In preparation for the upcoming iLEAP testing, I’m trying to prepare our students for the information resources section. I’m trying to expose students to the types of resources they might see on the test, but I’m trying to pull it together in a relevant way. I know they’ve been practicing for this section in class a little bit in class. I also know that these resources really won’t mean much to them if they don’t actually put their hands on them.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to pull in some books relating to geography and different cultures. I heard the teachers talking about what a hard time their kids have with understanding how life is different in other places around the world, so I thought it would be good to pull in some multicultural literature.

Last week, we read Grandfather’s Journey, by Allen Say. It’s a beautiful book and wonderful, simple story. It’s a Caldacott winner, which we talked about in relation to our “Read Around the World” program (I’ll write about this later on this week). After reading the story, we talked about the geography of this story. I really honed in on talking about continent, country, state, and city because I found this was something the students were struggling with. Then, we started talking about reference books and how they help us. I introduced the atlas, put them in their hands, and let them explore. We used the table of contents, looked and different kinds of maps, found Japan & California from our story, and talked about real life situations where an atlas could be used. Kids love maps, so giving them a chance to explore was fun for them. I think it was a pretty successful lesson! I did it with both grades, but pushed it more with 3rd grade. It was less structured with the 2nd graders, but I think they benefited from the exposure of this lesson.

This week, I’m planning to read When Marion Copied by Brook Berg. I read this one with my 3rd graders last year, and I really love the Marion series. My plan for this week is to read this story with both grades. Afterwards, we are going to look at some copyright pages and the sample bibliography page that is provided on iLEAP.  Once again, I’ll push the activity further with 3rd graders, but I want the 2nd graders to get this exposure now.

Next week, I’d like to pull in some magazine articles somehow. I’m still in the thinking process on how I’m going to pull it all together. I’m sure I’ll read a fun Easter/Spring story to 2nd grade since we’ll be off for Easter break the following week.

I’m really in shock over how quickly time is flying by. We have Easter break right around the corner, we come back for a week, then we have testing. After that, we only have 6 more weeks! It’s going to be overwhelming with DIBELs, DRA, inventory…and packing up the entire library since they’re redoing the roof at school. You heard me correctly. We are packing up the library. Please pray for me.