This is a third grade information skills lesson plan that involves the Dewey Decimal System, and content related to science. Students will participate in a lesson that involves the entire class to group animals into categories based on their characteristics.
Next they will continue by grouping and sorting books into two different categories depending on their characteristics. Students will then work in-groups to organize the books, and will come together as a class at the end to explain all the different ways they organized their books. Students will create a list of the different ways they classified and organized the books.
Next, the LMS relates the lesson to Dewey, and the ways we sort books in the library. As an assessment students will each receive a job aide with all the different sections of Dewey's classification system and they will need to use it to find a few books that interest them.
Dewey Classification Chart(use to make bookmarks): http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0768720.html
Collaborator(s): 3rd grade classroom teacher
Introduction:
Students will begin by walking into the library and sitting into groups of four. There will be 5 groups.
On the large overhead screen there will be a Microsoft word document with pictures of animals that have 4 legs, two legs, two ears, furry, no fur, animals that live in the sea or on land etc. On the tables there will be a few representations of the animal pictures that students can look at closely and physically manipulate. There will also be boxes of books at each table.
Begin the lesson by running in and dropping a box of toys or pictures. Each toy or picture is one that is represented on the overhead.
Explain that I spilt my box of pictures and toys and need to put all the animals into two different groups.
Ask briefly if any volunteers can explain or put these animals into two groups. (This way I can assess if anyone knows anything about sorting.) A mouse can be used with a word document, or a smart board would work if there were one available in the school. If nobody can sort them into two groups then start by putting one animal into each group, and calling on individuals to put animals that are similar and different into the two groups.
Praise the students that help and the ones who are working hard at listening and focusing their attention. Explain why you put the animals into the group.
Next explain the goal of the day, which will be to have the student's sort the animal into two groups, and later sort the books in the boxes at their table into two groups based on characteristics. Positively encourage students that you are excited to see their hard work, and know that this task will be something they will use in the future.
Body:
Continuing with the lesson, have the animals on the overhead placed into two groups.
Next, as a group, make a list using a white board of all the different ways to could sort the animals into two groups. Ask questions such as what do we know about the animals? What do they eat? How many legs do they have? These questions will get them thinking of different ways we could have sorted the animals.
After they have created a chart together, have students think about how the books are sorted in the library. Ask each group to work together and think about if they know ways that the books are sorted in the library. They will be brainstorming and working together in this section, by manipulating the books, and talking to one another. Each person in the group should have a job.
Explain that their jobs are very important and they should be proud of what job they have. There will be chances in the future for them to each switch jobs, and have a chance at all the jobs. There will be the recorder, time keeper, presenter, and monitor.
After 2 minutes groups will meet back, and one person from each group will write their ideas of the sorted books on the white board. The presenter of the group will quickly present the ways the books are sorted.
Next students will take out the books that they have in their boxes and come up with a strategy to separate the books. The groups will have 3-5 minutes to sort all their books into groups and use one of the strategies listed from the board that they thought was good. Then monitor and give ideas of how the books could be sorted based on what I see as I monitor.
After time is up, students will walk around the room and look at the ways the other students have sorted and separated their books. This way each group can show off what they did, and they can gain what ideas seemed popular and useful. Orally discuss the different ways that the groups sorted, and what each group liked about another groups sorting.
Conclusion:
After the books have been sorted and each group explained what they liked about another groups work hand out the job aid bookmarks with the Dewey Decimal Classification system. Ask if anyone has heard of Melvil Dewey? Does anyone know how the books are sorted in the library? Explain that the books are sorted by fiction and nonfiction (should already know, but quick review). After that the nonfiction books are sorted by what the information is about.
Relate back to when they sorted the animals. The animals with four legs were together, and with books all the books about dogs are together. Today you are going to find two books about something you are really interested in and try to use the bookmark and your knowledge of sorting to find the books your looking for. While you are finding the books, I want you to think about what other books are in the area, and are they similar or different? What would happen if we didn't sort the books? As the students line up and leave congratulate them on the nice job they did and ask them if they found the information they were looking for.
