Library Love

Week 3

Our story time theme this week was "Library Love", and so we read lots of books about libraries and how special they are. Grades 3, 4, 5 continued with their "Library Book Camp" skills. 

PreK 3, PreK 4, Kindergarten
I'm hoping to do more with songs and finger plays this year, inspired by Miss Katie at Story Time Secrets. This week we sang "If You'd Like to Read a Book..." (to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It") and "Open, Shut Them". 

It's Library Day, by Janet Morgan Stoeke

This is an early childhood book that explains the basics of the library: how to get there, why we go, what we do there, and how much we love it! Simple illustrations and text make this an excellent entry point into discussion about how the library connects us to the books we love.
(read aloud for PreK 3)

Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian, by Jessica Spanyol

Carlo goes to the public library with his father for the first time, and when he's alone in the children's section, he meets the librarian, Mrs. Chinca. She's a bit scary at first, but he soon learns that she knows everything about the books, she is fun to be with, and he likes helping her keep the library neat.
(read aloud for PreK 4)

The Library Doors, by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by Nadine Westcott

Sung to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus", this story makes a great interactive introduction to the library and what we do there. The library portrayed in the story is just like ours: busy with kiddos all day long, child-centered, and a fun place to be. Some verses are jumping off points for other lessons, such as subject/author/title searching, but overall the emphasis is on the basics: checking in and out, using quiet voices, and enjoying stories together.
(read to Kindergarten)

I. Q. Goes to the Library, by Mary Ann Fraser

I.Q. (a mouse) gets to go to the library to choose a book for the first time. He learns all about the wonders of the library (puppets! computers!) and learns how books are organized, and how to take care of them. But what he really cares about is finding the funny book the librarian read so he can take it home. We're all cheering when he finally gets the book he wants and gets to take it home and read "until his eyes water and his tail curls."
(read to Kindergarten)

Library Dragon, by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael P. White

Sunrise Elementary School has a dragon for a librarian. Whenever the kids come into the library she breathes fire on them!  But when a little near-sighted girl comes in and starts READING out loud, even the dragon lady librarian's heart melts.

This would also be good for older students who can catch all of the vocabulary and double meanings related to "fire."
(read to Grade 1)

Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

Full review at "Book Talk Tuesday" post here.
This is my favorite book about libraries!

(read to Grade 2)

The Librarian from the Black Lagoon, by Mike Thaler, illustrated by Jared Lee

Everyone is deathly afraid of the school librarian - she's so evil, no one wants to go to the library. Creepy, mean, and ugly as sin, Mrs. Beamster is a character we're not likely to forget.
(read to Grade 2)

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Grade 3

Source: flickr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

We learned about finding fiction books by call number and matching call numbers to spine labels to find a book's "address" in the library. We used a PowerPoint (scroll to "How to Find Books" and "Finding Fiction") to focus the discussion.

To help with shelf-reading, we learned about "Zip-Zap-Zoom" (zip is across, zap is down, and zoom is up to the next section or around the corner). We also have a retro library sign to help us remember how to read the shelves.

Grades  4 and 5
We reviewed Call Numbers, using the PowerPoint here (see "How to Find Books" then "Call Number ppt"), and catalog searching techniques. Afterwards, each grade had an online quiz about using the catalog: grade 4 here, grade 5 here.