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!

Week of December 18th

Holiday Makerspace!

This week, we had a very special holiday-themed makerspace in our library.  Our students LOVED it!  They were so focused on their creations and they made so many amazing things.  Some of the activities that we offered included: holiday card making, drawing Santa and Christmas trees, making "Christmas Kindness" fortune tellers, holiday origami, making holiday items out of Legos, puppets, puzzles, and reading by the "fire".  Here are a few pictures from the week.

Santa's Sleigh

Battle of the Books

This week, we also kicked off our Battle of the Books programs!  This year, we will have three battles: a 3rd grade battle, a 4th & 5th grade battle, and a 6-8th grade battle.  Each group came to the library for a kick-off assembly.  During the assembly, we introduced the program, showed pictures from previous years, and then gave short book talks for each of the books that will be included this year.  

3rd grade

4/5th grade

6-8th grade

Students must read one book before January 15th in order to be placed on a team.  The actual battles will be in May.  We can't wait!

Book Club

Our after school "Choose Kindness" book club has been meeting every Monday after school.  We have been having fun reading the book Wonder.  Students have also been finding ways to spread kindness around the school and at home.  Our book club will continue in January.

Have a wonderful winter break!  Happy Reading!

Week of December 11th

It's Book Tasting Week!

This week, our students in grades 3-5 visited our Harrison School Book Tasting Cafe!  What is a book tasting?  During our book tasting, students were provided with piles of books.  Each student starts with one book to preview for three minutes.  During the three-minute preview time, students read the book's blurb/summary and read the first page or so of the book.  Then, they filled out their "menu".  In the menu, students write the title and call number of the book, a few notes about the book, and then rated the book 1-5.  After the three minutes are up, students traded books and then we began again with a new book.  Here is an example of our menu:

In the end, many students found a book that they wanted to check out and now all students have a list of potential books to read!

2nd Grade



Students in Ms. Wilson's class read the book The Trouble With Trolls and then used Flipgrid to record themselves retelling the story.  We love how the girl tricks the trolls!

K-1st Grade



We read The Gingerbread Girl.  In this version of the gingerbread stories, the girl outfoxes the fox!  After reading the story, first graders used a graphic organizer to retell the stories.

Next week is our Battle of the Books kick-off!!

Week of December 4th

Here we are in December already!  The weather is getting colder so it's the perfect time to snuggle in with a good book!  We have lots of new books that are almost ready to be checked out!

We have been busy in the library this week.  Here's what we've been learning.

5th Grade:

We are learning about using keywords when searching for things on the internet.  We learned the importance of using precise words in order to get the best results.  Then, we practiced by finding answers to questions about dogs.


3rd & 4th Grade:



Our 3rd and 4th grade students learned about how the nonfiction books are arranged in our library.  First, we read the book The Shelf Elf Helps Out.  Then, students practiced finding books with different call numbers on our shelves.  It can be tricky and they did a great job!

1st & 2nd Grade:



We read the book Boy + Bot.  In this story, the boy meets the robot and they begin playing together.  While playing, the robot is accidentally turned off and the boy thinks the robot is sick.  Later, when the robot is turned back on again, the boy is asleep so the robot thinks that the boy malfunctioned.  With the help of another character, both are well and have lots of fun playing together.  After reading the book, students practiced retelling the story.  Students used Flipgrid to record themselves retelling the story and they did a great job with this first attempt.  Here is the link to our videos:  https://flipgrid.com/da183a

PK & K:

 

We read the books Boy + Bot and Beep Beep Go to Sleep.  After reading these fun robot books, kindergarten students created their own robots.  Here are a few:

Happy Reading!

Week of November 13th

Family Reading Night "Camp-In"!

We had so much fun at our annual family reading night this week!!  Families participated in a camping themed reading night.  Each family was provided with materials to make a "tent" and a "campfire".  It was so much fun to see everyone's creativity as families worked together to build their "campsite"!  

We also heard two books read aloud: Ms. Sturgis read Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping and Mrs. Huff read A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee.  

Each child chose a free book to take home and everyone enjoyed a s'mores snack.  

A HUGE thank to you all of the families who attended and to all of the staff members who helped make this event a big success!

In library this week, most classes continued projects from this week or heard Thanksgiving books.

Happy Thanksgiving!!