First-graders Solve Gingerbread Man Mystery

This was in this week's Coffey County Republican. It's such a creative way to reinforce a joy of reading that I had to add it to the blog. The picture shows Principal Houchin and two class members discussing the missing gingerbread man.

From the Coffey County Republican, Dec. 14, 2007, pp 7, 10.

Amy Johnson
Reporter

WAVERLY — Yvonne Houchin’s first-grade class began the day in an ordinary way, Friday, Dec. 7, with the usual reading and writing assignments. About midmorning,the class took a break and worked together to make a gingerbread man. When the class went to retrieve
the gingerbread man from the school’s kitchen, he was gone. School cooks, Sandra McNabb and Dana Kistner, told the class that when they took him out of the oven, he jumped off the cookie sheet and took off running down the hall. They tried to catch him, but were unsuccessful.

Confused and concerned, the first-graders returned to the classroom to put together clues about where their gingerbread an might be. Some of the clues included a note left by the gingerbread man saying he had just begun his life and didn’t want to be eaten, suspicious crumbs in the hallway, and many unconfirmed sightings of the wayward gingerbread man at different locations around the school. However, he still remained at large.

Houchin sent the students in groups to different classrooms to ask the teachers and students if they had seen their gingerbread man. Most said no, and a few just laughed when asked if they had seen a gingerbread man with licorice eyes and buttons running around the school. But, Waverly Grade School Principal Tony Houchin told two students he did see the cookie frantically running down the hall toward the library. He said he tried to catch him, because of his strict policy of no running in the hall, but the gingerbread man was just too fast.

School custodian Dennis Tyson also said he saw the gingerbread man hurrying toward the fifth grade room, but was also unsuccessful in catching him. Armed with this information, the students told their classmates, and the first-graders quickly and quietly rushed to Patt Bray’s fifth-grade room before he could get away again.

When they arrived in the room, the fifth-graders were gone to computer class. This made it easier for the first-graders to roam around the room to search for the gingerbread man, as they were sure he had to be there. Haley Fischer was the first to sight the gingerbread man underneath the fifth-grade Christmas tree. He was trapped in a large zip-loc bag and had unfortunately suffered a broken leg during the escape attempt. The first-graders decided after all of the trouble the gingerbread man went through to not be eaten, they would respect his wishes. The gingerbread man now sits in the classroom, watching over the students and enjoying his freedom.

Beginning Cataloger Tutorials

Are you cataloging more and enjoying it less?

If you are a beginning cataloger, you may find tutorials at one of the following sites useful. I queried catalogers on AutoCat (list for catalogers) and educators on CLENERT (The ALA Roundtable for Continuing Education instructors) for their favorite sites. Here is the response as I posted it to AutoCat. My thanks to everyone who responded to my query!


There is no special order to the list. I'm leaving in the commentary about the sites
because it is useful.


1. I don't know if you are an OCLC member library, but they have some decent online intro to cataloging tutorials: http://www.oclc.org/education/tutorials/default.htm.
Regardless of whether you use OCLC, all of the tutorials at this site are free and could have
potential value for other systems. I had my assistant work through the MARC tuturial as well as a number of the Connexion Client tutorials. She seemed to appreciate a better understanding of everything as she copy catalogs.

2. OCLC. Introduction to MARC Tagging: An OCLC tutorial. This tutorial introduces you to the basics of bibliographic records, specifically MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging) format records-what they are, how and why they are used, and how to read them.
http://www.oclc.org/support/training/connexion/marc/default.htm

3. Idaho's Alternative Basic Library Education (ABLE) Program has a series of tutorials. Is this what you had in mind?

Introduction to Technical Services & Cataloging http://www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course5/01index.htm

Introduction to Subject Headings
http://www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course6/01index.htm

Introduction to the Dewey Classification System
http://www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course7/01index.htm

Introduction to the MARC System
http://www.lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course8/01index.htm

4. Idaho State Library. Includes: Introduction to Technical Services and
Cataloging; Introduction to Subject Headings; Introduction to Dewey
Classification; and Introduction to MARC Cataloging.
http://libraries.idaho.gov/able

5. Are you familiar with LibraryU (http://learning.libraryu.org/home/)? LibraryU offers 4 cataloging-related courses, that might be just what you're looking for.

6. You might also try WebJunction (http://webjunction.org/do/Home). There are several cataloging courses listed in the e-learning clearinghouse section of Courses.

7. I don't know if any of these will be of use to you, but these three tutorials are on the topic of cataloging. I am maintaining a website of free online library tutorials at
http://home.earthlink.net/~stephaniegerding/accidentaltechnologytrainer/ html

If you hear of any others, I'd be happy to add them. [I couldn't get this link to work. iij]

8. Utah State Library. A basic cataloging tutorial with many links. Explanation of the Dewey Decimal system, MARC records, and subject headings. Some information may be slanted toward Utah users, especially resources for obtaining bibliographic records, but most of the information would be useful to any librarian.
http://library.utah.gov/library_services/continuing_education/cataloging_basics.htm

and for good measure:

9. It's not a tutorial, but the most helpful web resource I've found is on the Follett software site. They list each of the common MARC tags with a link to a basic description of the information that belongs in the field.
The URL is: http://www.fsc.follett.com/clientsupport/community/tagofthemonth/index.cfm
I think that anybody starting out in cataloging will find it very useful.

10. I(Iris Jones) will add this one myself in the "not a tutorial, but useful category": Understanding MARC Bibliographic from the Library of Congress and Follett. http://www.loc.gov/marc/umb/

Organizing a Personal Library

Do you have so many books it’s getting hard to find the one you are looking for? Would you like to set up your personal library a little bit like the public library?It’s not necessary to put spine labels on the books or to follow the Dewey Decimal System. All you need to do is to create an index of your collection and keep it where you can find it – 3x5 cards in a box; a notebook; a computer file. Describe the location of the book on the entry and be sure to return the book to the same place when it’s used. To make it easier to find, you can arrange the books in alphabetical order by author or title in each bookcase.

The computer file is probably the most versatile because it can be sorted by the author field, or the title field, or the “wooden bookcase in the living room” field. If you have Microsoft Access on your computer, you can download a free template from Microsoft called the Book Collection Database. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC010186431033.aspx?pid=CT102144001033

Use the “notes” box to identify where theitem is located: “Bookcase in children’s room” “Stored in hall closet”, “Bathroom”. If you are experienced with Access, you can go into the “Table View” and add extra fields, such as “Topic” or “Location.” (That would let you use the Notes box for other information.)

Computers aren’t your bag? Write the information on recipe cards and file them. You can add ABC dividers to make it easier to sort the cards. Where do you store them? Cards can be kept in a recipe box, a shoe box, or a purchased a file drawer from an office supply. There are single drawer traveling boxes that will hold a large number of cards. (100 cards take about 1” of space.) The benefit of file cards is they can be rearranged and cards can be inserted (or removed) between existing cards. Ah ha! Your own Card Catalog!

If you prefer to use a notebook, use a small ring binder (5x7 or smaller) and write one entry per page. That way you can interfile new entries or delete records without having to rewrite entire pages. Tab dividers can be labeled ABC so you can flip through the notebook easily.