"week" 14 Guji Guji

The 6 day week after the big break! I was sick and out for two days early on in this cycle.  I found Guji Guji by  Chih-Yuan Chen online being read by an actor, Robert Guillaume. 

For the lower grades, we started off by discussing the cover of the book and trying to decide what the animal was that the ducks were lifting.  One of the most prominent answers was "a horse".  We talked about why the ducks might be lifiting the crocodile up in this way and some of the answers were priceless.  One of my favorites was, "Because he is too fat to walk." 
 
After discussing picking up someone in celebration or because they did something heroic, we watched the story being read.  This story turned out to be a major hit with the lower grades.  I think some of it might have been just because it is fun to say "Guji Guji".  Afterwards, we talked about how stories had a beginning, a middle and the end and we talked about what those were in this story and then the students were asked if they remembered some of the ducklings name and what they looked like.  I made a "Guji Guji" coloring page to keep them occupied while we checked out books at the end of the class.

The 4th and 5th grades were re-introduced to our "library game" based on video game rules.  The outcome of "Library Wars" or "Catalg Carnage" will be the students ability to understand how to find a call number on the OPAC (catalog) and then locate the book on the shelf.  I have written a series of worksheets and activities that either work on putting spine labels or call numbers into "shelf order" and recognizing what section the book would appear in.  The second half of this "level one" in the game is learning to use the catalog.  We have just started with the basics - what is the call number, how to do "wild card" searches, how to tell if the book is checked out or available...

Every video game has some sort of award system, so I showed the students the erasers and pencil sets I purchased for this very purpose.  As they pass each section of this level, they get to choose a prize.  The final level, of course, is the "boss level".  Guess who's the boss?  They have to prove to me that they can use the catalog and locate books on the shelf.  They seem to be excited about the concept anyway.  I hope it works.