What's happening at the library

Read about what we have learned in Lower School and what students wrote for their portfolio reflections.

Preschool Juniors

Preschool Juniors had a collaborative Library and UOI unit “Once Upon a Time” in preparation for the Book Week “Telling Stories through different Media”.

Fairy tales are, in a sense, the first examples of classic literature that students encounter. Every country has stories that are so old; people cannot remember where they came from. Long time ago when people did not have books, radios, TVs, or computers stories were told for fun and entertainment, but also to teach a lesson or warn children of danger. Stories were told to one another over and over again. Nowadays popular fairy tales are written down in books and turned in films for children and grown-ups to enjoy.

In the library we shared popular fairy-tales through different media. We explored the tales of “The Little Red Riding Hood”, “The Three Little Pigs” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” through flannel-board media, listened to audio- and watched video stories. We also read traditional printed books.

We talked about what these stories teach us, how they make us feel.

Students showed enthusiasm and curiosity during class time. They showed confidence joining in at the repetitive parts. Students eagerly waited for their next Library class to see what the next tale was about.

Preschool Seniors

Preschool Seniors have learned about book care - why is it important to take good care of books and what are some ways to care for books?

In preparation for the book week we focused on listening to audio stories of “Jack and the Beanstalk” and preschool’s favourite “Tacky and the Three Bears” among other activities.

Students displayed cooperation while quietly listening to the audio stories. They showed creativity and commitment while completing their activity sheets, and sharing their ideas with the classmates.

Reception

In Library class Reception students have learned about library behavior, fiction and non-fiction books and read lots and lots of stories.

“I like looking at the books the best even though I don’t know how to read.” Gabe 

“I like to draw. I like books, too. I mostly like scary books and pretty books. There is a scary book about Ghosts in the library.” Hadley 

Grade 1

In conjunction with Gr 1 UOI “Just Imagine” and preparations to the Book Week we talked about what authors do, why writers write, and looked at different media to share stories e.g. audio books, video stories, e-books on iPads. Of course during the year, in almost every class we have read traditional, printed books as well.

“I enjoyed watching the video story “Where the Wild Things Are”. I liked the way the video story was made using pictures from the book not making a cartoon. “ Amelie 

“I learned that writers write because they like to do it. They think it’s nice to share their ideas. And we can learn.” Dora 

“I learned that we put books on the shelf in an alphabetical order. If the author’s second name starts with B the book goes in B section.” Marco

“I have enjoyed reading e-books on my iPad. I like these because you can do extra activities, touch something to make things happen for instance the car changes color. I liked “Dino-Store” e-book the part when the dinosaurs worked in the store. I have learned to use e-books in the library.” Philip

Grade 2

Grade 2 students learned about different parts of a book, and how each part can be helpful. Working as authors and illustrators we made Grade 2 Best Books book including parts learned about and shared it during Book Week. Grade 2 favourites are Captain Underparts by Dav Pilkey, The BFG by Roald Dahl, The Dragon in the Library by Kate Klimo, Dork Diaries: Tales of Not So Talented Pop Star by Rachel Russell, Bailey by Harry Bliss and Moosetache by Margie Palatini.

Grade 34

In Library we learned that book recommendations are a way to express and share your ideas and thoughts about a book. You can use a book report, review, talk or trailer format to share your reading and learn about books. Grade 34 students wrote a book report to inform about their reading. Their reports along with books are on a display in the library.

“When I was writing “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” report I liked that I used exciting words. Next time I will write a bit more. I think that Charlie and the chocolate factory is an outstanding book!”  Mike Gr3

“To recommend a book you can make a book trailer, a book report, a book review and a book talk. A book report includes the author, the title and your personal thoughts.  I think you don’t always have to include the thoughts that are bad because if you do, people might not want to read the book but the job you are trying to do, is to get more people to read it. I also think you should always be honest when you write a book review because sometimes you have to write it about a book you do not like, and you can’t make it sound more interesting or worse than it actually is. I am a curious student who likes asking questions and reading books.” Amelie Gr4

“A report is when you write about a book you like and want to recommend it. I always read what I have to read. I show the attitude of appreciation because I am happy to learn.” Glenn Gr4

“A book recommendations are helpful if you friend doesn't know what to read so you recommend your friend a book. The elements that are always included in a book report are the title, author and the summary of the book plus your thoughts.” Rasmus Gr4

Grade 5

Grade 5 completed a unit on plagiarism and citing. We learned what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. We know now that when you do a research project you must give credit to the sources from which you found the material you used in your project.

Library reflections for student led conferences

Here is a selection of Library reflections for PYP Portfolios and student led conferences. Great insights. Enjoy!

Grade 1
In Library grade 1 students made a booklet working as authors/illustrators.

“My book is about Leo, the Library Mouse. I drew the pictures and wrote the words. I liked both of these activities. I am proud because I had hard time making this book. At the end I was so glad because this was the first book I have ever made. I like to read. I read every day. I like chapter books and mysteries.” Ugne

“I like this book. I like the text and the drawings. I like the birthday going on. It has a picture of a book in it. I liked writing the text – being an author. The author of this book is me, Vilja. I also like that the book is not just text, black and white. It is a children’s book.” Vilja

Grade 2
In Grade 2 Library class we learned what makes a book fiction or nonfiction, how are fiction/nonfiction books organized in the library, and how to find a book of interest from the shelves? Students received a specific call number for a book to find. They retrieved the book with that call number from the shelf and recorded the basic book info on their worksheets.

“A book is fiction because it is fake (not real). A book is nonfiction because it is real. Call numbers are the numbers/letters on the book. The call number on the book Really Cool Reptiles is E 597 MCC. That book was real. Finding the book was a little bit hard. It was harder than I thought. Library is really fun. Usually I find interesting books. My favorite book so far is Calvin and Hobbs.” Amelia

“I love books and my mum calls me a book worm. I can normally read books in one go. My favourite author is Roald Dahl. My favourite book he has written is “The Witches”. I like the book but don’t read it before bed because I get shivers. I love reading at the bottom of my bunk bed when the cat sits with me.” Amelie on her reading habits

Grade 34
"During the Library classes we have learned about bibliography and how to choose just right books.
We learned that you need bibliography for instance when you take pictures from the Internet, you copy the URL address and paste it to your paper.
Then we learned about how to choose just right books. There was one rule we learned - “The Five Finger Rule”. It goes like that; you put your five fingers up and when one hard word comes that you don’t know you put one finger down. When you have at least five hard words on one page that book is too hard for you. When the book has really few pages and it has really easy baby words then that book is too easy. Book that is just right has enough pages and has normal words you can understand. I think I show the attitude of Creativity." Henry

"In Library class I learned how to find a book that is just right. There are strategies to find the just right book like the Five Finger rule, the Thumbs Up rule, and some more.
We also learned how to use the Library Online Catalogue. You can use the online catalogue to search for a book you want to check out next, and you can see all the information about that book.
Me, and Henry made a poster about how to choose the just right book. If you have a book that is long, you read the first page only, and if you have a word you don’t understand, you put one finger down. If you end up with 5,4, or 3 fingers up, it is too easy, if you end up with 2,1 fingers down it is just right, if all fingers are down, it is too hard. I showed cooperation when me, and Henry made the poster about how to choose the just right book." Jonas

Grade 5
Unit on online databases: a database gives access to a large amount of verified information stored in a computer system. Students conducted a mini research, related to their UOI using online databases available at the Library, located, read through, presented and recorded the source information.

"An online database is a place where you can get information, for example World Book. You can use them when you have to reassure. But you’re never allowed to copy from the site. It’s good because you can get to it at home and school. Many people use Wikipedia but that should be your last decision. All databases are online. You can find articles, videos, image from a database. All databases are checked by people before anyone can use these. I looked up things about Justinian Code, and the good thing about that was that I studied it in class at the same time. I like library because you always learn new things." Hannah

Unit on Works Cited/Plagiarism: a Works Cited is an alphabetical list of the source you used in your project. When you do a research project you must give credit to the sources from which you found the material you used in your project. Students created MLA citation for a book and website using Easybib (http://www.easybib.com/) online citations creator.

"In Library we learned about plagiarism. Plagiarism is when a person uses information from somewhere and doesn’t cite it. We also talked about what can happen if you don’t cite your sources. We went to a website called Easybib on the Internet and there we looked at how to cite books and websites. We had to fill in some information about the sources, like what is the author’s name, the title, the date it was made etc. Then after filling that information the website made a citation using all the information we put in. I learned that you should always add your resources when you use information from a book or a website or anywhere else. But I also learned how to cite a resource the proper way! I think I am an Inquirer because I asked quite a lot of questions and then learned more." Anjali

Library reflections

It's time again to think about and reflect on our learning.

What kind of a student am I?
What are some of the new and interesting things I have found out about?
How can this new information or skill be helpful?
What did I enjoy most and why?

The first round of reflection for portfolios and student-led conferences are completed.
I'd love to share with you what students have learned and said about their library and information studies.

Preschool
With our smallest students we have been reading lift-the-flap stories during Library classes. Students have been enthusiastic helping the teacher open the flaps and discovering little surprises hidden underneath. They showed creativity and cooperation while completing their very own lift-the-flap book of "Dear Zoo".

Reception

Students explored the student profile quality of caring while discussing in depth how to take care of a book. Now, the Reception class students are eager readers, and love to choose and take books home for free reading.

Grade 1

Students have been learning about library. We have been looking at different areas and activities in the library, and talked about the role of a librarian. They were enthusiastic and curious during class discussions, and showed commitment while writing about their favorite library activity.

Grade 2

In library class we learned that people read stories for entertainment and knowledge. Students greatly enjoyed the humorous stories shared during library class. They were enthusiastic and creative during class discussions, and while creating humorous pictures as story extensions.

Grade 34

In the library Grade 34 students learned nonfiction book elements and bibliography. We know that a content book or a book of information has many parts. Each part of a book can help you to get different information. We also talked about what is a bibliography and why do we need to write one for our research paper. This unit was taught in collaboration with Grade 34 UOI What’s up Down There and language arts unit on nonfiction text elements.

Grade 5

During Library classes we have been learning how libraries offer easy-to-use resources when researching a topic for a school report, discussing advantages of doing research at the library, and evaluating the importance of various library resources. Students created posters with catchy phrases reminding other students to consider the library when doing research. Posters were displayed throughout the school.

Library reflections for student led conferences

Here is a selection of Library reflections for PYP Portfolios and student led conferences. Great insights. Enjoy!

Grade 1
In Grade 1 library class we learned about stereotyping. Stereotype is an overly simple picture of a person, group or thing. It is a stereotype to say that all wolves are bad.

I chose the wolf picture I made for my portfolio.

In “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” the wolf is making a cake for his Granny. He was a pretty nice wolf. He ate the pigs because they were just big hamburgers for him. Nikolas

In Grade 1 library class we learned that books just don't happen. Author writes the story we read, and illustrator creates the pictures we see in the book.

I have learned how to be an author. Authors write books, nonfiction books. Fiction books are written by the authors who have a lot of imagination.

We were also illustrators. I preferred being an illustrator because you get to make your own pictures. Lawrence

Grade 2

In Grade 2 library class we have been learning how fiction and nonfiction books are arranged in the library.

We have learned how to put books in order and to the right sections of the library. My favorite books about animals are in 500-599 section, and I want to look at 700-799 section for books about drawing. I am interested in drawing. I draw every day when I go home after school.

Nonfiction books are true. They are not made up. Fiction books are made up. I usually prefer fiction books like Junie B. Jones books because they are funny. Ugne

Grade 3

In Grade 3 library class we learned that ISE Online Catalog is a tool used to search materials in ISE library.

In library we went on a computer and looked at ISE Online Catalog. It shows all the books in the library. When you want to find the books on the Online Catalog, you first choose a visual search or the standard search. It is easy to find books on Online Catalog because it gives the call numbers, title and information on the book. It is useful because you can find more books and find them faster. I am knowledgeable because I know how to use ISE Online Catalog. Nathan

In Grade 3 library class we read fables and wrote the moral of the stories for the Proverb Tree during Book Week.

In Library we learned about Fables. I chose “The Frogs at the Rainbow’s End” for the Proverb Tree. The moral is: don’t believe in everything.

I liked it because it’s very fun. I am Enthusiastic because I am enjoying learning! Alexandra

Grade 4

A cyber citizen is someone who uses the computer a lot like: talks on Skype, plays the computer games and etc! Cyber citizens have responsibilities; they have to use good manners and keep safe. Cyber bullying is when people say bad and inappropriate words on a computer to other cyber citizens. Cyber citizens should respect the rules that their school makes or/and their parent’s rules and that is Acceptable Use Policy. By being a very good cyber citizen everyone can make the Internet a better place! I think that I am a good cyber citizen!

I learned that it is not good to send any nasty emails or to chat online and then say something that could hurt that person’s feelings. Don’t post any personal details.

I showed the profiles knowledgeable and principled because I learned that you can’t write any mean things online. Essi

Dictionaries

In library we have studied dictionaries and that’s what I want to share about this unit. So first of all I want to write down an acrostic poem that we did to improve finding words in dictionaries.

Light shoots

Incredibly strong

Gobbles up earth

Houses destroyed

Trees shake

Never weak

Investigated by scientists

Neon

Glow

So you like it?

Now here’s something about dictionaries. Dictionary is a book were you can find the meaning of the word, how to pronounce it and the spelling. How to use dictionaries?

Dictionaries are very simple to use; all you have to do is to find the letter the word starts with and then find the word, try and you will see it it. Titas

Grade 5

After discussing the concept “When you do a research project you must give credit to the sources from which you found the material you used in your project.” students complete an online quiz on plagiarism and created MLA citation for an encyclopedia investigation completed during last unit.

Topic/Unit: Works Cited/Plagiarism

I chose this unit/topic because I think it was the most fun. During this unit I learned that it isn’t good to copy stuff straight off from a book or a web site, which would be called plagiarism. And that you need to write the name of the web site or the book that you read and got some information from, which is called works cited. Samara