Friday, October 27, 2017

Maker Week!

This week, most of our classes participated in our makerspace during library time!

Grades 3-5 activities:

Monster bookmark origami


 . 

Bloxels


 . 

Strawbees




Puppet theater




Other activities included Legos, drawing, blocks, and puzzles!

Grade 2



We continued to participate in Global Read Aloud by reading Hattie and the Fox.  After reading the story, students broke into groups and performed a reader's theater of the book.  Here is Miss Wilson's class:


Grades K and 1



We read the book Creepy Carrots!  After reading the book, students were given a building challenge...they built enclosures for the carrots (similar to the book). 





PreK



We read Bats at the Library and an informational book about bats!



Friday, October 20, 2017

Week of October 16th

Our weekly recap!

Grades 3-5








It's baseball playoff season and one of the Monarch Award books is all about baseball!  Have you ever heard of a baseball player named William Hoy?  William was an amazing baseball player in the late 1800's and early 1900's but most people have never heard of him.  He was often at the top of the league in walks, stolen bases, and using his strong arm to throw runners out from the outfield.  He also helped change the game in another important way.  William was deaf and he couldn't hear the umpire calls or read their lips.  One day William approached the umpire and suggested that he use hand signals to tell what the calls were.  This change not only helped William, but also the fans in the stands who couldn't hear the umpire calls.  

While reading The William Hoy Story, we worked on making inferences based on what the text and pictures told us.  For example, after reading the first three pages, students inferred that William was deaf because he was reading lips, he was writing down what he wanted to say, and his mother was using hand signals. After reading, we talked about all of the obstacles William overcame and the students said that the message was to never give up.  It's so much fun learning about important people, especially those we don't normally learn about!


2nd Grade: Global Read Aloud








Mrs. Wilson's class continued their author study and Global Read Aloud program by reading the book Whoever You Are.  This book shows us that even though we may be different on the outside, we are all the same on the inside.  

After reading the book, the students used a Padlet to connect with our class in New York.  Using the iPads, students wrote things that make them unique and things that make them the same on the Padlet.  Here is our Padlet:
Made with Padlet



1st Grade and Kindergarten:








We read the funny Monarch Award book Mother Bruce.  Afterwards, first graders are exploring several reading apps on the iPads including Tumblebooks, Epic!, and Storyline Online.


PreK:










PreK students have been learning about fire safety so this week, we read several books about the topic.  We also sang the fun song: Hurry, Hurry Drive the Fire Truck.

Happy Reading!





Friday, October 13, 2017

Week of October 9th

We had a short week this week...here is what happened in the Harrison library!


5th Grade

We talked more about plagiarism and students practiced citing a book source.  Next week we will practice citing online sources.


4th Grade

Last week the students began writing their book talks.  This week, most finished writing them.  I can't wait until they begin sharing the book talks with others!


3rd Grade









Miss Olson's class heard the book The William Hoy Story.  This is the true story about an amazing baseball player that most people never heard of.  William Hoy was a fast runner with a powerful arm who won lots of baseball awards in the late 1880's.  Being deaf, William couldn't hear if pitches were balls or strikes when he was up to bat so he developed a series of hand signals that umpires could use.  This was the beginning of umpires using hand signals.  After reading this book, students said that the message is to never give up because William had to overcome many obstacles in his career.

After reading the book, we started to explore our library catalog system, Destiny.

2nd Grade



Mrs. Hermann's class met another class in North Carolina during a Google Hangout for Global Read Aloud!  After that, we read the book Possum Magic and learned a little about Australia.



1st Grade and Kindergarten


Product Details  Product Details

These classes heard the funny and informative book I'm Trying to Love Spiders.  In this 2018 Monarch Award book, the narrator tries (very unsuccessfully) not to squish spiders.  Along the way, the narrator gives lots of interesting spider facts.  After reading this book, we had fun reading The Eensy Weensy Spider Freaks Out.  


Friday, October 6, 2017

Week of October 2nd

It was another busy week in the library!  Here is what our students learned.

5th Grade

We started a unit about plagiarism.  Students learned what plagiarism means and how important it is to show respect for other people's work.  It's so easy to copy and paste pictures and information from the internet. In the coming weeks, we will learn ways to search for copyright friendly material and give credit to our sources.


4th Grade

Students began writing out their book talks.  We learned that the purpose of a book talk is to persuade others to want to read the book.  Students said that important information to have in a book talk includes the main characters, a short summary (that doesn't give away the ending!), the main problem, and a hook to draw the listener in.  Next week, students will finish writing their book talks.  Later, students will be able to record their book talks or give their book talks during morning announcements if they want.  I can't wait to see their finished book talks!


3rd Grade



We read the book Maybe Something Beautiful.  Then, students had an opportunity to use the iPads and search for books in our library catalog, Destiny.  We will be learning more about Destiny, and practicing using it, in the coming weeks.  Our students will soon be Destiny experts and will become independent when looking for books!


2nd Grade

Our students in second grade will be participating in the Global Read Aloud program this year!  Global Read Aloud is a program where students around the world read the same books and then connect with other students in various ways.  This year, the Global Read Aloud author for younger students is Mem Fox so we will be doing a Mem Fox author study with two different classes.  Miss Wilson's class is connected with a class in New York.  This week, we Skyped with that class to meet and we learned that they live near the ocean!





Students in Mrs. Hermann's class are connected with a class in Maryland.  We tried to connect live but had some technical difficulties.  We will try again next week.



Both classes heard the book Koala Lou by Mem Fox this week.  In this book, the main character learns that her mother still loves her even though she might be too busy with her siblings to remember to say it all the time.


Kindergarten and 1st Grade

These students also heard the book Maybe Something Beautiful which is on the 2018 Monarch Award list.  In this book, Mira, loves to give her artwork to others.  Mira's town is not very colorful until a muralist comes and, with the help of Mira's community, adds color and joy.  This book is based on a true story so after reading the book, we were able to watch a short video about the actual event.  




After reading the book, our students made their own colorful artwork to give to others to brighten their day.






PreK

In PreK, we read two stories about feelings.  Students shared what makes them feel happy!



Happy Reading!