Collaboration Ideas
Collaboration Ideas
All of these activities involve collaboration between the librarian and the classroom teacher. All can be modified to fit individual needs and final outcomes.
ü Book-It: This is a collaborative effort between the LMS and the Language Arts teacher. It can be done with intermediate, middle, and high school students. Choice of books to be read is open and up to the individuals teaching. The Language teacher would introduce the initial book project, as well as hand out the project packets. Students will read a novel from a selection of novels and do projects that focus on the different story elements (theme, characters, mood, setting, etc.) The LMS will do book talks on the books available for the projects and students rank the books in the order that they would like to read them. After ranking the books, students will be placed in literature groups. The initial activity involves students gathering background information about the setting other events that occur in the novel. The LMS provides research assistance (pulling necessary books, book marking web sites) and the Language teacher provides the venue to which the students apply the information (answering discussion questions, roundtable discussion).
ü “Casey at the Bat”: This lesson idea can be a collaborative effort with almost anyone, depending on how one looks at or teaches the history of baseball or poetry. The LMS would read the poem, “Casey at the Bat,” while the classroom teacher would demonstrate/introduce FROZEN PICTURES. Frozen Pictures allows students to “act” out parts of a work by striking a pose in a position that represents the work itself. It can be done in stages throughout the body of a work or at the end of the work. The teacher will pick students to participate as the librarian reads the poem. A suggestion would be to have the librarian read the poem all the way through for all students and then read it again for the Frozen Pictures activity.
ü Digital Scavenger Hunt: Items needed for this activity are a digital camera, Power Point, and a multimedia projector for demonstrating. This activity is geared for grades 3-5. Students (in groups) will go on a scavenger hunt to find items that are in the library (they are given a list of items to find created by the LMS and/or the classroom teacher). Once the item is found, the students will take a digital picture of the item to later be used in a Power Point slide. Once the scavenger hunt is done and pictures are taken, the students will learn how to download the picture into a Power Point presentation, as well as create a Power Point presentation. When all presentations are done, students can share with the class.
ü Making Visualizations: This lesson can be done, again, at an intermediate to middle grade level and is done with a Language Arts teacher. This could be done during the teaching of poetry or just to teach kids descriptive writing. Read a poem that involves the five senses (Maya Angelou’s “I Love the Look of Words” is great for this activity). Once that has been read, discuss how the poem involves the five senses. Create a five senses chart for students to fill in for the next part of the activity. Distribute an Oreo to each student. The teacher and/or the LMS will go through each of the five senses and ask the kids to list what the Oreo brings to mind for each sense (leave tasting for last). Once the chart is filled out, have students share what they have brainstormed for each sense. Students will then write a descriptive paragraph about their Oreo Cookie experience. To close the lesson, read the poem of choice from the beginning of class again. Discuss further images and why visualization is important.
ü Copyright and Plagiarism: There are a multitude of activities to do with these two subjects. Activities about copyright and plagiarism can be done at any grade level and with any classroom teacher (it doesn’t have to subject specific, as a lot of teachers ask students to research at one point or another). Suggested activities are as follows:
o Provide definitions of copyright and plagiarism and discuss both and how they effect our daily lives (ie: downloading music from the Internet and burning CDs, putting research into papers, etc.)
o Role play a scenario: Two friends are discussing ideas for papers. Friend One steals Friend Two’s idea and uses it as her own. Friend Two discovers that her friend has stolen her idea and characters and must approach Friend One.
o Another scenario might be a kid discovers another student distributing and/or selling illegally downloaded/burned music to students at school and has to decide what to do.
o Have the kids do a copyright web quest. A couple of good ones are listed here: http://www.hazelwood.k12.mo.us/~jdarnell/webq/, http://www.edgerton.k12.wi.us/ms/Webquest/.
o Create a survey or a questionnaire for students to fill out about their knowledge of copyright and plagiarism.
o Teach students how to write bibliographies for their resources.
o Teach students how to take notes in their own words and how to present that information in a paper or presentation.
o Have students create collages that illustrate copyright laws and/or plagiarism.
ü “We Didn’t Start the Fire”: This song, by Billy Joel, highlights important historical events in our history. Here are two different activities that can be used with this song that involves collaboration.
o This project is a collaborative effort between the LMS and the Social Studies teacher. This is meant for high school aged students. Students will be given the lyrics to the song (the song will be playing as they enter the library). Students will research the events in each stanza of the song. Students will be put in groups and the groups will be assigned a stanza to research and present. The librarian will have book resources pulled for the students to use. Students will do research on the events and create written and oral presentations.
o This project is a collaborative effort between the LMS and the Language teacher and is meant for middle to high school aged students. The song can be used to introduce poetry. Students will see a Power Point presentation with all of the events pictured. The song will be played at the same time. Students will then be given the lyrics to the song and the teacher will give a brief background to the events. At this point, students will be assigned years to finish out the 20th century (the song stops at 1989) and students will research the events for their years and create stanzas (that rhyme) to complete the song (up to the year 2000). Again, the LMS will have book resources pulled and web sites like www.historychannel.com and www.cnn.com book marked for research.
o There is a site, www.teacheroz.com/fire.htm that is a link to all of the events in this song. Because it would make the first project too easy, the kids are limited to book resources.
Five Senses Chart
Topic/Observation: ______
Feel See Smell Hear Taste
Mini Project #1
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
1. BEFORE YOU READ: Based on the front and back cover, make FIVE predictions about the story. ____/10 points
2. Discuss this book’s GENRE and what elements make this GENRE up. Please write TWO sentences describing your discussion. ____/10 points
3. CREATE 6-7 open-ended discussion questions about your reading. ___/10 points
4. SOCIAL STUDIES ACTIVITY: During this time, you will need to divide up among your group to look up and take notes over the following: Civil Rights, racism/prejudice, Alabama church bombing of 1963
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
A. How does all of this FIT with the book, or help you to understand the book?
B. All of these things are a part of the setting and central issues in the book—how do your characters initially deal with them?
C. How does your main character see important issues? ____/30 points
PERSONAL RESPONSE: Please answer in ONE paragraph. ____/10 points
Do you think Kenny has a clue as to what is going on in the world around him?
Total Points: _____/70points
Mini Project #2
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
1. BUDDY JOURNAL: For this portion of the project, you will choose one person from your group to do a journal with. You will write back and forth (like a note) about your reading. You need to complete at least THREE journal entries. ____/25 points
2. Find a song that illustrates the mood or theme of the story. Please write one paragraph on why you chose this song. *Bring the song into share with your group! ____/25 points
PERSONAL RESPONSE: Please answer in ONE paragraph. ____/10 points
Does Kenny’s family seem real to you? Do you know people like Byron? What do you think of Byron? Why?
Total Points: ____/60 points
Mini Project #3
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
1. THEME: What THEMES are evident thus far? (Please list them)
____/10 points
2. SETTING: How does the setting change? Does the setting stay the same? What does the setting do for the story? Does it, at times, seem like a character? Explain. (AT LEAST ONE PARAGRAPH!!!)
____/10 points
3. MOOD: How do you feel as you read the story? Does the author do a good job at creating the mood and making you FEEL emotions? Explain. (AT LEAST ONE PARAGRAPH!!!) ____/10 points
4. HUMOR: Does humor exist and if so, how does it effect the story? Do you feel humor helps or hinders the story? Do appreciate humor? Explain. (AT LEAST ONE PARAGRAPH!!!) ____/20 points
5. ART—Connect-A-Scene: As a group, pick a sequence of scenes to illustrate. Each person will illustrate ONE scene that will connect other group member’s drawings. ____/25 points
PERSONAL RESPONSE: Please answer in ONE paragraph. ____/10 points
Christopher Paul Curtis uses humor to help his story along. Do you think that it is realistic humor? How, at this point, do you feel about the events that are unfolding in the novel? What would you do in Kenny’s shoes?
Total Points: ____/85 points
Mini Project #4
The Watsons Go to Birmingham
1. Revisit mini project #1. Tie your research into your reading. I want a THREE PARAGRAPH ESSAY on how what you initially learned fits into the following: SETTING, MOOD, and the SEQUENCE OF EVENTS. ____/25 points
2. STORY ELEMENTS CHART: Finish filling the chart out.
___/50 points
PERSONAL RESPONSE: Please answer in one paragraph. ____/10 points
What does Kenny learn throughout the course of the book? Do you feel Byron changes? Why or why not? What about the whole Watson family? Do you think that they have a better appreciation of each other? Why or why not? How does that day in Alabama change them?