WOW! What a powerful message...

A voracious reader from age three, Adora Svitak's first serious foray into writing -- at age five -- was limited only by her handwriting and spelling. (Her astonishing verbal abilities already matched that of young adults over twice her age.) As her official bio says, her breakthrough would soon come "in the form of a used Dell laptop her mother bought her." At age seven, she typed out over 250,000 words -- poetry, short stories, observations about the world -- in a single year.
Svitak has since fashioned her beyond-her-years wordsmithing into an inspiring campaign for literacy -- speaking across the country to both adults and kids. She is author of Flying Fingers, a book on learning.


"A tiny literary giant."
Diane Sawyer, Good Morning America

Above And Beyond

I love this clip! This is what we should be fostering in schools today...innovation, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration from many individuals; not just held captive in one room, one class, one teacher. (Created through collaboration by members of Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the talented folks at FableVision.)

Pete the Cat - I Love My White Shoes - Live Telling

September 30th! Track Out....

What a last week we have had in the media center. For a breakdown, here goes...

Most Third Grade classes listened to Dogku, by Andrew Clements. We discussed poems and some of the formats, especially Haiku. After enjoying the story we discussed Acrostic poems and how they were supposed to be the easiest or most simple to write. I introduced the telephone "cell phone" poem. Of course the students got all excited about this format and wanted to explore...part of my plan. They began to write their own poems using the formats we discussed. They chose the type and title or focus of their poem and shared with the class.

Most Fourth grade classes continued to dig up interesting facts about Roald Dahl using his official site roalddahl.com and place the information into an acrostic poem format, remembering that each word or phrase needed to support the topic...Roald Dahl.

Most Fifth graders finished viewing National Geographic's, Lewis and Clark Expedition. They were taking notes (part of research) about the challenges and unbelieveable events that led to the exploration of a western passage. We will take these notes and begin to organize them in a logical way when we return.

Most Kindergarten classes enjoyed meeting Pete the Cat. We explored You Tube for the author and illustrator who put on a live concert at a library. The students danced, read and followed along with the story. How much fun is reading! See above post...

Most First grade classes completed the story Max's Dragon where we listened for rhyming words embedded in the story...They became so excited when they heard the rhyming words and couldn't wait to share their knowledge.

Most Second grade classes listened to the book written by Patricia Polacco titled,
Appelemondo. Appelemando lives in a very drab, uninteresting village. For him, dreaming is a way of life. Whenever the boy dreams, his four friends can actually see them. They drift up from the top of his head in paintbox colors and, at one point, literally change their somber world.