Help! First two weeks elementary library lesson ideas needed!

[Daniel Gattuso]

All, 

I'm so excited to be a new member of this ning!  

I'm a second-year school librarian who's got big designs on how he's going to improve on what he did in the first year.  Two things elude me right now, however, and I'd like to see if anyone could help me out.

1.  Does anyone know where we can buy either the Skoob elf plush toy OR the actual foamy golden shelf elf award?  I've seen plenty of pictures of them, but I can't seem to find them for purchase.

2.  What do you do with your kids the first two weeks back in your library?  I remember working on some library rules with the kids, as well as assigning students to the instructional area tables, etc.  I've seen a lot of library media scavenger hunts recently, and I'm going to incorporate these for grades 3-5.  Does anyone else have anything fun (games, what have you) that you do the first few weeks?  Please share if you do!

Thanks so much, 

Dan

[Barbara Ann]

Robert Joyce at LMNET provided this website that might be of use, http://techtraining.dpsk12.org/ilttechlessons/iltlessonguides.html

The only things that I would add is to teach students in Grades 2, 3, and possibly 4th Grades the "Five Finger Rule".  You can google it to get an explanation.  I teach it and make students practice this so that they have a yardstick to determine what they can and can not read, not that they should check out only books that they can read.  Teachers often give students assignments that require that they thoroughly read a book so this allows them to evaluate a book's readability on their own.

[Jocelyn Sams]

Hi Dan, You can find all kinds of activities and my August lesson plans at http://elementarylibrarian.com

Good luck!

[Yvonne]

Hi Dan,

This is my third year as a librarian and I always start with an Orientation especially with my kindergarten classes. Then introduce them to the checkout process and the proper way to use shelf markers. For grades 1-5 I make it fun and review library procedures using a Jeopardy PowerPoint game. You can find the Jeopardy templates online.

Hope this helps!

Yvonne