An important skill for research is being able to find the information you need for your bibliography. I begin teaching book terms like: title, author, illustrator, publisher, place of publication, and copyright at a young age. By the time they are near the end of first grade, I expect them to be able to find the information on the title page. One of the ways I reinforce this skill is with the Up and Away with Books game. I found this game on page 44 of one of my old library resource books. 50 Games to Play in the Library or Classroom by Carol K. Lee and Fay Edwards was published in 1988 by Alleyside Press.
When I have picture books that are falling apart, I will often tear out the title page to use with this activity (and others). The front of my game board has point values printed on it. I had this board laminated and then taped laminated balloons over the point values.
The instructions are taped on the back of the board along with a zip bag which holds cards which say: title, author, illustrator, publisher, and place of publication. I divide the class in to two teams. Students take turns drawing a red card and then identifying the correct thing on one of my title pages. If they are correct, they get to choose one of the balloons and their team is awarded the point value under that balloon. I try to encourage the students to choose a balloon that hasn’t been chosen before, at least at first, in order to get a variety of point values.
50 Games to Play in Library or Classroom
