LibraryChats

The library is constantly buzzing with students borrowing and returning books.  We love the activity and the excitement in sharing what they have read with us and with their friends.  What could be better!

Kindergarten has been busy reading about the life cycles of pumpkins, the red fox and other animals, seasons and how animals prepare for winter.  We have been having wonderful discussions about the animals in Dover and how everything happens in a ‘circle’.

First graders have been investigating Fairy Tales.  They have been learning the criteria for a story being a Fairy Tale and then deciding if the story shared is a Fairy Tale or not.  They understand that they have to supply ‘evidence’ from the story to support their decision.

Second graders are reading books by the author Judith Viorst.  They are learning about how she uses her ’schema’ to write her stories.  We are reading biographies and interviews with Judith Viorst to learn about how she writes.  She uses ’small moments’ to begin her writing just as they are learning to do in their classrooms.

Fifth graders just learned about the evidence proving that the Vikings were in North American 500 years before Christopher Columbus.  They explored the evidence for Columus’ feelings that he didn’t discover a new continent but did find India.  So why are we still celebrating Columbus Day, they ask?  Care to answer that question?

We explored the  1507 map by Waldseemuler, known as the “Birth Certificate of America“.  This is the first map to show the latin word ‘America’ and showed this land as a new continent.  It is always more impressive to the students when articles appear in the newspaper about topics discussed in school.  The Boston Globe, on Sunday, October 11th, had an article by Toby Lester called “A World Redrawn”.  This article talks about Nicholas Copernicus and how he used Waldseemuller’s map to reconsider what the ‘known universe’ looked like.  A new book The Fourth Part of the World: the race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map that Gave America Its Name by the same author is reviewed in the November 1, 2009 Boston Globe.

Learning is so exciting when pieces of the puzzle start to come together!

Happy Reading and Learning,

Mrs. Chase

What a wonderful evening last night!  We tried a new format for Open House which seemed to go smoothly.  I had an opportunity to represent the Extended Core Curriculum specialists; Art, Music, Physical Education, Technology and Media/Library.  It was a privilege to be able to share how we instruct your students.  Thank you to the parents who stopped by to ‘chat’ or visit the library for the first time, after visiting your child’s classroom.

The library space is truly a gift to the students and staff of Chickering School.  Thank you, parents and citizens of Dover, for the wonderful space and resources you provide through your taxes and donations.  The library is very busy all day.  We joke that we should put a revolving door on the library since students and staff are in and out of the library all day, finding books and resources to meet their needs.

Thank you for your support and we are off to a great year!

Happy Reading,
Mrs. Chase

I am excited about the start of each new school year.  I hardly sleep the night before school begins.  This year will be exciting with wonderful literature to be shared and the projects to be completed to stretch our learning.

The American Association of School Librarians has issued new learning standards for our children.  They write the following:

Learning in the twenty-first century has taken on new dimensions with  the exponential expansion of information, ever-changing tools, increasing digitization of text, and heightened demands for critical and creative thinking, communication, and collaborative problem solving.  To succeed in our rapid-paced, global society, our learners must develop a high level of skills, attitudes and responsibilities.  All learners must be able to access high-quality information from diverse perspectives, make sense of it to draw their own conclusions or create new knowledge, and share their knowledge with others….

[The] learning standards represent high expectations for today’s learners because the skills, dispositions, responsibilities, and self-assessment strategies represented by the [new] standards will provide the foundation for learning throughout life….

The focus of these standards is on the learner, but implicit within every standard and indicator is the necessity of a strong school library media program (SLMP) that offers a highly-qualified school library media specialist (a term used interchangeably with librarian [or teacher-librarian]), equitable access to up-to-date resources, dynamic instruction, and a culture that nurtures reading and learning throughout the school.

Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action. Chicago:AASL, 2009, p. 5.

My endeavor this year, will be to meet the needs of all our students and assist our staff in helping prepare our students for the skills they need to be critical thinkers and problem-solvers.

Happy Reading and Learning to all!

Here is our final group of first graders from Ms Martin’s First Grade class.  They are performing the script, “Humpty Dumpty”.  Listen for their intonations and expressions which reflect their reading comprehension.  They had a wonderful time reading together … giggles abounded … it was a challenge to get a recording where you could understand what they were reading, they were giggling so much.  It is wonderful to be learning and having such fun!

martin-grp4 – Humpty Dumpty

The students and I hope you enjoy listening to their Reader’s Theater.

Happy Listening,

Mrs. Chase, Derek, Michael, Natalie, Louise and Matty

Wow!  Mice seem to be visiting the library as we hear more little feet padding around in our Reader’s Theater.

This group of boys from Mrs. Power’s class have practiced and performed their Reader’s Theater called “Hickory, Dickory Dock”.  Towards the end of the performance the mouse even begins to sound like he has gained weight at the top of the clock.   A special thank you to Mrs. Pappas, our music teacher, for loaning us a gong to use for sound effects in their performance.

Here are Tom, Michael, Will and George:
power-grp4

The boys and I hope you enjoy their Reader’s Theater.

Happy Listening!

Mrs. Chase, Tom, Michael, Will and George