Fiction Book Location:
A Five Part Unit for Second
Graders
By Angie Bates
• Each of the following lessons was done on
successive weeks.
• The lessons are done with second graders at
the end of the school year to help them
become more independent book finders in the
media center – objective 1.08
• Each lesson takes approximately 30 minutes to
complete, students will use the remaining
time in the media center to checkout books
Lesson One
• Review
– How books are ordered in the fiction section of
the library
alphabetical order by author’s last
name
– Which sections of the library have fiction books
and where they are located in the media center
– What is the information on the spine label called
call number
Lesson One (cont.)
• Instruction and Group Activity
– Review alphabetical order process when two or more
words begin with the same letter
– Have the students write their last names on a 3x9 strip
of paper and circle the first three letters of their name
– Set-up the scenario that the students are fiction
authors and they need to make a shelf label for their
book putting it in the “Everybody” section
– Have each student create his or her own call number
E
Sample for the last name
BAT
BATES
Lesson One (cont.)
• Group Activity (cont.)
– Students are sitting in six tables of four
• Have each table of four put their names in alphabetical order
• Next group two tables together and have the eight put their
names in alphabetical order
– Have the whole class put their names in alphabetical order
by:
• Call the first student from each table’s alphabetical list to the front
and have the class order them correctly
• Call the second student from each table’s list to the front and have
the class order them along with the previous group
• Continue calling student groups to the front until all the
students are in alphabetical order.
Lesson One (cont.)
• Independent Activity
– Have each student find the place in the Everybody
section where their book would go on the shelf
by:
• Have the children stand in the ‘Everybody’ section
where their call number would be found
• Have them stand as close to the spot where their call
number would be on the shelf as they can
• Call the children by the month of their birthdays to find
their place in the ‘Everybody’ section
• Check the students by having them hold up their paper
strip to be sure they are in the proper area
Lesson Two
• Review
– Review alphabetical order rules
– Review what is found on the spine label of a
fiction book in the Everybody and Fiction sections
• Independent Activity:
– Each student will complete two worksheets from
the 2004 Frank Schaffer publication, Complete
Library Skills for Grade K-2, pages 88 and 90
Lesson Two (cont.)
• Independent Activity (cont.)
– Worksheet Page 88
– Students are given 12 book titles and authors and asked to
make a call number for each book
– Students are asked to put the 12 call numbers in alphabetical
order
– Worksheet Page 90
– Students are given 15 books spines with call numbers and
asked to cut them out and glue them in the correct order on
shelves marked with the alphabet
– As the students work on each page, the media
specialist checks their work to be sure they are
completing the work correctly
Lesson Three
• Review
– What the call numbers on the spine mean
– What and “E” or and “F” at the top of the call
number means and where those books are
located in the library
– How books are placed on the shelves in
alphabetical order
– How many books might have the same call
number because the authors may have the same
first three letters in their names OR the same
author may have written several books
Lesson Three (cont.)
• Partner Activity
– The class is divided into pairs, students may chose
their own partners as long as the partners stay on
task, if not the specialist will need to rearrange
them
– Partners are given a strip of paper with two call
numbers one from the everybody section and one
from the regular fiction section for which they
must:
• Locate any book with that call number
• Record the title and author of the book
Lesson Three (cont.)
• Partner Activity (cont.)
• Once the partners have completed their slip, they need
to have it checked by the media specialist
• If they have completed the activity successfully, they
may attempt another call number slip until every
partner pair has successfully complete one slip
• If the partners return an incorrect slip, the media
specialist will help them locate the correct section of
the library where the call number would be found
Lesson Four
• Review
– How books are ordered in fiction section
– What the top letter of the call number means and
where each section is located
• Independent activity
– Students will work independently to complete an
activity very similar to the lesson three activity
except that the slips of paper will be contain two
call numbers and one author’s name
Lesson Four (cont.)
• Independent Activity (Cont.)
– Students will locate any book with the given call numbers and
record the title and author of the book
– Students will locate a book by the given author by first recording
the call number to look for, then locating any book by that
author and recording the title of the book
– The media specialist will monitor students as they move about
assisting students who need help locating call numbers or
authors
– As before, the media specialist will check the students
completed slips. If the student completed their slip correctly, he
may complete another until every one is successful or time is
over.
Lesson Five
• Review
– How books are ordered in the fiction section
– What the top letters of the call number mean and
where each section is located in the library
• Whole Group Lesson
– All students will receive a quick lesson on using
the OPAC to locate a book
– The media specialist will demonstrate typing in a
title to find the author and call number of a book
Lesson Five (cont.)
• Whole Group Lesson (cont.)
– The media specialist will demonstrate how to record
this information on the book strips to be used in the
activity
– Then the media specialist demonstrates finding the
particular book on the shelf, using a shelf marker to
keep the books place, and removing the book to show
it to the class
• Independent Activity
– The class will be divided into two groups
• Those that were successful during lesson four
– These will move on to lesson five with the media specialist
• Those that struggled during lesson four
– These will repeat lesson four with the media assistant
Lesson Five (cont.)
• Independent Activity (cont.)
– The media specialist will explain that each child
will have a turn at the OPAC and will locate one
book which he will bring to the media specialist to
be sure the correct book was found
– At this point, the media assistant will work with
the group that needs review finding books by call
number
– The specialist will bring students eight at a time to
the OPAC stations to being the process of locating
their book
Lesson Five (cont.)
• Independent Activity (cont.)
– Once a child has successfully found a book, he will
be paired with one of the students from the
review group and the pair will complete a book
slip together
– The “expert helper” will only give assistance in locating the
book if the other child asks or if the child gets ‘lost’ trying to
find the call number
– If no other child needs help as the “experts” complete their
task, they will be allowed to complete another book slip
• These lessons were taught to several
second grade classes by me under the
observation and supervision of the
media specialist.
• The lessons were so successful, the
media specialist said that she would like
a copy of the lesson plans to keep with
her log book because she would like to
do this set of lessons again next year.
• I was honored.