Dr. Josephine Sche 16 April 2012

ILS 504

16 April 2012

Term Project:

Kindergarten Library Orientation

I am presently a teacher in a K-2 school, and my dream career shift is to become a school library media specialist within that same grade range. Therefore, for my project, I imagined myself in that role. Working with young children in a library setting is distinctly different than any other age group. Kindergarteners are particularly unique in that this is their first public school experience, and for many, it may also be their first library experience. Kindergarten teacher Laurie Patsalides explains:

Kindergarten students may not have visited the public library with their parents before Kindergarten, because in many homes, both parents work during the week and do not make time for weekend library visits. Forming good library habits that extend over a lifetime begins when very young; children should be introduced to the library, even as toddlers. Budding Kindergarteners now have the opportunity to use a school library which serves to support their beginning literacy needs, but social library manners and norms must be taught as this is the first formal experience for many of them. As this will be their first use of a school library, there is much to learn.

A key role of the K-2 library media specialist is to provide a thorough, developmentally appropriate orientation to the library. Incoming Kindergarteners need instruction and practice with numerous aspects of library use. These include:

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  the location and function of the library
  
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  the identification and role of the librarian
  
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  knowledge of alphabetical order to enable them to locate materials
  
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  the ability to discrimination between fiction and nonfiction
  
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  an understanding of spine label information
  
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  the placement of materials within the library
  
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  the arrangement of materials within each section of the library
  
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  book care and handling
  
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  appropriate library behavior
  

The organization and layout of this orientation project has been designed to be a functional set of lesson plans and resources presented in table form to allow for visual simplicity and efficient use. Each lesson includes a comment section for the librarian to note areas of success or need for improvement. The activities are a compilation of many resources, all of which have been cited after each lesson when appropriate and at the conclusion of the paper.

These lessons provide a solid introduction to the skills essential for Kindergarteners to use the school library successfully. They also provide clear instruction on the care and handling of library materials. Finally, they include literature which supports those concepts in an engaging way, encouraging students’ interest in listening and reading. It is my hope to put these lessons to use in the role of K-2 library media specialist.

KINDERGARTEN LIBRARY LESSON 1 DATE _____________

National Literacy Standard	1.4 The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively by identifying a variety of potential sources of information.
Wallingford Public Schools Standard	Recognize the library media center as a source of shared materials
Lesson Objective	Students will locate the media center Students will identify the librarian and his/her role and duties.
Title	Where Is the Library and What Does the Librarian Do?
Resources and Materials	Teacher-made drawing depicting various duties of the librarian, including teaching, reading to students, shelving the books, working with computers, televisions and other forms of media, etc., as well as some drawings of duties not performed by a librarian (feeding zoo animals, using power tools, etc.)
Vocabulary	duties
Introduction	Introduce yourself and any library co-workers. Ask the students to describe what route they took to get the library. Ask them to describe the job of the librarian.
Activity	Show the students the drawings of the librarian’s duties and have them identify the job depicted.
Closure/ Evaluation	Place all of the duty drawings (correct and incorrect) randomly mixed in a pile. Ask students to choose a card and tell whether it shows a duty performed by a librarian. As the students prepare to leave, have them describe the location of the library.
Literature Connection	Read Check It Out! The Book About Libraries by Gail Gibbons
Comments

Lesson plan adapted from Hanover County Public Schools, Virginia - Library Media Center, Library Plan Book < http://hcps2.hanover.k12.va.us/instruction/media/LessonPlanBook.htm >

KINDERGARTEN LIBRARY LESSON 2 DATE _____________

National Literacy Standard	1.4 The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively by identifying a variety of potential sources of information.
Wallingford Public Schools Standard	Recognize the library media center as a source of shared materials
Lesson Objective	Students will use basic media center vocabulary. Students will be introduced to the organization of picture books in the library media center. Students will become aware of the importance of an organizational system.
Title	Neat and Orderly
Resources and Materials	The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room by Stan and Jan Berenstain 3 copies of the same Eric Carle book – one with the the front and back cover concealed, but the spine exposed (hold this one aside) a pile of books randomly placed in a library cart – one book within the pile being one of the Eric Carle title a vertical group of books in a cart, organized alphabetically by author – one book being one of the Eric Carle title We’re Going on a Book Hunt by Pat Miller
Vocabulary	organized ABC order
Introduction	Ask students if they have ever had trouble finding something because it was part of a mess.
Activity	Read The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Discuss the story. Examples: Why did Mama Bear feel that Brother and Sister Bears room was too messy? Do you think that Brother and Sister were happy with their room this way? Why or why not? Tell some of the things the Bear Family did to clean up Brother and Sister’s room? Do you think they were able to find their things better now? Why or why not? Tell some of categories that the Bears used when they labeled their collections, etc. Explain that a library must be organized to be effective. Have two students demonstrate how having the library organized helps find books efficiently. Tell the two volunteers that they are looking for a book by Eric Carle. Show them the spine of the book with the covers concealed. Be sure they understand that Eric Carle’s last name begins with letter C. Tell the student with the messy pile that another copy of the Eric Carle book is somewhere within. Tell the student with the alphabetized stack that the books are arranged by author name in ABC order. Sing the ABC song with the class, emphasizing “C”. Be sure students (especially the volunteer with the organized shelf) realize that C comes near the beginning of the alphabet. Have the volunteers start their search at the same time and see who finds their book first.
Closure/ Evaluation	Finish by telling students to imagine if the entire library was as messy and disorganized as the cart – would they ever find they books they wanted?
Literature Connection	(The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room)
Comments