Penguin Pals

Hello! 

Miss Hurley here, and I'll be taking over the blog for a little while.  I have been student teaching in the library for the past three weeks and I've been working on some pretty cool projects with the students.  But, before I get to talking about the classes, I’d like to take some time to share some information about myself. 

As Mrs. Mann mentioned in her post a few weeks ago, she was my librarian when I attended Ashaway Elementary!  I loved my time at this school, especially in the library, and I am thrilled to be back.  For those interested in knowing a little more about me, I love to write (though I’ll try not to get carried away in my blog posts), read (of course), and run (so far I’ve raced one half marathon and I hope to do many more in the future).  I could go on and on about myself, but I’d much rather talk about what’s going on in class.  If anyone does have any questions for me, please post them in the comments and I’ll do my best to respond as soon as possible.

For the past three weeks, I have been working on a project with the third grade classes that involves one of my favorite creatures…penguins!   Mrs. Ward, the librarian over at Richmond Elementary, has been doing this project with her third graders for several years, and this year she introduced it to me so that I could give it a try (thanks Mrs. Ward!).  For the past few weeks, we have discussed how the Emperor Penguins live in a community called a rookery.  Just like people, the penguins each have their own roles and responsibilities in order to keep the rookery alive.  We’ve discussed proper note taking skills, and recently the students were able to begin their research on the computer.  

 Here are the websites that the students are using (they can also be found on the Ashaway School Library website):

• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/03/crittercam/antarctica/  
• http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/emperor-penguin/

This eager beaver checked out the websites at home and started research on her own!

At the end of the project, students will be writing a journal entry from the perspective of the mother, the father, or the baby penguin, explaining the responsibilities it would have in a rookery.  The students have been very eager with their research and I can’t wait to see what they come up with in their journals!

"Are YOU the troll?"

A logic game in kindergarten based on The Three Billy Goats Gruff!

This week Miss Hurley read The Three Billy Goats Gruff to our kindergarten classes and then played a game with them that encouraged critical thinking.  This is how it worked:

• The students were shown a set of fours cards.  Each one features the picture of a character from the story (the small billy goat, the medium billy goat, the large billy goat, and the troll).
• Four students were invited to stand at the front of the room, facing the class.
• Each student was given a character card with the instructions to look at his/her own card, but not to show it to the class!
• Students in the class were challenged to figure out which child is which character by making guesses, such as, “Amanda, are you the smallest billy goat?” or “Alex, are you the troll?”  The students are reminded that they need to pay attention to the answers to their classmates’ questions so they can figure out the characters.
• The student holding the card who was addressed would deny the guess (“No, I’m not!”) or confirm the guess and turn the card around for the class to see. 
• The game continued until all four characters were identified! 

The children really enjoyed the game, and I was impressed by how well they listened to each other.  For example, if a student already denied being the smallest billy goat, the class knew they needed to ask a different student that question.  Or, they needed to ask the same student if she was a different character.  By listening to each other they were able to figure out which student was which character pretty quickly!

It's so much fun watching the students as they uncover the hidden characters.  They get so excited when they've guessed correctly, especially when they've found the troll.  Now I'm wishing I had video to show you, too!  

Welcome, Miss Hurley!

This week I've had the pleasure of introducing a new, friendly face to the students of Ashaway School!  Miss Hurley will be doing her student teaching with me in the library from now through February vacation.  She is working to get her master's degree at URI in library and information science (which I think is a fabulous idea)!



Today we visited Mrs. Young's class to help the students with their research on animal adaptations.

 

Miss Hurley is new to the students, but not to me.  Back when I started working at Ashaway School in 1996, she was one of my second grade students!  (Yes, I still have the yearbook from that year, so I can share her class picture with you.)  I'm so glad to have another opportunity to work with her, and I know the rest of our students will be glad too!