1. Fiction Book Location: A Five Part Unit for Second Graders
By Angie Bates

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. Lesson Two Review Independent Activity:
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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. Lesson Four Review Independent activity
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

13. 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.

14. Lesson Five Review Whole Group Lesson
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

15. Lesson Five (cont.) Whole Group Lesson (cont.) Independent Activity
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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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.