Deb+Semrad

Lesson 1: Organizing Fiction-Grade Three

Students will participate in a discussion about fiction and how the books are organized in the library. Various ways will be discussed. The class will view the online catalog to discover how authors’ names are listed. Students will learn about call letters. Students will identify call letters for sample titles. Students will be asked to alphabetize the books or put them in shelf order. Students will be asked to give the call letter for the book that they each write.

This has been a teacher led discussion. Students were not always engaged when each student gave the call letter for the book they wrote. Organizing books on a cart did not always go quickly and not all could be involved at one time.

Assessment: Using the SmartBoard lesson, students experience firsthand and now know that fiction books are arranged alphabetically by the first three letters of the author’s last name. They all had practice doing this and are involved as each enters the call letter and puts the “books” in shelf order. Students will demonstrate their knowledge both on the SmartBoard and during library (locating books).



Lesson 2: Poetry-Grade Five

The objective is to introduce the students to a different form of poetry. The students will learn about Haiku poems, understand syllabication, and use descriptive words to write poetry. Haiku poems are generally written to describe nature-a perfect lesson for Spring. The form consists of a three line stanza that has a total of 17 syllables. Read some Haiku poems to the class. Review syllable pattern and discuss the use of descriptive words. Model writing a Haiku poem: choose a topic, brainstorm a list of nature related topics, write down topics, ask students to write down words and phrases that describe the topic. Have students work in pairs and choose one of the topics and create a Haiku poem. Read the poems out loud and collect the hand written Haiku poems and create a book or publish some in the school newsletter or post for all to read.

Assessment: The students are able to write Haiku poems with the correct syllabication and descriptive words and phrases.

The use of the SmartBoard enhanced this lesson. The students were very engaged with the entire lesson. They understood the form much better because they were able to see it and experience it. The group interaction was great-generating super ideas. The students were proud to share their poems with the class.



Lesson 3: Genres-Grade Four

The objective is to teach the students about different fiction and non-fiction genres found in the library. When we taught this unit previously, we would describe the characteristics of each genre and would show examples of each and point out the sections where each are found. Some students were inspired to read books in other genres after the discussion.

Assessment: Students are familiar with the different genres and expand their reading interests.

After using the SmartBoard for this lesson, I found that the students actually learned what each genre was in a shorter time and were excited to start reading. I directed the students to sign their name next to a genre that they would like to read. The groups each designed a poster about the genre and were posted in the library. Now when the students read books they add the title to the correct genre poster to give others ideas for good reads.



Lesson 4: Dewey Decimal System- Grades Four and Fifth

The purpose of this lesson is to teach students about the fundamentals of the Dewey Decimal System to enable them to locate books in the library. Many students are overwhelmed when entering the library because of the vast amount of books on the shelves. Learning the Dewey Decimal Classification System will guide the students to the books of their choice. The Dewey Decimal Classification System is the most widely used method for classifying books in the library. This system is a general knowledge organization tool that is continuously revised to keep pace with knowledge. It is named after Melville Dewey an American Librarian who developed it in 1876. This system is a numerical scheme arranged by subjects of nonfiction books, and it classifies books by dividing them into 10 main subject groups that are called categories. Each category is represented by figures beginning with 000 and going on to 999. In other words, it is a system of numbers used to mark and arrange non-fiction books.

We spend several weeks presenting this. We use this link for information and activities: []

The students will be able to: Using the SmartBoard lesson, I determined that the students understood the classification system and could apply what they had learned. The students demonstrated the fact that they could match each book with the correct Dewey Decimal Classification. I divided the class into teams and each team discussed the correct area and the reason why the book fit in this area.
 * Identify each of the 10 major classes of the Dewey Decimal System
 * Identify the difference between fiction and non-fiction
 * Identify the numbers in the 2nd and 3rd places
 * Locate non-fiction books and explain the call number by using the Dewey Decimal System.