Sep 26-20, 2016: Deborah Freedman, Trickster Tales, Learners in Our World

Week 5:  Deborah Freedman author study (K), Trickster Tales (1), Learners in Our World (2)

Kindergarten:

The first week of a 2-3 week Deborah Freedman author study (one class will miss a week due to a teacher workday).  I shared Blue Chicken as our first story…which was perfect, as the first part of the lesson was on book care.

At the end of the lesson, students can: identify ways to keep books safe, identify the role of an author, show where the E section is in our library, identify the E on the spine label of a book.

My friend Tiger – who only speaks to librarians and allows me to model polite conversation and manners – was holding a package as we sat down. After asking him if we could open it, we found books that had been destroyed: chewed up, colored in, pooped on, ripped apart, dropped in water. This was a tactile way to show why caring for books is important. I stressed that accidents happen and that telling someone if a book gets hurt is the right thing to do…no matter what.  And that they won’t get in trouble for it. 🙂

Blue Chicken – when blue paint is spilled everywhere – was a lovely story to follow. The chicken who spilled blue paint did her best to be a problem-solver and fix her mistake…which is what we expect our students to do.

1st grade:

Possibly the final week of our Folktales Around the World lesson…possibly, because my 1st graders called me out for not featuring a story from Europe!

At the end of the lesson, students can: sing and locate the continents of the world, explain what a trickster tale is, identify key traits of folktales (retellers, from 6 continents, stories passed down orally), make predictions.

Years ago, I performed Tops and Bottoms at a storytelling festival, and it remains a favorite to share with listeners of all ages. After the first trick Hare played on Bear, students started predicting what Hare could grow that would benefit him while giving Bear nothing good to eat. Many giggles, lots of opportunities for conversations, and fabulous illustrations!

2nd grade:

Week 2 of Learners Around the World! This week, we looked at schools in Colombia, South America with Monica Brown’s Waiting for the Biblioburro.

At the end of the lesson, students can: identify the 7 continents of the world and Equator, use a primary source to learn new information, access a database to learn about a country, compare schools and education in two different countries using personal knowledge and information gathered from a database and primary source.

This week, YouTube came to the rescue with these two video clips, showcasing the work of Librarian Luis and his two burros, Alfa and Beto, as he takes books to remote areas in Colombia.

Safeshare – https://safeshare.tv/x/ss57ed282af200f

Safeshare – https://safeshare.tv/x/ss57ed2896db50f

Other happenings in our library:

• Fifth graders are enamored with the PokemonGO game in our library…so much so that they wanted to create game pieces, too. So, during recesses the past few weeks, I taught a handful how I created the images and QR codes. They came in on their own time (usually 10-15 minutes) and worked…and the first student PokemonGO to our library QR code was made this week!

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• A 2nd grader stopped by one morning, sharing how she downloaded the Quiver app at home and showed her parents how to use AR with the dot picture she made in library. She wondered if there was more she could do with the app.  Answer: YES! She came in during her recess and together we explored the Quiver website, downloading new coloring pages to augment using their free app. She had the best time coloring and making her work come to life. We wonder how the technology is made and works. Maybe a future Skype visit with Quiver?

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• Fifth graders+ lunchtime + Wednesday + picture books = Lunch & Listen in the Library! It’s holding steady with about 30-35 students in the room each week.

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Happy reading and teaching, y’all!   🙂   arika

Hitting a home run with primary source research using databases

It’s no secret that I love baseball. And kidlit. Evidence? Check.

I also love teaching library skills. And guiding students to new learning. You’ll have to imagine photos for these…but trust me, I do.

So, since April was National Poetry Month as well as the beginning of baseball season – it was only natural to create a 3 week unit combining kidlit, baseball, and teaching library skills, focusing on using evidence.  There were lots of goals here. Lots. Of. Goals.

Student learning goals:  

• Define primary source
• Identify needed primary source
• Understand what a database is (and how it’s different from google)
• Select appropriate database
• Log in / access database using kcls.org/students account
• Use multiple primary sources to assist in identifying a piece of literature as nonfiction or historical fiction
• Reflect and respond to literature in a variety of genres (poetry & biography)

Goals aligned to the AASL 21^st Century Learner standards:

• 1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.1.8, 1.2.4, 1.4.1, 2.4.3, 3.1.1, 4.1.1, 4.1.2

And my personal, informal goal: to make research, primary sources, and database access interesting by connecting each to sports

Now, to do this in 3 40 minute library classes with my 4th graders.

Week 1: last week of April

• Read Casey at the Bat, the classic baseball narrative poem written in 1888
  • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45398
  • BEFORE READING: review basic baseball knowledge (strikes, outs, positions, innings, terms, etc.). This gets all students on the same page. Learn from my error – I had multiple students who didn’t know 3 strikes = 1 out in my first class.

• During reading, have students retell at various points what has happened (after the first stanza and fourth stanza worked for me)
• After stanzas 6-8, have students infer and describe Casey in a word or two. Our favorites: boastful, not humble, confident, cocky (which, we discussed, is very different than confident).
• After stanza 12, have students make a claim about what they think happened at Casey’s at-bat and use evidence from the text to support/refute the claim.
• After poem: have students think about famous historical baseball players. Jot down a list of who they know. Possible HW: have students ask someone at home about famous baseball players from history.

Week 2: first week of May

• Begin by reviewing/adding to list of famous baseball players. Explain that one or more will appear in today’s story (allowing students to understand at least part of it is fact-based).

• Read Mighty Jackie: strike out queen by Marissa Moss
  • BEFORE READING: explain that this story is either nonfiction or historical fiction They need to listen for details that can be proven TRUE or FALSE as written in the story.
    • (side note: we’d done a previous mini-unit on these genres in January, reading and learning about Henry Box Brown from Henry’s Freedom Box)
  • During reading, pause and ask students to remember details that could possibly be TRUE or FALSE. Good stopping spots include: after 2^nd page, after Jackie is taught by Dazzy Vance, end of story. They can turn/talk, then share to the group. Write down their statements, and be prepared to guide them back to the text if needed.
  • DO NOT read/show final page of book with Jackie’s photograph.
• At end, ask students if there is a way to prove the story details as FACT or FICTION. (They’ll tell you “Google”…and you’ll have some Google Jackie Mitchell after class [I do every year]. Which is fine – Google has a lot of answers…but not easily located primary sources.) Who would we trust? Was someone at the game that day…and did they give an account of the day’s events?
  • (side note – at this point in the year, my 4^th graders are studying primary sources in their classroom. This ties in beautifully.)
• Define primary source (first-hand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation)
• Ask: what type of person is at a baseball game that writes down exactly what happened? (reporter) Where can we find their article? (newspaper) Which one? (NY Times, as Jackie pitched against the NY Yankees)
• State that next week, the students will be creating their own search to locate evidence to VERIFY or REFUTE the statements made in Mighty Jackie.

Week 3: 2^nd week in May

• Begin with a review of student-generated statements from Mighty Jackie that they thought could be either TRUE or FALSE.

At this point, depending on access to technology and databases (and the abilities of your students), the lesson can go a few ways and still be successful.

Limited tech and/or limited access to NYT historical database: (most years)

• teacher guides the lesson as whole-class experience in locating/accessing/searching databases (see below…)
• once articles are located, there are two options:

1. hand out copies of two NYT primary source articles after locating as a class, having students work individually/in pairs to locate evidence proving story is FACT or FICTION
2. read/skim projected articles together, locating evidence proving story is FACT / FICTION

Good tech, but limited access to NYT historical database: (one year)

• email families, requesting students to bring in public library cards to use at school, as they’re learning to access and utilize databases for research. Depending on response, have students work in pairs.

Good tech, equal access to NYT historical database: (this year!)

Each student in the district has their school ID linked to KCLS. Every single child can use the electronic resources of KCLS – including databases – for free!

• Teacher asks students which newspaper would have recounting of the baseball game (NYTimes). What date? (1931, as given in the story)
• Search using the database tab from the public library – locate newspapers, then NYTimes.
  • NOTE: lesson in reading – be sure to choose the right NYTimes link!
• Reteach/demonstrate how to log in to the database using their KCLS library info.
  • Side note: great time to remind group about online privacy/saving passwords!
• Once logged in, ask group what they think we should type in the search box. (Someone will say Mighty Jackie, others will say Jackie Mitchell, and still other terms will come up. Great modeling potential here…).
• Search jackie mitchell (without quotes). Notice the number of hits – over 4,000!
  • Note: capitalization doesn’t matter…
• Ask students how they could limit the number of articles. Lots of right answers: you want to generate a quick list. DON’T MODEL. They’ll use these limiters in their own search!
• As no student knew this strategy, I taught limiting using quotation marks – that putting “ “ around two or more words will keep them together in the search query. This works on almost every Internet search, including Google!
  • Side note: to reinforce this – search Steph Curry (NBA player) without quotes, there could be a chef named Steph who makes Curry. With quotes, and only the NBA player shows up

• Student work time! In 15 minutes, they will:
  • Independently access kcls.org/students
  • Locate and log in to NYTimes database
  • Create search query
  • Successfully limit search results using one or more tools
  • Locate 1-2 primary sources on Jackie Mitchell, baseball player
  • Read/skim and identify if story details are FACT or FICTION
  • Identify Mighty Jackie as either nonfiction (biography) or historical fiction

Fact-checking @marissawriter's Mighty Jackie with primary sources. Love the student access to databases, @KCLS! pic.twitter.com/Q8k6c4VbqJ

— Librarian Arika (@arikadickens) May 12, 2016

Much of student reflection/reaction was done as they lined up to leave the library, as 40 minutes wasn’t enough time (including 7min for check-out). Not all students found two articles, though all who logged in found and read one. Most could name a new way to limit search results in a database. Many were fascinated with Jackie’s real-life story.  But let’s be honest: a handful in one class didn’t get past step 1…evidence that I still have work to do as a teacher. How do I reach all students? How do I identify students who need more support…and give it to them?

Library Lessons: Jan 11-15, 2016

Week 18!

The K’s continued the author/illustrator study of Ezra Jack Keats. We read Hi, Cat! this week, using illustrations and events from the story to infer Peter’s age (a CER question!).  While reading, we noticed Archie looking at his reflection in a store window. Students were able to list as many places as possible where they could see their reflection.  Open-ended questions like this allow all students to participate and feel successful!

As this week was the ALA Youth Media Awards, I combined the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Honor and WCCPBA (our state award) to share Last Stop on Market Street with the 2nd graders. Understanding that it won the top honor for best words and was a runner-up for best pictures, students have the chance to vote for it in March as their favorite nominee in Washington.  Perhaps the most powerful conversation came with how little they knew of soup kitchens – less than 10% had even heard the phrase. This story of serving others – of Helping the Rest, as our school believes – should serve as a springboard for future lessons and service projects.

The 4th graders had a follow-up to last week’s lesson on Henry Box Brown. Using the databases at KCLS, we researched primary sources in 19th century newspapers. This coincided with the announcement that KCLS and my school district have partnered to provide all students K-12 free access to the library’s digital offerings, regardless of library card possession. All they need is their student ID number, and the online offerings are available free of charge. Suffice to say, the 4th graders were VERY pleased to see how easy it was to access e-books via web browser. A few later used their recess time to further test the full offerings of the new service!

The 5th graders continue our weekly Lunch & Listen series. They were quite moved by Matt de la Pena’s Last Stop on Market Street (even those students who heard it last year in library class). They also laughed through Jules Feiffer’s Rupert Can Dance and Adam Rubin’s Big Bad Bubble before heading back to class. Of note, almost half the students who come for lunch stay through recess to listen to more stories. I love this and happily read even more!