The First Week Back

We had a great first week back from Break.  We kept it slow this week and reminded the students of library procedures and allowed plenty of time for them to browse and check out books.

For the month of January, Kindergarten  classes will be studying author and illustrator Eric Carle.  We discussed his use of collage in his books and read Have You Seen My Cat? and then watched (and sang!) this video:




1st and 2nd are reviewing library procedures.  Second grade is also starting to study Caldecott Award winning books.  We'll be comparing and contrasting illustration in books that have won the award over the years.

3rd - 5th grade will be voting on their favorite Texas Bluebonnet book at the end of this month so we are discussing those books.   We are also discussing what it means to be a "wild reader" (based on Donalyn Miller's book, Reading in the Wild) and how we can become "wild readers".

Glad to be Back!

It sure was nice to have a few weeks off for Christmas Break.  My family and I went to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.  We spent several days there and thoroughly explored the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  It truly felt like we had stepped into the pages of the novels; Diagon Alley was amazing.  My daughters went to Ollivander's Wand Shop and were chosen to participate and have their wands CHOOSE THEM.  They got to try out several different wands before the right one chose them.  It makes me want to reread the Harry Potter series, and I am putting that on my "To Be Read" list for this summer.

This is a picture of me and my girls in Diagon Alley; Gringotts is behind us.

I also surfed the internet a lot over Break and read up on my Professional Literature.  I found a few things I want to share with you:

This website lists 100 Books Every Boy Should Read.

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On a totally different note, I saw this and thought it was worth posting to generate conversation:

Thoughts?  Feedback?

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I follow Kid President on YouTube (SoulPancake).  He made this video about  #BookItForward.  The idea is simple: share your favorite book with someone.

December Newsletter

Here is the December newsletter. We're doing some fun activities in the library!
 

Force and Motion

Here is our video, based on the TEKS of Force and Motion, and the book, The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz.  The puppets acted out the book as it was read aloud, then the classes made videos to show force and motion.  We also watched a video by Genesis JuJitSu, which introduced the students to terms such as rolling and sliding.



It was so much fun to bring science alive in the library and to see the creativity of the teachers and the students!

November Newsletter

A Visit From the Fort Worth Vaqueros

We had a blast in the library today!

Two players, and the coach, from the Fort Worth Vaqueros soccer team stopped by.  They read to the students, answered questions, and signed autographs.  They even played in a quick game of soccer with some students and teachers!  

It was a great experience for the students and a wonderful way for the community to be active in our school.

Marshmallows and Puppets, Oh My!

This past Friday was Puppet Show day in all three of the elementary libraries. At each school we read the book, The Marshmallow Incident by Judi Barrett, and the puppets acted it out.  It was an interactive puppet show as marshmallows were thrown at the audience--the screams of excitement made cleaning up all the marshmallows worth it!

You can see the Knight (with the orange head) in the picture above.  He likes to recite poetry.

After the book, we showed a video about marshmallows and science and had the students predict if the texture, size, temperature and color would change if we placed a marshmallow in the microwave, a bowl of water, and the freezer. 

It was so much fun to see the students excited about the puppets and to see them participate as scientists in our marshmallow experiment.  Puppets, marshmallows, science and even some poetry in the library on this Friday!