Activities for last weeks of school (elem fixed sched)
My original request was:
"I am on a fixed schedule in a K-5 building. I'm one of those who =20 does last circ before Memorial Day, so next week is book collection =20 week. Do you do projects? Read-alouds (which ones)? Games? Share =20 your sure-fire ideas for weeks of no circulation."
I received lots of great ideas. They are detailed below.
My own last weeks of school include lots of computer activities. I =20 continue my usual readaloud/KidPix activities with K, try to keep =20 their schedule as even and usual as possible. 1st grade is doing an =20 author study of Mo Willems, which culminates in acting out the =20 Elephant and Piggie books in pairs, and some bonus time on the =20 PigeonPresents.com web site. 2nd grade just finished the ten-week Mr. =20=
Crumb's Secret and will now enjoy learning Type To Learn and =20 TimezAttack prior to 3rd grade. 3rd grade is finishing a Comic Life =20 activity (space and biomes) and will play some Almania after that. =20 4th grade is finishing the wonderful habitat unit detailed in "Our =20 Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything" and will share their MediaBlender =20 projects with 3rd graders, then Almania for them too. 5th grade I =20 only have for 36 minutes a week and they will need every moment of =20 that to finish their human body Comic Life projects.
1. Hi, I work in a K - 8 school, but teach fixed 30 minute classes to K - =20=
5. During the week when there is no check out we are a little more =20 leisurely. We chat a little more than there is usually time for. I =20 often project a video (we don't do this very often, so it is a treat). =20=
I like to show ones that are actually a book and then I pair it with a =20= partner book that I read.
This year with K we watched Harry the Dirty Dog and I read No Roses =20 for Harry. (and I showed them the rest of the series so they could =20 look for them at the public library this summer).
With gr. 1 I talked about D. Fleming, showed them her books, showed =20 them a video of In a Small, Small Pond and part of a video that we =20 have showing her making her pulp paper art. Gr. 3 and 4 played with some cards that I have (bought at Highsmith,I =20= think). They have call numbers. One side is Fiction the other Dewey. I =20= divided them into teams--we switched the teams with each quick round. =20= Then gave each student a card face down on outstretched palms. I =20 instructed them that as soon as I said flip they could turn it over, =20 then SILENTLY they were to line themselves up as though they were =20 books on a shelf. Whenever anyone spoke, I took away a point. That was =20= hysterical! The call number organization wasn't much of a challenge =20 (I'm proud to say.) but they just were so challenged to work together =20= and communicate without talking to get in the proper order. Some =20 rounds were fiction, some dewey, some mixed--a new team each time, and =20= we kept it moving quickly. The mixed ones really confused them because =20= every class (out of 8) flipped all those cards over so they all =20 matched before getting in shelf order. I told each of them not to =20 change it; I expected to get 2 small sets of call numbers--fiction and =20= non-fiction. I explained that they got dinged because of not following =20= directions. They also wanted to line up in reverse order. Time went =20 quickly, we had fun, and I thought it was a good learning exercise. I showed a video of "The Doughnuts" from Homor Price by McCloskey (30 =20= minutes) and shared doughnut holes with the 5th grades. They liked it, =20= I showed them the book, and also Centerburg Tales. All in all it was a fun ending of the classes. I miss them already. =20 Now to the yucky part--getting students to return their library books =20= and getting the teachers to help.
2. Dewey Charades is something I plan to use (Fun-Brarian book -- =20 Highsmith?) - I did it earlier this year and they really enjoyed it.
3. I've been reviewing Almanac and doing some scavenger hunts within them =20= for 3rd and 4th. I also pull out Dewey Match (card game) ; I also =20 treat third and 4th graders to some stories. With Kinders this week =20 since they are not checking out I have time for 2 stories so I read =20 both of the Corduroy stories and next week I will show them the video. =20= I am continuing to read to 1st and 2nd for the time being, but the =20 first week of June I will pull out some literature-related stories =20 for those classes that do show up (several end up being on field =20 trips, etc.) : King Bidgood, some Ramonas, Alexander and the terrible =20= horrible..., etc.
4. You may want to check w/ your local library system. I believe they are part of the Summer Reading Club consortium (last I =20= checked all but 4 states were involved). Our local library system has put together a power pt that you may be =20 able to adapt for your school, public library, and students' needs. http://dcls.org/PandTpage.htm They were supposed to create a coloring sheet to go along w/ it...but =20= if your local library system has the graphics, which they should, you =20= and/or they could create one quite easily. I expect MI must also have a book awards program that you may want to =20= direct your students attention to....so that they can vote on their =20 favorite books whenever and wherever that vote takes place. In NH =20 it's a public library focus, in PA the school librarians develop the =20 awards book program. But regardless of who creates and promotes the =20 program, it's a wonderful opportunity for libraries to collaborate to =20= the benefit of their students.
5. Maggi, I don't stop circulation until two weeks before the end of =20 school, but, when I do, it's interesting to try to fill the time when =20= everyone's minds are on summer. Here are a few things I do: Draw and Tell stories with first or second graders. I have a great =20 book called Draw-and-Tell by Richard Thompson that gives me some ideas. Bill Harley stories on tape/cd. I have "=46rom the Back of the Bus" but =20= I don't know if it's available any more. All of his stuff is hilarious =20= and he has many school stories. Used Book Exchange for all students to choose a "new" book to keep for =20= summer. This takes the place of one week's worth of checkout time.
6. Almania (4th/5th grades) and library lingo (third) are a couple of =20 favorite games of mine. In second grade we've been reading "Mr. =20 Crumb's Secret" and that will probably take us to the end of the =20 year. They really like it and it's such a great way to talk about all =20= of the resources the media center offers. I also just opened up a "trio of library games" called "Library Skills =20= Line Up". They are simple decks of cards that cover the following =20 areas: Book care: I will do this with the kinders Fiction or Nonfiction - 1st grade Answer this: Dictionary, almanac, encyclopedia, etc. - I'll try this =20= with the third grade. I'll let you know how they go and if it was =20 worth the small investment.
7. I play Go Fish with 2nd-5th grade. We use books that I haven't had time to shelve yet. Each table works as a team. (I got this idea from LM_Net in the first place). I give them 6 books from various parts of the Dewey categories. Lower grades only get Es and numbers. Older grades get all of them, plus some board books thrown in. Each table asks another table for a book, but they use the call number. All of them only use the first number of the numbered books. Once they get 3 of a kind, they get a point. If they get what they're after (either from another table or by "fishing" from a stack of books) they can have another turn, but I found it better time-wise to limit each table to 2 turns. If they have a board book at the end of the game, they lose a point. Board books can be passed on at any time when they have what another table wants. This was our first year for this game. Next year I will have the older grades ask for books by category name, not number. I'll give them cheat sheets to help.
8. I'm in the same situation, this is my first year so I'm attempting =20 Readers Theater with 2nd and 1st with props and producing a book with =20= my K's. I don't teach the other grades.
9. I'll be checking out for one more week so only have two weeks to fill. Like to read When Lightning Comes in a Jar and The Graves Go Camping =20= by Patricia Polacco...use Guided Reading lesson where they fold paper =20= like a hamburger and I have them sketch, answer questions, etc. I do =20 use Reader's Theater. ALso play bingo...have blank bingo sheets and =20 have the kids fill in the boxes for Dewey or book bingo..third grade =20 does a Chris VanAlsburg author study so they do his books. Scrambling =20= to finish up some projects in lab....if we end up with free time going =20= to have lower ele do a survey on favorite things to do in summer and =20 enter data into Graph Club. Fourth and third will make a friend =20 contact database.
10. I have a lot of donated give-away books and I hold auctions in class, =20= with the payment being our behavior tickets. Most of the kids love it =20= and those who don't can read.
11. BIngo. you can create your own cards at www.teach-nology.com Library Sparks magazine has plays. www.librarysparks.com (unsure if =20= play is on site but included it--perhaps other ideas)
12. I always save my traditional literature unit until the end of the year. Whether it is Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Tall Tales or Fables I read them a version of the story and discuss where the story most likely originate from. Then I usually show a "fractured" or silly version of the story on DVD or VHS and we compare and contrast the different versions. The Muppets have one... King Midas and Rumplestilskin are great... I =20 also do Paul Bunyan and John Henry (both Disney) with the tall tales. =20= Good luck!
13. I'm going to look at the Ebooks in Follett and find some good ones to =20= read on-screen.
14. This can be a toughie as we are trying to get books back, inventory, =20 etc!! I have a collection of Reader's Theatres from Upstart's =20 periodical Library Sparks. The kids love acting out the stories even =20 if they have done them earlier in the year or the previous year. I =20 also find facts or purchase the game cards from World Almanac for Kids =20= and have the students, grouped by tables, compete for the answers--=20 somewhat like Jeopardy! This year I plan on getting small chocolates =20 and hitting the dollar store for some prizes for the table with the =20 most correct answers. (Probably four items per class per day). Hope =20 this helps.
15. Next week we will be making bookmarks for the students to take home =20 and use over the summer.
16. So fair, I have done the following: PreK-read a book and watch a short video that goes along with it (ir-=20 read Curious George then watch the Curious George Rides a Bike video) K-read a book and do an art activity to go along with it (Jann Brett's website has lots of ideas for this) 1-We learned what authors and illustrators do and are writing and =20 illustrating stories 2-Library Lingo game (Upstart), Storytelling games 3rd grade-we are reading aloud Gary Paulsen's My Life in Dog Years 4th grade-we are reading aloud Sideways Stories from Wayside School 5th grade-games such as "Top Ten"-given a topic such as candybars, =20 teams race to come up with 10 candybar names. Do various topics and =20 give a small prize to the team with the best score. I am also playing =20= "Go Fish" with decks of library cards I made with genres instead of =20 numbers.
17. My favorite thing to do the last week is Reader=92s Theatre, especially =20= with the 4th and 5th graders. Aaron Shepard
18. I do a variety of things, much depending upon the grade level.
PreK--read-alouds K-1 Video of quality literature such as Beatrix Potter stories and =20 Caldecott Stories 2-5 We use the STAR program for evaluating reading progress. I do =20 this during their last library visit of the year. It frees up time =20 for the classroom teacher and works out well to fill the time slot. In the past I've done a book/literature related video that covers a =20 longer period. Caddie Woodlawn is a great one but does require extra =20= time. It fits in for 4th grade study of Wisconsin.
I've also done web based activities that fit with curricular areas =20 such as United States activities for Gr. 5. = http://www.cf.k12.wi.us/library/united_states_activities.htm I've also done a Dewey Decimal Scavenger hunt. Details on that can be =20= found on the LM_Net wiki page: = http://lmnet.wikispaces.com/Dewey+Decimal+System=20 Mine is at the bottom of the page, but there are other good =20 activities on the page as well.
19. On our week with no checkouts, I usually do a read aloud and promote summer reading programs. (I'm not release time, so if it doesn't take a long time, it's not a problem.)
20. A few ideas: Internet webquests-keeps them very busy Sand stories on the overhead projector Craft projects Puzzle pages and then have them create their own puzzles
21. One thing I did with those upper grade kids when I was in your shoes =20 was to have them take a look at the local public library site (this =20 can be done in the computer lab, or if one is not available, via a =20 single computer and screen/whiteboard). I gave them a kind of =20 scavenger hunt to find items (i.e. what kind of summer programs they =20 offered, doing a search for a particular title and finding its call =20 number, finding the library's http address, etc.). I found it helped =20 them make a meaningful connection to a community resource. Some of =20 them noted that a favorite author would be visiting over the summer =20 months!
22. I am on a fixed schedule also. Examples of the last things I do with classes are show video (Reading Rainbow's Alistair in Outer Space to introduce Library of Congress - sure wish they would update the L of C part), play library bingo - I have a version that I made 13 years ago =20= and a version I bought (called Library Lingo), have students do plays with puppets for younger grade (ex: 2nd wrote couplets about their puppet animal and will type the couplet in computer lab and then will do a =20 "play" for K), do worksheets, I still read outloud to some classes, review library terms with What am I?, etc. Hope this helps.
23.
Library baseball trivia game - very fun! You divide the class into =20 teams, they choose a batting order - you are the pitcher/umpire. They =20= come up to bat, you "pitch" them a library trivia question, if they =20 answer correctly they take a base.