Library & Literary Genre Unit

This is the new bulletin board at our local library. So clever. I love it! As an incurable bibliophile who also likes a catchy tune, I can't help but sing this version of "Call Me Maybe." 

As we all start a new school year, I thought I'd share a unit we did a while back on books.  It's really just basic Language Arts, but it can be turned into its own fun unit study.

For starters, here is a fabulous book to read aloud during the unit. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library is at once a mystery, an adventure, it's entertaining, and it makes kids think, all while being a good introduction to the Dewey Decimal System and libraries.  Your kids may have been to the library, but they've never seen a library like this!

For a field trip, call your local library and schedule a guided tour, asking for additional instruction on the Dewey Decimal System.  If you can somehow get access to an old Card Catalog, it's fun to show kids how you used to have to look up books at the library.

Next, talk about fiction and nonfiction.  If you're doing this unit in September, a fun activity is to read Mark Teague's How I Spent My Summer Vacation.  I then had my kids each choose a photo from our summer outings that represented a fond summer memory; they each then wrote the real story of the photo (nonfiction) and a made up story for the photo (fiction). I also had them create travel brochures for one of our summer destinations.

Introducing reading genres comes next. An internet search will yield a host of genre posters to choose from, or you can create your own.  You can hang them over your bookshelves, in your school room, down your hallway, or make notebook versions.  Have your children make a reading genre reading chart, and help them select appropriate titles to read in each genre.

As your children explore all the different genres, teach them about all the parts of a book, where to find them, and how to use them. These include the parts such as the cover, title page, copyright page, dedication page, table of contents, index, glossary, etc. I created worksheets for my kids like the one below using books we had on our shelves.

I also created some worksheets for understanding and practice using reference books, and some math problems using copyright dates.  And I had each of my kids read Scholastic Explains Reading Homework aloud to me.

From here we went on to study the literary elements of fiction using Scholastic's Spotlight on Literary Elements.  Plot, setting, character, etc. were studied in the reading selections, I used some of the worksheets in the teacher's guide, and I embellished with some other finds.

You could end your unit before the literary elements, or you could end it after.  We went on to do a lot of creative writing after this.  During the unit I tried to find new and unique ways to do a book report so the kids could share what they were reading.  Fun finds include the Cereal Box Book Report and the Book in a Box book report which is basically creating a scene from the book inside a shoe box. 

Finally, there was this gem to think and talk about:

I'm the one who writes my own story

I decide the person I'll be

What goes in the plot

And what does not

Is pretty much up to me