About this resource
Students will have read Roald Dahl's The BFG in class. The Big Friendly Giant had need for different furniture based on his size. Students will be asked to consider different animals as library patrons and the needs of those animals in order to successfully use the library. In small groups students will design a method to allow their identified library patron to successfully use our library.
Curriculum & Standards
Related General Curriculum / Common Core Area
Reading, Language Arts, Engineering
Related Curriculum / Common Core Standard
By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 4-5 text complexity band independently and proficiently
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly
What students will do
Students will be able to
- identify areas of patron need in a library
- identify patron attributes that will affect use of the library
- design tools that utilize knowledge of patron needs and patron attributes
Resources Needed
- Whiteboard
- Handout to guide group discussion
- If lesson is continued, materials to build prototypes.
- Design customer cards
- Basket or bowl for students to pick cards
Lesson sequence & procedures
After students have read the majority of Roald Dahl's The BFG with their class, they will come to the library to consider the needs of different library patrons. Librarian will ask students to imagine what it would be like if The BFG were to come to the library. What different things do we do in the library that might be difficult for him? (Possible student answers include: he might not fit in our chairs, he might have trouble typing on our keyboards. On the other hand, he wouldn't need to worry about the headphones not fitting since his hearing is so amazing.)
Librarian will explain that as librarians it is our job to make sure all patrons can use the library. Define the word patron if necessary. Explain that today the librarian will be "hiring" groups of students as designers. Students will be designing library furniture or tools that will meet the needs of a specific patron. Remind students that when the group thought about things they would need to address for the BFG if he visited the library, they were considering his individual needs. Each group will be assigned a specific patron and they will need to think through the needs of that patron in order to come up with an idea for a design that will help that specific patron access the library more successfully.
Librarian will assign student groups. Each group will choose their design customer or patron from a basket. The patrons today will be animals: elephant, fly, mouse, cat, horse, ant, bat, owl, giraffe, snake. Each group will then identify: what patrons need to be able to do in our library, who their design customer is, the attributes of their customer that might impact their design (like height or special abilities,) brainstorm of ideas to make, final decision, and which library need this design would meet. Students work in small groups as librarian circulates.
When students have completed their group planning sheet, they will draw a design of their creation.
In closing, librarian will ask groups to stand and present their ideas for innovation. They will explain who their client was and what need they decided to meet.
(If interested, librarian could continue the lesson during a second period by having students actually build their prototype.)
NOTES: Possible ways to deliver: drawing in ideas books, building using maker supplies"
How learning is assessed
Students will be assessed on their group planning through observation and their group planning paper.