Elementary Library Curriculum


Collaborative Lessons
  • 6th Grade Biography Unit LMT teamed with 6th grade English teachers and redesigned the 6th grade Biography Unit to make it more exciting and dynamic! Rather than sitting through another biography report about Babe Ruth or Harriet Tubman they decided to take a different slant. Where the kid would choose a FICTION book, read it, then create a brochure with biographical information about the AUTHOR!

Picture Book Database
  • Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University "a collection of picture book abstracts searchable by topics, concepts, and skills for building content area reading across all academic subjects. The collection contains abstracts of over 5700 picture books for children, preschool to grade three. Search over 900 keywords (topics, concepts, and skills) to locate books with storylines adaptable to your curriculum or program. The Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University is also a useful collection for English Language Learners and adult literacy programs. Click on the tabs above to browse our database by alphabet or by category."

Book Reviews (by students) Each year in the spring, I do a fun activity with my 5th graders, the oldest students in the building. I preface the activity by telling them that, after 6 years in the school, they are the resident "experts" on the library. They, of all students, know what is in the collection. So I tell them that I need some help. I collect a variety of examples of "ugly" books from the collection. Some are classics that need to be replaced, some are old crusty books that haven't circulated in a long time and that probably need to be weeded, etc. Then I assign them an ugly book review to do. Because I see students only 20-30 min/week (including checkout time), I kept the review form very, very simple.
My goals are: 1) to encourage students to stretch a bit and read something that they normally wouldn't choose to pick up (most of the time they like the book they read), and 2) to locate books that either need to be replaced or weeded.
Some of my ELA teachers work with me and embrace this activity as part of their curriculum...some don't. One of the 5th grade teachers has her students do audio or video reviews of their book, which is great! It's a fun activity for the students at any rate--some of them want to do 2-3 book reviews! (jamie camp)

Ugly Book Report


Information Literacy Lessons
  • Credible Sources Count--- an excellent tutorial for students to help them critically analyze websites.
  • Dewey Decimal Raps Students used Wordleto illustrate DDC categories. We wrote a rap for each 100s series, which students recorded using Garage Band. I then put the images and audio together to make a QuickTime movie. The students absolutely love these and watch them over and over, even at home. Parents have told me they hear their students singing the rap to themselves.
  • Online Safety Rap Our students love NetSmartzkids.org. I noticed that lyrics were included so I contacted NetSmartz and asked if we could record our own raps using copyright friendly music and our own illustrations. We used Soundzabound (a subscription service), PhotoBooth and GarageBand. The kids loved taking their own distorted pictures with PhotoBooth and recording the raps. They go to our web pageto watch them on their home computers. (Kathy Kaldenberg, Solon Community School District)
  • Looking at Researchable Questions

Library Games (used in computer centers)
  • Order in the Library Play games to learn how to sort books in the library AND earn a Library Assistant certificate!
  • Interactive Quizzes - Library Science Activitiesfor grades K-5 by Tami Maloney
  • Study Stack . Here is my Library Word Wall Scramble, with wooden scrabble tiles! Even reluctant students have asked me if we can "do that scrabble game" again. We have also used Study Stack files to download onto iPod Touches into the TouchCards app, and students can review the words as flashcards. You can also do matching, crosswords, hangman, and bug chase. I project this onto my SmartBoard and kids go up to the board to move the letter tiles around, but it could be used at computer centers. (Regina Hartley)

Library Games Library Skills through Literature
Powerpoint
Poetry Resources
  • Poems about Books and Reading from ReadingLady.com
  • Holiday Fall & Winter Poetry
  • If I Were a Poem(under Summer activities, but these are great year round)
  • Funny Poetry for Children
  • Poetry for a YearBe sure to scroll down this nice, long list of complete poems to find the two Poetry Booklets you can print off for your students. These are wonderful.
  • Kid's Poetry Page- Great interactive activity - online "magnetic" poetry
  • Giggle Poetry- Fun poetry guaranteed to make your students laugh
  • Fern's Poetry Club- from PBS; Read Today's poem, write a poem, learn about different style of poems
  • Max's Math Adventures- from Scholastic; K-2 games that combine poetry and real world math problems
  • Instant Poetry Forms- from ETTC; Choose from the instant poetry forms and then add words to form your own poem
  • Poetry podcasts Our kids love the poetry of Ken Nesbitt (Poetry4kids.com). We asked for permission to record and illustrate his poems and he said yes. (He even responded with feedback when we sent him this link). Students used GarageBand to create an enhanced podcast with images and audio. We have used these with other students during National Poetry Month. Copyright friendly resources were used. (Clipart.com for schools and Soundzabound) (Kathy Kaldenberg, Solon Community School District)
Readers TheaterOther Library/Reading Resources