Owl Activity Freebie

Every year about this time, I introduce the BIG nonfiction section to the first graders.  First we read a nonfiction book about owls.  And then I surprise them with a very special "visitor"- Mr. Owl.

Mr. Owl was donated to our school many years ago-even before I was even a teacher (so a really long time ago LOL).  He has lived in the Media Center ever since. 

Students are always fascinated by Mr. Owl who sits in the back of the Media Center keeping watch over everyone.

So, I like to play on that excitement.  First we read a nonfiction book on Big Universe.  We have a subscription to this fabulous ebook site. But you can also find nonfiction books on Epic about owls. Then I bring out Mr. Owl.  I explain that Mr. Owl is not alive and how he came to be at our school.  He actually flew into the side of a barn and that is how he died.  Someone found him and had him stuffed and then donated him to our school.  We have special paperwork granting us permission to keep Mr. Owl because by law, you can't just kill and stuff an owl.  After I tell the story of how Mr. Owl came to live at our school, I point out the beak and the talons.  And then I let the students touch the feathers of Mr. Owl with the back of their hands to keep the oils from their hands from damaging Mr. Owl. They love it!

Then I let students know that they can find fact books about owls and other animals in the BIG nonfiction section.  I show them how our nonfiction section is organized with book stops to label the different types of books in that section.  I don't go into Dewey. They learn more about that in second grade.

To wrap up, students label the parts of the owl and find pictures of owls on their activity sheets while they are waiting their turn to go to the shelves.

You can get a copy of these activity sheets for FREE in my TpT store. Just click HERE to download. 

Hope you enjoy!

Fun Fall Fiction and Non-fiction Freebies

I like to focus on the difference between fiction and non-fiction at this time of the year with my kinders and firsties which is great because there are so many great fall and Halloween books to read.

To go along with first grade's apple unit I use these 2 books to talk about fiction and non-fiction...

The Mouse and the Apple by Stephen Butler

The Zieglers and Their Apple Orchard by Alice Flanagan

Using these books, we also begin to talk about character, setting, and plot.

For fun, I use these fun fiction books about fall and Halloween with my kinders...

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds

These books are also great to use to talk about character, setting and plot.

I have made activity sheets to go along with each of these books and have bundled all of these into one fun freebie for you.  You can download it HERE.  Let me know what you think.

Happy Fall!

#toptentitles Non-fiction

The nonfiction section had so many ties that there were more than 50 titles listed.   However, looking at the first 10 books listed, you can get a good idea of what types of books are the most popular, so in the interest of time, that is what I went with.

Here are the top ten non-fiction books based on circulation in our media center:

What?!  A cat book?!

Guess I better order some more military vehicle books for this upcoming year.

What are your top nonfiction books?

Media Center Organizational Ideas for Non-fiction and Fiction Sections

Just a quick post of some organizational ideas I use in my Media Center.

Source

I recently purchased a big batch of these babies to help organize the non-fiction section a little bit better and to give better signage for the lower readers.

I then went through each non-fiction section and used the book-stops to separate subject categories and added a label to make it easy to spot those books.

Source

I created a non-fiction book helper based on this product from Kathryn Garcia so that my book-stops have the same pictures as my non-fiction helpers.  I did purchase this product, but realized after a few weeks, I needed to customize it based on the most popular non-fiction sections of my Media Center.

Since adding these labels and introducing the non-fiction helpers, I have seen an increase in non-fiction check outs, even from the younger students.  And I've had a decrease in questions like "Where are the basketball books?  Where are the snake books?  Where are the books about planets?"  It has been a sanity saver.  Kathryn really is a genius for thinking this one up. Stop on by her TpT store and check it out. She has lots of other great library products, too.

In our fiction area, we have a lot of books in a series, but not all of them are numbered on the spine, or the numbers are rubbing off.  I have a lot of students who like to read books in a series in order.  Sometimes it really does matter if you skip a book.  I wanted to come up with a uniform way to label books in a series.

Source

So I purchased some of these little fellas. Well, just the white ones, and in 1/4" size.

I didn't want to crowd up the spine with a larger label, so these small circle dots work perfect.  I wrote down the series number of the book, and adhered it to the spine of the book.  Now all of our books in a series are numbered and patrons are happy to be able to find the next book in their favorite series.  It also helps make shelving easier.

Do you number books in a series?  If so, what method or types of labels do you use?  Do you have any special organizational tips to share?

Most Popular Titles of the Year...Nonfiction

The final top 10 countdown is for the nonfiction section. These are the most popular nonfiction books in my Media Center for the 2012-2013 school year.

The number 10 spot was share by John Cena by Adam Stone, Motorcyles! by Susan Goodman, Shark by Miranda McQuitty, Wild About ATVs by Jamie Poolos and The World's Fastest Machines by Marcie Aboff.

Number 9 was a three-way tie with MH-53E Sea Dragons by Carlos Alvarez, M2A2 Bradleys by Jack David, and The World's Dirtiest Machines by Jennifer Gillis.

Number 8 was also a tie.It was between Military Helicopters by E.S. Budd and Sharks by Adrienne Betz.

Number 7 was Megatooth by Patrick O'Brien.

Spot number six is another three-way tie between Dirt Bikes by Sarah Tieck, F-35 Lightning IIs by Carols Alvarez and V-22 Ospreys also by Carlos Alvarez.

In at number 5 was The World's Smartest Machines by Linda Tagliaferro.

Number 4 was Humvees by Jack David.

Number 3 was Draw 50 Cats by Lee J. Ames.

In second place with 30 checkouts was AH-IW Super Cobras by Carlos Alaverz.

And the number 1 nonfiction book checked out for 2012-2013 was Abrams Tanks by Jack David.

So that's the last of my top 10 for 2012-2013.  What were the most popular titles in your media center this year?

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Do the Dewey

This month the Media Center is featuring non-fiction as the Genre of the Month.  I have been teaching non-fiction lessons to second through fifth grade classes for the last few weeks.  I found some great resources on the Internet and tweaked them to fit the needs of the students at my school.

It's tough to explain to elementary students what fits into a category called Generalities or Philosophy and Psychology.  But I made some reference sheets for them as well as a bookmark for them to refer to.


Today I made a Dewey Body Buddy worksheet based on a Highsmith poster (got permission from the company to do so) to go with the lesson for second and third grade.   Just click  HERE or on the picture below to snag your FREE copy.  I'd appreciate your feedback in return.  =)