Scavenger Hunt

One of my classes of sixth grade students needed to get caught up on an assignment they missed due to time constraints in our schedule last week. They learned about lots of print resources in our library to use for conducting research. Many of these resources are older, but are still effective for searching for general information. On the other hand, some of these resources are new and up to date. The assignment was a collaborative "scavenger hunt" with several questions that needed to be answered using the books. It was wonderful to see students able to find the information they needed in the books. We are so quick to turn to the Internet with all of our questions when sometimes it is just as convenient and easy to grab an atlas, encyclopedia or almanac to learn about other people, places and things. The buzzing of their voices as they read to find the appropriate print resource and information to answer the questions

was music to my ears. Some students even veered from the topic at hand and browsed these nonfiction resources, learning random and interesting facts. It is my hope that these inquisitive sixth graders will return to the nonfiction section of our library and take the time to read more about a favorite topic, whether for research or just for fun.