has been making comparisons between expository text and poetry.  Next I describe my library lesson where I mixed in database research, reading expository text and writing a bit of free verse; and of course sharing.  My lessons are 45 minutes or less (including checkout time) and I wasn't sure I could pull this one off, but it was a hit with both teachers and students!  Here's what I did...

     1.  Using the book shown, I did a bit of poetry reading.  We looked at the form of free verse and rhyming poems; line length, word choice, cadence, main idea/theme, caps and punctuation.  I created a PowerPoint where I took pictures of the pages I was using so the students could see them poem.

     2.  I demonstrated using our online database; reading and taking short notes.  We subscribe to Worldbook Online, but others would work.  If you don't have access to one, I always like www.enchantedlearning.com.
     3.  After taking notes, I modeled (by thinking aloud) my thoughts of trying to figure out what I wanted my poem to focus on. I really tried to model looking at something that catches my attention and then using descriptive words to express simple facts.  (Yes, I know my poems in the below examples do not match the notes.  This is a picture of the 2nd poem I wrote for another example.)

     4.  Then it was their turn.  They dove right in.  I only gave them about 10 to 15 minutes of actual reading and taking notes.  It is important to think about finding a short/simple online resource so they can read quickly and easily.  In the Worldbook Online I had my students use the Kids version.  There is a great World of Animal feature that works well with this lesson. Download handout here.

Each student pair had a printout of this page.

     5.  Once the time was up for reading, I modeled writing another poem in a bit of a different format. Then I had them close their computers and start writing.  It was amazing to see how enthusiastic most were.

     6.  After some time, I had student partners start sharing their poems (on a volunteer basis).  I found they ALL wanted to share! Check out these student examples...

Looking at what they were able to create in a very short amount of time was more than I expected.  There were some that were just a list of facts or a short paragraph, but there were many that "got it".  I gave the poems to the teachers.  They plan to follow up with using them for revision.  Here are ways to follow up with this lesson...
       #Look at the fact filled or paragraph formed ones and use descriptive words or phrases to say the same thing.
       #Did they start lines correctly?
       #Where would we punctuate and why?
       #How does the poem say the same thing as the expository text?
       #Check out standardized tests and ask similar questions.
       #Can you see this becoming a literacy center in the classroom?
       #Take it further with an APP that you can "perform" the poem; like Show Me or Screen Chomp.

So many possibilities!

I will definitely use this lesson again!

1st Grade Presidential Research

As the librarian I often find my lessons have to be short; 30 minutes.  I try hard to connect what I teach with what is happening in the classroom.  This past week, after celebrating President's Day, the 1st grade teachers were reading biographies about presidents.  I took the opportunity during their library lesson to teach a bit of research skills and how to find biographies.

The lesson sequence went as follows...
     1.  Introduced lesson with connecting to President's Day and what they were reading in the classroom.
     2.  I read to them a short biography about Abraham Lincoln.  (There was a picture of the penny included in this book.)
     3.  After reading, I went back to the picture of the penny and told them when I read this book it made me think of how when I look at money there are faces of important men on each one.
     4.  I showed them a picture of money on a PowerPoint.  There were both the bills and on the second slide the coins.

     5.  We talked about how most people think all these men are past presidents. People assume that just because their faces are on money, they must be a past president.  I tell them two of these men were not a president.
     6.  I then step them through the process of how to locate a biography in a student encyclopedia set.  I took a picture of the actual page and had it on the PowerPoint as well.  We practiced scanning for the word president, then stopped and read the sentence we found it in.  We then added that person's name to the chart.  We did 3 of these people together.  I was sure to choose one of the men that was not a president, so they could see they had to scan the whole article.

     7.  At this point, I divided the class into two groups.  One group went with the teacher to show them the biography section and explain how to locate books in this section.  I provided the teacher with sentence strips of names of people I knew I had books on, a dry erase board and marker.  The second group sat with me on the floor using the student encyclopedias.  Each partnership got a card with one of the men's name on it.  We went over how to find the article using guide words and practiced scanning articles.  This was really hands on to where I could reach and help all students.

     8.  At the end we gathered back and shared what we found.  I encouraged them to go home and ask their parents if they knew which two men that have their faces appear on money were not presidents.

Find That Book!

The goal of all librarians (teachers, parents, etc) is for students to use the library independently. We want our students to access the materials available and find what they're looking for.  Of course, this is a slow progression starting in Kinder with just knowing books all have a place and we need to keep them in their place with a shelf marker.

This is a lesson I like to use with Kinder, 1st or 2nd graders (depending on the level and time of year) to help them review how to locate books in the Easy section of the library. Of course, before this lesson students have been exposed to great authors, they know the author writes the book, the 3 letters on the call number stand for the author's last name, etc.  This lesson is intended to give practice in a control environment with teacher and librarian support to see how to use alphabetizing to the 2nd letter to find the call number they are looking for.

You can find the printables for this library skill lesson at Find That Book!

A Word Wall in the Library

Librarians,

Do you ever have the challenge of students searching for words in your online catalog and need help with spelling words?  I do!  My online catalog is Destiny.  Yes, I know there is Destiny Quest, which has great spelling assistance and other spelling assistance in just Destiny, but I still have students that struggle.  Perhaps they can't get even close to the word.  Happens all the time in my library.  So, I have created a Word Wall Binder where students can get quick spelling assistance of commonly asked-for words.  I started compiling this binder 5 years ago when I first became a librarian and realized I was spelling the same word over and over again.  This binder has been a life saver!  I have several teachers that have started a Word Wall Binder in their classroom as well.  Typically you see a word wall with frequent spelled words (when, their, etc) and each student has their own spelling journal of words they like to use, but this classroom binder adds another resource for students to seek spelling assistance so the teacher can continue writing groups and conferences.  Love it!


You can find my binder pages here:  Word Wall Binder