Evaluating Animal Nonfiction Book(s)
Created By:
Debora Lum
Title/Role:
School Librarian, retired
Organization/School Name:
Hawaii Association of School Librarians
Location:
Hawaii
Grade Level:
K, 1 Type of Lesson:
Lesson in a unit Type of Schedule:
Flexible Collaboration Continuum:
Moderate Content Area:
Language Arts, Science Content Topic:
Animal characteristics Scenario:
In preparation for their students' information gathering experience the kindergarten teachers and librarian meet.The teachers give the librarian a list of animals their children chose and a copy of their worksheet. The librarian suggests that the teacher develop a research word bank for the keywords in the worksheet questions. After the meeting the librarian previews resources for relevance and vocabulary the children will need. If the resources use terms that may be unfamiliar to the children, librarian asks teachers to prepare children for the new vocabulary.
When the students come to the library in small groups with their colored post-its, they will learn the process of browsing the nonfiction shelves using signage aids to locate their animal book. They will also learn how to use nonfiction text features and their research word bank to evaluate the relevance of their book.
Overview:
Concept: Evaluating the usefulness of a nonfiction book. Students will use a nonfiction book's spine, front cover, table of contents, and index with the help of their research word bank to determine the usefulness of their resource.
Essential question: How will you know that your nonfiction book will answer your questions about your animal? Final Product:
For this unit, teachers have different ways they want their children to share. Teachers' choices include: KidPix slides, diorama, poster, or models. Library Lesson:
Goals include:
• The title on the spine and front cover lets students know if the book will be about their animal. The picture on the front cover confirms their predictions about what the book will be about.
• Looking at the table of contents in beginning of the book and the index at the back gives students a quick idea whether the book will have answers to their questions. They try to find the terms in their research word banks in the table of contents and/or index. These parts of the books will tell students the page(s) they will find the answers to their questions.
• Look at the pages that should contain the terms from the research word bank. Estimated Lesson Time:
45 minutes Have you taught this lesson before:
Yes Strategies for differentiation:
The group size depends on several factors based on student disabilities and/or availability of resources. In some situations, groups are a balanced heterogenous combination so the more capable children can assist others in the group. Those with behavioral problems, requiring a lot of supervision will be in smaller groups. Finally, those choosing animals with little or no nonfiction books in our library are grouped together. This group will address the question, “So what else can we use/do to find the answers for our worksheet?” Depending on the responses, this group might be introduced to the kid-friendly specialized animal encyclopedia or appropriate educational Internet site. The process for reference or online resources remain the same, children identify the section(s) that answer their questions before a printout is made. Next children use a highlighter to identify where their research bank words are located in the printout.