Scavenger Hunt

I want all of my students to be readers. We all know readers need a good book to read. However, I have quickly learned that even in a small library, finding a book can be a daunting task for students. They have no idea why books are on certain shelves. In their eyes, call numbers on book spines are just a mysterious combination of numbers and letters. For some students, they don't even know what type of book they would like to read. They stare at the shelves, but don't pull out any books.

After many lessons on library organization, alphabetical order, the Dewey Decimal system, and call numbers, I set my students loose on a library scavenger hunt. In pairs, they hunted for specific books, authors, and Dewey Decimal numbers, putting all their newly acquired knowledge to the test. 

I loved watching students run their fingers across the rows of book spines as they searched for a particular call number, struggle spelling the words "Dewey Decimal", and mouth the ABC's to themselves as they raced to complete their scavenger hunt.

The older students are now much more familiar with how a library works. They can find a book if I supply an author's last name, they know how to read the different nonfiction signs, and they can put their own books back on the shelf. A little bit of digging and exploring has helped many students find new authors and book series that they enjoy.
Happy readers = happy librarian.