Lesson Plans Archives - Staying Cool in the Library

5 Ways to Use Nursery Rhymes During Library Time

Nursery rhymes – the beloved lyrical stories of childhood. But there is so much more to these rhyming stories and songs than just entertaining children. These timeless rhymes and melodies are instrumental in laying the groundwork for literacy by introducing young learners to language patterns, rhythms, and rhyming structures. But the fun with nursery rhymes doesn’t stop there! We can continue to use nursery rhymes as the starting place for a variety of reading, language, and creative activities with students of all ages. Today, I’m thrilled to share with you how you can infuse the magic of nursery rhymes into your library sessions! Benefits of Using Nursery Rhymes Including nursery rhymes in our school libraries gives us a wealth of educational benefits that span early childhood development. There are the obvious benefits connected to pre-writing skills like learning to rhyme and developing an understanding of language structures. But the

Completing a Research Project in the Library

As a librarian, I love teaching informational literacy to students of all ages. This is such an important skill for our students to learn and practice. And. . . there’s so much more than just the final project. In fact, most of the learning happens before the final project as students learn to find, analyze, and organize information. Keep reading to find out how I facilitate the completion of a research project during library time. We are going to dive right into completing a research project in this post. If you don’t feel you are there yet, check out my post on teaching the research process. That blog post details the skills I teach leading up to the project and how we prepare to dive into a research project. Planning the Research Project Before you begin the research project there are some things you will want to have already

Encouraging Summer Reading

Summer break is a time for children to finally relax and enjoy a break from school. However, educators know that students still need to continue learning and practicing skills – especially reading. During the summer months, it’s easy for kids to forget what they’ve learned during the school year, which can lead to a difficult start when school resumes in the fall. However, getting students to pick up a book isn’t always easy, so I’m sharing some strategies for boosting summer reading in your school. Create a Fun Reading Challenge A reading challenge is a great way to motivate students to read over the summer. You could create a simple challenge where students need to read a certain number of books, or you could get creative and design a scavenger hunt-style challenge that requires students to read books of different genres or on specific topics. Make the challenge engaging

5 Figurative Language Activities for the Library

Figurative language can be one of the hardest concepts for our students, especially younger ones, to understand. To grasp and use figurative language effectively, our students must learn to think beyond the concrete. That’s why exposing them to figurative language often and in a variety of ways is so essential. Today, I’m sharing figurative language activities that will make it easier for your students to connect with figurative language while making it a seamless addition to your library lessons. What is Figurative Language? Figurative language uses ordinary words and phrases in a way that goes beyond their literal meaning. Often, what is said isn’t exactly what is meant, which can throw our students for a loop! For example, if you say, “I’ve said that a million times,” you don’t literally mean a million. You mean that you’ve repeated yourself a lot. For our students who take things literally, expressions

Activities to Help Students Understand Why Citations Are Important

An age-old question students have is, “Why are we doing this?” Students have asked that question for decades before us, and they will continue to ask well into the future. Luckily, there is a simple answer to why citations are important. In the digital age we live in, it’s absolutely critical to understand copyright and plagiarism. Citations are important whether students are writing a paper and need to cite evidence, or when using music for a presentation. Each of these areas comes with its own rules and regulations for copyright. Why Citations are Important Citations are important because they protect people’s work. When we cite a work correctly, we are giving credit to the owner or creator of that work. Being fair is something students are often naturally passionate about, so help bridge that connection for students. When we cite = we are being fair. In order to appropriately

Must-Have Activities for Teaching Internet Safety to Kids

The internet is a double-edged sword. It’s filled with useful information. We have knowledge and power at our fingertips, and there is a lot of good it can do for the world. But, the internet is also dangerous and scary. There are dark corners of the internet where harmful things lurk. How can we keep our students safe? If you ever use technology in your classroom, it’s imperative that you teach internet safety for kids. What does internet safety mean? Internet safety for kids can mean a wide variety of things, from protecting passwords to not having access to inappropriate content. Essentially, internet safety is about protecting the student (and also equipment) from potentially dangerous content. When teaching internet safety, especially to young students, it might feel a little awkward. How do I explain that the internet can be a dangerous place? However, with younger students, you don’t need

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5 Ways to Use Nursery Rhymes During Library Time

Completing a Research Project in the Library

Encouraging Summer Reading

5 Figurative Language Activities for the Library

Activities to Help Students Understand Why Citations Are Important

Must-Have Activities for Teaching Internet Safety to Kids

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