Designing an essential library program for young students

ARIKA DICKENS, TEACHER -L IBRARIAN

MEDINA ELEMENTARY, WA

Easy as 1 2 3

It’s class time…how do you feel?

How do the K/1 students feel?

Goal =

age5

• Routines

• Carefully planned periods

• Clear expectations

• Like to copy and repeat

• See one way to do things

• Think out loud

• Learn best through active play

• Need time to try their own way

• Enjoy games, poems, songs

• Anxious to do well

• Thrive on encouragement

• Very competitive

• Capacity for enjoyment

• Enjoy process over product

• Love trying new games & ideas

• Increased interest in tech

age6

• Don’t like taking risks

• Bothered by mistakes

• Need security & structure

• Enjoy repeating tasks & reviewing learning

• Transition time reminder

• Like to work by themselves

age7

age5

age6

age7

Children are like wet cement.

Whatever falls on them

makes an impression.

-Haim Ginotthttp://tinyurl.com/q48lexw

Literature Questioning Movement Technology

LiteratureLiterature

Connect books to their world1

• Build buy-in to your program and lessons. Read books & design units that they care about.• Subjects: pets, seasons, family

• Classroom connections are great

• Examples:• Mini-units: author studies, classroom connections, state book awards

• Author study: read Lois Ehlert books in the fall (Nuts to You, Leaves

• Classroom connection: when studying animals, share fiction/nonfiction titles about animals. Build in appropriate tech (PebbleGo database), if possible…and plan for time!

Connect books to their world1

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Embrace unit studies2

• Classroom teachers use units and themes for young learners. Why don’t we?

• Students respond well to routine and clear expectations. They learn best through repetition. Unit / Theme studies are that routine to lead to lifelong learning.

• Students learn best through games, poems, songs. Use the I Say, You Say chant for author names!

• Possible themes/units: authors, connect to science/SS in classroom, state awards, national awards (Geisel - K, Caldecott – 1st)• Favorite author/illustrators for K author studies: Audrey Wood, Arthur

Howard, Keiko Kasza, Jon Klassen, Mo Willems, Candace Fleming, Peter Brown

Embrace unit studies2

I Say,You Say

Depth over breadth 3

• Students like repeated tasks. They like to review learning. Go deeper to more fully engage them!

• Build a deep, solid foundation in lit versus a broad, wide-range of stories. What will stay with them? What resonates?

• Going deeper into author/unit studies allows for deeper questioning and reflection. It also allows the learning to have staying power!• Proof: Month-long K unit study of EJK remembered by 4th grader when

comparing illustrations/story of Last Stop on Market Street

Depth over breadth 3

Questioning

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Build to BIG. (Start small.)1

• Students don’t like risk-taking or making mistakes. They want to do well. Set them up for success!

• Teacher modeling is KEY. Begin by asking “I wonder” questions. Use the cover of the book. After a few weeks, ask the students if they wonder anything about the story.

• Reference the illustrations during the story to aid in discovery and wonder.• …and hold the book face-out!

Build to BIG. (Start small.)1

http://www.emojistickers.com/

Questioning = deeper thinking2

• Thinking is driven by questions, not answers. –Richard Paul• Do your questions satisfy your ego…or your student’s brain?• Many types of questions that foster deep thinking and activate a student’s

brain: • Thick vs thin• Open vs closed• Critical thinking & more critical thinking• Claim Evidence Reasoning & more CER• Convergent vs divergent

• Do your homework! Prep 1-2 deep thinking questions before reading. Remember: these should be questions that DON’T have right answers.• …but when you need to ask fact-based questions: Shout and Share the answer

instead of stressing young students. Remember: they don’t like making mistakes!

Questioning for deeper thinking2

Turn & Talk / tweet: #KidlitQ

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Plan for participation3

• Students think out loud. They want to be first and are competitive. Why do we expect them to raise their hands?

• Solutions:• Turn & Talk

• Squishy Ball (make eye contact – no hand-raising)

• Shout & Share

• Thumbs Up/Down

• Participation time! Share a deep thinking Q / #kidlitQ for Peter’s Chair

Plan for participation3

Shout & Share

Turn & Talk

Squishy Ball

Movement

Create non-competitive games1

• Students are competitive. Take the edge off of games.

• Students like trying new games and ideas. They want to have fun. Use this to your advantage!

• Games can aid with transitions, to foster responsibility, to get the wiggles out.

• Action items/examples:• End goal: see what is in the library for the first time/what’s new. Use: I-Spy.

• End goal: book care. Use: surprise package of uncared-for books

• End goal: remembering to bring back books. Use: Simon Says (visit classroom to play, too!)

Create non-competitive games1

Library I Spy

Simon Says…Ms. Arika Says:

Use rhymes to build literacy2

• Students learn best through repetition; they likes songs and poems.

• Students think out loud. Curb the cries of “I know this already!” • Have them show their knowledge using a silent signal (I.Know.This.)

• 6yo cognative: enjoy & learn from games/poems/songs

• Action Items/Examples:• Incorporate Rhyme Time into K library class

• Flip chart. Choose your favorites (Humpty Dumpty, Hickory Dickory Dock, To Market…)

• Choose stories with repetition to engage participation.• Movement can be found in all stories – think outside the box (make it “rain” during

the beginning of The Napping House)• Respect different personalities and comfort levels. Participation looks different for

everyone.

Use rhymes to build literacy2

Embrace ways to sing and move3

• “Exercise boosts brain power.” – John Medina, Brain Rules• Students enjoy and learn from games, poems, songs…better learning than written

work. • Action Items/Examples:

• You’ve got to walk the walk – don’t be afraid to sing and move. • “fly” around the library to get to the seating area• Walk/skip/jump the E section to find books• Folklore study: 398.2 song

• End goal: walk inside from recess in a line. Use: Pointer paws. • End goal: hands still and bodies ready to transition to check-out. Use: The Wave• End goal: line up. Use: Fancy Feet.

• VIDEO: Continents of the World song

Embrace ways to sing and move3

Technology

Process > Product1

• A lot of talk about process over product. Nowhere isthis more important than with technology.

• Students are anxious to do well. They don’t like to take risks or make mistakes. Give a lot of encouragement! • Show failure when modeling tech lessons. Show students that it is okay, that we make

mistakes, and that we can try again.

• All screens are not created equal.

• Timing is everything.• When in the year to plan tech projects? Take into account the school calendar and important

events like holiday celebrations, field trips, ec.• Plan 1-2 cool tech products to teach & share throughout the year. Depth vs breadth.

• Tech should enhance curriculum & human interaction, not replace social situations.

• Don’t rush greatness. Give practice tinker-time before creation time.

Process > Product1

Go slow to go FAST2

• How many steps can a K/1 remember?

• Model each step of the tech lesson. Review.

• Write directions in multiple places.…

• Don’t be afraid to mess up in front of students• We all learn from failure.

• SHOW them that it’s okay to make mistakes.

• Before K check-out: know who can/can’t choose…what’s plan for those who can’t?

• DEMO: Flipgrid student responses

Go slow to go FAST2

Expect the unexpected3

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• When coming to library, have a schedule similar to classrooms. Give them an expectation for the lesson.• Can be brief.

• White board, chart paper…list what will happen.• Fosters literacy!

• Not just with technology, but in every lesson.• Children don’t like changes to schedules or when things go awry.

• It’s how we react to unexpected events that sets the tone for the class period…and possibly longer

• Embrace opportunities to learn from the students.

Expect the unexpected3

The final 1 2 3

If we treat people as they ought to be, we

help them to become what they are

capable of becoming.

- Haim Ginott

WWW.LIBRARIANARIKA.WORDPRESS.COM

@LIBRARIANARIKA

Questions?

Resources:Burkhalter, N. (n.d.). Critical thinking and questions goldilocks. Retrieved October 27, 2015, from

http://www.slideshare.net/Marinazx/critical-thinking-and-questions-goldilocks

Corey, Melissa. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2015, from http://www.sjsd.k12.mo.us/Page/15740

Home | Parent Toolkit. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2015, from http://www.parenttoolkit.com

Wood, C. (2007). Yardsticks: Children in the classroom, ages 4-12. 3rd ed. Greenfield, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children.

Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.