This week, we wrapped up voting season with our Bluestem Award voting party! The Bluestem Award is Illinois' reader's choice award for students in grades 3-5. Each year, there are 20 books on the list and students must read/hear at least 4 of the books in order to qualify to vote. The books on this list include chapter books, graphic novels, and nonfiction picture books. I love how this award promotes reading in general, as well as reading books that students might not otherwise read.
One of the books on this year's list, Ada's Violin, I read aloud to all of the students in grades 3 and 4. This is the amazing true story of the recycled orchestra from Paraguay. After reading the book, we watched a short video clip about the story on 60 Minutes and had great discussions about how fortunate we are where we live. We also read Game Changer: John Mclendon and the Secret Game and learned a true story about a couple of basketball coaches who worked to end segregation long before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was famous. Both books were great for discussions about empathy and taking action when there is injustice.
Bluestem Voting Party
This year, we had 24 students eligible to vote at our voting party! During the party, students voted, had snacks, and then we played a Kahoot game with trivia questions from the books.
The winning book for Harrison School is Moo by Sharon Creech and the runner-up is The Story of Diva and Flea by Mo Willems.
We had so much fun and we can't wait to find out the winners for the whole state!
Every year, one of the highlights in our library is voting for the state book awards. The Monarch Award is a list of 20 books that are chosen by teachers and librarians in the state of Illinois. Children in grades K-3 are eligible to vote for this award, provided that they've read/heard at least 5 of the books.
During the fall/winter, I read many of the books on the list out loud to our students and then ALL of the students in these grades are eligible to vote. There were so many amazing books on the list this year! The books this year include picture books, nonfiction books, short chapter books, and a poetry book.
This week, after a brief overview/reminder of all of the books on the list, students voted for their favorite one. Each student was given a Monarch "ticket" that they placed in the box for the book they wanted to win. They were so excited to cast their votes!!
When students visit the library next week, we will share this graph with all of the votes.
The 2019 winning book at Harrison School is...
The 2019 runner-up is...
We can't wait to find out which book is the winner for the entire state!
Happy Reading!
Our first grade students just finished a collaboration project in library, art, and the classroom and it was so much fun! First, we read the book The Wolf in the Snow in the library. This wordless picture book by Matthew Cordell is about a girl in a snowstorm who finds a lost wolf pup. After returning the pup to it's pack, she gets tired and lost. The wolves surround and protect her until her father comes. It's a beautiful, Caldecott Award winning book and is lots of fun to retell.
After reading the book in the library, the students made stick puppets of the girl and the wolf in art class with Mrs. Ryan. They also practiced retelling the story in the classroom. Finally, these past two weeks we recorded students retelling the story using the puppets. Some of the students recorded their stories in art class in front of a snowy background that they made. Other students recorded in the library in front of a green screen (we then put the snowy background in behind the students).
Here is a link to the Flipgrid with all of their videos: https://flipgrid.com/2ffacf0e
Thank you to Andy Plemmons for this amazing idea!
Every year, on February 1st, we celebrate World Read Aloud Day! While it's important to read aloud to students EVERY day, this special day is a celebration of reading with others all around the world.
To celebrate reading and this special day, many authors volunteer their time to offer FREE Skype sessions with teachers and librarians around the world. Author Kate Messner does a fabulous job of organizing a list of authors and making it available to educators.
This year in our library, Harrison students were lucky to be able to connect with others in several different ways!
First graders Skyped with author Julie Segal-Walters! Julie told us about the eight things that writers need (including cozy socks!!) and she read to us her book This is Not a Normal Animal Book.
Junior high students Skyped with author Brooks Benjamin! Brooks led the students in a short activity that showed our students how to find fun ideas for writing stories and answered student questions.
Kindergarten students Skyped with Mrs. Loesch's kindergarten students in Lake Zurich. Mrs. Loesch and I read two Elephant & Piggie books aloud together: Can I Play Too? and My Friend is Sad. It was so fun reading books together!
Several of our fourth grade students had the opportunity to listen to four different authors talk during a Facebook live event hosted by Scholastic. Peter Reynolds, Ross Burach, Carmen Deedy, and Sayantani DasGupta each talked about reading and read aloud from one of their books. Peter Reynolds has a new book coming out soon, Say Something, and it's definitely a book to order!!
Finally, several of our third grade students listened to Rosie Revere Engineer read aloud from one of the astronauts on the space station (not live, but still cool!).
It was an AMAZING day connecting with others and celebrating a love of reading!!
The Harrison School library was so fortunate to receive funding from DonorsChoose to purchase a tabletop puppet theater, new puppets, a flannel board, and felt sets!!
Over a year ago, I brought in a homemade puppet theater made out of a foam tri-fold presentation board for our students to use during makerspace time. We also had homemade puppets (paper and popsicle sticks) and cheap ones from the dollar spot at Target. Puppets are perfect for elementary school library makerspaces because students are "creating" stories. These two pictures below are the old, homemade materials.
I quickly noticed how much students LOVED creating stories with the puppets! Almost every time the makerspace was open, the puppets were in use. This puppet center was used so much by our students, that the homemade theater began to fall apart. So, I decided to write a DonorsChoose grant to purchase real, sturdy materials. Thanks to our supporters, our project was funded in less than two months!
When the materials first arrived in early January, they were immediately added to our library makerspace center. As each class has had the opportunity to visit the makerspace, students eyes lit up when they saw the new puppet theater! The puppet/flannelboard center is now our most popular makerspace center because students are so excited to create stories with the puppets. Since receiving the materials, students have been busy re-creating popular fairy tales and traditional stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Students are also telling their own original stories. Since there are always multiple students using the materials at the same time, they are learning how to collaborate when telling the stories, which is an important skill to learn. Besides collaboration, students are also learning communication skills and retelling/storytelling skills that will hopefully transfer into other academic areas such as reading (comprehension) and writing.
In the coming months, our younger students will use the puppets and flannel board to practice retelling the books that we read aloud during library time. When students retell stories, they are learning comprehension skills, literary elements, vocabulary, and so much more. Using puppets to practice retelling is a very fun, engaging way to practice this skill. We could not do this without generous donations from the DonorsChoose community!
I just finished reading a new chapter book that I think our students will LOVE!
Ada Twist and the Perilous Pants is a fun story about a young scientist who loves to ask questions and try different experiments. In this book, Ada, is conducting experiments about air masses and gases when Uncle Ned happens to float by in his helium pants. When he suddenly floats away and gets caught in an whirlwind, can Ada, and her friends Rosie Revere and Iggy Peck, find a solution to help Uncle Ned return back to the ground?
This shorter chapter book is filled with facts and science explanations that young readers will understand and it’s a great book to model questioning and scientific thinking. This book would make a great read aloud for grades 1-3. After reading this book, students could conduct their own experiments or start a question journal. Our students love the Ada Twist Scientist picture book and I can’t wait to introduce them to this new chapter book/series! Thank you #NetGalley and ABRAMS Kids for an ARC of this book (all opinions are my own).
