Last night I had the pleasure of hosting local Brownie Troop 498 in our library! Troop leader Mrs. Barbato asked if the girls could come in so they could earn a Brownie Try-it award named "For the Love of Books". And because I demonstrated that I know to good care of books, I ended up earning one of the awards, too! The patch is absolutely adorable and I plan to proudly display it in the library!
The girls started off browsing damaged books that live in the "Sad Bag". (You can find a blog post all about the Sad Bag by clicking here.) I spread the books out on the library tables and gave them time to look through them. Then we sat in a group on the rug and discussed what happened to each one and how to keep something like that from happening to one of their library books. The girls were very good detectives! By examining the clues, they figured out all sorts of dangers that need to be avoided: rain, juice, dogs, very young children, and plain old carelessness were at the top of the list.
Eeek! A dog-earred page!
Scissors got this one!
What might cause THAT?
Finally, the girls started designing bookmarks with a positive message about taking care of books. They each made one to keep and they also took home a few more to decorate and donate to the Ashaway Free Library. The time really flew by, but I am happy to announce that all of the girls earned a patch and will receive it at their next awards ceremony. Congratulations!
Our fourth grade students just wrapped up a research project about animal adaptations. Each student selected an animal to learn about and started the note taking process in the library. They recorded note facts about the animal's behavioral adaptations (what the animal does that helps it to survive, like migration) and physical adaptations (parts of the animal's anatomy that helps it to survive, like fur or claws). Along with creating a labelled diagram of their animals, the students also wrote a report to synthesize (or pull together) all of their information. As a culminating activity, the fourth grade teachers put the students into pairs, and these pairs each wrote a skit to share what they learned. The students wrote their dialog using a "frame", or outline of the basics, but they were free to add their own creative details. They practiced reading the scripts aloud to improve their fluency, which is a skill we expect effective readers to possess; for example, they should use a voice that shows expression and sounds natural.
Practicing with "google eyes"
I also held a voluntary puppetry workshop after school to demonstrate methods of making their puppets appear more lifelike and gave each participant a pair of "google eyes" to practice at home.
As you might imagine, the students had loads of fun and were enthusiastically engaged in their learning!
One of our third grade teachers, Mrs. Allen, actually had a gorgeous puppet theater that her husband had made for her and she was happy to let us borrow it. The students loved using it, and that added touch really gave their performances a polished look. I hope you enjoy their work!
Mrs. Ornburn's Class
Mrs. Young's Class
One group doing a "dress rehearsal" in front of the class.
As you may have heard, the program that runs our library circulation program is not working. Our technology department is trying to get the system back online, but in the meantime I can’t sign any books out to the students. That's the bad news. The good news is that students are still selecting a book to bring home this week...I’m allowing the students to choose from a collection of donated books. The great news is that students may return these books for others to borrow or they may keep them as a gift from us! As you might guess, the students have been extremely excited about taking a book from the library that they don't have to return!
A few of our happy third graders!
If you find any library materials at home that have a library barcode sticker on the front, they should be returned to school as soon as possible. We’ll have a lot of work to do when the system is working again, and having all our books, magazines and Playaways back will be a big help! Thank you!!
This week our Ashaway Student Council delivered "Turkey Grams" that were purchased by students and teachers to send a message to someone in the building. I was delighted to find a bunch in my mailbox on Tuesday, and I loved the sweet sentiments. Each began with "I am thankful for you because". Several students had written I am thankful for you because you let us bring home library books. Reading through the slips got me thinking about how thankful I am for libraries, too! I often walk out of my local public library with my book bag stuffed full of books for me, books for my students doing research, and books on CD to listen to in the car. (I am a huge fan of audio books!) I love finding materials waiting for me that I've ordered from Inter-Library Loan, and having access to high-quality databases online has been an enormous help when doing research. I am always so grateful that these wonderful resources are available to me and to everyone else who wants to take advantage of them!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone, and please take some time to share a book with someone you love!
On Sunday I went to the marvelous Connecticut Children's Book Fair at the University of Connecticut. There were lots of wonderful authors & illustrators to see, but I was super excited about Tomie dePaola! In library my second graders enjoy many of his stories and learn all about him, so I thought going to the book fair might provide me with some new information that I could share with them. My experience far exceeded my expectations!
First I went to see Tomie's presentation, which was delightful! Despite the long line to get in and the packed room, I managed to get a front-row seat. (Yay!) He explained where the story idea and character Strega Nona came from, he talked about his new book Strega Nona's Gift, and he taught us how to blow an authentic "Italian kiss". Fortunately he gave me permission to record him so I was able to share his talk with my students! They loved copying Tomie and blowing a kiss at the screen. Watch the video and you can, too!
At the end of his presentation he offered to answer questions, and I was ready! As part of our author study, I had asked my students what they wanted to know about Tomie. It was really hard to decide which question to ask, but I knew I had to be fair to all the other people who had questions, too....
I bought a copy of his newest book for our library and had him autograph it for us, and I was happy to see him tuck a postcard into each book he signed. The card has a picture of him and features a copy of his signature complete with a heart drawn inside the capital "T". I had told my students that he considers the heart his symbol and that he always includes one when signing his name, so I was looking forward to hanging it up in the library to show them. What came next was the most exciting part of the day!
While I stood in line for David Macauley, I noticed Tomie's line was getting shorter. I wondered if maybe I would have a chance to ask him a few more of the children's questions if no one was waiting at his table for autographs. I sidled on over and stood nearby while he chatted with the last person in line (and managed to learn the answer to another question, heehee). His assistant noticed me and asked if I needed my book signed, and I admitted why I was there. Tomie looked up and invited me to ask him my questions, and the next thing I knew I was interviewing Tomie dePaola! I couldn't believe my luck! There wasn't enough time to go through the entire list, but I learned loads more that I could share with my eager second graders. Here are a few examples:
Q: Does he put a heart on the cover of every book?
A: There's a heart on a lot of them, but not on every single one.
Q: Does he speak any other languages?
A: A little bit of French.
Q: What color are his eyes?
A: grey-green
Q: How many hearts are in his collection?
A: He's lost count!
Q: What parts of the story Tom are fiction and which parts are based on fact?
A: It's entirely autobiographical. (So why does it live in the fiction section? He didn't know!)
All too soon it was time to say goodbye, but before I left Tomie's assistant gave me enough postcards so that every one of my second graders could have one to keep. WOW! It was so much fun to share my exciting day with them, and being able to give them each their own little souvenir was the cherry on top!
The postcard even answered one of the student's questions: Does he have any pets? Tomie is pictured with his dog, Bronte!
Mrs. Smith told me that she was working on rhyming with her kindergarten class, and right away I thought of a terrific book: Looking for a Moose by Phyllis Root. Four friends and their trusty dog set out in search of a moose, but finding one turns out to be a lot harder than they thought. They travel through "the treesy-breezy, tilty-stilty, wobbly-knobbly woods" and "the sloppy-gloppy, lily-loppy, slurpy-glurpy swamp" and even the "brambly-ambly, bunchy-scrunchy, scrubby-shrubby bushes". Eventually of course their search is rewarded. Our students have sharp eyes: they spotted moose in the illustrations that the characters didn't see! The class loved the surprise ending, and then we went on our own search for some moose!
I put up a set of cards that had one word on blue paper and three more on white paper. Only one of the words on the white paper rhymed with the word on the blue paper. On the back of the rhyming card I had glued a picture of a moose. Then I challenged the students to "Find the Moose"! We read the words out loud so the children could figure out which card was hiding the moose. Their reactions when we found the moose were a riot...they got so excited! Unfortunately we ran out of time, so I wasn't able to use all the packs of cards I had made. I shared the activity with Mrs. Smith, and she used the rest of the cards with them in class. She even gave me the great suggestion to laminate the cards so that the children could practice with them on their own in one of the classroom centers. Hooray for a great day!
If you went into a House of Horrors, what do you think might be inside that would scare you? A ghost? A witch? A vampire?? Not if you were a book! If you were a book, you would be frightened by things that could damage your pages, hurt your cover, or even break your spine!
My first graders have been creating a story about a Book House of Horrors. They began by examining books from the library's "Sad Bag". I asked them to discuss with each other what might have damaged these books, and then we came up with a list of "horrors" (fruit punch, dogs, rain and scissors, to name just a few!). Then each student drew a picture that showed one of the dangers that a book might face if it's not kept in a safe, special place! They created these illustrations on white paper using oil pastels, and then in art class they brushed black watercolor paint over the entire page.
Not only did the colors POP, but it also made the drawings look as though the setting was really inside a dark, scary house! (Thanks for the great idea, Mrs. DiFranco!)
Dog attack: Before
Dog attack: After!
Back in the library, the students used a "Beginning - Middle - Ending" chart to organize the sentences of the story. Then we brainstormed some details we could add to make the story more interesting. Since they're learning about the five senses in health class, I had them try to imagine what the characters might have seen, heard, smelled, felt or tasted. (Yes, we actually managed to include taste!) Finally, we recorded the story so that we could watch it as a video using PhotoStory for Windows. I hope you enjoy the students' work, and please remember...
Our kindergarteners have started taking home books, which means they've taken on a big responsibility! We spend a lot of time in class talking about how to take good care of their library books. One thing I ask all the students to do is to find a special place at home to keep their library books whenever they're not reading them. Not only does that make them easy to find, but it also protects them from getting damaged. To illustrate this idea, I show the students the Sad Bag. This is a big envelope that's filled with books that have gotten hurt. They are sad because now they can't travel to students' homes, which is something all library books love to do!
All sorts of bad things can happen to books that aren't kept somewhere safe. There are books in the Sad Bag that have been colored in, rained on, chewed up, ripped, cut with scissors, and drenched with fruit punch. Oh no! If you haven't already picked a safe, special place for library books in your house, please...do it right now!!!
The weather on Saturday was sunny and cheerful, which was a perfect match for my mood! I spent the day at the incredibly marvelous Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors at Lincoln School in Providence. It was my first time attending and I was simply amazed. I got to see presentations by some of my favorite authors and illustrators, and every single one of them was interesting and entertaining. (Not surprisingly, my "books to read" list got quite a bit longer!) I also enjoyed browsing the displays for books to purchase for the school and selected several that fit in perfectly with lessons I'll be doing this year. The icing on the cake was getting to meet the authors/illustrators while having the books signed for our school library. It was an exciting day and I'm already looking forward to finding out who will be appearing next year!
I took lots of pictures and video to show to my students during the school year, but here are a few to give you a taste of the day. My sincerest thanks to organizer Meagan Lenihan and everyone who helped to make this event happen!
Chris Van Allsburg hides Fritz, a small white dog, in every book he illustrates. At least, that's the theory. But there are two books in which neither I nor any of my past students have been able to locate him. (I'll admit it: finding the answer to this mystery was one of my reasons for attending the festival!) I'm delighted to report that Mr. Van Allsburg shared the information I was looking for. But of course, I'm not going to reveal the answer here; my fourth graders will have to wait until we go on our Fritz Hunt!
video: Chris Van Allsburg on the creation of his second book, Jumanji
Illustrator Michael Emberley asked the audience, "What do you think an author or illustrator of children's books does each day?" His answer was that they make mistakes. Here he sketches himself sitting at his light table, which he uses to trace the multiple versions of his drawings until he gets the image just right. Later he added the waste basket that holds his many, many drafts. I wish all my students could have heard his message of perseverance and that the first draft is just a step toward the final copy. Plus, he was hilarious!
Gail Carson Levine shared this picture of when she got to be on the set of Ella Enchanted, and she discussed how much (or how little) input she was able to give to the filmmakers. (Overall, she said she enjoyed the film!)
Steve Jenkins and Robin Page discussed how they collaborate to create their gorgeous cut/torn paper illustrations. Much of their time is spent researching the animals. They find images and information in books and online, and they visit museums to inspect the dioramas. They also shared some pretty adorable pictures of their kids! This was my favorite:
(Although I'll admit that the picture of their son with his hair sticking straight up from static electricity was pretty adorable, too!)
Thanks to the continuing support and efforts of our wonderful PTO, the Scholastic Book Fair has returned to Ashaway School. All of the classes have already visited the book fair, and I've seen lots of enthusiastic readers! The displays will be set up again tomorrow during school for students who might not have gotten to it, and then tomorrow night is the big event: the Ice Cream Socialwill take place 5:30-7:30! Families can come in and enjoy free ice cream sundaes and then browse the terrific selection of books for sale. Don't forget: every single book sold benefits the school and will result in even more new books in the library! Now I call that a Win-Win! For more information, please click here to visit the PTO's Book Fair info page. I hope to see you there!
A former student, two current students, and a future student!
Monday night was Open House, can you believe it?? (I am always amazed by how quickly the time flies!) It was, as always, a fun evening. I got to see lots of my new kindergartners who proudly showed off their library to their families, led them to where they sit, and of course made introductions to Bear. I always enjoy getting to see all the students and their families who stop in, but it's a special treat to see my former students return with their families! I got to discuss "Rooster Books" with many of the middle schoolers, and we compared notes on which titles were our favorites. Some even brought books they were reading with them to share with me, and I now have a list of recommended titles on my desk! It's so wonderful to see that they love their libraries!
Are the kids starting to get antsy now that the summer is beginning to fade? Or maybe a rainy day has you looking around for something to do? Well, here's an activity that will help free up some of your space and benefit the library as well. One of our third grade students took advantage of her extra vacation time and went through her bookshelves at home. Knowing she'd see me at the HopRec reading program, she brought in two crates stuffed full with books that she no longer reads to donate to our library! I'm happy to accept donations all year round. I add books that our library can use to the collection, and the rest are put aside for our free book swap during Reading Week. I can tell that this young lady takes excellent care of her books at home because all of the copies are in great shape. You'll see many of these titles appear in our "New Book" display at school in September!
Donations don't have to be in perfect condition to be accepted.
Even a worn book can find new life in the hands of an eager reader!
Our group meeting last Thursday consisted of only three students! Fortunately vacationing children didn't put a damper on our fun. After all, "The show must go on!" I made some quick changes to a play that I had on hand, took on a non-speaking role, and away we went! They had almost as much fun performing this story as they did watching the resulting video. Enjoy!
"Yay, it's Reading Thursday!" That's what the kids have been heard saying when they realize what day it is. It's the day that volunteer readers visit the Hopkinton Rec Summer Camp to share a good book or two. I know that the grown-ups feel the same way! The volunteers love spending time with these eager listeners, the parents are happy that the children are spending time with books, and the staff members are thrilled to see the kids' enthusiasm!
I brought in a laptop so my group could watch the video from last week. Before I had a chance to ask them if there was anything they would have done differently, they asked if they could re-record it to make it better! I didn't need to offer any suggestions; they recognized on their own what could be done to improve their performances once they were able to evaluate it. I told them we could do "The Sick Lion" again in a few weeks after they've had a chance to act in a few more plays. Stay tuned!
In the book we're reading, Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School, Mr. Jupiter tells his students about George Washington's false teeth. Despite the legend, they were not made of wood. Click here to learn the surprising materials that were used!
Here are some pictures from our last "Reading Thursday". Enjoy!
Matt, a student from Chariho High School, reads to a group of elementary school students.
Eager readers!
Mrs. Falcone reads to a group of newly-minted middle schoolers!
Thanks to the efforts of Chariho teacher Brenda Medina, the Hopkinton Recreation Summer Read Aloud Program is in full swing! The program invites Chariho staff members to volunteer an hour of their time to read aloud to the participants of Hopkinton Rec Summer Camp. (The reading program is also taking place in Charlestown!) The children are grouped according to age, and the readers can bring along their own favorites to share or the books can be provided.
This is the second year of the program, and I love it! I signed up to take the same group every week: students going into fourth grade. To help them along their way to qualifying for the Rooster Games next spring, we are reading the RICBA nomineeThe Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary. Each chapter concludes with a moral, and we've been discussing what they mean and how it reflects what happened in the story.
As an extension activity, I transformed a number of Aesop's fables into scripts for the children to perform. Last week we tried it out for the first time, and we had a blast! I was really impressed by the kids' enthusiasm and have started selecting pieces our next meeting.
During the read-through I helped the kids with pronunciations and defined words they didn't know.
All of the kids used a marker to highlight their own parts in the script.
I'll post a video of their first performance below. Considering we only did one read-through, I was really impressed! I plan to show it to them so they can critique what they did and discuss what they might want to improve the next time. Keep an eye on the blog for more videos! :)
Happy summer, everyone! I just wanted to remind you all of the summer reading program, going on now at your local public library! It's free to sign up, and children can earn prizes by keeping track of the books that they read. You should also stop by or call to find out what fun programs are being offered over the summer...all for FREE!
During the last week of school, the Ashaway School students designed some beautiful bookmarks, and I brought them all to the Ashaway Free Library. They are now proudly on display on the circulation desk. I challenged them to create a design that goes with the summer reading theme, One World, Many Stories. Anyone who visits the library is welcome to take one. Please stop in to see their work and pick up one for yourself!
Our students' bookmarks are on display at the Ashaway Free Library!
A few weeks ago I wrote about the first graders' zoo research project, which they conducted with the help of their fourth grade research buddies. In the past, the first graders would use the information they recorded to write a report, but this year we decided to try something new! Mrs. Ward, librarian at Richmond School, has her first graders use their research to write clues for a project she calls Zoo You Know Who I Am? We had our first graders write their clues during the school day, and a group of fourth graders volunteered to stay after school to turn them into PowerPoint presentations.
On Thursday the entire first grade came to the library to use the SmartBoard for our Zoo Am I? game show! Each time the first grader tapped the board a new clue would appear, and the presenter would choose a student to make a guess. Mrs. Austin even brought a prize box for the winners!
If you'd like to try out a game for yourself, here they are!
Earlier this year, fourth grade teacher Mrs. Ornburn and I received a CCIP grant (the Chariho Community Innovative Projects Fund) to purchase four Flip video cameras. At long last, an idea we mapped out months ago became a reality!
As always, her students researched a lighthouse and built a model. This year, however, they filmed their models from different perspectives to answer questions such as: “How would the lighthouse look from your own point of view while standing at its base? If you were a bird flying over it? If you were the captain of a ship many miles out at sea?” In the library we brainstormed a list of different perspectives, and then the students chose one to film (either from the list or of their own devising).
Not only did this activity give the students a hands-on approach to learning, but it also provided evidence of the students’ work even though the models have been taken home. In addition, it supported my unit on perspective using the picture book illustrations of Chris Van Allsburg (a Rhode Island author), especially the story Two Bad Ants. I hope you enjoy their video!
On Wednesday, June 1st, our 4th graders participated in the Ashaway School Rooster Games! They have been preparing for this since September! That's when I challenged them to read at least 5 of the books nominated for the Rhode Island Children's Book Award. I am thrilled to report that ALL of our fourth graders qualified to participate in the games, and we had a blast!
Special Thanks to Mrs. Young and Mrs. Ornburn for all their support; not only did they both read one of the nominated books to their classes, but they've also been very accommodating every time I've appeared at their doors to touch base with the students. Thanks also to our fabulous P.T.O. who provided the funds to purchase the "Champion Reader" medals and also the pizza for our afternoon celebration! Thanks to all the moms who spent Wednesday morning in charge of a team...it couldn't have happened without you! And finally, thanks to Mrs. Steever, librarian at Chariho Middle School, who so kindly shares all the games that she creates and who is always happy to offer her experience and support as needed!
These students earned a Champion Reader medal by reading all 20 books on the list!
Multiple Choice & Short Answers Round - Each team records their answer on a marker board before holding them up for all to see.
Team Red: Winners of the 2011 Rooster Games!
Object Round - matching the titles of the books to objects that represent them
First Lines Round - matching the title of each book to the very first sentence from each story
Creativity Round - Each team selects a book on which to base a performance. This team created a skit from Tricking the Tallyman.
I have been the teacher-librarian at Ashaway Elementary School since the fall of 1996.
Besides reading (of course!) my hobbies include designing and creating pieces with stained glass, hiking, photography, and Geocaching. Those last three go together especially well! You can read my Geocaching blog by visiting: http://purplecatpaws.wordpress.com/
If you've never heard of Geocaching, you might want to visit this site first for a 2-minute video: http://www.geocaching.com/videos/#cat=cat:newbies&vid=-4VFeYZTTYs
