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1/8-12/17
New Year's Resolutions
General Systems and Procedures
Students turn in their books to book carts placed outside their doors on the morning of their library day, and the carts are returned throughout the day for check-in. You will not need to worry about this on Monday, but please plan to check in books and put carts outside of the next day's class doors before you leave each day.
Entering the library
I greet each class at the door with a handshake and salutation (good morning/afternoon). The students know to stop their line inside the library with voices off to hear instructions. *Pre-K and Kinder are different in that I sing a song as we walk across the library to the story steps (you may choose any song you are familiar/comfortable with).
Read aloud on the story steps
After entering the library, direct the students to stay in line but turn their bodies to walk to the story steps. They will step up one at a time, walk across the story steps, and sit with their bodies on one step with their feet below (not crossed legs) to fill in the steps. Students have been practicing this and should be fine with your direction and help from their teacher. *Getting off the story steps after read aloud is very similar. They will stand up one row at a time and walk across the story steps to step down on the opposite side they came up. They should stay in line with voices off to go around the corner and hear instructions for finding books and check-out.
Finding books and check-out
Students will stop their line with voices off after read aloud to receive instructions for finding books and checkout. They should use their shelf marker to find up to two books (according to the number of books they returned). Please scan all of the students' cards before each class arrives and place the library cards of students who are able to checkout spread out on the tables for them to find. Once they have their library card and their books, they can line up on the yellow tape to check out. Once they have checked out, they follow they other line of yellow tape to sit in line at the door to read.
Ending library time
Once everyone has checked out books, or library time is over (whichever comes first), you may dismiss the class. Students know that if they are not on task and our time together is over before they have found their books, they will not be able to check out.
Schedule and grade level specifics
Please see a copy of the library schedule attached. All classes will, for the most part, receive the same library lesson- just make adjustments for the developmental level of each class.
General lesson plan for the week:
Invite students to the story steps and read aloud The Tin Forest, by Helen Ward. Ask the students to "turn and talk" about what text connections they are able to make to The Tin Forest. The connection we are looking for is to The Curious Garden which we read at the beginning of the year, but please validate any answers given and then share this specific connection if no one gets there. Remind students that we read The Curious Garden to spark "hopes and dreams" for this school year. Draw their attention to the pre-made anchor chart with some common hopes and dreams listed, and ask them to recall and reflect on their own specific hopes and dreams for this school year.
Invite the students down off of the story steps and around the corner to find a seat at the tables. They will sit in the seat where they find their library card. The should have brought their writer's notebooks with them, but if they didn't there will be sticky notes available at each table. Direct the students' attention to the pre-made anchor chart with the guiding questions and sentence stem. You can have them read to themselves and think silently about the questions, or you can read the questions aloud and have the students "turn and talk" depending on the developmental level of the group. Finally have the students use the sentence stem to write a new year's resolution in their writer's notebook or on a sticky note.
As soon as students are finished with their new year's resolution, they can leave their writer's notebook and take their library card to find new books. Please supervise checkout at the computer to ensure that books are checked out properly and the correct titles end up on each student's account.
K-4 Read aloud
Early Childhood read aloud
*PreK-3 gets read aloud only, no checkout.
*PreK-4 checks out one book each.