Call Numbers Practice (picture books)

Objectives:
 

• Students will be able to identify call numbers on books in the story room
  
• Students will be able to find books in the story room using the call numbers
  

Skills used:

• Alphabetizing
• Recognizing labels and their meaning
  
• Copying from the board into their journals

ARCS:

• Attention: Singing the alphabet song!
• Relevance: Let the class come up with situations where know how call numbers work helps them.
• Confidence: Know that using call numbers rests on skills they already have: knowledge of the alphabet.
  
• Success: Review their notebooks when they're done and comment on their work.
  

Procedure:

1. Start by singing the alphabet song.
2. Ask the class: Why do we need to know the order of the alphabet? Let them give examples. Explain that one reason we need to know about alphabetical order is so we can find books in the library. All the books in the story room here are in alphabetical order. By the title of the book? Noooo. By the author's last name.
   
3. Ask a student what their last name is. Ask them to find a book in the story room by an author whose last name starts with the same letter as their last name. Bring the book to the front.
   
4. Draw what the call number looks like up on the board. Explain the parts. "The E means it's a picture book. The three letters under it are the first three letters of the author's name." Have them copy this down in their journals.
   
5. Have them write in their journals what the call number would be if they were the authors of a picture book.
   
6. Have them stand in the room next to where their book would be.
   
7. Everyone choose a book that's by an author whose last name begins with the same letter as your last name. For example, my last name is Sutton, so I'll choose a book by Maurice Sendak.
   
8. Go back to your journals and write the author's name and the call number of the book you chose.
   
9. Now, have them bring all the books up to you. One at a time, pass back the books randomly and see if the kids can figure out where the books go back on the shelves. If you can re-shelve books correctly, you can find them!
   

Assessment:

• During check-out time, challenge the kids to find picture books without your help.