I always like to do some sort of a “Scavenger Hunt” with the upper grades at the beginning of the year. It helps the students reacquaint themselves with the library, but it also helps them notice changes that may have been made over the summer. It’s also a great stress-free and fun way for the new students to be shown around the library by the returning students.
I had previously created a Scavenger Hunt that I have used for the last couple of years (you can read about that here). This worked well, and the kids really enjoyed it, but I wanted to try something different this year. I wanted to start the year off reading a book for every grade. So I spent a few days going through books and talking with other librarians and we came up with a great list of books to use.
The one I’m going to focus on for this year is The Library Dragon by Carmen Agra Deedy.
It’s such a cute story about a new librarian, Miss Lotta Scales, who is hired for the Sunrise Elementary School. She takes her job very seriously, which tends to cause some problems for the students and teachers.
What I loved about this book was it mentions all kinds of places around the library that you can use to create a scavenger hunt.
- 398.2’s and 500’s
- Biographies
- Fiction
- Easy (picture books)
- Reading nook
- Supply area
It also mentions many different behaviors that you could use for a review with the students at the beginning of the year.
- protecting books from getting dirty and tearing
- forgetting to bring library books back
- using quiet voices in the library
I knew I wanted to have the students up and moving around the library, so I created a set of question cards with the Library Dragon theme that I could give groups of students on their first visit to the library.
If you are interested in doing this Scavenger Hunt with your students,
you can find it at my TpT store or at Teacher’s Notebook.
There are 8 pages of questions cards total. The last page has the same question, but two different versions of it. One uses the term “Book Buddies” and the other uses the term “Shelf Markers”.
I printed them on white cardstock, laminated them, and then cut them apart. I hole-punched each of the 16 cards in the top corner and put them on a ring. I started each set of cards on a different question so that the groups wouldn’t all be going to the same place at the same time. After I finish reading the book, I’ll hand out the cards to groups of 2-3 students and let them start. After about 15 minutes, I’ll have the students come join me back on the floor and I’ll have them share their answers and ideas to make sure that we are all on the same page.
Be on the lookout for some additional Scavenger Hunts connected to other books coming soon!
Hope you find this helpful!
Sandy
Sandy
Hugs! You're a genius 🙂
This is my first year as a librarian. I spent last week going over iPad usage before they could sign off on the form. This week I'm really going to start in. I love doing read-alouds and would love to know what other books (besides Library Dragon) you're going to read for each grade level. I'm really struggling with what books to read to the upper grades. I appreciate it. Thanks!
Thanks Donna! Glad you found it useful! I'm pretty excited about it too! 🙂
Congratulations Andrea on becoming a librarian! It's such a FABULOUS job! I love it! I wanted to read a different book for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade this year, and do a different Scavenger Hunt connected to each of the books, but sadly the idea didn't come in time for me to get it all done. So…that'll be my plans for next year. I was planning on using: 3rd) The Library Dragon 4th) Never Let a Ghost Borrow Your Library Book: Book Care Guidelines from the Library Secret Service by Karen Casale and 5th) Wild About Books by Judy Sierra. I'm working on the 4th grade book Scavenger Hunt now, and may have it done in the next day or two. If so I'll post it and then start working on the 5th grade one. I hope you have a fabulous year ! Let me know if I can help with anything! 🙂
What books were you using for K-2? I would love to keep in touch with you. I'm out by myself this year and every workshop I was sent to was on Makerspaces, etc. Just trying to figure out exactly what I need to be teaching. How are you fitting in your centers or makerspace? Are they going to be done for the whole library time or is it more of an option when kiddos get done?
Hi Andrea! Here's my plan for K-2….K) Forest Friends Go To School (see blog post about this cute free downloadable here at http://www.kindergartenkindergarten.com/2011/08/teaching-rules-and-routines-taking-care-of-books.html) 1) The Library Lion (see my blog post here at http://thebookfairygoddess.blogspot.com/2015/06/library-lion-book-care-book.html) and 2) The Shelf Elf (see the product in my store for a description here at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Shelf-Elf-Class-Book-1990319)
With all of these books, I'm goign through a quick tour of the library and talking A LOT about book care using the charts that you can see here at my blog post) (http://thebookfairygoddess.blogspot.com/2013/09/first-week-of-lessons-pk-2nd.html Even though I have my Makerspace areas ready, we won't be starting those right away. In the next few weeks we'll set up our expectations, and then I will be introducing one "skill" each week so that by the end of the 9 weeks we've done several examples (see my Makerspace blog about it here: http://thebookfairygoddess.blogspot.com/2015/07/stem-and-steam-centers-in-library.html) There will be some days that will be set as a "Maker Day" … I plan those usually at the end of each 9 weeks as a way of getting students to make sure their account is current and they have no overdue books. Otherwise, they will have access to these areas after our main lessons on some days after they check out their books. My email is my1happyplace@yahoo.com. Feel free to email me if something doesn't make sense! 🙂 Good luck! 🙂
This is a great idea. I'll have to use this next year. I was wondering if you have any ideas about teaching the students how to choose a "just right" book. I've taught Goldisocks and the Three Libearians so many times I have it memorized. I'm looking for some new ideas. Thanks! I love your blog!!
At the beginning of the year, I bring out different types of shoes (baby shoes, kid shoes, my size shoes, clown shoes, dress shoes, and shoes way too big). I explain to the kids that at some point, each of these shoes have or could be a good fit for me. The baby shoes fit me when I was younger, but I soon grew out of them. These are like books that are super easy to read. The oversized shoes don't fit me right now, but maybe someday they will. There are books that may be too hard right now but someday they will fit me. Then there are books that fit you perfectly right now (books you can read today). We then talk about the clown shoes versus the dress shoes….I explain that at times it's fun to just be silly (clown shoes), and at times it's important to be professional (dress shoes). This is the same in books….at times it's okay to read books for fun, but sometimes we do have to read books for more serious or academic matters. I've found that the visual of the shoes helps them understand the concept more clearly, but I do have to remind some kids about this every now and then. I stress to my students that at least ONE of their books needs to be a good fit book for them TODAY…their other book can be something of their choice (easy, silly, or another good fit.). I'm always trying to find new ways to talk about this with my students as well, and hope this helped!
do you have this lesson plan and cards for sale in your store? Also, I tried to access the first library scavenger hunt without any luck. Is it archived somewhere and for sale, too?
The Library Dragon Scavenger Hunt is at my Teacher Pay Teacher’s store with my other library products. You can see it here. Hope this helps! 🙂
Sandy