FREE Lessons For Teachers!

This is a free library lesson I am making available here for a limited time . Thereafter it will be for sale on teacherpayteachers! Sign up to follow Living on Shady Lane so you can get other freebie's before they go on sale!

  Library Lessons With The Midnight Librarian

     The Midnight Librarian by Kazuno Kohara (Roaring Book Press, 2014) is a great read aloud for introducing students in Kindergarten and First Grade to the library.   Use it  at the beginning of the year or any time  to review.  

 Read the story  aloud to the students.   Discussion questions can be asked  at the end 0f the story or at occasions where students can use text and illustration cues to answer the questions.

1. What do the animals do in the library? ( p3-4)
2. What was the correct behavior in the reading room? (P5-6)
3. Was there a hole in the roof?
4. Was it raining in the library?
5. Why was the wolf crying?
6. What jobs did the librarian do in the library?
7. What jobs did the owl assistants do in the library?
8. How did the little librarian help the tortoise?
9. How is the library in the book different from our library?
10. What do you think are some good library manners ?

Answer key:

1. read books

2. Correct behavior- being quiet
3. NO there was not a hole in the roof.
4. NO it was not raining
5. The wolf was crying because the book was sad.
6. help animals pick a perfect book, put away books
7. she made him a card so he could borrow books.
8. answers will vary
9. Answers will vary: be quiet, put books away,

Word Puzzle - The Midnight Librarian

Word Bank:  Librarian, Instruments, Yawn, Rain, Assistant, Read, borrow

1. Person who helps find the perfect book   L _ _ r_ _  _ _ _

2.what the squirrels played                            I _ _ t _ _ m_ _ _ _

3.Tortoise was allow to  take book                b _  _ _ o _

4.What  the animals did  in the library           r _ _ d

5.One who helped the librarian                     a _ _ i _ _ _ _

6.when the wolf cried                                      r _ _ _

7, owls did after story & fell asleep               y _ _ n

Answer Key

1. Librarian
2. Instruments
3. Borrow
4. Read
5. Assistant
6. Rain
7. Yawn

Matching ( terms and definitions) The Midnight Librarian

Copy  this page  ( Make several copies)  and  cut apart. Glue onto cards Have two  or three students work together to match terms.  This can be also done during  time when there are students who are finished with book check out or are not checking out books. Make a easy check by  placing on the back  books!  on the cards that go together.

Place where all  the  books are	reads you good books
Library assistants	lets you borrow books
Library behavior	being quiet and respectful

Librarian	Library
Library cards	take a book home and then bring it back.
borrow	Helps put books away

Answer key on back of

place where all the books are - Library               B

library assistant- helps put books away               o  (1)

library behavior- being quiet and respectful      o ( 2)

Librarian- reads  you good books                            k

library cards- lets you borrow books                       s

borrow -take a book home & bring it back            !

The Midnight Librarian

Sequence  Game  : Students can work in pairs to put the following cards or strips of paper in the right order after listening to the story.  After everyone is done,  you can review as a class or have another pair at the table check work.

Animals  come at night to the library to read

                                                           

                                                                                         

The Tortoise can finish his book.

The Little Librarian reads to the owls as they fall asleep.

Little Librarian & her three owl  assistants help find the perfect book.

The Little librarian asks “Please be quiet in the reading room”

The Little Librarian takes the squirrels to the activity room.

The Little Librarian makes the tortoise a  library card.

It starts to rain inside the library.

The little librarians and her assistants read to the wolf.

Bands of squirrels play music looking for a good song.

Other Books Written and Illustrated  by Kazuno Kohara

Here Comes Jack Frost /Roaring Book Press, 2009

Ghosts in the House/ Roaring Book Press,2012

Little Wizard/Pan Macmillian,, 2011

The Haunted House/ Macmillian Childrens Books, 2008

Susan Pierce Couture is a career librarian ,  with experience in both public and school libraries.  Currently , she is a branch manager in a public library system.  You can  connect with her at her blog  : TheOrganizedLibrarian. blogspot.com

Book Review- The Guest Cottage

  Here is another great summer read by Nancy Thayer. Although I hadn't read any of  her other books , I may go in search of some now that I have read this one.

  The novel. is set in Nantucket  near the beach. Sophie , at 36 , has just leaned her husband of 16 years wants a divorce.  She is at a loss on what to with her life and those of her children, Jonah and Lacy.

   Trevor Black , w web designer , has lost his wife and is struggling to bring up his little boy  Leo  who at 4 is having a hard time with the loss  of his mother.

 The tow parents end up renting the same house. When they both arrive at about the same time, they decide to try and share the house  and the responsibilities , because they don't know really what else to do.

  As the summer progresses.  Sophie and Trevor have a lot of ups and downs , adventures and incidents. Sophie is sure that she is to old for Trevor. But Trevor is smitten with Sophie. How  will it all end? Read this to find out!

Book Review- The Bookseller

     Kitty MIller and Kathryn Anderson- which is the true life, which is the dream?   Kitty is a single bookshop owner with a loving cat and her good friend, Frieda ( co-owner in her book shop) and her loving parents.

    Kathryn is a loving wife and busy mother of three.  Kitty goes to sleep and in her dreams becomes Kathryn. And she loves being Kathryn, even with the struggles  and stress with her children.

     The story will keep you turning the pages and hoping it doesn't end.

Easy Summer Dinner Mostly leftovers!

      For an easy summer dinner, pick up a rotisserie chicken. This time we got an italian  seasoned one for a something a little different .  We did that yesterday while we were doing our weekly shopping. Find the largest one you can- most are about the same size!   
  So for our dinner we had chicken, roasted potatoes ( another leftover) and Bob's Leftover salad.

     In this salad , he put odds and ends he found in the fridge from the weeks meals. So this is what was in the salad: roasted red peppers, sliced olives - both green and black, homemade salsa,  and a can of drained  chickpeas.  Then he tossed in  a little chopped cheese and some chopped hard salami.  For dressing, he put in a dash of apple cinder vinegar  &  a little olive oil. it was  delicious!!  

    So that was our dinner . We did have some chicken left over . It will go on a green salad  for one of my  lunches for next week.

Book Review- At the Water's Edge

At The Water's Edge, Sarah Gruen  ( Spiegel & Grace, 2015)

    Maddie Hyde and her husband, Ellis, and their friend Hank disgraced themselves at a High Society New Years Eve party in 1944.  Ellis is cut off from his wealthy parents.His Father is already ashamed about Ellis, his marriage to Maddie, and the fact he was not accepted to serve in the war effort.

   Ellis decides to win back his Fathers approval by finding the famous Loch Ness Monster.( His Father publically failed in doing this)  The three then go off to Scotland to see if they can document the Monster. As members of the sheltered American, they are greeted with a different world in Scotland, The food is rationed and the people are hard  workers. Maddie becomes frustrated by her husbands behavior and actions toward the people.
   As Ellis  and Hank delve deeper into their search for the Loch Ness Monster , Maddie finds she like the simplicity and beauty of the land and people of Scottish Highlands.  The message unfolds as Maddie'e life begins to unravel and then  be completed in a very surprising way. I didn't want the book to end.

Wedding gift - personalized for your favorite couple

                 This was made   for a special couple  a couple years  ago.  Ask for the couple's  colors to match their bedroom or living room. It will become a keepsake for years and years .  Also a great reminder for  both of them .

                 The same item can also be handmade for the newest member of your family!  

Book Review- Divergent

  Divergent by V . Roth ( Katherine Tegen Books, 2013)

      Beatrice has a choice, actually many choices  of factions  to belong to after her schooling. She chooses one faction she knows will be exciting and challenging, but she does it on a whim and she is not sure why she has chosen it. But did she  make the wrong choice?

     Tris ( as she decides is her new name) has new friends. There are some in her group who are not sure and aware of her ca[abilities. Tris learns a lot and builds up her body as a member of the Dauntless group.

  As a final acceptance into the group, Tris learns the truth about the factions and her leaders. She must help her old factions and the others to  avoid being controlled by a few.  This YA book is intense Science Fiction story.( Similar to the Hunger Games) Now I want to read the second novel   to see what happens next.
  If you liked the Hunger Games  , this intense novel is for you.  Roth is an exceptional author bring characters and events to life.