Location: KMS (Grades 2-4) Hours Observed/Volunteered: 20 Total Hours Observed and Volunteered: 36 Observations: The KMS is located in the back of the school. The space is split into two rooms. One room, closest to the door, is the Library. The second room is located in the back and contains the computer lab. The SLMS does not have access to the computer lab because it is a separate special and therefore has it's own instructor. As you enter the Fiction books are on shelves to the left and Fiction series books are on shelves to the right, in alphabetical order by series name. Once you walk into the actual library space, the "classroom" area is a rug that is surrounded by a E section book shelves that are arranged in a "U" shape. At the front of the "classroom" is the white board and teaching supplies, towards the back is the reading chair. Behind the reading chair are two book shelves to showcase books. This is where the librarian places books that are new, popular, or holiday related. The circulation desk is near the "classroom" space, or the center of the library. As you pass the circulation desk there are the non-fiction shelves and over by the windows is the "Green Dot" section. This "Green Dot" section features books that are great for younger and lower readers. Chapter books are separated by series and placed into buckets for easy access by students. The buckets are placed in alphabetical order by series on the shelves. There is also a "Green Dot" non-fiction section that features National Geographic Kids, Magic Tree house Fact Trackers, Levels 1-3 readers, etc. These are also organized into buckets. Books that don't belong to a series are placed near the buckets on a separate shelf and organized alphabetically by the authors last name. The schedule at KMS is a Fixed schedule, where each classroom visits the library once a week for 50 minutes. During library, students received a story, activity, and book check out. Volunteer Activities: *Taught grades 2 and 3 lessons *Checked in books *Printed reminders for students who forgot their books *Checked out books *Reshelf Books *Updated Library Bulletin Board to Halloween theme *Replaced books on the showcase book shelves to spooky/scary books for all grade and reading levels. Thoughts: Teaching the third grade lesson, the students then had to think about what they want to be remembered for and there were some pretty impressive answers. For example, one child wanted to give money to help sick children, another wanted to become a doctor to help others and another wanted to pass down their favorite necklace. This lesson, seemed good on paper, but I feel that some children had a hard time coming up with a way to be remembered by. Maybe instead, we could have them look at and discuss monuments or other legacies. While reading the story Building Our House by Jonathan Bean, the children were very wrapped up into the story. After I read almost every page, hand would shoot up with questions or comments . It was awesome that they wanted to share so much, but it also took away time from the activity and check out. One of the things I always struggle with is when there are so many students that want to share but you have a lesson to teach. How do you manage all the comments during the story? I want to be able to let them share, but when is enough, enough? And how do you handle students that really want to share but you have no time? When it came time for their Think-Draw-Write- Share activity. I got some interesting answers. Some children included some of the items discussed in the book as the four things that need to exist to call a place a home: Wood, concrete, foundation, roof, etc. and this is what I though the purpose of this activity was: to recount what happened in the story. Other students drew things that weren't mentioned in the story but are still important to have in a home: Bathroom, bed, food, etc.) It was interesting to see how some children completed this exercise. One of the things I have been trying to add while teaching is the Think-Draw-Write-Share as the "Exit Slip". In some classes it works beautifully: children listen to a story, check out books, and complete the think-draw-write-share activity. In others the children only have time for the story and check out, while a handful of students actually complete the activity. This issue is that within a class time, there is sometimes no room to accompany the story/lesson with an activity. This part is difficult because it can't just be a story and discussion all the time. Personally, I don't want this to happen. This is boring, and the "typical" librarian. I want to get children involved in fun and creative ways so they actually learn and remember the lessons taught. For now, while I follow someone else's lesson plans, maybe the Think-Draw-Write-Share activities are too long to use as an exit slip. And I'll need to come up with better and shorter exit slips when it's my turn to create lessons. Another point about the Think-Write-Draw-Share activity: There is never enough time to share. Like I have stated before I want to allow children to discuss their opinions, comments, and questions, but there is never enough time to teach a lesson, check-out, and complete an activity. One class time is just not enough time to complete all of these items. Once I start to create my own lesson plans, I may need to create them to involve two class times. Where class one features the background information (story, discussion) and class two is the activity and sharing of that activity. That way I wouldn't have to rush to get everything done in one shot. Instead each class can take it's time and there would be a lot more value put into each lesson/class. One thing I have noticed about the KCS and KMS library lesson plans, which are created by the same SLMS, is they don't feature a justification for teaching the lesson. What standards, if any, do these lesson plans cover? What is the purpose of the weeks Think-Write-Draw activities? Why was the book chosen? The answers to these questions would be nice to see on the lesson plan itself. It would give me some more insight for how to create a lesson plan. Also, the SLMS would be able to show how it follows the school curriculum, Common Core Standards and/or the AASL Standards for future references if she listed these things. Location: KCS (Grades K-1) Total Hours Observed/Volunteered: 16 Observations: The library is located near the front entrance of the school and next to the main office. Inside the library the shelves are laid out in an upside down "U" shape with all the E section books in the middle of the "U" and the non fiction books are on the outside of the "U". There are chapter books, organized by series, by the back of the library as well as graphic novels, joke books, and drawing books. At the front of the library, near the white board and smart board, is the story time area. The library's schedule is a very fast paced and has very little downtime. Classrooms are put onto a team for scheduling and each team receives two specials a day for 30 minutes each. Each team also visits each special two times a week for a total of 60 minutes per special, except for Fridays. On Fridays, between 9:40 and 11:15, classes receive a 20 minute special. Day one of library consists of a read aloud and an activity related to the story. Day two is the day where students get to check out books and finish their day one activity or work on a new activity, such as coloring/puzzle pages. Volunteering Activities: *Re-shelved books *Taught Kindergarten and First Grade Lessons *Assisted teacher in locating books about feelings *Book Check-in and Check-outs *Selecting books to display around the library for check-out *Assisted students in locating books *Catalogued "BIG BOOKS" Thoughts: My first thought is on the schedule. 30 minutes to read a story and complete an activity for day 1 of library is not enough time for the librarian to teach. To try to fit in both a story and activity is very difficult. There is not enough time in 30 minutes for the librarian to take attendance, read a story, give directions for the activity related to the story, have students get materials, and COMPLETE the activity by the end of class. For the story specifically, the story has to be read without many questions or story stretcher asked to the students, not adding much value to the story. Two solutions to this issue include, one, rethink the lesson plans. For example, read a longer story that will last up to about 30 minutes. You can get more value added to story and have more discussions with the students. The only issue is, you may lose their interest with a longer story, especially if they are younger. You can then add in the activity to day 2 after they check out books. The second solution, is that the school would have to change the schedule entirely to include longer specials. With longer specials, the librarian would most likely see each class one time a week, therefore, they will have to read a story, include an activity, and book checkout within one class period. My second thought is on this weeks lesson plan. While having the students complete the LISTEN-THINK-DRAW-SHARE activity, I was very impressed with what they drew. For example, the First Graders had to draw something they dreamed of doing someday. Some of their answers included: Learn to speak French, learn to tie shoes, catch the gold at the end of a rainbow, be a teacher, be a vet, go inside a video game, and many other great ideas. Most were very practical, and others were incredibly creative. They blew me away. For the Kindergarteners, they were to draw one or two things they love the most. Some of course chose their favorite toys and stuffed animals and some were adorably sweet: Family, friends, playing board games with dad, and my teacher just to name a few. |