Wednesdays

My Wednesdays at the Bush School are spent with Jody, the Lower School Librarian:

The Wednesday schedule includes visits from two Kindergarten classes, two Second Grade classes, and two Third Grade classes–so the day is pretty full.

Last Wednesday, Jody had all the kids introduce themselves to me individually. They each told me one thing about themselves and were allowed to ask me one question. In response, I told them my favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird, my favorite color is blue and my favorite animals are my mom’s Border Collies (Max and Maggie). They also wanted to know how old I am (25) and what I’m learning in school (which was difficult to explain in brief).

Usually after we met in the story room the kids spend time finding books to check out. This is fun because it gives me a chance to exercise my readers’ advisory muscles and helps me get to know the library’s collection.

Today with the Third Graders we started teaching them how to use Bush’s library catalog. Jody taught a brief lesson about the different kinds of searches they could do (keyword, subject, title, author) and then the kids each picked a subject to search for. Some of them had some trouble when they got to the catalog. The big issues are:

1. Typing and spelling
2. Understanding their results
3. Locating specific books on the shelf

(I’ll try to address some of these problems next week when I teach a lesson on using the catalog.)

After the Third Grade classes, Kindergartners come in. Jody had me read them stories today. I picked Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears and The House that Jack Built for the first class. For the second class I did Mosquitoes again and then Epossumondas. Jody praised my story reading, which felt great. Here are some of the things I try to keep in mind when reading aloud to a group:

• Practice before you get up there so you can look away from the book sometimes.
• Looking at the kids regularly is important because it lets you know how you’re doing and keeps them from misbehaving too much.
• Use a clear voice and try to create character voices.
• Involve and engage the kids by asking questions like “What do you think is going to happen next?” or “Why did he do that?”
• Absolutely pick books that have big, dramatic illustrations (so the kids in the back can see them) and not too many words on a page (Mosquitoes is actually pushing the limit for Kindergarteners).

I had so much fun reading to the Kindergarten classes. Before I’m done at the Bush School I’m going to try some storytelling (i.e. telling without books) as well.

When the Second Graders arrived, Jody taught a lesson about classic tales and their variants. To illustrate her point, she showed the kids different versions of I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly and The Three Little Pigs. Then, as usual, I helped the kids find books to check out.