The Lower School

The Lower School students receive library instruction once a week.  Grades One and Two meet in the Primary (West) Library, and Grades Three, Four and Five meet in the Intermediate (a.k.a. East) Library.  These students are reinforced in all areas mentioned above and are introduced to using call numbers (alphabetical and numerical skills), learning the location in the library for various types of books. They will be introduced to many types of literature from many cultures (tall tales, myths, folk tales, biographies, non-fiction, etc.).  Younger students will be asked to participate in activities that showcase sequential order, identifying works of recognized authors and illustrators, recognize main ideas and details, identifying character motives and drawing conclusions to open ended story situations based on their own experiences or what they imagine the characters are like. They will be asked to elaborate on their own opinions of likes, dislikes, and preferences in literature. They begin to identify and learn how to use the parts of a book like the index, glossary, title page, table of contents, chapter or section headings, etc.

Children in grades three, four and five will also receive a rudimentary introduction in writing a research paper with bibliography and learn when to cite a source and how.  They will begin and continue to expand the skills needed to identify and locate basic reference materials (atlas, dictionary, thesaurus, etc.), and how to decide which materials are worthy.  They will begin to use the computer lab to evaluate and explore websites, using appropriate search strategies to obtain needed information.  They will independently locate and check out library materials and demonstrate a beginning knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System.  They should be able to draw significance, meanings, and conclusions from stories or information read, heard or seen in various formats.  These older children should be able to give a purpose to and for their reading and present or offer their conclusions afterwards.  They should be beginning to understand and know genre and varied types of literature.  They should be able to distill inferred meanings, pick out important and insignificant details, and recognize the main theme or main idea in a piece.

Some fun and interesting websites for the older kids here...

For the younger kids here...

Also, check out my personal directory page at YCDS.org