UNIT PLAN

Standards to Be Addressed

New York City Performance Standards for Applied Learning

A1a: Design a product, service, or system; identify needs that could be met by new products, services, or systems, and create solutions for meeting them.
A5a: Work with others to complete a task.
A5b: Show or explain something clearly enough for someone else to be able to do it.
A5c: Respond to a request from a client.

New York City Performance Standards for English Language Arts

E1b: Read and comprehend at least four books on the same subject, or by the same author, or in the same genre.
E3b: Participate in group meetings.
E4a: Demonstrate a basic understanding of the rules of the English language in written and oral work.

New York State Standards for Native Language Arts

Standard 1: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in their native languages for information and understanding.
Standard 4: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in their native languages for social interactions.

New York State Standards for Foreign Language Learning

Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.

Big Ideas

Libraries are important parts of a learning community.
Libraries have many resources (e.g., Internet access, read alouds for children, and summer reading clubs).
Libraries have rules for behavior.
Libraries have systems in place to help us find books.
Librarians have to be familiar with the books in the library in order to help others find the books they may need.
Libraries have categories and subcategories for books (e.g., fiction subcategories include fairy tales, historical fiction, realistic fiction, and fantasy).
Libraries and their resources are shaped by the interest of those in the community.
Libraries must have a variety of books in order to address the various needs of the people in the community.

Guiding Questions

What are the characteristics of a library?
What can we discover in a library?
How do we decide the kinds of book we want to borrow?
What will we find out when we visit our local library?
How do we behave in a library?
What kinds of jobs are necessary to make a library run well?
How does the lending system work?

Background/Prior Knowledge to be Activated in the Unit

Knowledge of what is a just right book and how students can select their own just right books
Knowledge of genres

Assessment

Formal assessment takes place through grading of the various products that students create during the unit (scavenger hunt worksheet, design of a book, poster for how to take care of books, and essay on their experiences in the public library). These products should be assessed for students’ understanding of the concepts as well as their proper use of vocabulary and incorporation of other language objectives.

Students are also informally assessed through teacher evaluation of content and language skills. Questions to be asked:

How are the children treating library books after this unit?
What is their attitude towards reading?
Do children show increasing interest in books? Did the students collaborate in partnerships?
Are the students using environmental print and words from the text in written work and conversations?
Are the students using appropriate vocabulary?

Objectives

Content Area Skills and Concepts

Using the library to discover new information, to find enjoyable books, and to find out more information about a topic
Identifying the different parts of a book (the cover, the back cover, the spine, and the title page)
Finding similarities and differences in books written by the same author
Sorting books in their groups and genres, and providing a rationale for this grouping
Deciding on the criteria for giving the Second Grade Librarian Award to a book

Language Skills

Providing constructive criticism and comments in group discussions
Listening respectfully and taking turns speaking.
Recounting events orally using sequence words
Formulating interview questions (e.g., Where is…? What is…?)
Vocabulary: parts of a book, fiction, nonfiction, reference, encyclopedia, sections, subcategories, subheadings, juvenile, librarian
Understanding cognates (true and false)
Using cognates to develop comprehension in English
Using persuasive language to justify the choice for the Second Grade Librarian Award

Teaching/Learning Activities

Using a KWL chart (i.e., what do you know about this topic; what do you want to know; (later) what did you learn) to assess students’ prior knowledge about libraries and to find out their reading interests
Creating a book using the writing patterns or styles of a particular author (featured in the classroom library display)
Designing a diagram showing the different parts of a book
Designing a poster showing how to take care of books
Visiting the public library for a tour and interviewing a librarian
Discussing the names of parts of a book and parts of a library, noting that many of these terms are English/Spanish cognates
Reading award-winning books and determining why these books received awards
Deciding criteria for awarding the Second Grade Librarian Award to books in the classroom library
Using the computer to design a lending library card for the class library
Organizing the classroom library using a system similar to the Dewey Decimal Classification System
Acting as librarians in the classroom when other students from the school come to the classroom lending library during library hours (last half hour of lunch)
Writing about experiences during the library visit and about how students felt as librarians after the grand opening of their classroom library

Materials/Resources

Student-to-student reading interest surveys
Books from a variety of genres in both languages
Baskets
Large labels
Markers
Pencils
Golden award seals
Several sets of books by the same author (Anthony Browne and other student-selected favorites)
Treasure Hunt worksheet
Library card (for checking out books)
Large construction paper

9.TWIOP Toolkit

Second Grade Library

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