1. “Get to Know Your Library” Lesson
Description:
My Name: Emily Ward Date: Oct. 1, 2012
Cooperating Teacher-Librarian: Kathy Wickline Grade Level: 6th
School/City: Unity Jr HS / Tolono, IL Length: 45 min.
Purpose: This lesson will familiarize the 6th grade students with the UJHS library and library
website so they can be successful for their remaining three years here. In order to support their
curricular projects and assignments as well as maintaining or developing their habit of reading
for pleasure, students need to know how to find materials and resources that the library has to
offer.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to identify where fiction materials, non-fiction materials, and
biographies are located in the library.
Students will be able to navigate the library website to access the library’s online
resources.
Standards:
1. Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy:
SL.6.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues,
building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
2. AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner:
1.1.6: Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual,
visual, media, digital) in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
1.1.8: Demonstrate mastery of technology tools for accessing information and
pursuing inquiry.
1.2.2: Demonstrate confidence and self-direction by making independent choices in
the selection of resources and information.
Materials:
Needed by me:
How Well Do You Know Your Library pretests
Get to Know Your Library stations worksheet
Projector/laptop
Needed by Students:
Pen/pencil
Instructional Procedures:

2. Focusing Event: “How well do you know your library?”Pre-test—Students will fill it out
as best they can, and then I will collect it from them.
Input From Me:
Where to Find Books in the Library: Using student input, I will review where the
different types of materials are located in the library (fiction, non-fiction,
biographies, audio). Next, I will go over the spine labels found on the book and
remind them how to recognize call numbers (FIC – know it’s fiction; Numbers –
know it’s non-fiction; 92 – know it’s biography).
How to Use the Library Website: Using the projector, I will show the website on
the wall. We will go through each area of the website, and I will explain how they
can use it.
o Mrs. Wickline’s Library List: If you know you like certain kinds of books
(in a certain genre – mystery, fantasy, horror; or about a certain topic –
war stories, animal stories, family life), these lists will help you find books
we have available in our library. You can read a description, find the
author, and read reviews.
o Rebecca Caudill Nominees 2013: Mrs. Wickline has created wiki pages
for each Caudill Nominee, giving you a description of the book, links to
author websites, AR points, and sometimes videos or other extras.
o Search the Catalog: Find out if we have a book in our library or if we can
order it from a different library. (I will search for a Caudill book and show
how to limit by our library).
o Series and Sequels List: Know a series you like but you don’t know the
title of the next one? (I will ask a student for a series they like and find it
in the list). This will show you the titles of all the books in a series and
what order they go it. Especially helpful when we have to order books
from other libraries.
o 6th Grade Wiki Page: Teachers may post assignments or websites that you
may need for a project here.
Guided Practice: Students will now rotate through the stations, completing their Get to
Know Your Library worksheets. Table 1 starts at Station 1, finding a fiction book. Table
2 starts at Station 2, finding a non-fiction book. Table 3 starts at Station 3, finding a
biography. Tables 4 and 5 will start with Station 4, working on the website. As students
finish their station, they will go on to their next station, rotating through. I will circulate
and answer questions as needed.
Closure: As students are wrapping up, I will collect their worksheets, and encourage any
students who need an AR book to check one out if there is time.
Differentiation: For our student with a writing disability, I could use a zip drive to put an
electronic version of the worksheet on his laptop, and ask him to type his answers.
Assessment: I will be comparing the students’ pretests to their worksheets, to assess whether
their knowledge of how to access library resources has increased.

3. What’s Next?Students from Mrs. Bickford’s classes will be coming back to the library next
week for a Website Evaluation lesson before starting their Glog project.