Who can resist reading cereal boxes? Even non-readers check for special offers and other tidbits of information while spooning in their breakfast. The "Food" chapter of Sharks, Ships and Potato Chips by Toor and Weisburg (1986, Library Learning Resources, Inc.) suggested a book report presented on cereal boxes. For a new twist on the idea, let students from grades three through nine have some fun reporting on their favorite series titles. This is a great way to start a collaborative project with teachers who want their students to read more or do creative book reports.Help students get started by pulling appropriate titles from your shelves. Conduct a brief discussion so they are clear on the elements of a series. Most important is a cast of continuing main characters. The same setting or genre can be another factor.
On the Box
Next, analyze the type of information found on cereal boxes, translating it into how students will report on their favorite series. Note that the front carries the brand name in large lettering, the company that makes it, the net weight and a bold illustration advertising the product. For their reports, the company becomes the author, the brand name is the series title, the net weight is either the total number of books in the series or the number of pages of the title they are showcasing. The illustration can be an enlarged cover, copies from the book, or their own drawing.For the back, where special offers are usually featured, students should highlight the exciting events that occurred in the title just read. Encourage them to use their imagination for what prizes might be included inside the box.
Side Panels
One side has the nutritional content which students should use to list the main characters. Have them estimate the "percent" of the book in which each is featured. For ingredients, let them decide what "goes into" the story. For example, there might be scary scenes, time at school, playing games, etc.For the second panel, which varies considerably from one cereal to another, encourage students to add whatever information they think is most likely to "sell" their product. Author biographies are one possibility; testimonials (real or fictitious) describing the greatness of the writing, another.
Presenting Breakfast
After students have pasted the various parts of their report on a real cereal box, they are ready to make their presentations. Schedule a breakfast complete with assorted cereals and have the audience munch away as they hear about great serials.Once breakfast is over, display the "serial" boxes with books alongside. The advertising is bound to attract new fans. You may not be improving nutrition, but you will certainly be developing lifelong readers.
Exploring the biomes that make up the planet earth has become one of the more popular science units from elementary grades through high school. Since Earth Day comes in April, this is the perfect time to design one on the various ecosystems.Before developing the project, review what is in your print collection. While reference materials reflecting the changes in science are available, many books on the topic are very dated and don't use current terminology. Be prepared to equate jungle with rain forest. Several biomes have not been covered at every level and you may need to go to country books to find the information. Check for magazine articles and prepare a few additional copies for student use.
Organizing the Project
Decide with teachers which biomes should be researched. The basic ones are: desert, grasslands, rain forests, tundra, and wetlands. Others, such as coral reefs, taiga, and deciduous forests, are frequently explored as well. Prepare Information Sheets to help students focus on what needs to be found. Using the same form for all groups will help in compare/contrast discussions. The first questions have to do with temperature and rainfall, the factors that determine the nature of a terrestrial biome. If coral reefs are included, the group researching it will omit that section but can explain the ocean temperature range that coral reefs need to survive.Culminating Projects
Require students to look for pictures that can be photocopied or printed. (If individuals or the school have access to a color printer, the results will be far better.) The visuals should be used in their oral presentations along with a model of their biome. As part of their assignment, groups must put color-coded map tacks on a map of the world, indicating all the places on earth where their biomes can be found.Once all oral presentations have been given, have the whole class engage in a debate about saving threatened biomes. The first question is whether or not the biome should be saved. The second is how to do it.
Through their presentations and following discussion, students become aware of how all biomes are interconnected. They realize the cost for saving a system and the cost for letting it crash. By deciding for themselves which approach is best, they take another step toward becoming responsible adults.
If you are at a middle or high school media center, you may be "blessed" with a library council and/or student volunteers. Whether they are offering their service freely or receiving a grade and credit for their time, their actual contribution is often less than wonderful.You want them to shelve books. Students hate the job. They know they can't complain, so they dutifully take the cart and then put the books on whatever shelf has room, paying little or no attention to call numbers. Loitering an appropriate amount of time in the stacks, they return with an empty truck. Later, as you search for titles, you find them at the end of a shelf, or in clumps somewhere within,
Short of regularly spot checking, how can you make these volunteers take responsibility? One subtle solution is to have them create displays. They can do the bulletin board and/or make posters and signs around a theme. For November, for example, they can select "A Nation of Immigrants" or "A Tribute to Veterns Day." Obviously they will need to find books (which might be difficult if they were the ones who last shelved them), but they can also devise puzzles and games on the topic, making copies for other students to solve. Be sure your volunteers' names are included.
While they message they get when trying to find print resources may be too subtle for your students, the pride of ownership is not. Once they have something to do which they consider worthwhile, gives them pleasure, and earns them praise, they are more likely to take better care of the media center. They may even start shelving books properly most of the time.
What should you do when there are district-wide limits or severe cuts and your media center's budget must comply with these imposed guidelines? Don't despair. All is not lost, but how you manage this situation will affect how your program requests are treated in the future.Creative Solutions
Ultimately, you must do what you are told, so avoid complaining. No one, including the administration, likes to cut back on plans. However, there is always some money. Consider any initiatives the district is stil committed to. These might include technology or literacy or restructuring, Which part of the funds you need can further that particular goal? Break that segment out of your regular request and talk to your supervisor about putting it under a different place in the budget. If you have built-in support for your program, this may be a viable solution.If you have a major project under consideration, such as automation or renovation, think of ways to stretch it over several years. You may need to consult with vendors to develop an optimum solution. They are sometimes ready to prepare a professional-looking proposal detailing alternatives and costs which you can then present. When you review these options with your superiors, ask for advice on how to proceed. By demonstrating your ability to find creaive approaches to difficult problems and your commitment to your plans, you stand a good chance of getting the money or at least having your requests be regarded as a high priority as soon as funds are available.
Using Numbers
To manage a situation where a large project isn't at stake, try to take an objective view and determine the best way to make your case. Have you experienced more than your share of cuts over the past years? Has your school population increased while your budget has decreased? Divide the number of students into the book allocation to show how few books are being added. Do the same for the other parts of your budget. Compile statistics indicating use of the media center. How many students were drop-ins in the course of last year? How many classes did you have? What is the average class size? These figures demonstrate the number of times each student uses the media center per year.The lesson you need to learn is that in dealing with budgets "no" is not always a final answer. If you expect to change the ruling, you must develop the workable alternative or logically show why the media center is entitled to special treatment. Once a final decision is made, accept it with grace and continue making plans. Another budget will be along next year.
January 2003: What's Your Media Center's Personality?
Have you ever met someone and instantly decided that you would like that person better -- or on the other hand it would be a waste of time to pursue a friendship? Although some may deny it, first impressions have a large impact on the way you perceive people and places.What do you look for when you enter a media center for the first time? What type of message are you receiving as you look around?
- Do you feel welcome as you enter, or is the place sterile and dull?
- Do posters, displays and exhibits catch your eyes, or do they come to rest on dark book stacks containing old and battered books?
- Is the furniture conducive to a variety of different needs -- doing research, browsing, working in pairs or groups -- or is there little or no delineation of where you should go for each of those needs?
- If the media center is large, do different classes have separate areas to work in, or are tables arranged to make a single impersonal reading area?
- Are the shelves arranged in logical order (such as fiction books in one area, nonfiction in another, progressing sequentially from stack to stack so you don't have to hunt for the next section), or are you left wondering where things are because of little or no signage?
- Do the shelves contain many bright new covers with some empty spaces evident, or are they solidly packed with books that are both dull looking and hard to pull out?
- Does the library media specialist or a clerk or volunteer offer a welcoming smile and a willingness to help if needed, or is someone sitting and doing something in a way that you are afraid to interrupt with a question?
- Is this a place where you want to spend time or one that you can't wait to leave?
As an expert, you can probably size up the success of this media center in just a few minutes. But even students, teachers, parents, and administrators who are not experts can quickly feel the warmth or lack of it.
Remember, every media center has its own personality, which quickly comes across to its users. How does yours look to someone new?
December 2002: Physically Fit
Physical education teachers may use the media center for videos, as a source of professional periodicals, or occasionally to do a research project in their health courses. However they are highly unlikely to plan with you for gym classes since students are supposed to be acquiring the skills of physical sports which have no logical connection to resource-based instruction. But there is one situation where you can work together very well.Throughout the year students for a variety of reasons are excused from gym class for brief or extended times. Frequently they are sent to the media center, ostensibly to do research, perhaps on the sport they are currently missing. Students see this as a study period, giving the assignment a minimum of effort, often directly copying their report from an encyclopedia. Teachers, who must concentrate on the active members of their classes, don't have time to track down the sources used in these papers and give a grade solely because the work was turned in.
It's All a Game
Amuch better approach is to have these students prepare a hidden word or other game on the sport. To create a hidden word, they look for key words relating to rules, history, stars, or coaches, preparing the puzzle and the answer key when their list is complete. However, since it might be difficult for someone who hasn't done the research to solve it, they must also include a short written piece that incorporates all the words. The brief report, puzzle, and answers are submitted for use when the teacher is absent and a substitute takes over. Giving the class the description of the sport without the list of terms makes it a much better game as students will have to read carefully for possible key words.A "Jeopardy"-style game is a variation on the idea, with answers and questions created and categorized (ex. history, rules, famous personalities). An introductory report might be needed for information not usually included in gym classes.
When a few students are excused from the same class, they can combine their efforts and talents to create a board game. Many popular games such as Clue begin with a reading that "sets the scene." In like fashion the group can include background information to be read before starting the game.
The benefits of "gamesmanship" are apparent:
While the activity is not a typical resource-based unit because the teacher is not present and a whole class is not involved, it definitely integrates the resources of the media center into the subject curriculum.
- The format makes direct copying impossible.
- Students learn good research strategies (identifying main ideas and key words).
- Communication skills are improved (presenting information in a way that others can understand).
- Students create an end product more challenging and interesting than a paper.
- Teachers can quickly grade the work.
- Helpful material is developed for "substitute files."
November 2002: Food for the Feast
Thanksgiving Day is a major November theme in the primary grades. Everyone reads stories to classes, nonfiction materials on Pilgrims and Puritans are displayed,and bulletin boards feature headgear of European settlers and Native Americans. But outside of school, students know the holiday is about family and fun with food at the centerpiece. Connect the past and present by focusing on the feast and have kindergarteners through fourth-graders discover how food gets to their table.Ask teachers to have their classes compare the menu of the first Thanksgiving with the one they will be eating. In addition to the similarities (primarily turkey), students will quickly see that families have different traditional dishes for celebrations.
Back to the Beginning
In the media center, give groups of two or three students one of the items frequently eaten today and have them find out as much as they can about how it gets to market. Even kindergarteners can find pictures in simple encycolpedias, photocopy or trace them, color them, and dictate information about their illustration to you, the teacher, or an aide. Groups in third and fourth grade can check cookbooks and research ingredients that go into the dish. For example, those doing pumpkin pie can track flour, sugar, and spices back to their origins. (If several desserts are included, groups can divide the common items with only one doing flour, another doing sugar, etc.).With the first step completed, bring the groups together to discuss what they have found so far. Help them recognize that they have only discovered the planting and harvesting (or, in the case of turkey, the raising) stage. The food is not on the table. How does it get there? When you mention supermarket shopping, they are likely to recall seeing trucks bringing products in. Now have them explore the different ways foods are brought to market, locating illustrations of the various forms of transportation used.
Food for Thought
Back in class, teachers can mount students' illustrations showing how food is first cultivated, then transported. A few final steps remain since dinner is not yet on the table. Students can draw on their experience to realize that workers must stock the shelves, and then customers must select and pay for items, bring them home and prepare them.Wrap-up questions center around how many people play a part in a family's Thanksgiving dinner. How many were needed for the first celebration? Why are things so different?
Coupled with the traditional units for the holiday, this project connects the classroom to students' lives. When they sit down for their own Thanksgiving dinner, they will have a deeper awareness of what goes into it.
October 2002: Lasting Names
Many names have become immortalized, entering the language with specific meanings that vary in the level of their connections to the eponymous person.Students in grades three through nine will need dictionaries of eponyms to locate links between some of the more obscure people and the word they gave the language. If these are unavailable, encyclopedias can provide the meanings of the terms. After students have completed the worksheet, have them use their name eponymously, stating what the new word would mean.
Worksheet answers can be found here.
The only reason entering classses look forward to orientation is because they miss English for one or two days. Reaching these uninterested students is quite a challenge; having them gain something from the experience verges on the miraculous, but you can do it if you plan a book report assignment with teachers. Then turn the traditional orientation around, following it with a scavenger hunt-cum-booktalk that engages students' attention and may get them started or restarted on reading. September 2002: A High School Orientation to YA Literature
Instead of telling them about the media center in the traditional manner, have students work in roups of four selected in advance by teachers or by student choice when they come into the media center. Place a sheet of newsprint on each table, handing out markers after you have given directions. Tell the class that each group is to come up with ten media center rules about behavior, borrowing materials, using technology, coming from class or lunch, or whatever else groups think is appropriate.
As they complete their lists, have groups hang them wherever they can be easily viewed. When all are posted, ask one member of each group to read its rules. By the conclusion there will be lots of duplication, some great ideas, and a number of frivolous ones. Have the class pick those most commonly repeated, rewriting them to create a single list. Record the edited rules on a separate sheet of nerwsprint.
Review the remainingrules and discuss which ones should be added. Those that refer to the length of circulation period or fines will need input from you when they deviate from existing practice. Although you suggested they write rules for coming to the media center from class, study, or lunch, students are unlikely to know the established procedures. However, there is a chance to see if they choose more or less restrictive ones and discuss with them what is actually expected. Fill in any important items groups have omitted, such as opening and closing times.
Segue into Books
Renmind students that the main purpose of the orientation is to get them familiar with this media center and its resources and, as they have an upcoming book report (previously planned with teachers), they can use the time to select a book. Normally you would then move into a booktalk. Instead, give an overview of many genres and themes, handing them a list they can use to check off the ones they prefer.Getting ready for this segment takes time. To make the list either create one from scratch, find bibliographies in The School Librarian's Workshop, or make selections from the extensive compilations of genres and thenmes in resources such as Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction (11 volumes) and Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults (8 volumes).
Pull titles from your shelves and prepare blurbs to attach to the outside of the books. The fastest way to get the synopses is to photocopy them from book jackets or from copyright page summaries. If possible, put the information, complete with author and title, on the computer so it's available for future use. You can also use descriptions you've written for past booktalks or those on annotated lists such as Editor's Choice in the combined January issues of Booklist or School Library Journal's Best Books in its December issue. To further aid students with their selection, color-code genres by outlining the synopses with different markers.
With your extensive collection of great books ready for students to choose from, turn the process into a game. Have them work in groups to find two titles for any four genres and themes on the list. They can then choose one to read, handing the teacher a 3-by-5 card with the author and title of the book they selected and a one-sentence reason for their choice.
As they complete the activity, you will have an opportnity to talk to students individually about books and guide them to ones they like. Use checkout time to hand them a brochure on the media center and give them a reader's interest survey form (offer a lollipop for any they return completed--bribing them with food works wonderfully well at this level), which will help you make further recommendations and provide you with clues as to what you should be ordering for your fiction collection.