Thursday, March 27, 2014

Case Study No. 1327: Mrs. Skorupski

Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything!
0:57
A Mrs. Skorupski Story
by Toni Buzzeo
illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa
Tags: Mrs. Skorupski
Added: 5 months ago
From: ToonLib
Views: 30

According to Carmen, a fourth-grader at Liberty Elementary, her school's librarian won't tell students ANYTHING!
Fortunately, her classmate Robert doesn't believe Carmen and marches right over to ask Mrs. Skorupski question after question.
Mrs. Skorupski's eyes twinkle and her rhinestone glasses sparkle as she leads Robert to the tools he needs to find the answers.
Carmen scowls as she watches Robert become a Library Success Story, but eventually comes around as she realizes that Mrs. Skorupski can teach them EVERYTHING!

---

From amazon.com:

Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything!
Toni Buzzeo (Author)
Sachiko Yoshikawa (Illustrator)
Age Range: 5 and up
Grade Level: Kindergarten and up
Series: Mrs. Skorupski Story
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Upstart Books (January 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1932146733

Liberty Elementary School has a state-of-the-art library media center with a librarian who, allegedly, won't tell the students anything. At least that's the grim report that new student Robert receives from his classmate Carmen. When he meets Mrs. Skorupski-who wears tarantula earrings, rhinestone glasses, a bright red-and-gold shirt, and purple pants-he discovers that she is not quite as close-lipped as he'd been led to believe. While it's true that she won't place a book directly in his hand or find him a Web site, she patiently teaches him how to search an online catalog and how to access and select appropriate information by himself. In other words, she's a perfect school librarian. Mrs. Skorupski enables Robert and his classmates to locate print and nonprint materials, take notes, keep track of sources, and demonstrate their learning in a multimedia product. This amusing story with bright, zippy illustrations can be used to launch research units. The accompanying "library lessons" pamphlet has useful forms, a self-assessment rubric, and additional information on multimedia formats including claymation films, podcasts, TV advertisements, and PowerPoint slide shows.

---

From tonibuzzeo.com:

Our Librarian Won't Tell Us ANYTHING!
A Mrs. Skorupski Story
by Toni Buzzeo

Read the book aloud to children first, so that they can enjoy the humorous illustrations
and also become familiar with the story. Then, hand out a set of photocopied scripts to
eleven children. (Select gregarious readers for Robert, Carmen, and Mrs. Skorupski.
Struggling readers may still feel successful in the Chorus.) Ask the remaining children to
be the audience. Have performers face the audience and simply read their parts on the
first several run-throughs. Once all readers are comfortable with their parts, have a sec-
ond reading with the opportunity to use props or costumes (earrings and glasses for Mrs.
Skorupski are especially fun), if desired, and to act out the story while reading

Roles
* Robert
* Carmen Rosa Pena
* Mr. Dickinson
* Mrs. Skorupski
* Narrator One
* Narrator Two
* Narrator Three
* Chorus (four students)

Robert: On my very first day at Liberty Elementary, Mr. Dickinson sent me down to the library media center.

Mr. Dickinson: Bring back a couple of books you'll enjoy, Robert.

Robert: You bet!

Narrator One: Robert hurried down the hall after Carmen Rosa Pena

Narrator Two: who wasn't about to wait for him to catch up.

Narrator Three: Through the double glass doors Robert could see

Narrator One: the story alcove,

Narrator Two: life-sized animal skeleton collection,

Narrator Three: a dozen student computers with swivel chairs,

Chorus: and thousands and thousands of books.

Narrator One: Everywhere kids were reading on bean bag chairs,

Narrator Two: typing at computers,

Narrator Three: or standing in the check-out line.

Robert: The rest of them crowded around a tall blond woman holding a video camera.

Mrs. Skorupski: That was me! My tarantula earrings dangled below my rhinestone glasses.

Narrator One: Carmen was halfway across the room when Robert skidded to a stop in front of her.

Robert: What do you like to read?

Carmen Rosa Pena: Soccer and Sports Illustrated for Kids. Why do you care?

Robert: I wondered if you knew where the animal books are.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Not a chance.

Robert: That's okay. I'll ask the librarian.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Mrs. Skorupski?

Narrator Two: Carmen rolled her eyes.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Don't even bother. Our librarian won't tell us ANYTHING!

Narrator Three: Carmen charged off to the shelf under the Kristine Lilly poster.

Chorus: What? Librarians help people - like police but without the trouble.

Narrator One: Robert marched over to the crowd surrounding Mrs. Skorupski and waited his turn.

Narrator Two: Mrs. Skorupski finally glanced at Robert over the sparkling glasses.

Mrs. Skorupski: New to Liberty?

Robert: Yep. Mr. Dickinson's class.

Narrator Three: Mrs. Skorupski stuck out her hand.

Mrs. Skorupski: Great! I love fourth graders. What do you like to read?

Chorus: Ha! Carmen was wrong.

Robert: Got any animal books?

Mrs. Skorupski: Any? We've got so many animal books -

Chorus: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish -

Mrs. Skorupski: I could lock you in here for a year and you'd still be reading. Well, if you didn't starve first!

Robert: Awesome! Mammals, please. Where are they?

Mrs. Skorupski: Follow me!

Narrator One: She marched off across the room.

Narrator Two: Robert was so busy gloating that he smacked right into Mrs. Skorupski when she stopped at the first bank of computers.

Narrator Three: She swiveled a chair and gave him a gentle push onto the cushion.

Mrs. Skorupski: Have a seat.

Robert: Wait!

Narrator One: Robert bounced up.

Chorus: Cool earrings but not much of a memory.

Robert: You were taking me to the mammal books!

Narrator Two: Mrs. Skorupski twirled the chair again and pointed.

Mrs. Skorupski: Sit.

Chorus: Her tarantulas bobbed near Robert's cheek.

Narrator Three: Mrs. Skorupski pointed to an icon on the screen.

Mrs. Skorupski: Click the online catalog and type m a m m a l s into the subject search box.

Robert: Just then, Carmen poked my ribs and hissed in my ear.

Carmen Rosa Pena: See! I told you she wouldn't tell you anything.

Chorus: Mrs. Skorupski just smiled.

Robert: I clicked SEARCH and got a long list of books. I chose a few titles and read more about them. Then, I wrote down the call numbers and titles of the books I wanted on the catalog slips she handed me.

Mrs. Skorupski: Okily dokily. Now use the shelf labels to find them!

Robert: Ummm, Mrs. Skorupski? I asked YOU to show me where they are.

Mrs. Skorupski: (Smile.) Yes. You certainly did.

Robert: I headed back to class with a stack of books -

Narrator One: one on duck-billed platypus,

Narrator Two: one on lesser bush babies,

Narrator Three: and one from the display shelves on naked mole-rats.

Robert: Whenever I used the catalog to find books after that, Mrs. Skorupski said -

Mrs. Skorupski: Robert, you are a library success story.

Chorus: Who knew what she meant by that?

Robert: When Mr. Dickinson announced desert animal research in predator-prey teams, I knew just the animal for me.

Mr. Dickinson: Mrs. Skorupski is scheduled to give us one hundred percent of her attention for our library research on Thursday afternoon.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Ha! She won't tell us ANYTHING.

Mr. Dickinson: That's enough, Carmen.

Robert: We each started by taking notes on the predators of ten desert animals of our choice. When we finished, we joined predator-prey pairs.

Carmen Rosa Pena: I'll be a predator.

Chorus: Big surprise!

Robert: Poisonous rufous-beaked snakes eat naked mole-rats.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Then I'm signing up to be Robert's partner.

Chorus: Oh joy!

Narrator One: Mr. Dickinson and Mrs. Skorupski handed out a Sources Criteria Sheet.

Narrator Two: Robert wrote down their names on the sheet and hopped up from his chair.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Where are you going?

Robert: Since I've read my naked mole-rat book three times, and I have animal encyclopedias at home, I only need an online article.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Well, don't bother asking Mrs. Skorupski. She won't tell you ANYTHING!

Narrator Three: Robert shrugged and walked over to a computer.

Narrator One: When he typed n a k e d m o l e- r a t s into the catalog, all he found was the book he already had.

Narrator Two: No articles.

Narrator Three: He flipped down his IN USE sign and zipped over to Mrs. Skorupski's desk.

Robert: Will you please find me a naked mole-rat article online?

Mrs. Skorupski: Absolutely!

Narrator One: He followed her scorpion earrings as they danced across the room.

Narrator Two: Mrs. Skorupski swiveled the chair.

Mrs. Skorupski: Sit - and close the catalog. The big blue e will open the kids' search engine.

Narrator Three: Robert typed n a k e d m o l e-r a t s in the search box. Up popped a list of links. He clicked on each one to see the article.

Mrs. Skorupski: Okily dokily. Now which article has the most interesting facts? Print that one.

Robert: Didn't I ask YOU to find me a good article?

Mrs. Skorupski: (Smile.) Yes, you certainly did.

Narrator One: Back in class, Robert shared his print-out with Mr. Dickinson.

Narrator Two: He also tucked a poisonous rufous-beaked snake article into Carmen's desk.

Narrator Three: But he didn't tell her who it came from.

Robert: Each time I helped my classmates after that, with the catalog, at the nonfiction shelves, or online, Mrs. Skorupski said -

Mrs. Skorupski: Robert, you're a library success story.

Chorus: Who knew what she meant by that?

Robert: When Mr. Dickinson assigned a desert animal multimedia product, Carmen Rosa Pena and I finally had a huge fight.

Carmen Rosa Pena: It's not fair. I missed the multimedia production lessons last fall.

Robert: No problem. Since I hadn't even moved here yet, Mrs. Skorupski will definitely help us.

Carmen Rosa Pena: (Shout.) Are you crazy? I told you, she never tells us ANYTHING!

Robert: (Yell.) She may not tell YOU anything. But she ALWAYS helps me!

Narrator One: By the time Robert got to the library media center,

Narrator Two: Carmen was already there,

Narrator Three: taking notes on the poisonous rufous-beaked snake.

Chorus: Again.

Narrator One: Carmen looked up.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Oh look. It's Mr. Library Success Story. Don't tell me your research isn't done?

Narrator Two: Robert sniffed.

Robert: I'm here to ask Mrs. Skorupski something.

Carmen Rosa Pena: Don't even bother ...

Narrator Three: He didn't wait for her to finish. He stomped off to the computers holding the Multimedia Product Format Sheet.

Narrator One: Robert typed m u l t i m e d i a into the search engine.

Narrator Two: He groaned when he saw the enormous list of links.

Narrator Three: Mrs. Skorupski screeched to a halt behind him.

Mrs. Skorupski: What's up, Robert?

Robert: Will you help me choose a multimedia product?

Mrs. Skorupski: Sure! Come with me - and bring Carmen along too.

Robert: Do I have to?

Narrator One: Mrs. Skorupski just patted Robert's shoulder.

Narrator Two: Carmen scowled when Robert tapped her on the arm.

Narrator Three: But she followed Mrs. Skorupski and Robert to the library media classroom.

Narrator One: Mrs. Skorupski connected the data projector to her laptop and dimmed the lights.

Narrator Two: Then, she grabbed two DVD disks and a CD from the AV shelves.

Narrator Three: The eyes on her vampire bat earrings shone in the dark.

Mrs. Skorupski: Okily dokily. Let's view some student samples of each product and you two can decide.

Robert: Hey! That's a great way to choose.

Mrs. Skorupski: (Smile.) Yes. It certainly is.

Narrator One: By the time Carmen and Robert headed back to class, Carmen's grumpy mood had dissolved into excitement about making a claymation film.

Narrator Two: Carmen said poisonous rufous-beaked snakes would be easy to make out of clay -

Chorus: like pretzel rods but without the salt.

Narrator Three: Carmen even scheduled a meeting for them to meet with Mrs. Skorupski the next day so they could begin their filming.

Robert: Last week when Allison Chen moved to Liberty School, Mr. Dickinson sent her down to the library media center with me.

Mr. Dickinson: Mrs. Skorupski tells me Robert is a library success story.

Chorus: Who knows what she means by that?

Narrator One: Robert walked down the hall with his new friend Allison.

Robert: You're going to love Mrs. Skorupski. Our librarian can teach you -

All: ANYTHING!

No comments:

Post a Comment