School+Librarians+Pathfinder

Elementary School Librarian Resource Guide

As a relatively new elementary school librarian I am continually exploring new ideas for our library curriculum. As such, I thought it would be beneficial to explore some electronic resources that would be of use to plan and prepare valuable library lessons. The target audience for this resource guide is elementary school librarians.

[|www.ipl.org] – The Internet Public Library (ipl) site will prove to be an invaluable resource for you and your students. Founded by the University of Michigan in 1995 it provides features such as Teach with the IPL, KidSpace as well as Pathfinders on topics such as fairy tales.

[|www.webquest.org] – Since 1996, San Diego State University has maintained a database of WebQuests. This searchable database of 2500 WebQuests is kept current with special attention given to valid links. You will find a plethora of literature based quest for your student to explore.

[|www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/libplans.html] - This site is maintained by a Linda Bertland, a retired school librarian from Philadelphia, PA and contains links to literature units, assessments, technology units and information skills units.

[|www.mrsd.org/~library/#links] – The Monadnock School District in East Swazney, New Hampshire maintains this librarian friendly site. You will find not only ideas for information literacy lessons but links to relevant themes. A few themes featured for January and February include Black History, Ground Hog Day, Valentines Day and Chinese New Year. The Information Literacy curriculum is organized by grade level with great online activities.

[|www.informationliteracy.org] - Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services their banner reads “a virtual idea factory for teaching information literacy skills”, which proves to be true. This site is especially easy to search by grade level and by subject matter.

[|www.big6.com] - The Big6 information literacy model is explained on this site and also supported by a nice collection of lessons which allow you to teach the Big6 (or Big3) authentically. That is, you are showing the students the stages within the Big6 as they are conducting their research and completing their tasks. You may purchase Big6 materials on this site also.

[|www.eduhound.com] - This site, although somewhat busy, breaks down resources by lesson plan subject and topic based online resources. I especially liked the language arts links. Although you may subscribe to their newsletter their online lessons are free.

[|www.teacherlibrarian.com] – Although you may be familiar with the //Teacher Librarian Journal,// their website offers free access to their most popular columns. Check out the TL Toolkit which includes many resources you can use with your student; ranging from Great Reading and Links, Technology and Websites.

[|www.iste.org] – //Learning and Leading with Technology// is a journal published by ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). With some navigating on their site you will find lessons and curriculum tied to the technology lessons. On the ISTE home page select NETS, and then select For Teachers to see what is available to meet your technology lesson requirements.

[|www.mmischools.com] – //Multimedia Schools// is another journal which offers extensive articles online. Under Research Centers on the left menu there are various categories of interest including collaboration, curriculum and elementary.