Topics outside the regular curriculum can often be the springboard for your first collaborative resource-based units with teachers locked into their own patterns for covering required material. A project on art for primary and intermediate grades will not only connect you with the teacher but can also invove the art specialist as youadd a new dimension to students' learning. Try this as a change of pace just before a holiday, when students' attention is wandering.Review your collection for appropriate titles that will stimulate ideas or help students begin to understand new concepts. Consider both fiction and nonfiction about art and artists. Include as broad a spectrum as you have available.
Artists and Their Work
Launch the project by having students bring in their favorite drawings to make a mini-museum. Once their pictures are hung, add a display of titles separating them into categories. Place picture books about famous artists in one spot, and those about fictitious people in another, with nonfiction selections grouped by subject in a third location.Ask students if they have ever been to a museum. Some may have had the experience. Explain briefly about art museums and then read to them about a famous artist. Show his or her works in an art book. Have them talk about how some paintings don't look like real life. Give students a chance to browse through the display, finding paintings that interest them and identifying the artist who did thenm. The Information Sheet will help them focus on what they might look at.
Back in class or in the art room, have students make a painting using the colors favored by the artist of their choice. Have them write their names, the title of the work, and a brief description of it on 4 x 6-inch cards. Hang the results in a new mini-museum. Ask them to talk about what they learned about art as a conclusion to this short project.
Other Art Approaches
Paintings are usually the first thing people think of when they hear the word "art," but, as your 700s attest, the scope is far greater. Two of the titles on the suggested list are about printmaking. Once introduced to the art form, students can make prints and compare different fonts in picture books, determining which they prefer and deciding whether or not they like the one chosen for a particular title. If word processing is available, they can write brief reports using fonts they think will go well together.While Denis Roche's book is the only how-to on the list, you can find others in your collection. Have groups of students select a project, follow the directions, and then display their creations. Suggest they make something appropriate for Thanksgiving dinner. The art teacher can be an active collaborator in these projects.
As teachers are encouraged to incorporate multiple intelligences into their units and technology requires more than words for presentations, early grade art projects become more than just playtime. They turnn into a means of learning, an important tool for communicating.
September File
The end and the beginning of the school year are generally the most hectic times. Invariably in trying to get things in order for the opening of the media center, you discover you can't remember where you stored items in your rush to close. Some of you also are pressed to prepare budget requests for the following school year. One small addition to your close-out procedures will reduce stress in the fall.Label a file folder "September: Open Me First." Make a note of where you stored desktop items to permit summer cleaning and slip it into the folder. If you lend materials to teachers for the summer, prepare a master list and keep it in the file. You can then quickly send reminders before the year gets underway. As your inventory ieitified missing items or end-of-year equipment checks reveal the need for replacements, file the information.
Place your September file in the top drawer of your desk. When you return in the fall, the contents will refresh your memory and reduce time lost on frustrating searches for things you put away in a "safe place."
< April 2001: In Silhouette
Find profile drawings or photographs showing figures from history such as George Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., etc. Trace outlines onto a transparency projected on white paper. Cut them out, writing the names of the people inside the heads and assigning a number to each.
Mounted Heads
With chalk, trace the cutouts onto black construction paper. Cut the silhouettes and add numbered white labels corresponding to the numbers originally assigned.Hang the silhouettes and give students a list of names of the famous people. They must identify which numbered silhouette goes with each name, writing one sentence explaining his or her claim to fame.
At the end of the contest, award those who have correct lists a small prize such as a library pencil, special bookmark or free ice cream.
Research on Display
Then have the students copy onto 3 x 5 cards their descriptive sentences. Post those below the corresponding silhouette.Have everyone do further research on one of these people. Encourage students to photocopy portraits matching the silhouettes to complete the display.
If you have time, tie the project into an exploration of light and shadows. Conclude with a favorite student pastime--creating shadow figures when an overhead or projector beam is thrown on a screen.
From The School Librarian's Workshop, May, 1998
Throw a party for Earth Day. Enjoy the bounty of the planet as it is appreciated among the diverse peoples of the world. It's a food fest; it's interdisciplinary; it's multicultural; and it's fun for students through grade 8. Involve parent volunteers and as many teachers as you want to participate. If you can't get the help, eliminate the cooking and munch on fruits and vegetables.
Fruits of the Earth
A trio of books gets the action going and a fourth brings it to a close.
Food Geography
Talk with students about any foods they eat at home which their friends think are unusual. Connect their responses as much as possible to different places on the globe. On a large map of the world, put students' names in countries they have identified as where they or their ancestors came from. If you cannot determine ancestry, place them in the United States.At the next meeting, have students trace a map of their country of origin or give them ones you have previously prepared. Using cookbooks and information about the different countries, let them discover typical dishes and ingredients indigenous to the area, adding these facts to their maps.
Ethnic Eating
Two cookbooks are particularly helpful for this unit. Passport on a Plate: A Round-the-World Cookbook for Children by Diane Simone Vezza, illustrated by Susan Greenstein (Simon & Schuster, 1997, 150 p. 0-689-08155-6) has recipes divided into chapters by countries or regions. Each is rated both individually and in an index from one to four utensils to indicate difficulty and need for adult supervision.Harvest Festivals Around the World, written and illustrated by Judith Hoffman Corwin (Messner, 1995, 48 p. 0-671-87239-7), contains recipes and information relevant to the theme of this unit. If you want to serve food from either book, it can be made at school or brought from home.
While some are looking through these two books, add Children Just Like Me---Celebrations, Festivals, Carnivals, and Feast Days Around the World by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley (DK, 1997, 64 p. ill. 0-7894-2027-9) for ideas on costumes as well as some ethnic holiday foods. Students can check additional cookbooks to find out how to make them.
Research and Recipes
Inside their large map, have students put the recipes they associate with that country along with any fruits and vegetables that are used to make the dish. Some, like apples, are found in many places. Others are more limited to a particular area.Now have students research where in their country these ingredients grow and anything special about them, adding their findings in notes around the map. Encyclopedias, books about countries, maps that show agricultural resources, as well as some specialized food books will be helpful.
Better readers can get information from Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn, and Beans: How the Foods of Americas Change Eating Around the World by Sylvia A. Johnson (Atheneum, 1997, 138 p., ill. 0-689-80141-6). Beyond the four foods mentioned in the title, there are chapters on peppers, peanuts, and chocolate, and one that includes pineapple and native squashes.
From Earth to Us Around the World
Plan a food festival to culminate the unit. Helpers can assist with cooking, prepare chopped ingredients in advance, or bring some already cooked portions to the event. Have students present the food along with what they have learned about the country where it is served.Just before the festival, share with studentsWe Are All Related: A Celebration of Our Cultural Heritages (1996, paperback, 0-9680479-0-4). This book contains art and quotations by students of G.T. Cunningham Elementary School in Vancouver, British Columbia. The school is the publisher, and Orca Books distributes it. The students have created individual collages of family members, elders and young people. Under the pictures, they explain what "we are all related" means to them. On each facing page they describe their ancestry and what they have included in their collage. Below are comments from "the elders" about what they would like young people to learn.
Add to the celebration by having students do their own collages and explanations. Then invite "the elders" to the party and have them tell everyone their hopes for the young.
Whether students are dining on international foods or just fruits and vegetables, the message should be the same. We are all related and need to work together to care for the planet on which we all depend.
From The School Librarian's Workshop, April, 1998
November: Help for Book Fair Helpers
Many of you run an annual book fair. When added to all your other jobs, this creates a tremendous amount of pressure on you. There are so many steps involved that you are bound to forget things and sometimes something will go wrong. Unfortunately, this is a time of high exposure, because parents and other community members also come by to look at and purchase books (in addition to students and teachers). You need to be sure that everything goes well. One way is to adapt this list to your particular school situation, offering it to your volunteers so they will be aware of what they should do to help out.
Helping students
1. For younger students, please write book title, price, and table number on a "Books I Want to Buy" sheet when they come in to look for the first time.
2. Be sure that older students do not put their sheets on top of paperback books because their pencil imprint will come through on the books.
3. Check that the book price they write down is U.S. not Canadian or U.K.
4. When students come in for the second time with their parent-approved book lists, please help them locate books at the appropriate tables.
5. Make sure student don't take the last copy of a book. We can easily order others for them. (See below)
Orders
1. When only one copy of a book is left, fill out in duplicate an order form noting:
(a) Student's name (if that person is to pick up the book) or parent's name and telephone number (if parent wants to keep the book a surprise)
(b) Student's teacher
(c) Grade
(d) Book title(s)
(e) Price (make sure it is the U.S. price)2. Parent or student must pay for books before they can be ordered. The purchaser takes both copies of the order form to the cashier who will keep one copy (marking it "paid") and return the second copy to the student or parent.
3. Books should be in on the next school day and will be delivered to the students (or parents will be called).
Order Pick-Up
1. Students must bring in either their copy of the order form (which we then tear up along with the original, throwing both copies away), or
2. Students must sign our original copy of the order form to show that they received their book(s). This form then gets torn at the top and is kept by the library media specialist foir several weeks in case of questions about someone not receiving ordered books.
Cashier
1. Be sure you charge the U.S. price, not the Canadian or U.K. price, for the book.
2. Be sure the book is not the last copy.
3. Ask that checks be made out to your school.
4. Students and/or parents must pay in advance for books which need to be ordered. You mark both slips "paid" and keep the original in the money tray. The copy goes to the student or parent.
5. If young students need change and have no pocket or receptacle to keep it in, try to give them an envelope to hold their change.
Taken from School Librarian's Workshop, October, 1997
October: Just the Facts
Newspaper and television coverage of an event in your media center is an excellent way to show your new image. Getting the media to come is not always easy. When you do, you may often be disappointed in the way the story is presented.
A little bit of advance planning can result in a news article that truly represents what is special about your program. Prepare a brief fact or background sheet. List all participants, giving their full names, job titles, and telephone numbers. Put teachers first. A little bit of celebrity will encourage them to return for another project with you. If students are involved, indicate how many, grade level, subject, etc.
Briefly discuss the purpose and outcomes. If you use phrases such as "resources-based instruction" be sure to give a short definition. It is likely to appear that way in print or on the air. Keep the entire fact sheet to one page.
Call the media and get the names of the people who cover schools. Speak to the reporter and volunteer to fax or mail the fact sheet. Make additional copies to have on hand on the day of the event, updating it if necessary. Hand out these copies to photographers and reporters. They may have misplaced the original.
Fact sheets are a time saver when guests come to your media center as well. You can give key information about your program, facility, or technology depending on what draws visitors. The information helps them target questions more specifically and is a reminder after they leave. Maintain a file of these sheets. Attach them to copies of any articles that resulted. Use them to build your publicity file and reinforce communications with your principal.
Learning how to sell your program is one key to survival in times of cuts and growth in better times. Give them the facts.
Taken from School Librarian's Workshop, January 1995