Grade 4 Social Studies on the Visual Tab

Grade 4 is currently studying a social studies unit called, Connections to History. The essential question for this unit is,

How do geography and people connect to build a nation?

Our fourth graders will focus this question by looking at Native Americans and specifically their settlements, use of resources like food, shelter and clothing, and cultural traditions. One of the projects that will track their learning throughout the unit is going to be a multi-layered map that will show Native American nations geographical regions and movement. We started that map today. 

Students came to the library to start on the map project and also to review the steps of the Big 6 research model. The Big 6 is an useful model to use when embarking on an academic task. More information on it can be found here.

The map that we created today is a physical map. It shows the landform regions of the US. Students accessed the Visual Tab to see the map they would be duplicating on paper. 

(To access the Visual Tab, visit the library catalog, then click on the tab marked "Visual." From there, click on CAC Units of Study, and then follow the picture clues to the grade level and unit you need. There are resources for most social studies and science units in grades 2 to 5, as well as links to poetry websites, mathematics websites including Mathletics, online newspapers for children, and much more. Go ahead and explore. If you would like a guided tour, please contact me at the library.)

The Visual Tab page for the grade 4 Connections to History unit looks like this. The map we reproduced today can be found by clicking the button "Map USA-Landforms."

The resources linked here include books from our library catalog, links to database articles from Britannica Online and TrueFlix, and websites. To access Britannica and TrueFlix, students will need to log in. Their teachers should have given them the log in credentials, but those can also be found by logging in to the ES library catalog. All g3 to g5 students have been taught how to do that. If they cannot remember, please contact the ES librarian, Mrs. Fitzgerald. 

Speed Dating with Books

Grade 5 is focusing on author studies for their reading workshop unit. Each has to choose one author and read at least 2 books by that author. Ms. Kasal, the grade 5 team leader, asked me for a book talk to help students choose a great author to concentrate on.

Last year, I presented a traditional book talk, where I showed a dozen books and gave rapid-fire highlights for each author. At the end of the 20 minutes, students were to choose a book to start their author study. I was disappointed when many of the students found excuses for not choosing any of the authors or titles I had presented. I was determined to do a better job of hooking them.

With the goal of 100% engagement in mind, I decided this year to structure the book talk in a speed dating format. This way, instead of listening to me speak for 20 minutes, each student previewed books by different authors. At the end of 30 minutes, each had checked out at least one book from an author and had previewed 5 books from 5 different authors.

Authors were set up as stations with a poster (created on Canva) and a selection of chapter books. The authors I presented were: Avi, Sharon Creech, Andrew Clements, Sid Fleischman, Patricia Reilly Giff, Patricia Maclachlan, Gary Paulsen, Linda Sue Park, Louis Sachar and Jerry Spinelli.

A sample of the author posters I created for this speed book dating. I used Canva.com.

These authors were chosen because they have a large and varied collection of books - and we have many of them in our library - and because they are great writers who will challenge students to think deeply about their reading. 

Students had 30 seconds to choose an author and then 2 minutes to preview a book by that author.  They each had a sheet for notes on the book. They wrote down notes to themselves about the book they were previewing and rated the books on the sheet on their desire to read them. Find the sheet here.  (At the bottom of the sheet is a link to a programmable online timer.)

Each student checked out at least one book at the end of the session. The sheet also gave students the chance to indicate they wanted a hold on a particular title. 

All in all, it went very well. Our fifth grade students were very vocal by the mention of dating, but thrilled to be considered grown up enough. Even the reluctant readers were engaged and all left with a book to try. They also have a short list of 4 other books to try if the title they checked out at the end of the speed dating didn't suit. 

The next time I try speed book dating, I'll include time at the end for students to compare notes. That could increase their exposure to authors and titles they might not have had time to look at. I would also like to include more diverse authors and perhaps picture books, as many of the authors above also write picture books. Last but not least, I'll create a resource list so that I can track the circulation of the books included in the book talk. 

Recommended Book Lists on the Visual Tab

The Visual Tab of our library catalog is where we gather all sorts of resources for the CAC community. One of these resources is our selection of book lists.

CAC was fortunate to have a visit last week from literacy consultant, Christy Curran. Her presentation to parents on how to encourage children to read was well attended and filled with excellent advice.

One of the tip that most resonated with me was about "reading to your children, with your children and reading along with your children." My children are teenagers now, but we spent a lot of time reading together when they were little. I wish we hadn't stopped! Our reading time was special.

One happy benefit of our early reading life is that my 17-year-old son has started recommending great books to me. So far I've read The Martian, Wool and Ready Player One thanks to him. I've loved them all, but what I've loved even more are the discussions we've had about the books.

Receiving recommendations from others is a great way to discover new authors and genres. The library catalog has collected several lists recommending books on its Visual Tab. Click here to go directly to the Visual Tab Book Lists page.  Continue reading below for instructions in how to get there.

To access the library catalog's Visual Tab,

1. navigate to the library catalog. (We recommend bookmarking it on your browser.) http://cacegypt.org
2. Select the elementary library catalog. 
3. Click on the tab marked Visual on the main search page.
4. Click on the "Book Lists" button. 

You will see links from the American Library Association as well as lists of US and UK award winners. All of these include quality literature for children. We have most of the titles featured on those lists. 

Also on the Book List page are two websites: Common Sense Media and the Scholastic Parents' page. These offer recommendations by age. The Common Sense Media website includes reviews on books, movies, apps and other media. One thing that I like about the Common Sense Media site is that for each of the books (or movies, apps, etc.) it includes a section called "Families Can Talk About..." which lists discussion points for the book. 

The Scholastic Parents' site includes recommended lists by age here, and lots of resources to help with homework. 

Please note that including these two sites in this blog post does not constitute CAC endorsement for either. They are offered only as an additional resource.