Wow!  I cannot believe is has been so long since I last posted the happenings in the library … we have been very busy.

I love the activity each morning as students come in to exchange books for new ones.  I love that they feel so comfortable, and appreciate that teachers allow the students to come to the library when it is convenient for them.  The library is theirs, and it shows in our circulation figures.

Kindergarten and Grade  One students have been working on non-fiction in their Reader’s Workshop within the classroom.  In the library we will be reinforcing this new knowledge.
Kindergarten are beginning an Author Study of Eric Carle and how he uses non-fiction research in his fiction picture books.  We have been talking about how important it is to make a story “believable” when facts are built into the story.  We hope to create a class book modeled after one of Eric Carle’s using his art style.

Grade One has also been exploring “facts” in fiction stories.  We will be researching Black Bears based on the story The Bear That Heard Crying by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock and Helen Kinsey.  We will be researching Black Bears and then writing our own fiction story incorporating our new knowledge about Black Bears.

Grade Two just finished their dinosaur project.  Mr. Harte, our technology facilitator and myself, worked with three classes.  We created a question web with the students and then taught them how to take notes by identifying the important information which answered their questions.  We then sorted their research by topic and sent it home where they created their individual projects.  We shared all 104 projects and their author with the entire school during our February community share.  The photographs were prepared in a slideshow to the theme music of the Jurrasic Park movies.  It was a huge success.

Also in Grade Two we are exploring Cinderella stories from around the world.  We are visiting different continents and countries … looking closely at the flora and fauna, as well as customs and clothing from each country.  The students were surprised to learn that some countries feature a boy as the protagonist.  Can you guess which continent doesn’t have a Cinderella story???  We hope this exploration of cultures, helps prepare the students for their upcoming country report project.

Grade Four has completed their immigration unit and created their own podcasts (similar to Story Core on NPR) of an immigrant’s experience, from the point-of-view of three different jobs: historian (tells about conditions in the country they emigrated from), travel expert (tells about the challenges of traveling from a country to the US), and an acculturalist (who explains about the challenges of adapting to a new country).

We completed out Fifth Annual FIT & LIT program from January 8 through February 12th.  The students and staff keep track of the number of minutes they read and exercised during this five-week period.  The purpose is to reinforce the idea of “exercising one’s whole body”.  The students and staff read:
1, 307, 600 minutes!

Awards were given for 100% participation in both FIT & LIT – First prize, Second prize and Third prize – special charms were given to all participant winners;  then classroom winners were recognized in each of the six grades with a special charm to add to their necklaces.  We also had a special visitor at both our assemblies … “The Pigeon”  from the books by Mo Willems.  He was a huge success.  The program ended with a wonderful “Read Your Heart Out Day” in the whole school.  Students came in their PJs, with slippers, blankets, pillows, and/or a stuffed friend.  They read, shared poems, performed Reader’s Theater, and shared books with classroom book buddies all day … it was a very exciting and fun day just before vacation.

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Chase