Week of December 6, 2010

Students returned to a normal media center after Bookstock Book fair ended. We continued with our instruction with grade levels to support their objectives.

Fifth grade continued with learning about Sacajawea and her contribution to the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We are continuing to complete the lotus diagrams the students are using to organize details and information pertaining to their journey.

Fourth graders used the media lab to research key words on a trivia board. We are learning not all web sites are created equal. We are also learning we do not need to type in a full question for answers...only pertinent "key" words. This has been a true fact finding experience.

Third graders were introduced to the book, Baloney, written by Jon Scieszka. We reviewed fix-up strategies and how they are used when we are reading aloud or independently. We used the book to put our fix up strategies to work. After we made predictions to what some of the words might mean, we re-read the book and checked our answers. Several of our fix up strategies included: picture support, re-reading, context clues, read ahead, word chunking, etc.

Second graders continued on their mission of enjoying several of Janell Cannon's books. This week I introduced the book Pinduli. This book is great for making connections. (Does the movie, play, book, Lion King come to mind?) We used nonfiction books to research several of the animals mentioned in the book, also reinforcing our DDS (Dewey Decimal System).

First grade read the book Redbird at Rockefeller Center. We also made a connection with Dr. Seuss books. This book is told in rhyme and is about a tree that was cut to be the tree decorated in NYC's, Rockefeller Center. However, when it is cut, the main character is sure a little redbird was in the tree. You will have to read yourself to see what happens...it's magical! Several predictions are made by students which is just what I planned.

Kindergarten students enjoyed the story Library Lion, written by Michelle Knudsen. Imagine a real lion visiting the library at storytime each day! However, rules must be followed. This is a heartwarming and comical story of a librarian who loves having the library come to visit. Her assistant is so focused on the rules the lion feels compelled to leave. Children will easily see themselves in the wild lion, which yearns to explore and enjoy the library but worries about the constraining rules. What a book to use to discuss the library's main focus...becoming life long users of information....

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Wetherell

Book fair a Success!!!

Thanks to so many wonderful people including the book fair committee, PTA members, moms, dads, husbands, daughters, teachers, students, and administrators we have a budget to buy books this year! Yeah! We also raised over 370.00 for the NC Food Bank (Raleigh location). We have already ordered several new books for the media center and are in the process of ordering more for our Highcroft readers.

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Wetherell

Book Fair 2010! Peace Love and Books

From November 12-December 3, our 2010 Scholastic Book Fair was held in the media center. We use all profits from the book fair to purchase books and materials for the library. The first rotation we have the students preview the dvd which highlights some of the books which will be sold at the book fair. Students will also make their wishlist while they actually preview the books (At Highcroft we do not preview fluff. Fluff is the stuff such as posters, bookmarks, pencils, erasers, etc.) After making their list students are encouraged to take the list home for parents to preview and discuss with their child. Parents are invited and encouraged to attend the book fair with their child during their scheduled visit. This is called their purchase day...students are allowed to purchase fluff only after their book purchase and parent's permission. This year I scheduled their visits during their media classes which worked out so much better since I was there to help with suggestions, reading levels, encouragement of good fit books, and of course peer pressure...

Week of November 8, 2010

This week I spent time with each class promoting our upcoming Scholastic Book Fair. In addition, I continued with lessons on the following:

Fifth Graders watched a DVD, titled Sacajawea. We used this to document information on our Lotus Diagram about Lewis and Clark's expedition.

Fourth graders enjoyed listening to Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies written by Carolyn Crimi, in support of their upcoming annual Pirate Day. We compared this story to the facts we have learned about Blackbeard. What a blast!

(From amazon.com: Henry is not a typical buccaneer bunny. Instead of performing his proper pirating duties, he would rather read the books that he took from other ships. His father, the captain, is not proud of his son and the rest of the crew makes fun of him. When they are shipwrecked on a deserted island, however, it is Henry and his book smarts that save the day.)

Third graders learned about alliteration by listening to Super Hero ABC. Students then chose a letter of the alphabet, made up a sentence using alliteration and illustrated their own super hero. What a fun way to learn about alliteration!

Second Graders continued with a Jannell Cannon book titled, Crickwing. Crickwing is tired of being bullied. He wants only to create food scuptures to eat himself...not by others...so he sets out to pick on others smaller and more vulnerable than himself....what an ending....you will have to read it yourself to find out how his life changes. Reading this book was not only enjoyable, but had a valuable lesson in character education.

First grades read Ox-cart Man, written by Donald, and is the 1980 winner of the Caldecott Award. This lesson supported the past and present objectives in the classroom. The book focuses on the yearly passage of one man selling his goods only to do it all over again the next year. We used a diagram of the seasons and placed what happened each season with the specific months. This book can be used for various cross curricular objectives.

Kindergarteners began their lesson with a nonfiction text about owls. We learned about what happens as they grow older after being hatched from an egg. After learning about their life cycle we picture walked through a harder nonfiction text which had excellent photographs of different owls with their common name and where they lived. We listed several facts about owls that we learned during our special and followed up with a fiction story about three little baby owls named Sarah, Percy, and Bill. The book was titled, Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. It was hilarious. Most students wanted to check out this book to take home. I was so sad...I only had two copies.

Week of November 1, 2010

This week fifth graders have been field journaling, sketching nature (leaves). This process was used by Lewis and Clark when they were on their expedition while trying to find a passage to the Pacific Ocean.

Fourth and Third graders were learning more about the dictionary and its use. We completed our scavenger hunt through the dictionary which aided them in their vocabulary studies in the classroom.

Second grade students learned about bats, some bat facts, and enjoyed how Janelle Cannon formats her books. She writes a fiction story but follows up with facts about the animals within her book. We followed up with "whats your battitude" trivia questions.

First graders were introduced to illustrators through the use of Ed Emberly's book titled, Go Away Big Green Monster. We also learned that everyone uses different techniques to capture different images. We evaluated some famous children's illustrator's books such as Lois Ehlert, Eric Carle, Tomie de Paola, Jerry Pinkney, Chris Van Allsburg, and Jannell Cannon.

Kindergarten compared a text set of a non fiction book titled, Scarecrows and The Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Brown. We followed up with a lesson on details by drawing different items on a scarecrow template.

Week of October 25, 2010!

Second graders were introduced to my favorite book of all, The Widow's Broom, by Chris VanAllsburg. He is also the author of The Polar Express and Jumanji, which were both made into DVDs. We enjoyed listening to the story and providing details as to how the broom was able to survive...read for yourself!

First Graders enjoyed the remake of There was an old lady, except this was titled, There was an old monster, written by Rebecca, Adrian and Ed Emberly. We discussed what illustrators do and aterwards students were given a sheet of paper and crayons. As I read, Go away big, green monster, by Ed Emberly, students had to draw what they thought the illustration would look like. Upon completion of the book, I reread the book for the students to view so they could compare their illustration with the actual drawing of the illustrator. We all have different ways of visualizing a story....

Kindergarteners read Boo to you, written and illustrated by Lois Ehlert. We also discussed illustrations and how many illustrators/artists use different mediums in their creations. As a follow up we read Pumpkin Heads to compare the many ways pumpkins are carved.

Fifth graders continued with their scientific sketches (see previous post).

Third and Fourth graders continued with their dissection of the dictionary and experienced the book, Velcome, written and illustrated by Kevin O'Malley. What a very scary story....not:-) ha, ha....

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Wetherell

Week of October 18, 2010

This week in media the third and fourth graders dissected a dictionary. We learned about entry words, guide words, and the many ways a dictionary can help us. Noah Webster began working on the dictionary when he was 43 years old. Twenty seven years later he completed our first dictionary. Students also had fun reading about a few of our entry word's "word history." Sometimes we may think we know how a word originated, but it is best to look it up. Happy Birthday Noah Webster (October 16th)

Fifth graders began going outside to collect a leaf specimen to sketch. We learned about scientific sketching and field journaling. We also learned the difference between art and scientific sketching. Lewis and Clark practiced field journaling during their expedition. Our next quest is to identify our leaf and find the scientific name and common name for each leaf we collected.

First Graders were introduced to the bat family. We learned through exploring nonfiction books that bats are mammals that fly. We also discovered bats are very helpful creatures. After learning several bat facts, we read, Bats at the Library by Brian Lies.

Second Graders continued with the bat theme at the library by discovering the book by Jannell Cannon titled Stellaluna. We watched a follow up DVD by Reading Rainbow in which we explored a cave in Texas where over one million bats live. Each night they consume over 200 tons of insects! Their droppings are used to make fertilizer which is also helpful.

Kindergarteners read a nonfiction book titled, It's Pumpkin Time, which informs students how pumpkins are grown. After their trip to the pumpkin patch, they learned how the soil was turned, pumkin seeds were planted, dirt covered the seeds, and then more work had to be completed for the seeds to grow. We read a fiction book as a follow up titled, Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. This was a follow up book for the kinders to enjoy before Halloween.

First Grade students discussed the process of coming to the library. We placed all the events, in order, to show a sequence. After we documented these steps, I read Dragon's Halloween by Dav Pilkey. After each chapter, we used the first, then, next, finally steps to place the story details in order.

Hope your week was as enjoyable as ours in the library!

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Wetherell