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

Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors

Coming soon: your chance to meet CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG (author/illustrator of Jumanji and The Polar Express), KAZU KIBUISHI (author/illustrator of the 2010 Rhode Island Children's Book Award Winner Amulet), MO WILLIEMS (author/illustrator of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny) and many, many more!!!

Above - Some first grade fans of Mo Willems!

WHAT: The Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors

WHERE: Lincoln School - Lincoln, RI

WHEN: Saturday, October 16th, 9am-5:30pm

WHO: Blue Balliett, Jules Feiffer, Kate Feiffer, Jack Gantos, Adam Gopnik, Kazu Kibuishi, Helen Lester, David Macaulay, Bruce McCall, Mark Teague, Chris Van Allsburg, and Mo Willems!

Admission is only $5! You can meet the characters Tacky the Penguin and Rotten Ralph, buy books and talk to the authors while you have them signed, hear a musical performance by The Flannery Brothers, make book crafts, and listen to 20 minutes talks by authors you love! For more information, please go to http://www.festivalofchildrensbooks.org/!