Week 3, 4 and 5

Sorry I have been a little MIA from this little blogging world lately. Not sure if anyone is really reading anymore either.

Week 3 Halloween week :-)
Compare and Contrast Stellaluna with book vs movie
Owl Moon with craft activity
Mystery powerpoint (genre of the month)
Charlie Brown Halloween

Week 4 1st week of November
F/NF, working on NF text features
4th and 5th grade are making NF text feature booklets will post pictures soon

Week 5 Non Fiction text features galore
5th grade is working on a book report
Thanksgiving books and crafts

Not very exciting in my little library world. I am seriously trying to decide whether this is the right place for me.

Author Visit

I am very excited to announce that Jacqueline West will be visiting our library this Spring!!! She writes The Books of Elsewhere series. http://www.jacquelinewest.com/

I plan to work with our art teacher to create a project to welcome her to our school.

I am currently reading her first book and loving every little detail of it. The main characters parents just bought a new house and she has fun exploring all the nooks and crannies of it. She soon learns if she puts on spectacles she can travel through the paintings in the house. 3 cats protect the house but are they really on her side or will they turn on her? Make sure to read this exciting series to find out!

Week 2-2nd 9 weeks

We didn't have school Monday because of Fall Break! Yippee for a holiday to get some things done around the house and get some early Christmas shopping done.

5th grade- Using an idea from The Book Bug and David C. Barrow's Media Center we talked about internet safety and how we can protect ourselves on the internet. If you have time look at The Book Bugs blog she talks about some incredible websites here that are great for kids all ages. http://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/pause-and-think-online

4th grade- dictionary dude again thanks to the Book Bug

3rd grade- dictionary dude (learning specifically about guide words)

2nd grade- spider research project
http://stepintosecondgrade.blogspot.com/2013/10/spider-week-2013.html check out this blog
I gave each group a spider to research and they used the following websites to guide them in their research.
http://www.spiderroom.info/
www.spiderzrule.com
http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/spiders/facts.htm

1st grade- Last week we read Stellaluna and talk about bat facts...this week we watched the Stellaluna movie and compare and contrasted the two.

K5- Stellaluna movie

2nd 9 weeks-Week 1

K5- Parts of a book
I love having a SmartBoard in my room for library lessons!!! If you haven't ever used Smart Exchange it is full of so many wonderful resources. Just type in what you are looking for and it will come up with things related to your topic. I knew I had found a resource here last year that taught parts of a book as being similar to parts of your body.

For this lesson I first had the students label me....They came up with arms, legs, ears, eyes, hair, toes, mouth and nose of their own. We talked about all of these parts where on the front part of my body. I then turned around and had them tell me that this was the back part of my body. I was shocked and surprised when I pointed to my spine and one of the students shouted out...that's your spine.

After the students labeled me we went on to look at the parts of the book using the lesson I had found on Smart Exchange. It compares a cover to your skin, the title page to your face and the spine to this actual part of your body. I love that this lesson really relates to little kids because they can identify these parts of their body.

To finish up the lesson I found a worksheet where they had to label the parts of a book by tracing the words. The students always have a few free moments to look at books. I can really tell our book care lessons are working. They are treating the books the correct way. Yippee! Small victory. I am going to start allowing them to check out books the last week in October.

When do you start letting K5 students check out books?! What do you think is important to cover before they do begin the process?

1st grade- Stellaluna
I just love the story of Stellaluna at Halloween time. We made bats for our bulletin board outside the library because this month we are Batty for Books. The bat is actually a puppet and I had the students write on the outside. Stellaluna can eat fruit. Stellaluna can fly at night. Stellaluna is a mammal. We compare and contrasted Stellaluna to the bats in the story also.

2nd grade- Dictionary skills
I introduced the dictionary with a short PowerPoint. We discussed how the dictionary is organized in ABC order much like the books in our library. We talked about guide words at the top of the page. After the mini lesson they went to the dictionary and found 10 fall words. They had to write the word, tell the page they found it on and then write the guide words. This was a little tricky for some of my 2nd graders.

3rd and 4th grade- Dictionary dude, using the idea from The Book Bug we made dictionary dudes. You can find the idea here. http://mrsnthebookbug.blogspot.com/2013/09/dictionary-skills.html

5th grade- Finish explorer project and dictionary dude

End of 1st 9 weeks- Week 9

I am in Colorado celebrating my 5 year anniversary all week long! :-) Yippee!

K5- Goldie socks and the 3 Libearians
Teaching how to find a just right book
Compare to Goldilocks and the 3 Dinosaurs







1st grade- parts of a book label with sticky note
We are learning the parts of a book...title, author, illustrator, table of contents, glossary and index. This was a mini introduction to non-fiction text features

2nd grade- My Book about A Book
Learning the parts of a book, call numbers fiction/non-fiction

3rd grade- Author study Rick Riordan

4th grade- Author study Rick Riordan

5th grade- Explorer project and author study Rick Riordan

Week 8

I cannot believe that is already October. I am ready for the leaves to change colors, the weather to cool off and pumpkins and all things Fall.

This week in the library 3rd, 4th and 5th grade are working on dictionary skills. I got the idea from Mrs. N the book bug and we did her dictionary relay race. Before doing the race we reviewed dictionary skills with a PowerPoint. We discussed the importance of guide words and also knowing that one word can be used in different ways.

Next week, I will be out on a trip, but when I return we are going to make Dictionary Dude's. I can't wait.

2nd grade- learning about the non-fiction section of our library. During November we are going to learn about non-fiction text features. My second graders have been very interested in the non-fiction section this year. They are always allowed to check out here but it seems they have finally noticed this section of my library.

1st grade-parts of a book (author, illustator, spine, title, illustrations, etc.) We made a book using paper, cardboard, tape and all the necessary supplies. It was so fun to see the kids be independent for their learning. They labeled all the parts themselves. Even one of the students drew the illustration for the cover because I am a terrible artist.

K5-How to choose a just right book

I cannot believe the first 9 weeks is almost over!!! I will be in Colorado next week celebrating my 5 year anniversary!

Week 7-Book Fair

This week was our book fair. We use Scholastic book fairs and they are incredible. I just wanted to give a few quick details about my book fair and how to survive.

1) Advertise your book fair at least 2 weeks in advance. Our school has a weekly newsletter. 2 weeks before I promote book fair by telling the theme and asking for volunteers. One week before I include the schedule of when classes will visit the book fair.

2) If having a Scholastic book fair use the fair files!!! I am not creative by any means. I use the fair files for everything! For my teacher baskets I used a pharaoh template and just typed in each teachers name. I use the template for the schedule of when classes come.

3) Decorate...make sure your space is inviting. I have found the cheapest way to do this is with balloons. They will last you all week! This year I bought a small helium tank and blew up balloons each day. I also had balloons that lasted all week though too. I think they are called mylar or something similar to that.

4) Make sure you have plenty of change on hand. This is so important. Our book fair kicks off with Grandparents Day. We have 5 registers this day. I have noticed more and more people using cc. However, I always have 2 rolls of each coin for each register.

5) Set a reasonable budget for your fair. I never spend over 250 dollars on decorating supplies or set up. Use supplies from previous years. I always fold up the tablecloths I purchase and keep the ribbon from the balloons.

6) Get some 3M tape!!! Our book fair in the fall is held in our gym. Do you remember the cinder block walls of college?? The only way my posters stay up is with 3M tape. Make sure you budget for this.

7) Complete your financial files quickly. I know at the end of a book fair all you want to do is collapse. If you complete your financial form quickly you don't have to stress and worry about it later.

8) Make sure you have plenty of volunteers! If you don't make sure to call and text to recruit more.

9) Have a goal in mind of how much you would like to make!

10) HAVE FUN and Sell Sell Sell!!!