READ…WONDER…FIND
A Public Library
Dewey Decimal Search Program For Children
PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE
PROGRAM
To give children a first
taste of the Dewey Decimal Classification scheme, and
to ensure that they can retrieve materials with the clues provided by call
numbers and authors’ last names.
Underlying Goals
To promote
literature and reading.
To
underline the connection between reading and the desire to know more.
To promote
acting on the desire to know more.
To promote
the library as the first place to look for additional information.
To ensure that, in gradual
steps, children are given the tools they need to use the library effectively.
To share literature and
activities that will be both informative and fun for children..
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Sequence of Events
1) Read Radio Rescue aloud.
2) Briefly discuss the book
drawing out suggestions for topics the content about which the children would
like to know more.
3) Library tour.
4) Play alphabetization game.
5) Send groups of four to
search for items on their assigned list.
6) Have children sort their
physical materials into the proper broad classification.
7) Help groups find anything
they couldn’t locate.
8) Give groups who finish
their Internet activity.
9) Encourage browsing and
check out of collected materials.
10) Distribute “book bag”
filled with items to take home.
Location
A public
branch library backed by a large system or network, full facility used.
Intended Audience
One
visiting class, 2nd-4th grade, or preregistered
groups of no more than 32 children, same age, with chaperoning/assistance from
4 adults besides yourself. (Use teacher and adults that accompany a
class, captured parents, staff or other volunteers.) Suggestions for adapting this program for
other age groups are also provided.
Time
One hour (during least busy
patron traffic days/hours, or outside public business hours.)
Shared Literature
Rescue Radio, by Lynne Barasch
Advance Planning
Use Hold Process to gather Rescue
Radio and the extensive list of other library materials listed below (or
substitute ones available in your system.) Devise a method/materials
for creating nametags. Create and print
8 different 10-item search lists of these items as described below. Create tag board pieces for alphabet game.
Create an instruction to find “Kidsclick” on the
Library Website, and a particular term to search for each group. Plan location
of each activity and decide if any additional equipment or rearrangement will
be necessary on day of program. Find a
stopwatch. Gather/prepare optional
display and/or take home items as desired.
Locate an area in the non-fiction section that will work to explain
decimals, preferably in the 100’s.
Create an overview for adult participants with directions for how they
can help. Send it to schools in advance
if possible. Pass it out as children
arrive if not. Prepare a survey for teachers and parents, and one for children.
Optional Display Items: New or old ham radio or telegraph equipment
borrowed from local museums, businesses, or individuals. Optional Take Homes: Bookmarks (Http://www.pbs.com is a good source of
downloads), book bags (banana bags from the grocery store could make simple
ones), Morse code booklet, and the printed activity items that follow. Download and print items created by Houghton
Mifflin Company that relate to Rescue Radio at http://www.eduplace.com . A word search, quiz and answer key are
currently available in the kid or teacher part of the “Reading
Scene” section of the site at http://www.eduplace.com/readingscene/index.html. You can also create lists of discussion
questions and/or suggested websites, copying and printing ones from the site
and adding your own. An excellent addition would be a list of searches/terms
one could use in the library catalog to locate items of the topical categories
covered in this program. If you are
assembling your own list of materials, record your search process to share.
Advance Participant
Preparation
This program will work best
if the children already have library cards, and bring them to the program.
Day of Program Set Up
Accurately shelve collected
materials on library shelves, noting any areas where height will definitely
require adult assistance. Prepare
optional equipment display, alphabetization game materials, and have stacks or
packets of take home materials ready to go.
Set up place for children to sort collected books (or prepare to do so
as activity begins.) Reserve
children’s room computers for time of program.
MATERIALS LIST
Item for Read-Aloud
Lynne Barasch
– Rescue Radio
Additional Materials by
Type
jER (Children’s Easiest Readers)
Kimberly Weinbeger
– Stormy Day Rescue
Lucille Recht
Penner - Twisters
jE (Children’s Books That are Pretty Easy)
Other Books By Jan
Barasch
Jan Barash
- The Reluctant Flower Girl
Jan Barash
- Rodney’s Inside Story
Jan Barash
- A Winter Walk
(Other Easy Fiction)
Ray Brokel
– Storms
Karen English – Big Wind
Coming
Amy Hest – Ruby’s Storm
Pat Lakin
- Hurricane
Una Leavy – Henry’s Stormy
Night
David McKee – Elmer’s Weather
Anne F. Rockwell – The Storm
Jeanne Willis – The Monster
Storm
Jane Yolen
– Before the Storm
j (Children’s Fiction That’s Not Quite So Easy)
Clara Gillow
Clark – Annie’s Choice (1920’s)
Kathleen Dewey – Francesca Vigilucci,
Eleanor Estes – The Curious
Adventures of Jimmy McGee
Constance Green – Odds on
Oliver
Dorothy Hoobler
– The Second Decade: Voyages
Betty Horvath – Jasper and
the Hero Business
Katharine A. Kirkpatrick –
Keeping the Good Light
Norah A. Perez – One Special
Year
Books on Tape
Susan Hood - Weather Channel
Presents Hurricanes
Video Tapes
VHS 551 N2199 Natures Fury,
by the National Geographic Society
VHS 551.55 Hurricane, by Ambrose Video
Publications
VHS 551.55 Hurricanes and Tornadoes, by Schlessinger Media
Reference Books (General
Books)
R j031 Children’s Britannica
(article on ham radio operators)
R j031 Doubleday Children’s
Almanac (date of last hurricane listed)
R j031 Fact Finder (invention
timeline)
R j031 New Book of Knowledge
(article on hurricanes)
R j031 Random House
Children’s Encyclopedia (article on American history, 1920’s section
R j031 World Book
Encyclopedia of People and Places (article on telegraph)
R j423 any Dictionary (entry
on hurricane)
R B.0 T348 Thinkers of the
Twentieth Century (entry on Samuel Morse)
Science About
People
j302 Thomas Streissguth -
Communications: Sending the message
j302.2 Philip Arthur Sauvain -
Communications
j363.34 Ned Halley - Disasters
j363.3492 Keith Elliot Greenberg - Hurricanes and Tornadoes
j363.3492 Particia Lauber - Hurricanes: Earth’s Mightiest Storms
j363.34 Ned Halley – Disasters
j383.14309 They’re Off: The Story of the Pony Express
384.54 The CQ Amateur Radio
Almanac
Science about Nature, and
Math
j508 Phil Gates – Nature Got There First
j509 Andrew Dunn – Children’s Atlas of Scientific
Discoveries and Inventions
j551.55 Jacqueline Dinean –
Hurricanes and Typhoons
j551.55 Clint Twist – Hurricanes and Storms
j551.55 Magic Schoolbus Inside a
Hurricane
j551.55 Jenny Wood - Storm
j551.552 Sally Lee – Hurricanes
j551.552 Neil Morris – Hurricanes and Tornadoes
1551.55209 Keith Elliot
Greenberg - Storm Chaser: Into the Eye of the Hurricane **
j551.553 Franklin Mansfield Brenley
– Tornado Alert
j551.553 Jonathan D. Kahl – Storm
Warning
Technology
j609 Eryl Davies – Inventions
j609 Geoff Endacott – Inventions
j609 Gillian Clement – The Picture History of Great
Inventions
j609 Charlotte Foltz Jones – Mistakes That Worked
j609 Peter Lafferty – The Inventor Through History
j609 Lois Markham – Inventions That Changed Modern Life
j609.2273 Brainstorm: The Story of Twenty American Kid
Inventors
j609.2273 Ethlie Ann Vare – Women Inventors and Their Discoveries
j621.3678 David Baker - Earthwatch
j621.38 Irwin Math – Morse, Marconi, and You
j621.382 Martin Schwartz – Mastering Morse Code
j621.38416 Ham Radio: an Introduction to the World Beyond CB.
621.38416 Harry Helms – All About Ham Radio
j621.38416 Jim David Perkins - Don C. Wallace: W6AM, Amateur
Radio Pioneer
j621.38416 Now You’re Talking: All You Need to Get Your First Ham
Radio License
j621.8 Time-Life Inc. – Machines and Inventions
The Arts
j700.8996 James Haskins – The Harlem Renaissance
j700.92396 P. Stephen Hardy – Extraordinary People of the Harlem
Renaissance
Special Kinds of
Literature
j811.54 Marilyn Singer – Sky Words
Geography and History
910.43 Edward Rowe Snow –
Great Gales and Dire Disasters
j920 Dennis Denenberg – 50
American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet
j920 Rebecca Hazell – Barefoot
of Heroic Children
j954 Henry Miles - Look What Came From Egypt
j954 Henry Miles – Look What Came From India
j954 Henry Miles – Look What Came From Russia
j973.41 Gail Stewart – 1920’s
974 Joe McCarthy - Hurricane!
Biography
jB M838H Wilma Pitchford Hays – Samuel Morse and the Telegraph
jB M838Q Robert M. Quackenbush – Quick Annie, Give Me a Catchy Line!
jB M838L Jean Lee
Latham - Samuel F. B. Morse: Artist and Inventor
jB.0 Milton Lomark – Invention
and Technology
jB.0 L.B. Taylor – Rescue: True Stories of Heroism
jB.6 Jean F. Blashfield – Women
Inventors
jB.6 Girls to the Rescue: Tales of Clever, Courageous
Girls From Around the World
jB.9 David C. King – First Facts About American Heroes
Creating Nametags
This is actually not
mandatory, but I find it much more effective to be able to address children by
their name. A nice touch is to have one
of your own, and ones for other adults involved. Many classes have field trip nametags. Ask the teacher that they wear them, and have
them move them to their clothing as they take their coats off. Alternatively, make nametags in advance from
class lists or registration lists, or enlist adults involved to do it as
children arrive.
Creating Search Lists
In the materials list above,
there are nine groupings of eight items each.
For the remaining items, there are only a few for each classification or
format area. Create unique lists by
pulling one item from each of the nine large groupings, and a tenth item from
any of the smaller groups. It is
essential that no item be duplicated on more than one list. It is also important to shuffle the items
within the lists so that all children won’t be searching the same area of
shelves at the same time. It will help
if the just the call number to the left of any decimal and the author’s last
name are distinguished by boldface type.
Creating Internet
Instructions
Eight pieces of tag board or
sheets of paper are necessary for this step.
Each needs to include succinct instruction in kid-appropriate vocabulary
for accessing, first the library website, and then KidsClick
(assuming you have it on your website.)
Then include one term for the kids to search there: “hurricane”,
“tornado”, “Samuel Morse”, etc. Instruct
them to then look for something marked as appropriate to their grade level and
click on it. When they find something
the group agrees is interesting, they should report it to the librarian or
another adult.
Creating Optional Take
Home Website Suggestions (Strongly
Suggested)
There are some wonderful
website suggestions on the Eduplace Reading Scene
website. There are also great links
available through Kidsclick. I strongly suggest reviewing these in
advance, as well as ones you locate through other means. By creating your own annotated list of the
“Best of the Best” in the topical areas suggested by Rescue Radio, you
can promote yourself and other librarians and library websites as sources of
kid-appropriate Internet materials. Your
list would probably include Eduplace’s KidSpace, KidsClick, some of the
individual sites they suggest, as well as others, emphasizing ones that are fun
and interactive (and incidentally educational).
Include the list as a take home, since time won’t permit much Internet
exploration. Remember to address parents
as an intermediary to kids’ Internet use.
Creating Optional Take
Home List of Searches/Terms Helpful in Finding These Topical Materials
This is also a strongly
recommended take-home. If the children
are too young to make use of it themselves, parents may be able to help them
should they want to find more materials on their own. The underlying goal, of course, would be for
them to generalize the suggestions to any search.
Creating Tag Board
Pieces for Alphabetizing Game
You will need 26 tag board
pieces. They should be at least 5x7
inches. One side should have a unique
letter of the alphabet. The other side
should have a grouping of two letters where the initial letter is “E” and the second
letter is a unique letter of the alphabet: Ea, Eb, Ec, etc. To make the
second round of the game more interesting, be sure that the individual letter
on the first side is some distance within the alphabet from the second letter
on the other side.
Creating Labels for the
Sorting Area
You will need to make some
type of printed label for each division in the materials list. Make sure they are large and easily read, and that you have some way to affix them in a way that
they will not be covered by the books as the children sort. I would envision the sorting area as tables
placed against a wall or against shelves that are not needed in the search
(fairy tales? holiday books?), with signs taped behind in Dewey order, but
other options would also work.
Creating an Evaluation
Survey
Two different surveys should
be created. One would be aimed at
teachers and parents. The other would be
aimed at the children who participate.
The answers should be on a numbered and labeled scale to allow for
quantification, although there should be space and encouragement for free
response as well.
For adults it should address
areas like: In your view, what level of enjoyment did the children experience
in hearing the story…discussing the story…the alphabet game…the search
activity…the internet activity…the books themselves? Do you think that they learned things that
they didn’t already know? Do you think they are better able to use the
library? Do you think they appreciate
the library more? Would you suggest this
program to others or return with another class?
How do you think the program could be improved? Thank you for filling out the survey.
For the kids: Did you like the story…talking about it…the
tour…the alphabet game…the treasure hunt…the Internet stuff…the books
themselves…the take home stuff? Did you
learn anything in the…?
Do you think any of your
friends would like this program? Do you
think other classes would like this program?
Considering the whole program, was it fun? Can you tell me something you
learned today? If you think I should do
this program again for other children, what do you think I should change? Thank you for filling out the survey.
INSTRUCTIONS AND
SUGGESTED SCRIPTING FOR PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
1) Read “Radio Rescue”
Aloud
Gather the group around you,
semi-circle floor seating if possible.
Introduce the book as one written and illustrated by the author about
experiences her father had when he was a boy.
The pre-reading questions from Eduplace’s
Reading Scene are good ones, but you probably will not have much time to
elaborate.
Read the book.
2) Briefly Discuss the
Book
Allow for as much spontaneous
reaction to the book as you can, but direct the discussion with the purpose of
soliciting areas of interest that arise out of the books content. Question examples: “What parts of the story are the most
interesting?” “Are there things in the book you would like to know more
about?” “Do you wonder what it was like
to live in 1923?” “Would you like to
read other stories about…?” “Do you know who invented Morse Code?” If you have ham radio or telegraph equipment
to share, discuss it. Try to draw out as
many of the classification areas as you can.
For the ones, that haven’t arisen, a suggestion from you in question
form will probably draw a “yes” from at least some of the children. Next question: “So there is definitely information in the
library about those things we’d like to know more about. How do you think we can find it when there
are so many books?” Use the methods they
suggest as a bridge to announcing that you have done some hunting in advance,
and that in a little while they will be doing a “treasure hunt” of their own,
(in the case of this particular book, you can phrase it in terms of a “rescue
mission” if it seems natural) but first you will take a tour of the library and
then play a game.
3) Library Tour
This is intended to be a
brief swing through the library indicating the broad classification areas and
talking about number and letter designations i.e. “The numbers before 100 are
here. They are books about…” Warn the children that the clues you are
giving them will help them later in their treasure hunt so they should listen
carefully. “The 100’s are here. If I were looking for the number 130.123
(pick a physical area that works for this example in your library), I would
first look for 130. Then I would find
.1, then .12, and then .123. All the
books with that exact number are then arranged in another order. For this the library uses the author’s
name. Do you think they use the first or
the last name? That’s right…” “The “j”
in front of a number, like this on this book let’s you know it is a book for
children, but otherwise ignore it as a clue.”
(This program was devised in a system in which most non-fiction is
interfiled, adjust if necessary.) “Here
are the 200’s they are books about…and the 900’s are here, they are books
about. Anything with an R in front of the number is reference, books you can’t
check out and they are over there. Something that starts with a “B” or “jB” means it’s the true story about a person’s life, called
a biography, and they are after the 900’s. The second letter stands for the
last name of the person the book is about.
If the book has sections about several different people, it will have a
number after the B instead and those are here at the end of the B’s. VHS means
a video, they are here…” etc. “All of these number and letter clues, and how
the books are placed according to what they are about is called the Dewey
Decimal System, because a man named Melvyl Dewey made
it up a long time age.” End back in the children’s room talking about the
divisions of fiction and their arrangement by author’s last name. “Now let’s play a game.”
4) Play Alphabetizing Game
Pass out the prepared tag
board pieces to 26 children. Tell the
others that they get to be the problem solvers, and pull them into a group near
you. Tell the children with the cards to
hold the side with one letter in front their chest.
“You are that letter.” Tell the
“letters” they have one minute to arrange themselves
in an alphabet, but when the problem solvers call “time” they must freeze. The problem solvers time the action, with a stopwatch
if you have one, saying “Ready Go!” at the beginning, and “Freeze!” at the end
of one minute. At that point the problem
solvers take over the finishing touches of alphabetically arranging the
“letters”, if any are necessary. For the
second round the first problem solvers choose the next problem solvers by
taking their tag board piece. The
children turn the pieces to the “E_” side.
Have the problem solvers lead a discussion about how the “letters” get
into alphabetical order now that they all begin with E. They can also make suggestions about how the
process might work better from what they learned in the first round. If there is a speedy consensus of a
replacement for the timed chaos, let the second round proceed in a different
way, otherwise repeat When round is
finished, divide the children into groups of four based on who they are
standing next to, starting somewhere in the middle of the alphabet, and
rounding out the first and last group with the problem solvers. If there is grumbling about the groupings,
say: “In a problem situation like the rescue in the book we read, we usually
don’t get to choose who we work with, but need to depend on whoever is
around. The important thing is to use
everyone’s skills to have the whole group be successful at whatever they are
trying to do.”
5) Send Groups of Four to
Find Items on Their Assigned List
Once the children are in
their 4-person groups, have them cluster and separate from other groups. Distribute a Search List to each group and
again go over what they should look for first.
Does the book have a number or a letter clue? After they find that exact number, then they
look according to what? Emphasize that
they are responsible for making sure all members of their group know how to
find items in the future. Tell them they
can ask for helping in the treasure hunt for books and other materials, but
only after their group and tried to do it by themselves. “During the hunt do not run, and keep the
noise down to respect the other people who are in the library doing their own
work. This isn’t a race. Every group who
completes their list wins and some lists are harder than others. When you have found all the books on your
list, bring them back to the children’s room and put them on the table each by
the sign that indicates the part Dewey Decimal system where they are
shelved. Notice if any of the books look
interesting to you. Do you have any
questions? If not, begin.”
6) Have Children Sort Their Physical Materials Into the Proper Broad Classification
The sorting area and signs
you have prepared will essentially reinforce the Dewey System as they sort
their books, and allow them to compare their books to the ones other groups
have gathered. My intention here is not
that it again be verbally discussed; just help them if they are having
problems. Browsing should not be
discouraged, but try to keep the groups together and give them their next
assignment if there is time. Direct
other adults to do this if you are busy helping groups locate items.
7) Help Groups Find
Anything They Couldn’t Locate
Either you or other adults
can help groups find things they couldn’t locate by themselves. Use it as an opportunity to go over location
strategy again.
8) Give Groups Who Finish
Their Internet Activity
This is an important part of
the program in that it emphasizes the library as a portal to the Internet, but
don’t worry if there is not time to finish.
If you have prepared a website list as a take-home, it will serve the
purpose, as will future programs in which the children will hopefully
participate. For groups who have time,
their instructions will lead them to the children’s room computers, through the
library website to Kidsclick, and then to a website
appropriate to their age level. They
will no doubt find a site that interests them to show to an adult, but if not,
you can take them to ones that you think are interesting and explain why. The younger the kids are, the more help they
will need with this task. Station other
adults in this area as the kids reach it.
9) Encourage Browsing and
Check Out of Collected Materials
Remind children that the
books collected talk about things that they mentioned wondering about after
reading Rescue Radio, and they ended up coming from all over the
library. Ask them if any of the books
look interesting. Remind them that they
can check a few out if they have a library card and their parent’s permission.
Praise them on the job they did, and ask them if they had fun.
10) Distribute “Book Bag”
Filled With Items to Take Home
If you have prepared book
bags for the children to take home, pass them out after they have checked out
any materials. The items included can be
ones like those mentioned in the advanced preparation section, or any
others you think appropriate. If you
have time, explain what’s in the bag, and how they could use it.
SUGGESTIONS FOR
ADAPTING THIS PROGRAM
TO ANOTHER AGE GROUP
This program could as easily
be used with any piece of age-appropriate literature short enough to be read in
10 to 15 minutes. The search list and
materials gathered would then correspond to the content of the new literature
choice. For children in kindergarten or first grade, one could choose a simpler
picture book as the literature shared, use a lot more guidance in the alphabet
game, remove the search portion, but still discuss Dewey to some extent with
the gathered materials on a cart in Dewey order. For older children, a good read-aloud might
be a newspaper article about a real rescue, or anything else that might
intrigue and raise questions and areas of interest.
EVALUATION
Admittedly, since I have not
already done this program, in fact, have done no library programming, the
post-program evaluation process, and fine-tuning for future use (if any), would
be extensive. In fact before I even
tried it, I would ask a few children’s librarians with more experience,
preferably ones running very successful programs of their own, to evaluate the
written plan. I would give their
response a lot of merit, making suggested adjustments beforehand.
Using the Survey
Prepared surveys would be
sent back with teachers or group leaders along with a stamped and addressed
envelope for mailing them back. I would
beg the adults to have the children fill them out and mail them in, along with
their own response. For more loosely
connected groups, I would just ask kids and adults if they would please help me
create good programs by filling them out and handing them in at the circulation
desk. A stack of blank surveys at that
location might help. I would also
include surveys in the take home bags, but those would probably only be
returned by very regular patrons. I
would strongly consider putting actual surveys or at least soliciting
programming response on the website as well, although in a large system this
might not be possible. Quantifiable survey results could be statistically
examined, but my feeling is the free text survey responses and any verbal ones
would be the most helpful in knowing how to adjust the program.
Measurable Outcomes
Survey
results.
Attendance if the program is
a community-wide offering.
Teacher and
Group Leader rebookings.
Are the children able to make
suggestions for areas of interest after having the book read to them?
Are the children able to
arrange themselves in alphabetical order in the game?
Are the children able to
retrieve their list of materials?
Do they check out books they
have gathered, or others that they find on their own?
Non-Objective Measures
Though the statisticians do
not get excited about this kind of evidence, it would also be very helpful in
knowing how to adjust the program. How
do the children act and what do they say?
Do they seem to be having fun in the various activities? Are they frustrated by some? Do they get bored before the tasks are
completed? Are they showing an interest in the books as they find them?
Time Component
I have tried to indicate in
the description that the presentation would have to be adjusted for the grade
level and the particular children involved.
Some groups would need much more guidance than others necessitating
removal of some of the activities. If possible, I would run this program for
the first time for a group that did not absolutely have to leave after one
hour. That way I could get a feel for
how long the activities would actually take, without rushing the participants
through them all. Adjustments would then
be made, possibly even dividing this program into two or more, if the
individual components seemed to be well accepted, but didn’t fit into the one
hour time period.
On-Going Evaluation
Evaluation is an on-going
process. A negative reaction of one
group would not necessarily indicate that the program would not work with
another, although as a brand-new librarian, I might be afraid to try it a second
time, if it really bombed the first time.
Over time, through a process of presentation, response, and adjustment,
hopefully this program would evolve into one that I could present many times
with confidence that my goals were being achieved. On the other hand, the activities themselves
are not the essential ingredient, so if they weren’t well received, I would
continue the search for others that would create the outcome I am seeking, in a
form that my patrons would enjoy.