Lessons on Library Rules

In week 1, I tried to think of a fun vehicle for delivering the rules message, but in week 2, I wanted to actually make sure that the message had gotten across.

Regardless of which video students watched (Pigeon for K-1, Despicable Me for 2-5), we started off class reviewing some of the rules that had been featured. Students did a great job remembering what we had talked about, even a week later.

But how to really reinforce the message? I devised games for the older classes, and continued with read-alouds for the younger grades.

Kindergartners heard an adorable book, Read it, Don't Eat It, by Ian Schoenherr. It's a simple story, but offers lots of natural pauses for students to understand the rule and talk about why it is important in the library. Bonus: HarperCollins provided several reproducible extension activities. We worked on the matching worksheet together, using my document scanner.

1st Grade heard Shelf Elf, a library classic by Jackie Mims Hopkins. We practiced using shelf markers, and being good library helpers when we are browsing for books. 1st graders got their first chance to check out books, which they were very excited about.

2nd and 3rd Grades demonstrated their knowledge of library rules and book care with a game of library bingo (loved this site for helping me create customized bingo sheets for free!)

4th and 5th Grades played Library Jeopardy! Each class was grouped in 4 teams and they were able to work through all the clues to show that they had paid attention last week. Some students were a smidge more competitive than others, but everyone seemed to get into it. Was grateful to the folks over at Elementary Librarian (this has certainly been a useful subscription thus far) for the idea, which I was able to tweak to fit my library's needs.

Play at home and test your knowledge!