"Envisioning the Future"

Yesterday was one of my most favorite days of the year; I attended the annual conference of my professional organization, School Librarians of Rhode Island.  As always, the committee put together a very stimulating day that was packed with opportunities to learn, share, and become inspired!  The theme was "Envisioning the Future", and much of the day was spent learning about a myriad of "Web 2.0" tools and resources that are available for use in the classroom.  (The first thing I did when I arrived at school this morning was to tell one of our student teachers about a collaborative online activity that fit in perfectly with her current unit.  I don't want to give too much away before the students learn about it, but I'll be spending some time this weekend learning how to use Skype!) 

Commissioner Gist

The presentation of Keith Curry Lance, our keynote speaker, was preceded by an address by Deborah Gist, the Rhode Island Commissioner of Education.  It was encouraging to hear her acknowledge the important role that school librarians play in their schools: "The movement toward digital learning is just beginning.  As librarians and educational media specialists, you are on the vanguard of this movement.  You are the champions, tour guides, and mentors for information and live in a world of information.  No one more than you has seen how technology has affected learning and teaching."  

A great deal of discussion has taken place regarding the value of both school libraries and school librarians as we watch the informational landscape change.  As Commissioner Gist also said, "We have evolved from index cards to world wide databases, from text books to tablets, from oral reports and poster boards to...podcasts and Prezis."  Helping students find and access information is just the beginning.  Our children are learning how to become responsible digital citizens who can not only navigate a sea of information but also to critically evaluate and apply what they find.  It's always wonderful to be surrounded by my colleagues as we work together and support each other's goal to prepare our students for their futures!
 

The Elementary School Librarians of Chariho  L-R: Mrs. Mann (Ashaway School), Mrs. Ward (Richmond School), Mrs. Reiser-Jones (Charlestown School), and Mrs. Barton (Hope Valley School)

"My favorite book in the library is..."

It's still a few weeks away, but we've been spending some time in the library getting ready for Reading Week!  During class I invited each student to write about his or her favorite book that can be found in our library.  I'm planning to create a display using the titles of the books for our Pop and Swap on Tuesday, April 10th from 4-6pm.  Kids and adults can "pop in" to swap books they no longer read for different ones!  (Please send in your gently used book donations.  You can also bring them in with you the night of the swap!)  While you're there you can enjoy some popular refreshments and play some popular games!  Plus each student who attends will receive a popcorn-scented bookmark!  I look forward to seeing you there!

"My favorite book in the library is Mr. Popper's Penguins because when Popper's performing penguins saw a ladder with a board on top they get tempted to climb it and toboggan down.  Also, when they are performing around the USA, in the train they acted crazy!"

"My favorite book in the library is Scary Creatures: Hyenas because it tells you how the hyenas live in the wild and why they eat meat."

"My favorite book in the library is The Haunted School.  I like it because I like the part when Tommy knocked down a narrow board and there was an elevator.  So, he went in it, and it led down to a secret room.  I was so surprised to see what was in the room!"

And the winner is...

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

is the winner of the 2012

Rhode Island Children's Book Award!

Across the state, 6,954 children voted for their favorite of the 20 nominees, and The Strange Case of Origami Yoda won with 1,213 votes!  This was also the book that our Ashaway School students picked as their favorite, so there was a lot of cheering in both classes when I made the announcement!

Fans of the book in Mrs. Young's class

All fourth graders who read at least 3 of the books nominated for the Rhode Island Children's Book Award got to vote for their favorite! Students -- not adults -- select which book will win the award each year. (To learn more about the award and to see the complete voting results, please visit http://www.ri.net/RIEMA/bookaward.html.)  The voting took place during the last week in February.

Students in Mrs. Ornburn's class place their votes into the ballot box.

Keep reading, 

4th graders!

The Rooster Games

will be here

before you know it!

New Books! New Books! New Books!

Last week the students were so excited to see the "New Book" section completely filled with brand new books!  Thanks to our wonderful PTO and all the people who purchased books at our fall book Scholastic Book Fair, I was able to buy lots of great stuff!  Chapter books, easy readers, picture books, ghost stories, graphic novels, highly-anticipated sequels, new series and titles by some favorite authors...there's a little something for everyone! 

Our third and fourth graders will be happy to know that lots of these books have a green foil star on the spine.  That means the library owns an audio recording of the book called a Playaway that they can borrow to listen to the story being read aloud.  I first started using the green stars earlier this year, and I've been happy to see how many of the students have looked for a companion book when borrowing a Playaway.  Simply listening to a story being read aloud benefits a student, but also seeing the words helps increase their exposure to text, comprehension, fluency and vocabulary.

Just a few of our new books with their Playaway companions

 Once again, to our P.T.O. and to all who support our 

Scholastic Book Fair:

THANK YOU!!!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Can you see the orange bow in Samantha's hair?

 
Friday was Dr. Seuss's birthday, and Ashaway School celebrated in style!  For starters, everyone was encouraged to wear orange in honor of the Lorax, one of our favorite characters from his books.  As you probably know, the new movie was just released and the tagline is Orange is the New Green!

Surprise!

Every class had a discussion about ways we can help our environment, and every room received a surprise visit by Mr. Morrone...on a bicycle!  He reminded the students that riding your bike to a nearby destination can help cut down on pollution, and he gave every student a packet of seeds (courtesy of URI who provided a variety free of charge).  I would love for folks to send in pictures of what they grow!

In the library, every student also got to select a bookmark cut from an old book catalog.  That might not sound very exciting, but the students were thrilled with all the different colors and designs there were to choose from!  We talked about ways that we can Reuse, Reduce and Recycle every day both at school and at home.

My first graders enjoyed an activity on the SmartBoard called "Break the Lorax Code".  I found it at www.seussville.com, which is a wonderful website chock-full of great stuff!  The children are learning about vowels in their classrooms, so I asked them what the three missing letters (at the bottom of the board) have in common.  After answering that question, I challenged them to identify the other two vowels and to find them in the message on the board.  Then each student had the opportunity to come up to the board and fill in one of the blanks.

A student leads the class in reading the Lorax's message out loud.

Our celebration came to a lovely close with 20 minutes of D.E.A.R. Time (Drop Everything And Read) at the end of the day.  What better way to honor Dr. Seuss than encouraging students to take some time to enjoy a good book?

Mrs. Lee's class was in the library during Friday's D.E.A.R. Time