Collaboration & Organization!

"We found some great books for you!!"

The Monday after winter break, I had put away all of the December holiday books that were on display on the windowsill.  Rather than filling them back up as usual, I decided to try something new!  Mrs. Bliven's third grade class visited in the morning, and I gave them a mission: select a book from the nonfiction section that you would recommend to other students and place it in one of the empty book easels.  I encouraged them to try and represent a variety of the ten categories represented in the Dewey Decimal system.  They were really excited to see their own choices on display, and it gave us the perfect opportunity to review that section of the library!

Once book look was over and everyone was back in their seats, I invited the students to take turns showing us which book they had selected and explaining why they made that choice.  Then I challenged them to identify which of Dewey's categories it would be found in based on the book's subject.  (I have posters in the library that gave them clues to try and figure it out!)  Of course, I took the time to explain why fictional titles like The Star Wars Encyclopedia and folktales are found in this section! *  

We had a very lively discussion and I know the students left the library with a stronger understanding of how the nonfiction section is organized.  Plus, several of the students looked at the call numbers of books in the new display to find other books to borrow.  It was definitely a win-win situation!!

Thanks for your help, third graders!

* Are you wondering why some fictional titles live in the nonfiction section?  Well, when Melville Dewey created his system to organize books, he actually accommodated all books, including, for example, novels, poetry, and folktales.  However, libraries usually separate the fictional chapter books into their own "fiction" section to make those books easier to find and browse.  Poetry, folktales, books based on movies and TV shows, etc., aren't typically in the style of a novel.  They stay better organized in the nonfiction section in the categories assigned to them rather than being shelved by author's last name in the fiction section!

Season's Readings!

 

These students are helping their classmates qualify for the Ashaway School "Rooster Games"!

 

Some of our fourth graders helped me spread some good cheer by participating in my "Share a Book" program.  Thanks to their help, I had ELEVEN more copies of the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award (RICBA) nominees available for students to read over winter break.  This is how the program works:

• The student can order one or more copies of the books and get a 20-30% discount from the standard cover price.  (By placing a larger order, I can get a better price.)
• The book is barcoded and be given a library book jacket to help protect it.
• If the student would like, I place a bookplate inside which reads:  “This book is on loan to the library by [student’s name] until the 2016 Rooster Games!”
• The student who bought the book can check it out first.
• Then, the book is checked out to other fourth graders.
• When the Rooster Games are over, the book is given back to the student who ordered it...to keep!

It was a blast handing out the extra copies of the books today.  It brought me a lot of joy to hear the students' enthusiastic responses when I asked who wanted to borrow one!  The "hold" list for these titles are really long, so they truly acted as though they had been given a gift!  The books are in such high demand because I challenged the students to read at least 5 of these books in order to participate in our year-end Rooster Games.  (Click here to learn more about them!)

A great big THANK YOU goes out to the students who were willing to share their books with their classmates.  The other students and I really appreciate it!

See you at the Rooster Games!

Don't Let the Pigeon Touch the Books!

Each first grade class made a book!

As a culminating activity for our unit on taking care of books and library procedures, my first grade classes created their own version of Mo Willem's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  I was inspired by this wonderful video, and it occurred to me that my students could create an adaptation of the book using their own illustrations and text!

My first graders were familiar with all of Mo Willem's Pigeon books from a unit we enjoyed in kindergarten.  We discussed why I might be cautious about letting him touch the books based on the evidence we've seen of his past behavior.  After all, Pigeon thinks he can drive a bus, desperately begs for a pet without having any idea of what he's getting himself into, and demonstrates a serious reluctance to be considerate of others.  We agreed that he doesn't show a whole lot of good judgement!  (We did decide, however, that our version of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus would have a happier ending for Pigeon.  I hope I don't end up regretting it!) 

The students came up with lots of great promises the pigeon could make to convince the librarian that he should be allowed to touch the books.  When they had trouble coming up with more ideas I opened up the "Sad Bag" of hurt books to remind them of behaviors that might result in a book getting damaged.  I formatted their text into a book and printed out the pages for them to illustrate.  Before they began we watched a video of Mo Willems showing how to draw Pigeon, and the students followed along to create a first draft.  (The segment "Mo and Pigeon Visit a School" is on the Scholastic DVD Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and more stories by Mo Willems.)

"Quiet on the set!"

The students were thrilled to see their work put together into a book that will be on display in the library for all to read and enjoy.  I wanted them all to be able to share their creations with their families, so I imported their illustrations into Windows Movie Maker and gave them each a chance to read their pages aloud.  I recorded their voices and created a video that you can watch right now!  Enjoy!

Mrs. Breault's Class

Click here for a direct link if you're having trouble viewing Mrs. Breault's video!

Miss Mooney's Class

Click here for a direct link if you're having trouble viewing Miss Mooney's video!

Fabulous Fall Festival Fun!

Like many, I look forward to the fall festival season.  This time of year brings to mind hot apple cider, haunted hay rides, and strolls through a pumpkin patch.  As fun as all those things are, however, my all-time favorite is the one and only Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors at the Lincoln School in Providence.  It always takes place the Saturday after Columbus Day, and it's the one fall event that I look forward to all year!

I found one of my students in the auditorium listening to an author presentation.  She was happy to show off some of the books she discovered!

As always, there was a line-up of extremely talented authors and illustrators who gave very entertaining and informative presentations.  Throughout the day there was also opportunities to meet these special guests to get your own copies of their books signed.  (You can read an excellent overview of the festival and all it had to offer, including a link to many remarkable photographs, by clicking here!) 

I stood in line with another one of my students while we waited for our turn to meet the remarkably talented author and illustrator Meghan McCarthy!







For me, a highlight of the festival was the hilarious Chris Grabenstein, author of the 2015 Rhode Island Children's Book Award for Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library.  Honestly, I could have listened to him talk all day.  Not only was he a charismatic speaker but his storytelling ability had his audience's full attention.  (To my first graders who keep hearing me belt out in a deep tone of voice, "That's awesoooooooooome!", I totally picked that up from him!)  With his permission, I recorded some segments of his presentation to share with you here.  It was difficult to pick just a few to feature, but it was so much fun watching all of my footage again while trying to make my selections! 

Like all authors, Chris was asked, "Where do you get all of your ideas?" 

Another common theme in author presentations is the message to keep trying.  I think it's important for students to know that success is something one needs to work hard for.  Here is Chris's take on persistence:

As a fan of alliteration (see this blog title for an example!) I was happy to hear Chris's comments about the topic:

Many people have compared Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library to Roald Dahl's classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  While similarities certainly do exist, Chris explains where the inspiration for his story really came from:

Well, I've saved the best for last!

Chris reads aloud the beginning of his upcoming sequel to Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library!  It won't be released until next year, but here's a sneak peek of Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics!!!  

(Yes, he's reading it from his iPhone!)

A heart-felt and enormous thank you goes out to Meagan Lenihan, Colleen Zeitz, and Kate Lentz of Lincoln School for organizing this event.  It was an amazing day and I know I'm not alone when I say that it was a truly remarkable celebration!  :D

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for...

ICE CREAM! 
(And books, of course. LOTS and LOTS of BOOKS!!!)

Thursday night was Ashaway School's annual Book Fair and Ice Cream Social.  Once again our PTO put together a fabulous evening of fun and fund raising!  Lots of families stopped by to enjoy a FREE ice cream sundae, design a book mark, do some coloring, and shop for new books.  Some of the money brought in from the book fair will be donated to the library to buy books for all of the Ashaway students to enjoy.  YAY!!

These kids really got into the theme of a "Monster Book Fair"!

This 4th grader found some "Rooster books"!

Check out this cool "monster" book mark!!

Adding to the Monster Mural Masterpiece!

So many awesome books to explore!

Aww!  A moment sweeter than ice cream!

Family fun!

Ashaway School staff members were on hand to do the scooping and dole out the toppings!

The ice cream came from Mel's Downtown Creamery in Pawcatuck.  They donated one tub of ice cream and provided two additional tubs at a discount.  Thank you!!! 

To see more pictures from this event,  

click here to view the Ashaway School online photo album! 

 

A Wonderful Kind of Wishing!

Today all of our students had the opportunity to browse the offerings at our Scholastic Book Fair and create a "wish list" of books they want.  Tomorrow students in kindergarten through second grade will be able to do some shopping, and on Wednesday the third and fourth grades will get a turn.  Parents can also stop in to shop on Tuesday and Wednesday from 9am-10am.

Then, on Thursday, the doors will be open 5:30pm-7:30pm for the Scholastic Book Fair and Ice Cream Social.  Families are welcome to come in for a FREE ice cream sundae and shop the book fair!

The Book Fair is also open online for purchases now thru Oct. 13th: http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/ashawayelementaryschool

A great, big, ENORMOUS "THANK YOU!!" to the PTO for making our Scholastic Book Fair happen!  The library receives money from this event to buy new books for our students to borrow.  It truly is a win-win!  

"And that one and this one and one of these and one of those and ..."

 

We're on a Plicker Kick!

Before school started the teachers had the opportunity to attend a variety of professional development workshops.  One of my favorites, led by PE teacher Catherine Moffitt, was all about using "Plickers" with our students as a way of checking for understanding.  Many of the teachers at Ashaway School are now using them, and the kids love it!

A sample Plicker card

Each student is given a "Plicker card" that's printed with a blocky black square.  No two squares are exactly alike, and each is numbered and assigned to a student.  When given a multiple choice question, the students give their answers by holding up their cards.  Each side of the block is labeled with a letter, and they hold their cards so that the letter on top indicates their answer.

"Cards up!"

Now for the really cool part!  The teacher records the students' answers by scanning them with a smart phone or iPad!  (There is an app that teachers need to download to their devices, but the app and the Plicker website are completely free to use!)  Using my iPhone's built-in camera, I just sweep across the room and the app automatically records the students' answers.  When each student's answer is recorded, the student's name appears on the screen in green (for a correct answer) or in red (for a wrong answer).  All the information is stored in my online Plickers account for me to refer to as needed.  Everything is password protected, but only the students' first names are used to ensure privacy.

The students' names appear on top of their Plicker card so I know that they've been scanned.  If the name is in a green bubble I know they got the answer right!  (Great job, fourth graders!)

The questions can be displayed on the SmartBoard, and I can reveal a chart of which answers were selected.  This is terrific for quickly identifying any misunderstandings of the topic while keeping each individual student's answer private.

The students are really enjoying this new method of interaction, and the teachers love the immediate feedback.  You can learn more about Plickers by visiting the website https://plickers.com/!