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A TSUNAMI OF NEW STANDARDS Both “new” elementary librarians and those with years of experience are usually looking for new ideas— good ideas that can infuse a little excitement into their day. We hope this collection of ideas will provide some inspiration for meeting the tsunami of new standards dictating change for today’s next-generation learners. We have considered the following standards while writing our standards-based lesson ideas: • The American Association of School Libraries Standards for Learners and Librarians (AASL) • The Common Core Standards (CCS)—also some specific “state” standards that were aligned with the national CCS • Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) • C3 Social Studies Standards • International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students • National and state standards for social-emotional learning These lesson ideas model how to springboard from a read-aloud to an inquiry-based investigation that embraces information literacy skills and engage students in a real-world learning experience. We encour- age using these lessons with or without classroom collaboration. This will insure that you are embracing national standards and graduating learners who are information literate. The lessons in this book will provide you inquiry ideas along with appropriate essential questions. Not all ideas have to be used. Not all essential questions (EQs) need be embraced. You may wish to choose the EQ or the idea(s) that fits within your students’ capabilities, technology tools, or the time allotted to you. Lessons have been grouped into three primary target age groups defined as: early (grades K–1), middle (grades 2–3), or late (grades 4–5) elementary grades. These lessons could possibly move up or down by scaf- folding expectations and carefully choosing the accompanying springboard ideas. We have also included a few higher-expectation lessons for gifted and talented classes—or higher grades, if you teach them. At the time of publication, all books mentioned were available through major library vendors. Books could be purchased as an eBook format and read via a Whiteboard, read via a smaller read-aloud setting, or purchased in bulk for multiple book reading. How you do that is your choice. The important point is to model reading with meaning and interpretation, and then inspire students to move beyond the book into real life. Inspire them to wonder, investigate, synthesize meaning from what they investigated, and then communicate conclusions and take action if necessary. Chapter 2 HOW TO USE THIS BOOK