Seeing this tweet did help me think about this problem a little differently. There are definitely worse problems than having kids not return books at the end of the year. On the other hand, at $20 a pop…
Well, if I knew that the kids were keeping the books because they really loved them, as opposed to losing the books due to carelessness….
I totally agree. Although, given the fact that I’ve tried everything under the moon to get books back every year, might as well look for some silver lining.
Maybe one of these books will be discovered later, under the couch and covered in dust, and maybe… just maybe someone will read it.
We’ve only got about 120 books overdue at the moment. If I get half of those back, I’ll be thrilled. Still, the cost of replacing 60 books, will easily be $750.
Seeing this tweet did help me think about this problem a little differently. There are definitely worse problems than having kids not return books at the end of the year. On the other hand, at $20 a pop…
Finally starting to work on signs in my library. I’m using trifold display boards.
I haven’t had time to do much in the way of transitioning away from Dewey since the beginning of the school year, other than thinking about it. And I’ve thought about it a lot. I have some goals for this summer. So, as of now, we have our chapter books organized by genre and that’s all.
First up, is working on signs. I still have sheets of paper taped to the shelves from August. The way I’m doing it is a bit tedious, but I think it’s going to look great when I’m done.
I also want to figure out what to do with the 398s. Thoughts?
Finally, I’m going to redo our Reference collection. There’ll be lots of weeding and moving books to the NF collection.
I hope I can post some pictures in the next few weeks as classes end and I take off my teacher hat and put on the librarian one.
laughing-rabbit replied to your post: glitterinthevein answered your question: …
there needs to be some kind of workshop or something to teach kids how to use reference materials, and the like because, even in the age of the internet, thats not going away.
I think research skills are probably part of each state’s standards. That’s certainly true in Georgia. Here are some standards for fifth grade students:
- ELACC5RI7: Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
- ELACC5RI9: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
- ELACC5W7: Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
- ELACC5W8: Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.
- ELACC5W9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
glitterinthevein answered your question: Rethinking the Reference Section
Holy crap, I need a reference section. For kids, for teachers. Constantly. Wed be screwed w/out ours.
Just curious what level school you’re in. I’m in an elementary school. We do research and teach reference skills, but students rarely use the print encyclopedias. Each student has a Netbook and they use online resources. As for the other books in the reference section, they’re used even less often. Students would check them out if they could, but they’re not used how they might have been when I was a student in elementary school.
Do we even need a Reference Section? I’ve asked myself that several times this year. Our reference collection consists of three sets of encyclopedias, a set each of dictionaries and thesauruses, about 50ish nonfiction texts, a huge unabridged dictionary, and an equally huge atlas.
There’s one book about birds that will play the bird’s call. Kids ask about checking that one out sometimes and I always wonder why I say no. For the most part, I’m a rule follower. I assume there’s usually a good reason for a rule. Reference books don’t circulate. That’s the rule. But sometimes rules need rethinking.
What do you think? Do we need Reference Sections? If so, should those books circulate outside the library?
