Books we've read

This lesson plan creates a classroom database collecting information on books that students have read over a period of time determined by the teacher and/or students. By sorting and filtering, students evaluate the data and can later create other products from their findings.

A lesson plan for grade 3 Computer/Technology Skills and Information Skills

By Mary Rizzo

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• Learn more about databases, information literacy, and technology skills.

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Learning outcomes

Students understanding of the use and value of a database is achieved by creating, maintaining, and modifying data in a class created database. Students enter data based on books they read and then sort and filter to obtain data that can later be used in a project, (such as creating graphs).

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

3-4 weeks

Technology resources

Database program (i.e. Microsoft Works) accessible either from a stand alone classroom computer or from a network.

Pre-activities

Teacher should begin the activity by teaching (or reviewing) the parts of a database to include field, record, etc. Examples of print and electronic databases (encyclopedias, phone books, etc.) should be reviewed and discussed as to their value.

Activities

1. As a class, with the teacher facilitating, students should decide which information they would like to track, thus determining which fields will be established. Examples include Book Title, Author, Rating (ex. 1 to 5), Recommend? (yes or no). If your school has Accelerated Reader, Book Level and/or Number of Points could also be possibilities. Reader Name, Gender, and Month Read may be other choices. The more fields created, the more possibilities for sorting and filtering.
2. At this time, the students and teacher can determine how long data will be collected, whether for a short term (3 to 4 weeks) or all year long.
3. Although the teacher could create the database on the computer, it would best be done by one or several students. Since this is a class database, only one database need be created. It is then saved on the classroom stand alone computer, or saved to a file on the network. If this is a long-term project, you may choose to periodically back up your data on a disk so that in the unfortunate event of a crashed computer or network, your hard work will not be lost.
4. As students finish a book, they record the data for one record in the class database. Each student should have several opportunities to enter his/her own data into the database, depending on how long the project will last.
5. When sufficient records have been entered, students can begin to analyze the data. This will either be done together as a class, or individually in a lab setting. Students could sort Book Titles or Authors alphabetically. If Reading Levels or Points were used, they could be sorted in ascending or descending order. Filters could be created to determine who read the most books (boys or girls?), or which books earned a rating of 4 or better. Which books did the class not recommend? Letting the class choose which filters to create gives them experience in the value of data that can be obtained from a database.
6. The data obtained from sorting and filtering could then be used in a graph incorporating a spreadsheet component. Students could track things like how many books were read each week or month, percentage of books rated 1, 2, 3, etc., or percentage of books by specific authors.
7. Students may find that they refer to the database to help them decide which book they’d like to read next.

Assessment

Because this is a long-term assignment, individual assessment may not be necessary. If you choose to assess, students could take part in determining how to assess this unit. They could help create a rubric that would be used to assess completion of the requirements. The class could also come up with a worksheet of questions to be answered by the correct use of sorting and filtering functions.

Required sorting and filtering results could also be printed as evidence of understanding the concept.

Supplemental information

Comments

Helping elementary students learn the value and relevance of a class created database tends to be a challenge for many teachers. Often, all a teacher can think to create is a database of fictitious names and addresses created in one lab setting that lends itself to little relevance and value when sorting and filtering. This lesson helps students to see the value of collecting a large volume of data over time.
Note: Although the goals and objectives for fifth grade are not included in this lesson, this could also be a fun and valuable lesson for them.