Category Archives: Lessons

Getting Students Excited about Reading

Posted on November 22, 2011 by middletonb

I’ve been having problems getting one particular grade 4 class excited about reading when they come to the library. I tried book trailers and book talks but got a mediocre response. Either the books were too hard or I was way … Continue reading →

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What is a Caldecott Award?

Posted on November 21, 2011 by middletonb

For this lesson, I pull about 25 Caldecott medal books for an entire class. Students spend 5-10 minutes and browse through a book looking at pictures and trying to figure out the story. If they finish early they can pick another book. Using the whiteboard … Continue reading →

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Having Fun with Books

Posted on November 4, 2011 by middletonb

A group of kindergarteners bounced into the library like a bunch of baboons. Arms and legs seemed to be everywhere. One girl  did a spin before sitting down, reveling in the swish of her skirt. Another boy jumped before splatting … Continue reading →

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Author Letters

Posted on October 25, 2011 by middletonb

Grade 1 put wrote letters to the visiting author. I got this idea from Tara Etheridge’s blog. I modified it by having students use the Epson Brightlink interactive whiteboard but switched to paper because I needed to fill some bulletin … Continue reading →

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ABC Book with Foss Unit on Trees

Posted on October 25, 2011 by middletonb

Kindergarteners put together an ABC book based on a lesson in Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi’s book, Nonfiction Craft Lessons, and tied it in with the Foss Unit on trees. I printed off vocabulary words and photos to go with … Continue reading →

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Visual Stories

Posted on October 18, 2011 by middletonb

Grade 4 students created a visual story summarizing chapters from the book, Marshfield Dreams, by Ralph Fletcher. Students paired with their writing or reading partners after I read a chapter from the book. Each pair received a paragraph or less … Continue reading →

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Book Talks with iTouch

Posted on October 9, 2011 by middletonb

Visiting author, Ralph Fletcher, is coming to our school in two weeks. I had students in grade 5 get into 5 groups and read his picture books. They had to then create a book talk on the book they read. … Continue reading →

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Library Mouse Lesson

Posted on October 4, 2011 by middletonb

I read the book, The Library Mouse, by Daniel Kirk to grade 1 students. It’s about a mouse who writes and illustrates his own books then hides them in the library. After reading the book the students made their own … Continue reading →

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Video Book Trailers

Posted on April 17, 2011 by middletonb

I like to use video book trailers from Scholastic’s website (click on Exploring Books) to promote reading in the library. These book trailers are done professionally and are a great way to get students excited about reading. I thought students might enjoy … Continue reading →

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Art & Max: story mountains

Posted on March 27, 2011 by middletonb

This lesson involved students creating a story mountain from the book, Art & Max, by David Wiesner. A story mountain is a way to look at the structure of a story and examine how the story has a main character with hopes … Continue reading →

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