In Term 2 Media classes, all Gr. 5 students participated in the Unit, “Read It or Weed It;  The Fate of Merlin”.  An essential element of maintaining a library collection is the process  “weeding”, the culling out of books and materials that are dated and no longer popular with the patrons of the library.   This task usually falls upon the Librarian.  For this unit, Gr. 5 students played the librarian role to determine the fate of several fiction book series that were once, but are no longer, popular.

We began by creating a data table  in Google docs of agreed upon criteria for which to assess the twelve books in the fantasy/adventure/mythology series of  T.A Baron’s, called The Merlin Saga.   Students browsed through the books themselves, referred to the author’s website and also read reviews of the books in Good Reads and Amazon Books for Children.   Students then tallied up their total number of “read it” criteria and their total number of “weed it” criteria for one book in the series and entered these numbers in a Google Form.   See the chart below for the grade level results and the Fate of Merlin.

As a follow-up extension of learning, students were then tasked with choosing the “fate” of one other fiction series from among 25 different series books in our library that are no longer circulating on a regular basis.  Some series that students decided to “weed” are Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo and Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.  Two that were deemed still “readable” are Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman and Vet Volunteers by Laurie Halse Anderson.

Massachusetts School Library Association Standard 3. Locate and Access Information – Students will be able to access and gather information efficiently and effectively.