You Oughta Know About Library Time! {April}

Happy Saturday!

I am linking up today with the fabulous Mrs. McClain for her You Oughta Know Blog Hop!

Today, you oughta know about library time!

At my school, my kiddos were sent to library twice a week. It was a time for them to visit with the librarian, take AR quizzes, check out books, and enjoy some reading time!

I had a pretty big class. So the librarian and I came up with a system: I would keep half of the class with me and we would have a mini lesson, and she would take the other half to the library and they would enjoy some book time. We would have each group for about 40 minutes.

I soon found out that my kiddos were not doing so well in the library without me. I assumed they would be on their best behavior and that there was a behavior management system with our librarian. Our librarian was an amazing, sweet woman. Unfortunately, her behavior management skills were slightly different than mine and a lot of kiddos were sent back for silly infractions. It was a big disappointment. Not only was I disappointed that my kids weren’t listening or following directions, but I was disappointed in myself for not making sure they followed rules when I wasn’t around. I knew I needed to change this fast!

I decided I needed to create some library rules and library lessons for my kiddos…a preemptive strike to keep them out of trouble!

I created a short booklet for my students to take to library with them. I made sure that each lesson was taught before I introduced a new page to the booklet. I wanted to make sure each student had confidence in the skill and could complete the task independently in the library.

Here are the standards and the aligned tasks:

•       CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

•       CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

•       CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

•       CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

•       CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

•       CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.

The teacher directions are simple and easy!

This really helped my kiddos stay in line during library time! It also helped our librarian maintain my kiddos with a little more ease. As time went on, my students got the hang of these activities and the booklet procedure. I decided to leave these sheets for them in a special spot in our classroom. They could choose which activity they wanted to complete. I also gave my students the independence of using their AR book, or finding a short picture book to use for the activity. I made a rule that one sheet needed to be completed before returning to the classroom. I always checked their booklets when they returned. A majority of the time, my kiddos finished more than one activity because they were so excited to be engaged in their reading!

Click here for a FREE copy of these activities! I hope they help your students and that you get some use out of them!