Learning in the Library

This week Mrs. Gallagher’s fourth graders explored the delights contained in dictionaries. They discovered a wealth of information accompanying each entry: definitions, pronunciations, parts of speech, plural forms, word origins, words in sentences to show meanings, idioms, and an occasional illustration!  A dictionary, whether print or online, is valuable information source.

Ms. Oakes and Mrs. Bradbury’s fifth graders and Miss Spinney’s sixth graders learned about primary sources during their lessons.  First the students were shown examples of primary sources pertaining to World War I: a photo, recruitment poster, a soldier’s diary, a newspaper, an autobiography about the Red Baron, and a letter.  Then they explored the Library of Congress’ iBook Children’s Lives at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.  They explored the iBook’s collection of primary sources (photos, children’s books, a game, and a film) to learn what school, work, and fun was like for children around 1900. My, how things have changed!

All this month, we are focusing on different information sources.  Mrs. Allaire and Mrs. Labbe’s third graders were introduced to both print and online encyclopedia.  Mrs. Paradis’ fourth grades explored online dictionaries to discover the wealth of information found there.  Mrs. Brown’s sixth graders learned about primary sources.  They explored the collection of images, movie, and sample pages of books that make up the Library of Congress’ iBook Children’s Lives at the Turn of the Twentieth Century in order to learn what school, work, and fun was like for children around 1900. We discussed how things are the same and different today.

This month we are focusing on Information Seeking Strategies, Stage 2 of the Big6.  At this stage of the information problem-solving process, we brainstorm possible sources of information and select the best ones to help us with our task.  Each class is learning about information sources.

Mrs. Parnham’s third graders are doing animal research in the classroom.  I introduced the encyclopedia as a source of information.  We explored both a print and an online encyclopedia.  We saw how they are organized and learned how to access them.  The online encyclopedia, Britannica Online School Edition is available through the Maine State Library (MARVEL). Every student left with an encyclopedia article about his/her animal to use in the classroom.

Mrs. LaPointe’s fourth graders explored dictionaries and discovered the wealth of information found in them. Using a print dictionary and three different online dictionaries, the students learned that you can find a word’s definition(s), pronunciation, part(s) of speech, syllables, and history/origin as well as its synonyms and it use in a sentence!

Mrs. Meehan’s fifth graders and Mr. Harmon’s sixth graders learned about primary sources.  They used the  Library of Congress’ iBook Children’s Lives at the Turn of the Twentieth Century to learn what children did for school, chores/work, and play around 1900.  The iBook is a collection of photos, sections of children’s books, and an old movie of a baby parade.  The students compared their lives with what they observed in the primary sources and found some similarities and many differences!

Mrs. Paradis’s fourth graders participated in a lesson about being responsible when going online.  We discussed not sharing private information, going to appropriate sites, using strong passwords, etc. as each item in my Digital Citizenship Survival Kit was unpacked.  We tested passwords using the Password Meter and witnessed the permanency of things online with the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine and by doing a Google search of a person.  What we do online leaves behind a digital tattoo!

Mrs. Brown’s sixth graders focused on three informational sources during their lesson.  After an overview of the use and structure of a dictionary, a thesaurus, an encyclopedia, the students compared the results of a search of the same word in a dictionary and a thesaurus.  Next, they compared the results of a search of the same word in a dictionary and an encyclopedia.  Which resource is best for specific types of information was highlighted in each search.  The lesson ended with a Kahoot! Quiz on determining which resources is best in various scenarios.