I'm so fortunate to have been asked again to help with 1st grade "genius hour". These ambitious students come to the library twice a week to research and learn more about a topic of their choice. This group wants to know more about ROBOTS. They have read books about robots, researched online about robots and then decided that they really wanted to try to MAKE a robot. Along with the battery powered robots, they have also created a Google presentation about robots and are looking forward to sharing their information with their classes soon. I know we ALL learned a lot! (check back later for a look at their presentation)
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Not your Grandma's or even your Mama's library! (and so many amazing books!) My personal favorite new library decoration is the 3 foot tall metal letters that appropriately say READ. To accompany our new after school STEM club, we have our Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics feature book shelf. For the month of Valentines, we also featured books that had been "RED" lately. You have to love this "Random Act of Kindness" from Mrs. O'Mealy's Kindergarten class! This just made my day!!
Week 2: Challenge: Use Legos to create a scenario with a plot. Use Lego Movie Maker app to create a stop animation video of the Lego story. S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and math) Club started tonight in the Willard East library. 20 students from K-4th grades cooperated to master a variety of challenges. This group will meet for the next 6 weeks and use their team building skills to tackle missions related to astronomy, digital animation, construction, electricity and much more. As my family and I have settled into reading our school wide book club book, Stuart Little, lessons upon lessons have leaped from the pages. We are about 1/4 of the way through the book and we have already talked about measurement, Roman numerals, realistic fiction vs. fantasy fiction and a load of new vocabulary words. Wouldn't it be fun to make a little "Stuart" our of something (paper, Legos, whatever) and put it in a variety of situations around the house in a sort of "Elf on the Shelf" sort of way? I bet the kids could come up with some very creative situations or even just re-live some of the scenarios from the book like when Stuart fished out his mother's ring from the drain. The author, E.B.White, wrote Stuart Little in 1945, seven years before his most famous book, Charlotte's Web. With this in mind, there will obviously be vocabulary words that students (and maybe adults) need explained. What a great learning opportunity! (I confess, I'm a vocabulary nerd and love that kind of lesson.) Here are a few of the words we have come across while we've read...shinnying, handkerchief, inquire, horrified, violet water, worsted suit, washbasin, and seize. Depending on the age of your reader you can modify your list to what needs to be defined and what can be figured out with the context clues provided in the sentences around the word. One of our favorite activities that we did during chapter II was to read "Three Blind Mice" and talk about other old nursery rhymes. One of my most loved memories of spending time with my own mother was listening to and reciting old nursery rhymes. If you are a little rusty on these, let me know and I'll check out one of our great nursery rhyme books for you. How has your family been enjoying our book? Author E.B.White and his dog, Minnie I've been preparing our Willard East library board of education report and added a section called, "Let's Dream!" These are a few of the things I've added; astronomy night, STEM Club, outdoor makerspace, green screen broadcasting area, student podcasting and more technology. What would you add?
This is what awaits students for their first day of 2016 in the Willard East library. I can't wait to see their faces! These are new books requested by students and teachers. They include; the "Warriors" series, "Bob books", new Mo Willems books and replacements to some well loved books. Our theme area of the library is one of my favorites. Who knew we had so many books about SNOW. I'm not so sure I want all that snow outside, but reading about it is just fine! It's Only Tuesday and the library is as busy as always. Check it out... Kindergarten writers are remembering to begin their sentences with a capital letter and end with punctuation. This writer is using the "Osmo" to practice his cursive letter formation. Our #books4blessings challenge creators were treated to signed baseball cards from Clayton Kershaw himself. Second grade classes have been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's books Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy. Watching the classic Little House Christmas Video was a special treat! Mrs. Whisler's, Jarrett and Colm, and Mrs. A.Smith's, Keegan and Cassidy presented the reader's theater "Not the Night Before Christmas" for their classmates.
Mrs. Kramer's, Evan, Malachi and Claudia, Mrs. Lines', Iggy, and Mrs. Welch's Blaise and Callie also presented the reader's theater "The Tortoise and the Hare" to their classes. Both groups did an OUTSTANDING job! Our #books4blessings challenge was a big success! We filled our book shelves with cans and boxes of food products for the Willard food pantry. We also submitted our challenge to the Kershaw Challenge founded by L.A. Dodgers pitcher, Clayton Kershaw. Mr. Kershaw responded with a letter showing his support for our challenge and a wonderful gift to each of our ambitious challenge creators. Keegan, Cassidy, Jarrett and Colm all received an autographed baseball card from Clayton Kershaw. Thank you for your participation in our Books For Blessings Challenge!
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AuthorFifth year librarian with a "few" years of classroom teaching under my belt. Archives
August 2018
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