She taught you WHAT?

Occasionally some skeptic will ask me disparagingly, "So, do you still use the Dewey Decimal System?" He's probably thinking that, 'what with the Internet and all,' that DDS is SO last century. But my middle and upper elementary students are dazzled when they realize what an incredible invention it is: since decimals go on forever, we can continue to add books into existing categories even as they cover unimagined new material. (My favorite example is showing how we can take the Dewey number for the state of Georgia and add decimal digits to expand to Atlanta, to Druid Hills, to schools in Druid Hills, all the way to the Paideia Elementary Library. Or, theoretically, even to a shelf in the library.)

So this week I am once again teaching about call numbers. But it is my rule that I, and students, need to sing the words call number, because it is how you "call up" your book. Occasionally high school students recall singing about call numbers back when they were little. But my favorite story was the young boy whose mother asked him what he did in library that day. She misunderstood him and thought she heard him say, "Natalie taught us about condoms." Startled, she asked, "What did she teach you?" and he replied, "How to use them." Finally she cleared it up: I taught about call numbers. And now I sing it loudly and clearly.