Visual literacy in 5th grade

Visual literacy is a critical skill in the 21st century, defined by the Association of College and Research Libraries as follows:

"Visual literacy is a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. Visual literacy skills equip a learner to understand and analyze the contextual, cultural, ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, and technical components involved in the production and use of visual materials. A visually literate individual is both a critical consumer of visual media and a competent contributor to a body of shared knowledge and culture."

Visual literacy played a major part in helping historian Scott Reynolds Nelson crack the mystery of the historical figure behind the tall tale as revealed in Ain't Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry, the young readers' version of his fantastic work of historical detection, Steel Drivin' Man.

The New York Times' Learning Blog runs a feature called What's Going on in this Picture? to help educators cultivate this skill. During our 5th grade Information Literacy classes we've been using their images to engage in online discussions that not only develop visual literacy, but also help students learn and practice appropriate digital citizenship skills.

Below are a few excerpts from our discussion of the photo above. The online format highlights a strength of technology: it allows all students to have a voice, including those who might be reluctant to speak up in a face-to-face discussion, and those who prefer more time to think before making a contribution. Students can build on one another's responses even after some have moved on to other thoughts. They also see that asking thoughtful questions is in itself a valuable contribution - it's not just about having answers!

"The two people are kind of on a Segway, why?"

"I wonder why one of the guys is barefoot. It looks like that he's either getting ready for a track meet or he's done with the track meet."

"I think that Usain Bolt accidentally tripped on the camera man and when this photo was taken it was probably in London in 2012 because his claim to fame is from the Olympics and the most recent one was in London. and by the clarity of the photo I can tell it was recent."

"Why are his cleats in his hands? Ideas?"

"I think that the camera man had the wheelie thing and was using it to video the athletic guy that was playing the sport. I think this happened after the race/competition/sport, because the athletic-looking person is holding his shoes, meaning he is either about to or just finished a race. He may have been playing on grass, because it looks like he has cleats. I think the man riding was riding because of his legs' positions."

"I think there's some kind of race going on, because the people are really sweaty, and they seem to be putting a lot of effort in. Also, I'm wondering what the big thing attached to the eyes of the guy who seems to be falling. Anyone have an idea?"

"I think the guy that has athletic wear is playing some Olympic sport. I think this because he is wearing Jamaican colors and has Jamaica written on his shirt. I think the other guy is a camera man who is filming the sport, because he has a big camera."

4th graders rescue books!

Two conference sessions - one by school librarian April Bunn at AASL and one by Yong Zhao at NWAIS - inspired our 4th grade Lonely Book project. As Zhao said in another keynote,

“First, a good project has to have an authentic audience, an authentic purpose. When students create anything, it has to matter to someone. It has to touch emotions.” Through project experiences... “students have to learn to understand their own strengths and weaknesses so they can seek partnership with someone else.” Finally... “a project has to help a student understand someone else’s needs.”

First, students talked about how they choose books to read - what makes a book appealing and why? Next, they read sample professional reviews and learned about the typical structure of a book review (a brief plot summary followed by evaluative comments that include a recommended audience). This was new to most of them - and they now have a new way of deciding which books they might want to read as they browse library catalogs or online bookstores.

Second, they selected "lonely books," ones that have not been checked out as much as they deserve, wrote and peer-edited reviews, and designed new covers they thought would be appealing to other students. They then hid the original covers under wrapping paper to make them more tantalizing.


For the final stage of the project, we will read the books and reviews to younger students and ask them to vote on their fate. If a book gets more "no" than "yes" votes, it will be discarded from our collection. Students became very attached to their books - and that fueled their motivation to write engaging reviews and design appealing covers that will encourage their audiences to give them a try.

This project included an authentic audience and purpose, and it required 4th graders to think about the needs and interests of Kindergarten through 3rd graders. The Library Learning Commons was a happy buzz of activity throughout, and emotion has also played a role, as they wait in anticipation to hear the final verdict on the books they chose to promote!

Our Celtic cultural unit

Every year from September until winter break we focus in K-3 library classes on one part of the world in an in-depth cultural unit. Why not sample a broader range of books? We specialize because it helps students develop a deeper and more meaningful understanding of that region, its history and geography, ways of life, holidays, and so on. In the past we've learned about West Africa and Latin America, among other places, referring frequently to maps and flags, and enjoying realistic fiction, folklore and nonfiction. This year's area of focus is the Celtic countries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales!

I was fortunate enough to attend a spectacular high school in Wales where I developed a taste for black pudding and Marmite, made personal connections that persist to this day, and became acquainted with other Celtic cultures as well. I'm pleased to share what I've learned through some wonderful literature - but it's even nicer when students can connect lessons to their own heritage and interests.

This week several classes will be fortunate enough to experience a step dance performance by one of our 3rd graders who danced for us in the library to several lively Irish tunes:

 

She explained a lot about Irish dancing and how she got started, answered questions from the audience, and showed us a PowerPoint presentation she created about step dancing and her personal connection to Ireland:

 

It was a wonderful experience that was a huge hit with her schoolmates! This young woman shared her belief that champions are "made, not born" and described her dedicated daily practice in pursuit of her goal of excellence.

If you have a child in grades K-3, ask him or her to explain selkies, wee folk, and what the legends say about why there are no snakes in Ireland!

Check out the fantastic works of Susan Cooper, from Celtic folktale picture books to chapter books for older readers, such as her Dark is Rising series, set in Wales and Cornwall (another Celtic land). Two great Irish writers are Siobhan Dowd, for middle and high school, and Derek Landy for upper elementary and middle school. Gill Lewis is a Scottish veterinarian whose animal- and nature-themed chapter books are brilliant for middle grade readers.

Nonfiction book presentation for 5th grade

Welcome back to school!

This month 5th graders will be reading a nonfiction book for their monthly book presentation for Ms. Russell's class. Qualifying books will have more than 40 pages that are primarily text, and will not be biographies. Science books must have been published during or after 2006. No duplication is allowed (each 5th grader must select a unique title).

Books need to be selected by Monday, September 19th.

Students may stop by the library learning commons to select an appropriate book from the 5th grade “genre of the month” shelf. If you prefer to borrow books from the public library instead, you can check out some recommended authors and websites below. Make sure you evaluate all titles in terms of age appropriateness as well as whether they meet the parameters Ms. Russell has set.

Suggested authors:
Rhoda Blumberg
Russell Freedman
Sy Montgomery (please note that she writes for both adults and young people)

Suggested websites:
Classic Non-fiction from the TeenZone at KCLS

The Sibert Medal, an award for exceptional non-fiction given by the American Library Association (which also gives out the Caldecott & Newbery Medals)

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 offers detailed annotated lists for those who enjoy science.

The Cooperative Children's Book Center has numerous reading lists, many of which focus on non-fiction. Select first by grade level, then by topic.

What's going on in 5th grade?

Rounding out our recent survey of what's happening at various grace levels, 5th graders have been learning about RADCAB. This handy acronym helps students consider whether a particular website suits their needs or not.

Relevancy (Is it related to what I want to know?)
Appropriateness (Is the reading level just right for me? Is the content appropriate for someone my age?)
Detail (Are there page headings or a site map to help me find what I need? What about a works cited page or a search engine? Is the site too general or too specific for me, or just right?)
Currency (How recently was this website updated?)
Authority (Who wrote the content for this site and how do I know whether I can trust him or her?)
Bias (What viewpoint was this information written from?)

Each week we've looked at a different aspect of RADCAB and discussed it as a group. Next, students explored the websites individually trying to determine on their own where the "mission statement" or "last updated" or "about the authors" or "contact us" sections of the site were, among other things.

Finally, we again got together to review as a class the areas that were most challenging for the majority of students, visiting many of the websites in question to help clear up any difficulties.

If you ever search the web with your student, I strongly suggest you work together to think about and discuss each of these points above. This will help him or her with future online research and also contribute to his or her general information literacy. These are valuable skills to have when reading news stories, watching advertisements on TV or listening to debates.

What's going on in 4th grade?

Fourth graders continue to practice important information literacy skills during library classes that help them locate information more efficiently whether they are searching for books in a library catalog, articles in a database for a homework assignment, or websites in a search engine just for fun.

Unlike the days of hunting high and low to find enough information for your needs, today we all face the opposite challenge: too much information is out there and at times it threatens to overwhelm us!

Two of the most important skills students need to acquire are efficient search techniques and the ability to evaluate the quality of the content they retrieve.

We have been focusing on the former skill during library classes as students have practiced using search engines to locate answers to specific questions (such as the most popular dog breeds in Seattle or the top tourist destinations in the United States). They have also searched the library catalog for books that might interest a classmate, following a brief interview about his/her reading tastes.

These exercises have shown how challenging such relatively basic tasks can be for students of this age. One challenge is spelling! Another is being able to search in a flexible way. If your first search doesn't work (and is spelled correctly!), what other keywords could you try before deciding that the database has "nothing" about your topic or that there just aren't any good websites out there? We've focused on brainstorming a variety of related keywords to help make this type of flexible thinking a habit.

Take a look at my past blog posts on the topic of research to find out more!

What's going on in 2nd and 3rd grades?

Recently 2nd and 3rd grades have been enjoying books about individuals who struggled to overcome hardship in pursuit of their dreams. Most of the books we've been reading have been biographies - a genre which has come a long, long way since the rather dry books many of us parents and teachers remember reading as kids!

These days there are captivating, richly illustrated biographies of individuals both famous and not-so-famous. One thing their stories all have in common is persistence in the face of what can seem like insurmountable odds!

Students were fascinated to learn about Billy Wong, the Arizona-born son of Chinese immigrants who became El Chino, a famous bullfighter in Spain. Noted Japanese American author and artist, Allen Say, writes that Wong's "search for self-identity became the inspirational force for the story."

This was a theme at work in the story of Wilma Rudolph as well. Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull tells the remarkable tale of her triumph over debilitating diseases to become one of the greatest athletes of her time.

The public library's biography reading lists for kids and teens will help you find more great books to enjoy at home!

What's going on in Kindergarten and 1st Grade?

Kindergarten and first graders have been enjoying our new unit on noodlehead stories! Noodlehead tales poke gentle fun at individuals - or sometimes entire villages, such as Chelm or Gotham - who behave in a silly manner.

In addition to providing a lot of good laughs, sharing these tales from around the world reinforces a bit of geography (we start every story with a look at the globe) and reminds students of some of the universalities of human culture. They are starting to notice commonalities between, for example, a noodlehead situation in a Goha story from the Middle East, a Cajun story from Louisiana and a story from England.

I am also combining reading books with storytelling - which of course is the way that stories were primarily transmitted from generation to generation long before the written word! Storytelling is enjoying something of a rebirth in popularity at the moment and I find that students respond eagerly to the immediacy and physicality of it.

If you'd like to enjoy more noodlehead stories at home, you can do a web search and find many sites that list them. Noodleheads: The Wisdom of Fools is a favorite of mine which lists many great books.

Non-fiction book report for 5th grade

This month 5th graders will be reading a non-fiction book for Ms. Russell's class. In addition to their book report, they will be working on their research skills in library class by researching the topic of their chosen book using online databases.

Students will have time to select from non-fiction books in our school library. If you wish to borrow from the public library instead, you can check out some recommended authors and websites below. Make sure you evaluate all titles in terms of age appropriateness as well as whether they meet the parameters Ms. Russell has set.

Rhoda Blumberg
Russell Freedman
Sy Montgomery

Classic Non-fiction from the TeenZone at KCLS

The Sibert Medal, an award for exceptional non-fiction given by the American Library Association (which also gives out the Caldecott & Newbery Medals).

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 offers detailed annotated lists for those who enjoy science.

The Cooperative Children's Book Center has numerous reading lists, many of which focus on non-fiction. Select first by grade level, then by topic.

May book report ideas for 5th grade

For their May book reports, 5th graders must read a book published before 1900 (though Ms. Russell is willing to make exceptions for a few published soon after the turn of the century).

To help you get started, I have listed a few suggestions below (the E. Nesbit and George MacDonald books are my personal favorites!) as well as a way you can search an online library catalog for additional titles.

Louisa May Alcott - Little Women (1868) & Little Men (1871)
Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol (1843)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes books: A Study in Scarlet (1887), The Sign of Four (1890), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
George MacDonald - The Princess and the Goblin (1872)
E. Nesbit - Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1904) & The Railway Children (1906)
Howard Pyle - The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883)
Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island (1883)

WorldCat is another source of reading suggestions. Anyone may set up a free account and save search results and lists. You can then use these results to find the book at your local public library or bookstore (or search for the full text online, since the copyright has expired for these older titles).

In WorldCat, click on the advanced search option. Next, type a space and then an asterisk ( *) for the keyword. Leave the title and author fields blank. Finally, limit the dates for your search (e.g. 1850-1899). Choose "juvenile" for the audience, select the type of content (i.e. "fiction"), format ("book") and language of choice.

Be warned: you will get thousands of results! However, most of the pre-1900 literature we are commonly aware of and consider classics today was written for adults and may be too challenging for students of this age. This search will help you find children's books from the appropriate time period.

Multicultural families

As a child growing up in a multicultural family (Greek-Japanese-American), I read voraciously but never once encountered a family in fiction who resembled my own in any way. Fortunately things have changed and today's students have access to more books that reflect the reality of many families today.

In kindergarten and first grade we have embarked on a unit of reading books about families where the parents come from different religious, cultural or ethnic backgrounds, or in which children are growing up in a culture that differs from that of their parents.

Students have responded enthusiastically to these books! The first book we read was about a girl growing up in an interfaith family celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas. In one class, five children indicated that they also had one Jewish and one Christian parent, and they were thrilled to see this aspect of their lives reflected in literature as well as to share their own holiday stories.

Below is a partial book list as well as a link to a website that lists a few more books. Happy reading!

Picture books:
I Love Saturdays y domingos by Alma Flor Ada
Black is Brown is Tan by Arnold Adoff
My Two Grannies by Floella Benjamin
Oscar's Half Birthday by Bob Graham
Two Mrs. Gibsons by Toyomi Igus
Romina’s Rangoli by Malathi Michelle Iyengar
Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan
Yoshiko and the Foreigner by Mimi Otey Little
Light the Lights by Margaret Moorman
My Two Grandmothers by Effin Older
Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
Tree of Cranes by Allen Say

Chapter books:
Bindi Babes by Narinder Dhami
Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It by Sundee Frazier
Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye
Half and Half by Lensey Namioka
Homesick by Jean Fritz
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord
The Lionboy Trilogy by Zizou Corder
Looking for Bapu by Anjali Banerjee
Lowji Discovers America by Candace Fleming
Maya Running by Anjali Banerjee
Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park

A great website with recommended reading:

Interracial Family Themes in Picture Books

KCLS cards for all second graders!

Next Thursday during library classes, 2nd grade student will receive their own King County Library System card! This will allow them to borrow some of the millions of books, magazines, DVDs and other resources available through our impressive local library system. They will also be able to access an incredible array of online databases which are full of useful information for homework as well as just for fun (language learning, history, world cultures, science, etc.).

Before students can use their cards they must be activated in person at one of the many KCLS locations. Children must be accompanied by a parent who has a photo ID and proof of residence in King County (e.g. a utility bill). An information sheet with details will accompany each card and stretchy wrist band.

Students who already have a public library card need not take another one, but may do so if they wish. The cards are not activated so bringing one home will not affect an existing account.

Please feel free to contact the school library (library at ows dot org) if you have any questions!

Fifth grade's February genre: poetry!

Fifth grade students have been assigned by Ms. Russell to read a book of poetry next month. If you need help finding a good book, try the following:

• Browse in the 811 (poetry) section of the school or public library
• Words to Share: A Bibliography of Poetry for Children and Teens
• Poetry Month Booklist
• KidsPage Poetry Booklist at KCLS
• TeenZone Poetry Booklist at KCLS

A wonderful book to check out, my very favorite personal guide to enjoying poetry, is Immersed in Verse: An Informative, Slightly Irreverent & Totally Tremendous Guide to Living the Poet's Life by Alan Wolf and Tuesday Mourning. Full of advice, examples and humor this book will forever enhance your experiences with poetry.

Student picks: 2nd & 3rd graders in the spotlight!

In past years we have featured staff picks to promote books. The display shows a photograph of a staff member holding a favorite book, their review, and the book itself, naturally! This has been a fun way to encourage students to read books they might not otherwise have picked up (e.g. classics from a teacher's childhood) as well as for them to see that their teachers keep up with current releases and enjoy a lot of the same books they do!

Take a look at this example from Mrs. Spadoni, one of our 2nd grade teachers:

Ms. Spadoni recommends: The Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Treasury by Betty Bard MacDonald

My favorite books are in the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle collection. There are three great books in this collection, and they’re all wonderful! When I was young, I loved reading about all of the “naughty” children and the funny ideas that Mrs. Piggle Wiggle would come up with to fix the problem. This is a great book for all of you who may need the Won’t-Pick-Up-Your-Room cure, or the Picky-Eater cure!

Starting this month we are offering 2nd and 3rd grade students the opportunity to be featured as the student pick of the week. This is an optional activity that students may participate in if they are interested.

All they have to do is:

• Choose a book or series they have read and loved and that we have in our school library.


• Write a brief review at home that explains why they liked the book and who they would recommend it for (e.g. Harry Potter fans, people who like ghost stories, etc.).

Students may bring their reviews to me during their regular library class time and I will take their photo as they pose with the book. The photo, review and book(s) will be on display in the library (NOT on the blog!) for other students to read and enjoy.

We will rotate the student picks periodically, with the frequency and duration depending on how many we receive.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Happy reading and reviewing!

What's new in K-3

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a restful and rejuvenating winter break. I got to catch up on my reading, both with actual and audio books, as I relaxed with my knitting and some nice books on cd.

Now we are back at school, students in kindergarten through third grade are moving on from our Germany unit to the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award. Each year a committee of librarians from the Washington Library Media Association chooses 20 finalists from a list of books nominated by elementary school librarians. I was excited to see that one of my nominations, Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival by Kirby Larson, made it onto this year's list!

After reading all 20 nominees in library class, students will get to vote for their favorites, joining over 100,000 young people all over Washington state. It is an interesting exercise in book selection and making one's own choices (rather than going along with the crowd or one's best friend). We also talk about the difference between this award and other ones, such as the Caldecott, which is selected by a committee of adults rather than by the popular vote of children!

Second and third graders also continue to explore the library via the Dewey Decimal Classfication system. It is an exercise which has both immediate practical consequences (enhancing students' use of both public and school libraries) and future benefits (laying a foundation for understanding the organization of knowledge in other contexts, such as print and online reference sources).

One side effect of exploring the DDC has been an increased interest in books that otherwise had not drawn much attention. When I pulled examples of books from the 400s to show to third graders, they were eager to borrow Lynne Truss's humorous guides to punctuation, sign language handbooks, bilingual books, and other materials that they had not previously asked for independently. My hope is that once we've made it through the entire library, many of them will to continue to read broadly and explore new topics.