Week of January 22nd

Maker Week!!

Once per month, our students in grades 2-5 participate in a maker week during library time.  During maker week, students are provided materials and the time to create, explore, collaborate, learn, and grow.  This month, our makerspace had a winter theme.  Students were invited to make snowflakes and draw Olaf (from the movie Frozen).  We also had an engineering design challenge that was very popular.  Students were given a certain amount of materials (such as rubber bands, plastic spoons, popsicle sticks, and paper tubes) and had to design a catapult that could throw a "snowball" (cotton ball) the farthest.  

The girls in the video below designed a double catapult!  

I think we have some future engineers!

This month, we introduced a new coding board game.  Students have to use cards to code their player to reach the "gems" first. The idea for this game came from here. 

We also introduced two new technology tools that students could use.  

Sphero is a robot ball that is controlled through an app.  Students code the ball (using block coding on an iPad app) and then press start to watch the ball roll.  The challenge was for the students to code the ball to move in a rectangle around a big piece of paper.  It wasn't easy and many groups got close, but this group of students succeeded!  I love their excitement at the end of the video!

Sphero is so much fun and it's a great way for students to see their coding in action!

Finally, we introduced our new Osmo devices.  Osmo is a program that uses an iPad as well as manipulatives to teach critical thinking, coding, creativity, word skills, collaboration, and more.  Our school was the lucky recipient of a Meemic grant and we were able to purchase enough to use with four iPads.

We LOVE maker week!!

Week of January 15th

This week we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day!  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr had a dream to make the world a better place.  In this spirit, we read the multiple award winning book Last Stop on Market Street with ALL grades K-5.



In this wonderful book, C. J. and his nana take a bus through the city to go to volunteer at a soup kitchen.  At first, C. J. doesn't want to go and he complains about many things.  Nana is friendly to everyone and she sees the positive side of things. In the end, C. J. is glad to be where he is. 

After reading the book, we determined that the theme of the book is appreciating what we have because that is what Nana teaches C. J. through her words and actions.  We also noticed that even though C. J. is just a kid, he was making the world a better place by volunteering at the soup kitchen.  Some students then wrote about (or recorded themselves using Flipgrid) how they can make the world a better place.  I loved all of our discussions and all of their great ideas!

Happy Reading!

Week of January 8th

Welcome back!!

It was so nice to see our students again and hear about the wonderful books they read over winter break!  Many students started reading their books for Battle of the Books.  This is very exciting!

Here is what happened in the library this week...

Grades 4 & 5


We read a chapter in the book Two Truths and a Lie.  In this engaging book about plants and animals, each chapter has three stories.  Two of the stories are unbelievable but true and the third story is a fabrication.  It's up to the reader to do some research to determine which story is false.  I love this book because the authors provide research tips and students are encouraged to question what they read.  This is a great book to use when learning about finding credible sources.

Grade 3
   

In third grade, students are reading biographies during their intervention block.  Several of the Monarch Award books are biographies so in library this week, we read the Monarch Award books Trombone Shorty and Ben Franklin's Big Splash.  We learned about alliteration (used in the Ben Franklin book) and we also watched a short video with Trombone Shorty playing when he was just 13 years old.

Grades PK-2


We read the Monarch Award book Lion Lessons.  In this book, the lion tries to teach the boy the seven steps on how to be a lion.  Some of the steps include roaring, looking fierce, and pouncing. The boy doesn't do too well until he reaches the seventh lesson: looking out for your friends.  After reading the book, students in some of the grades retold the story using a graphic organizer.

Happy Reading!