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Lesson Plan #: AELP-SRF0200
Source: School Library Media Activities Monthly, (6:8, April 1990)


Grade Levels: 3, 4, 5

Subject(s):

  • Physical education/Skill-Related Fitness

Library Media Skills Objectives:

  • The student will examine a source about exercise and physical fitness and gather facts about how to keep fit.
  • The student will use the parts of a book to gather information about exercise and physical fitness.
  • The student will use more than one source to gather information about exercise and physical fitness.
  • Curriculum (subject area) Objectives: The lesson may be used in connection with a general physical education unit on physical fitness. Resources:
    Baldwin, Dorothy. Health and Exercise . Rourke, 1987.
    Bernard, Christian. Junior Body Machine . Crown, 1984.
    Carr, Rachel. Wheel. Camel, Fish, and Plow: Yoga for You . Prentice-Hall, 1981.
    Hyman, Jane. The Fitness Book . Wanderer, 1984.
    Knudson, R. R. Muscles . Avon, 1983.
    Rourke, Arlene. Diet and Exercise . Rourke, 1987.
    Schneider, Tom. Everybody’s a Winner . Little, 1976.
    Ward, Brian. Exercise and Fitness . Watts, 1988.

    Instructional Roles: The library media specialist and the classroom teacher or physical education teacher may work on this activity together in the library media center. It may be completed in two sessions and may be used during rainy or inclement weather.

    Activity and Procedures for Completion:

    The physical education teacher may discuss exercises for keeping fit. General exercise needs may be discussed. The teacher may explain that there are many books about keeping fit. Sometimes it seems difficult to decide which is best.

    The students must find exercise and advice common to all of the books they can find about exercise and fitness. The students may be divided into small groups to complete the assignment in round-robin fashion.

    After the library media specialist has introduced the books, including a review of authors and contents, each group may take one book and identify some important ideas about exercise which it contains. These main concepts or ideas about exercise may be recorded on a worksheet. The library media specialist and physical education teacher may suggest that the students look at the arrangement of the book, as evidenced by the table of contents. The library media specialist may discuss how to outline and main ideas of a book by making inferences from the table of contents.

    The students may work in small groups of three to look at the selected book and identify several important ideas about exercise and kinds of exercises which are helpful. The ideas may be recorded on a worksheet which is divided into columns corresponding to the available books. The groups may then exchange books. This process may be followed until all books have been examined by all groups. (Three books is a workable number, particularly if multiple copies are available.)

    The library media specialist or physical education teacher may then suggest that the students look at the information which they have recorded. They may circle facts which they found in all three books with a red pencil. Those facts which were common to two of the books may be circled in blue.

    The students may share facts or information about exercise common to all three books. They may discuss the importance of finding the same information in more than one source. They may also identify clues in the sources which lead them to believe that the information is valid.

    Evaluation:

    The student will use books and the parts of those books to locate information about exercise and physical fitness common to all of the books.

    Follow-Up:

    The students may:

    * Speculate on the reasons why some sources identify certain facts which others do not.


    These integrated lesson plans and suggestions for teaching library and information skills in connection with various classroom subject areas are provided by LMS Associates and were originally published in School Library Media Activities Monthly. Lessons may be used for the non-commercial purpose of education. All materials are held in copyright by LMS Associates for the magazine, School Library Media Activities Monthly. For more information, contact, LMS Associates; 17 E. Henrietta Street; Baltimore, MD 21230 410-685-8621.