"Off To The Races" Familiarize Students With The Media Center

Students become familiar with the various sections of the media center and learn the value of teamwork through a kinesthetic scavenger-hunt approach.

A lesson plan for grades 4–5 Information Skills

By Robin Boltz

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Learning outcomes

At the end of the lesson the student will be able to successfully locate resources in the media center without assistance, thereby becoming a self-sufficient user of information.

Students will learn the value of teamwork to solve information problems.

The lesson can also be used as a preassessment tool for new media specialists or those with new schools to learn the scope of skills which need to be taught.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

40 Minutes

Materials/resources

• Race track marked off on the media center floor with masking tape.
• Matchbox or Hot Wheels-type car for each team.

At least eight sets of seven questions to be answered, and old catalog cards or pieces of paper to write them on.

• Pencils for students to write down the answers.
• Whiteboard or chalk board to demonstrate OPAC or card catalog.
• OPAC or card catalog.

Technology resources

At least one computer with an Internet connection can be a part of this lesson, but it is not vital.

OPAC if media center is automated.

Pre-activities

Students should be familiar with the basic layout of the media center and should be familiar with: the reference section, the fiction section, the nonfiction section, the OPAC or card catalog and the periodicals section. If you choose to use the question about Dewey Decimal category, they should have had basic instruction on Dewey. If you choose to use the web site question, they should know how to access a bookmarked site, and you should bookmark the site/s you wish them to access.

Divide the students into heterogeneous groups of three to five students each. The groups all need as close to the same number of students as possible.

Activities

1. The library teacher prepares at least eight sets of seven different questions about resources in the library, and then writes them on individual pieces of paper or old catalog cards:
   
   • find a specific fiction book from the stacks
   • find a specific nonfiction book from the stacks
   • find a specific article in an encyclopedia and write down the number of the page it’s on and the encyclopedia where you found it
   • find a specific author on the OPAC or in the card catalog and write down whether the library has more fiction or nonfiction books by that author OR look up a specific subject in the OPAC or card catalog and write down the call number and title of one book about the subject
   • write down a headline from today’s newspaper
   • look up a specific word in the dictionary and write down it’s first definition
   • in what Dewey category would I find a book on…(the Civil War, poetry, etc.). If you have a computer or computers with Internet access, a question about a specific website can be added.

   Number each set of cards with the team number so that you can keep track of the teams as they bring you answers.

2. Mark off a race track with as many lanes as you have groups of students, and into as many segments as you have questions; it looks like a grid when it’s finished.
3. If the students are not familiar with the use of the OPAC or card catalog, use the whiteboard or chalkboard to demonstrate how to look up an author or subject.
4. Assign each team a number that correlates with your numbered cards, and then give them a car to place on the starting line at their number.
5. Hand out the packs of question cards to each team. They decide whether they want to divide the questions between the members, or whether the entire group works on each question.
6. As a group, the team is responsible for correctly answering each question and bringing the answer to the library teacher or assistant. Each correct answer advances the team’s car one space on the race track. Each incorrect answer moves the car back one space. Too much noise or horseplay also causes the team’s car to move back.
7. The first group over the finish line wins the race, but each team must keep working until all their questions are answered.

Assessment

Each team must complete the entire series of questions and answer them correctly. Individuals are scored according to the rubric below.

UNACCEPTABLE: The individual student takes little or no interest in the group project and is a distraction to the rest of the group.
BEGINNING: The individual student takes some interest in the group project and attempts to contribute to the team.
ACCOMPLISHED: The individual student takes interest in the group project and contributes correct answers to the team.
EXEMPLARY: The individual student takes interest in the group project, contributes correct answers, and can explain how and where they obtained the answer to the other team members.

Supplemental information

Here is an example of the questions I use for one team:

• Where in the library (Dewey Section) can I find a book about sign language?
• Find the following book and bring it to me: 641.5 WAL The Little House Cookbook.
• Search Rabbit on the OPAC and write down the call number and title of one book from our collection on this subject.
• Find the following book and bring it to me: F CUR Bud, Not Buddy.
• Find an encyclopedia article on Ronald Reagan and write down the page number and the encyclopedia you found it in.
• Write down one headline from today’s Raleigh News and Observer.
• Use the Internet to access this bookmarked web site and write down two web sites where you can find help with your homework:http://www.bjpinchbeck.com/

Related websites

N/A

Comments

This lesson is designed for fourth and fifth graders, but the concept could easily be extended to middle school students by having more complex questions.

I originally assigned only five questions per team, as you can see from my race track--the fifth correct answer put them over the finish line. They finished the exercise too quickly. In the future, each team will be given at least seven questions.