Elmer Wolfe Elementary School

School Header

Media

What is your Child Learning in the Media Center?

-         PreK comes for book exchange twice a month starting in October.

-         Kindergarten comes twice a week for 30 minutes.  We share stories, use puppets, and retell stories.  The kindergarten has book exchange the second meeting of the week.  We discuss certain topics in literature such as caterpillars, butterflies, letters, numbers, bears, Mother Goose Rhymes, spiders, and farms.

-         First grade concentrates on the picture book section during the beginning of the year and book exchange extends to certain parts of the non-fiction section in October.  After book exchange we discuss literature regarding fictional bears, animals, and certain authors such as Janet Stevens.

-         Second grade looks at certain authors and how to evaluate picture books effectively.  The students are shown how to use the visual catalog for book selection.  They use Kidspiration to sort types of books and learn the importance of the dictionary.  Authors such as Bill Peet and James Stevenson are discussed.

-         Third grade learns how to use the computerized card catalog (OPAC).  The third graders also talk about certain authors and why they decided to write the way they do. Literature such as tall tales, fables, and poetry are discussed.  The issues of copyright and intellectual property are examined.

 

     Book exchange takes longer when students have three items to search for during their media class period.  Fourth and fifth students also have to write down the books that they fully read and enjoyed before returning their books.  The reading log is used to prepare students for book talk(s.) 

 

- Fourth graders talk about genres, subjects (such as historical fiction), and the use of the catalog computer.  Students use online databases, discuss primary and secondary sources, review media resources, (almanac, atlas, dictionary, etc.) and make poetry e-books.  They review genres and discuss intellectual property and the Citation Machine.

 -         Fifth grade keeps a reading log also.   In fifth grade we  talk about resources and how information can be found using more than one reference source using the Big6 research strategies.  We discuss media literacy and the use of it in our lives.  We discuss being a smart consumer, the use of copyright, and the branches of government.  The students learn how to evaluate the appropriateness of websites and how to use a web quest.