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Learning About Fiction Genres in the Elementary School Library
Teaching about fiction genres can be challenging. The instructional activity here, designed for library media specialists, offers a fun way to do it. In the instructional activity, learners visit the library and learn about the...
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Library Media Center Orientation
Sixth graders demonstrate the ability to follow the library media center floor plan and use directional symbols and guides. They also use after-reading strategies to increase understanding and learning from content area texts.
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Media Center Scavenger Hunt
Students participate in a scavenger hunt to locate various sections and items in the library media center. Using a "Media Center Hunt" worksheet, they locate letters that correspond with items and sections in the library and match them...
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Orientation to the Library
High schoolers participate in an orientation to the high school library and locate various resources. In this orientation to the library lesson, students are introduced to the library by the media specialist. They learn the layout and...
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Media Center Treasure Hunt
Sixth graders participate in a treaure hunt in the Library Media Center. They use media signs and media books to answer questions which correspond to important locations in the library. Students then group back together to review the...
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Citing Sources
Practice citation skills with this activity, which takes learners to the Library/Media center. There, they will view a Powerpoint presentation and practice collecting data in both print and non-print sources. All necessary materials are...
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Navigating Nonfiction
Third graders explore the arrangement of nonfiction. In this library skills lesson, 3rd graders examine Dewey Decimal classification as they collaborate to locate nonfiction materials in the library/media center.
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Research a Poet and Explicate a Poem by that Poet
Using your school's media center, internet research, and a SMART board, 7th graders research a chosen poet and write a research report. Additionally, 7th graders explicate one poem by the poet within their report. Several resource links...
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Dewey Decimal Game
Engage all the upper elementary classes in your school in a game to learn Dewey Decimal Classification. On 5 or 6 consecutive visits to the library, teams from each class learn how the system works, locate books in each category, and...
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Library Treasure Hunt
Students conduct a scavenger hunt activity in their library. In this library research lesson, students use treasure hunt worksheets to locate various items on the library computers and in the library shelves.
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How Do I Write an Article Critique?
Your middle and high schoolers have written tons of summaries, but can they give a strong critique of an article they've read? Identify the differences between summary writing and critiquing. Choose an interesting article and have...
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Literature in the Library
Students get familiar with their school library. In this library orientation lesson, students explore the layout of the library and challenge students to locate literature materials in a scavenger hunt activity.
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Hamlet Research Paper: Find, Evaluate, and Select Appropriate Research Sources
Help young researchers find credible sources online. Modeling with a Google search for information about Shakespeare’s Macbeth, use a computer projector or Smart Board to show class members how weak the top three search results are....
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Seeking, Locating, Accessing, and Using Information
Students complete reserach on a topic of their choice by following the Big Six research program. In doing so, students locate information and assess the validity and usefulness of sources.
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Revolutionary News Network
Seventh graders study events leading to, during and resulting from the American Revolution. They review elements of a political cartoon. They create and dramatize a scene from a Revolutionary War novel.
Scholastic
It's a Whatchamacallit
Learners formulate new applications for simple machines in an original invention that solves a common problem. They brainstorm ideas for a new product using simple machines and communicate a finished project through an oral, written, and...
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Thoreau and those he influenced
Eleventh graders work in groups and research assigned person using the internet and use print resources for DHS media center. They create a poster that shows possible connections to H.D. Thoreau's writings and philosophies, a short...
New York Public Library
What's for Lunch?: New York City Restaurant Menus
Do you remember the days when a cup of coffee cost five cents? At A.W. Dennett restaurant in 1894, you could buy a five-cent cup of coffee and as well as a five-cent slice of pie to accompany it. The menu from that year is a primary...
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Teams in the Field
Students conduct team interviews outside the classroom, either within the school or beyond, as part of a fieldwork project. They use reasoning skills as they formulate questions, plan, predict, hypothesize, and speculate about the...
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Are You Sure You've Got the Right Answer?
Young researchers work through the research cycle. They question, plan, gather, sort, synthesize, and evaluate the materials they collect at the library. There are web supplements for this lesson.
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Career Planning and Research
What do you want to do when you finish school? Most high schoolers have an idea of what they'd want to do, but little idea of how to achieve this goal. After researching a career of their choosing, learners identify qualifications,...
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Amazing Americans
First graders research amazing Americans during the first 100 years of American history. After a lecture/demo, 1st graders use a worksheet imbedded in this plan to write 2-4 sentences about 4 of the Americans presented in class.
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Planning the Persuasive Paper and Debate
Ninth graders work in pairs, using the big six research method, to research a controversial subject of their choosing, write a persuasive paper expressing their views, and then debate with other teams.
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Investigating Brass Instruments and Pitch
Students observe the sounds of different brass instruments in order to understand how to create different pitches. In this musical lesson, students create a "brass" instrument from everyday household objects. The students discuss the...