Kindergarten and First Grade
Kindergarteners love the Media Center and their enthusiasm is exciting to watch! They are always eager for storytime and we delight in watching them discover new vocabulary, develop a love for a particular author (Mo Willems, anyone?), and find exciting new worlds just by listening to a book. Some favorites?
- How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long (we learned how to speak pirate!)
- All of the Pigeon books (come on, please let me drive the bus?)
- Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch
-
Cat Secrets by Jef Czekaj
Second Grade
In addition to getting excited about reading chapter books (the Junie B Jones shelf has been a favorite spot!), 2nd graders are becoming more familiar with the organization of non-fiction books in the media center. We have also concentrated on lessons including:
- Fact vs fiction using the book Opposomundus
- Comparing and contrasting between stories with the help of graphic organizers
- Identifying the parts of a book with the help of this powerpoint
- Sequencing
- Identifying characters, actions, motives, emotions, and traits of characters in picture books
- On-line research using facts4me.com
Third Grade
We see a lot of growth in third grade with the research abilities of students. I have never seen such excitement over looking up facts in almanacs and atlases! Third graders are also increasing their knowledge of appropriate online resources and spending time using these resources for research. Some of our lessons include:
- Locating information using Library Manager (the media center catalog)
- Using facts4me.com to research Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Thurgood Marshall, and Lyndon Johnson
- Making inferences with the the help of Van Allsburg's book The Sweetest Fig (a wonderful read!)
- Research about the life and contributions of Cesar Chavez
Fourth Grade
I love watching the evolution of independence in our fourth graders over the year. They start the year fairly proficient at using the media catalog and accessing databases for research and end the year with well-earned confidence in their abilities to find information. They are beginning to become much more discriminating about their pleasure reading choices, which presents a welcome challenge for me as I work to find a series or individual book that will keep their love of reading alive. Some of the lessons they have participated in are:
- Name that genre game
- Webquests
- Citing sources
- Westward Expansion unit using Eve Bunting's book Dandelion
Fifth Grade
Fifth graders are the whole package - they are at home in elementary school for the most part, but they gradually become more and more like middle schoolers. It is exciting to work with them as they learn how to navigate the Internet and assess the abundance of information they find. Their questions are becoming more multi-dimensional which translates into their developing new tools as researchers as they seek to find answers. Every day we have opportunities to keep the reading fire alive in these students and take our job as book whisperers seriously. A few fifth grade lessons:
- All about books game (a book tasting, of sorts)
- Research centers using almanacs, dictionaries, atlases, thesauri, and encyclopedias
- WWII lessons using the books The Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya and Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Theis Raven
- Website evaluation
- Research jeopardy