Learning Library Manners with the Shelf Elf!

Have you heard about Skoob, the library shelf elf?  My kindergarten students have been learning all about him in the book The Shelf Elf by Jackie Mims Hopkins.  His job is to help our students remember to use their library manners.  With Skoob's help, we've learned how to use shelf markers to keep the library neat and organized.  The book says, "Use a shelf marker, you can't go wrong; put books back where they belong!"  (The children really enjoy the book's rhyming reminders!)  I'm happy to report the students are more and more responsible each time they look for books on the shelves in the library.  Not only is it respectful to the other people who use the library, but they are also helping Skoob win the Golden Shelf Elf Award!

Of course, the children are always curious about him.  He's very shy and only comes out when no people are around.  He's really good at sewing (he used to work in a shoemaker's shop with his cousin, Skeeter), so he made a toy elf for us so we can see what he looks like and how tall he really is. Still, the children always have more questions for Skoob that the book doesn't answer, so we work together to write a letter to him.  (Miss Lambert's class wrote theirs last Wednesday, and Mrs. Smith's class will be writing theirs this week.)  I'm always interested to learn what each class wants to know about him, and I always learn something new when I read his responses!  I'll let you know what he told our students when he writes back!