Quicksand doesn't have a bottom! Fiction or Nonfiction?

One of the things we focus on in second grade is the difference between fiction and nonfiction books. Tomie dePaola has written lots of both, and we explore a wide variety of his work. After reading The Quicksand Book, Mrs. Pearce's class formed teams and wrote statements about quicksand. Can you figure out which of the statements are fiction (not true) and which ones are nonfiction (fact)? Think carefully...they're trying to trick you! When you're ready, scroll down to the bottom of the post for the answers. Good luck!

1. Quicksand doesn't have a bottom.


2. If you struggle in quicksand you will sink more quickly.


3. Quicksand can be caused by a flood.


4. You can find quicksand in deserts.


5. If you lie on your back you can float in quicksand.


6. Quicksand is caused by underground caves.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE ANSWERS? SCROLL DOWN!

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The following statements were written by

Team Fiction. They are not true!

Quicksand doesn't have a bottom.
Quicksand can be caused by a flood.
Quicksand is caused by underground caves.

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The following statements were written by
Team Non Fiction. They are true!

If you struggle in quicksand you will sink more quickly!
You can find quicksand in deserts!
If you lie on your back you can float in quicksand!

Second Graders at Work!

All of our second graders have begun a research project about their current science unit, insects! Like all library research projects, we are following the steps as outlined in the "Big6" problem solving model. (You can learn more about that at http://www.big6.com/.) Each student has selected an insect to learn about and has written a question about it. They will also find information to answer some teacher questions. We brainstormed some sources of information we could use to find answers to our questions, and every student is starting off with a book at an appropriate reading level.

Next we learned about how to take good notes and avoid copying. To practice this all of the students participated in an activity called Fact Fragment Frenzy, which can be found at the wonderful website http://www.readwritethink.org/. Working with a partner, the students read a short passage about an animal and then dragged the important words to a notepad also on the screen. This process reinforces the idea that we only need to record the "treasure words" that answer our questions instead of copying down everything.

Next week the students will continue their research and explore multiple sources for information, including another of my favorite websites, Enchanted Learning!

Project Highlight: All-Day Kindergarten!

For the past few weeks, Mrs. Koukas has been bringing her class to the library to work on a special project. In class they've been creating an "All About Me" book to incorporate skills from math, language arts, and social studies. Their books will include pages about their families and activities they like as well as information about where they live. In the library the students used Microsoft Paint to create drawings of their homes. Mrs. Koukas encouraged them to think about what shapes could be used to create their pictures, and I did a lesson on how to use the program. What fast learners! In no time they were switching colors and brushes, using the "paint bucket" to fill shapes, and using "Ctrl+Shift+N" to clear the screen. Then I imported their creations to another Microsoft program called PhotoStory. This program enables the students to type a sentence about their homes onto their drawings and then they can record their voices as they read aloud what they've written! When all the students are done recording, we'll be able to play back our movie on the SmartBoard!

Choosing a "Just Right Book"

Our first graders have been learning about how to use the Five Finger Rule to pick out a "just right book". This strategy is meant to help students find a book that is not too easy or too hard to read. We learned about it in a wonderful book called Goldisocks and the Three Libearians.

This is how it works:

1) Choose a book and read the first page or two
2) Put one finger up for every word you don’t know
3) If five of your fingers go up while reading, choose another book.
4) If only two or three fingers go up, you’ve found a “just right” book!

Here are some of the students practicing:

Brand-New Book Borrowers! (part 2)

Last week I featured Mrs. Smith's morning kindergarten class because they took books home for the very first time. This week it's all about Mrs. Smith's afternoon class! (They didn't have class last week because of Columbus Day.)

Just like in the morning class, the afternoon students have been learning all about how to take very good care of their library books. Last week I challenged you to ask a student the following questions:

• How should we turn a page in a book?
• How should we save our place in a book so we can finish it later?
• How should we carry a book?
• What you should do if you find a rip in your library book?

Here are some of the KPM students with the answers...

Always turn the pages of a book by the corners. This will prevent the pages from getting tears along the bottom edge!

Always use a bookmark to save your place in a book. If you don't have a bookmark, a piece of paper is another good choice. Don't use anything thicker than a piece of paper because it can hurt the spine of the book!

Always carry a book with both arms folded around it. We call this "hug a book"!

Always tell the librarian if you find a rip in a library book. Please don't try and fix it yourself! The tape you have at home is not made for books and can get yellowed and brittle over time. I have special tape and even special glue for fixing hurt books!

Thank you very much to my KPM helpers this week. I look forward to helping them select new books when they bring the others back on Monday!

Brand-New Book Borrowers!

Mrs. Smith's morning kindergarten class was very excited to borrow books from the library for the very first time this week! (The afternoon class is on Monday, so they will take books home for the first time next week.) We have been spending a lot of time talking about all the things we can do take care of books, and now they are experts! Go ahead and ask a kindergartner:

• How should we turn a page in a book?
• How should we save our place in a book so we can finish it later?
• How should we carry a book?
• What you should do if you find a rip in your library book?

I'll be back with the answers next week! (Maybe I can get some of the afternoon kindergarten students to help me...)

One of the most important good habits we talked about was having a special place for library books at home so they don't get lost or damaged. The students created posters to show me where their special places are, and we will share them with the whole class next week!

Discovering Intelligent Life in the Library!

Behold, photographic evidence of intelligent life!(Okay, they might not be extraterrestrial,

but we do think our students are out of this world!)

We are all very excited to announce that Ashaway School is going to have a float featured in Westerly's Columbus Day parade this coming Sunday. The theme of the float will be "Ashaway Teachers Discover Intelligent Life". The gorgeous planets you see were created for the float by Mrs. Pearce's 2nd grade class with help from Mrs. Clark, our PTO president. They looked so amazing that I wanted to share them with my classes when they came to the library today. It also gave me a chance to put out the new space books that I bought thanks to the PTO. Our students really enjoyed looking through them during book look, and many of the books were signed out!

p.s. Are you wondering why the sign says "Poor Pluto"? Many scientists have decided that it can't be called a planet anymore! Now it's called a "dwarf planet". To learn more, go here:

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/pluto/index.shtml