Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Kindle Survey

Greetings!
I belong to a group on Linked In for school librarians and one of the latest threads has been about Kindles or other e-readers and how other schools handle these in their libraries or if they even have Kindles in the library. It has been interesting to learn what other schools do with these e-readers. I’ve been wondering if it is worth getting some Kindles for my library and have been very interested in the pros and cons of the whole situation. I love learning from the experience of others so I don’t have to make their mistakes over and over.

What do you think about purchasing e-readers such as Kindle, Nook, or the Sony e-reader? Do you think it is a good idea, a bad idea, or are you indifferent? I would like your opinion on the following questions. Answer as many as you care to answer. I will compile your answers and give the statistics in a future email post.

1. Have you thought about purchasing e-readers for your library?
2. Do you see these as circulating items or for library use only?
3. What are the pros and cons of e-readers in the library for check-out purposes as you see it?
4. How do you handle students who bring their personal Kindle to school? Do you supervise their reading? Are they allowed to play games on them at school?
5. Do you or your teachers feel that monitoring e-readers might add an additional burden to your life?
6. Are your families ready for this step? Do you think it would be a positive addition to your program?
7. If you did decide to purchase e-readers for your school library, what would you see as the ideal ratio of students to e-readers?
8. Which e-reader would you consider purchasing and why? Kindle, Kindle Fire, Nook, Sony, other.

Thanks for any input you can give. I think it will be very interesting to learn how others feel about using e-readers in school.

I hope you have a great week. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Audrey

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Dewey Decimal Lesson

Greetings!
I am teaching the Dewey Decimal Classification system to our students here during library classes. It is a bit of a challenge, since very few of them think it is important to know this information. Since nearly all libraries the students will go into during their school years uses Dewey, it is something that they will use again and again, but many think it is boring. My assistant, Joy Palmer, uses a great method with the Kindergarteners and a few years ago I started using her method, too. We use hand signals to help them remember the hundreds.

The Dewey Decimal System is arranged a little like a person growing up.
100’s - Who Am I? (Psychology)
Finger Motion: Hold up one finger and point to yourself.
When we are little, we think only of ourselves. The books in this section have information that a person might want to know about himself. Books on my thoughts or how I feel would be included in this section.

200’s – Who is My God? (Religion)
Finger Motion: Hold up two fingers and point up toward heaven.
As we grow a little older we start to wonder where everyone came from. These books explain the world and how it was created. Books on religions are located here. (Also books on Mythology, but we don’t usually include these in our lessons!)

300’s – Who is My Neighbor? (Social Studies)
Finger Motion: Hold up three fingers and sweep horizontally across the classroom including everyone.
Once you learn about other people, you want to find out more about others. What do they do and where do they live? Books on careers, jobs, holidays, folktales are located here. These books are all about the social world.

400’s – How Do I Communicate With My Neighbor? (Languages)
Finger Motion: Hold up four fingers and put them to your lips. I wiggle them because kids like movement.
Now that we know something about other people, we might want to communicate with them. We need to learn their language, so books on other languages are here.

500’s – Man Sees the Things God Made. (Pure Science)
Finger Motion: Hold up five fingers and sweep the room with your hand as you say “Everything God made.”
Books on science and nature are in this section. We learn about the heavens, the animals, and the world God made.

600’s – Man is Lazy and Learns “How To’ Use the Science and Nature information to Work for Him. (Applied Science/Technology)
Finger Motion: Hold palm of one hand flat and use your index finger on the other hand as you would a tool to twist back and forth on palm. You have the five fingers of one hand plus the finger of the other hand to make six fingers.
Books on cars, airplanes, building bridges and other things, caring for your health, books on diseases, cookbooks, caring for pets; all these subjects are in here. This section is the “How To” section. The animal books are in the Pure science section, but caring for them (How To) is in the Applied Science section.

700’s – Man Enjoys Leisure Time. (Fine Arts)
Finger Motion: Palm of one hand is flat and the other hand used Index and middle finger as legs walking on the palm.
Since Man has learned to use science to work for him, he now has time to enjoy things like sports, crafts, music, drawing, and other hobbies.

800’s – Man is Vain and Likes to Tell Stories About Himself. (Literature)
Finger Motion: I could not think of a motion for this one. I just hold up eight fingers and tell them the section has stories and poems in it.

900’s – Man Likes to Leave a Record of His Doings, Goings, and Comings. (History, Geography, and Biography)
Finger Motion: Hold your fingers as if around a ball creating a ‘globe’ for geography.

000’s – General Information. This includes books like encyclopedias, media, newspapers, and books that have a lot of general information such as question and answer books.
Finger Motion: Hold up two fists (showing zero fingers) and say this is ‘General Junk’. You could use the term ‘General Information’, but the kids like the words ‘General Junk’ and they remember it which is the whole point.
This category has information that does not fit into just one Dewey number. For example, the encyclopedia has maps, history, science, biographies, and more. It can’t be cataloged into history because there is more than just history. Since there are so many kinds of information, it is cataloged in general information. Question and answer books also fit in this section. They have all kinds of information in them and there is no one place to catalog them, so they are general.

If you have computers available, older students may enjoy the Dewey quizzes I found online. After quiz one is done, then students can do a second and third one by clicking the links at the end of each quiz. The quizzes do not get more difficult with each quiz. http://breitlinks.com/deweychallenge/

This link helps students put Dewey books in the correct order. My Library Club members are really enjoying playing this. http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valmstrum/s2s/utopia/library4/src/library4.html

I hope these ideas help you with teaching Dewey to your kids. If any of you or your students come up with a great idea for a hand motion for the 800’s, please let me know.
Have a great week.
Audrey

Monday, February 13, 2012

New Books

Happy Valentine’s Day!

You are probably busy with parties, Valentines, and kids with sugar rushes, so I thought I’d find a few new books that might interest you. Be warned; there is no theme to this list. I just picked some books that are new to my library that I thought would be good for yours, too.

I just got this book, Ellen’s Broom, about a Black family during Reconstruction. The parents, former slaves, had been married by jumping the broom and have learned that they now can be legally married. The whole family goes to the courthouse for the marriage ceremony and they take the broom along.















I found this series of books published by ABDO Publishing to help kids get a job over vacations or during the summers. It is the Cool Kid Jobs set from the checkerboard How-To Library. Each book is arranged the same way and has lots of good information such as making a plan, setting realistic goals, getting permission, making business cards, a flyer, and a customer agreement. Each of these is tailored toward the particular subject the book covers. Then there is other information specific to the subject.

The book for kids who like kids includes ideas of what kind of job they might like to do such as hosting a weekly play group or craft club, a helper for a busy family (someone to play with their kids so the parent can get something else done), a coach’s helper, or putting on a puppet show or a play. Lots of hints and ideas for being safe and successful on the job are also given.

Most elementary students don’t realize how much responsibility is involved in getting a job These books point this out for the kids in a way that is helpful, but not preachy like a parent might be. On the page that describes the play group activity the sidebar has these ideas for the student while they are on the job. 1. Plan indoor and outdoor activities for each session. Then you’ll be ready if it’s too cold or rainy to go outside. 2. Think about games you enjoyed playing when you were younger. Will those games work in the space you have? 3. Pay equal attention to all of the kids. 4. Make sure everyone plays fair and gets a turn. 5. Some kids may have special needs, so take that into consideration. 6. Look for books on kids’ games at the library.









































Another book by ABDO Publishing is called “Super Simple Breakfasts” and all the breakfasts are easy and any recipe that needs cooking is done with a microwave and not an oven or stove. Cooking terms and measuring are described and pictured and an ingredient list is also included. If you have students who don’t always eat breakfast, this may be a way to encourage them.
I like the Breakfast in a Cone recipe. Mix cottage cheese, a little powdered sugar and chopped canned peaches together, put in a waffle cone bowl, top with a maraschino cherry and enjoy. The waffle sandwich looks like great recipe kids will like, too. Take two frozen waffles and toast them. Spread peanut butter on one half and top with sliced bananas. Spread jam on the other half and press the waffles together. Eat or wrap in aluminum foil for a ‘to-go’ breakfast.














“North” is the story of Arctic migration. This book included many animals that migrate every spring such as the gray whale, white cranes, wolves, and caribou. The watercolor illustrations by Patrick Benson are soft and realistic. It is appropriate for all ages.














Do you have any books by Deborah Hopkinson? She writes lots of historical picture books. ‘Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt’ and ‘Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek’ are two that may be in your libraries now. Her newest one is ‘A Boy Called Dickens’ about Charles Dickens’ childhood. As I was reading it, I realized that he probably wrote ‘Oliver Twist’ from experience.















I hope you have seen a few books that interest you. If you have any subjects or age levels that you would like suggestions for, let me know. I really love spending other people’s money!
Have a great week,
Audrey

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Religious Fiction

Greetings!

A couple of years ago I got a question regarding religious fiction and where best to place it in the library. It can be argued that it is religious, therefore it should go in the 200’s or it is fiction and should go in the 813’s.

First let’s define ‘religious fiction’. We have Bible stories about people from the Old and New Testaments such as Joseph, Dahveed, Mary and Martha, and others. Our ABC stores are full of titles like these and they are very interesting to read. I call these books Bible Biographies.

Religious Fiction could also be a story with a religious bent such as “If Tomorrow Comes” by Glen Robinson, or “Project Sunlight” by June Strong. Beverly Lewis writes stories about the Amish people with a religious undertone, and other writers such as Nancy Rue, Jeanette Oke, and Kay D. Rizzo also could be included in this category. I believe this kind of religious fiction should be cataloged as 813 since they are stories.

Worship stories or mission stories can also be religious fiction. You may also have religious stories such as “Guide’s Greatest Angel Stories”, or older story collections such as “The Green-eyed Monster” or “Mamma’s Bean Sweater”. (I loved both those books as a child.)

Where should you put these? Here is a suggestion for you. Put the Bible ‘biographies’ in 220.92. If you want Old Testament and New Testament stories separated, then put Old Testament stories in 221.92 and New Testament stories in 225.92. I would not bother separating these unless I had a lot of this kind of story or expected to add more as I was financially able.

Mission stories can be cataloged as 266. Collections of stories (the Guide stories and others) that aren’t mission stories go in 808.8. Devotional books belong in 242. If you have a lot of devotional books and wish to separate the devotional from the daily devotional books, daily devotional books are cataloged as 242.2. I would suggest keeping a few of the best devotionals and putting them all in 242.

In my blog, I have a post very similar to this one from September 2009 that you can also refer to for a little more explanation. Go to sdalibrarian.blogspot.com and click on 2009, then September and you will find it there.

So, where should you put religious fiction? I think the divisions I mentioned above and in my blog will best serve nearly all our SDA schools. When I go help a school catalog their library, I use those divisions. But, if you want to have all the Bible ‘biographies’ in the 813’s since they are stories, then feel free to catalog them there.

For a quick recap of this post:
220.92 Bible ‘Biographies’
OR 221.92 Old Testament stories
225.92 New Testament stories
242 Devotional books (242.2 - Daily devotionals, if desired)
266 Mission stories
813 Religious Fiction

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey