The Rooster Games "Share a Book" Program

These students are helping their classmates get ready for the Rooster Games!

Our fourth graders are lining up to sign out the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award (RICBA) nominees so they can qualify for the Rooster Games!  I love seeing how excited they are when their turn finally comes up on the "hold" list for the title they've been waiting to read!  The problem is that, for most of the books, I only have one copy available to borrow.  That means the hold lists tend to be really long.  The truth is that the library can use LOTS of copies of the books nominated for the award, but when the Rooster Games are over, our shelves would be packed! Plus, buying multiple copies of each book would be too expensive.

In order to shorten the wait and to get more books into the students' hands, I came up with a "Share a Book" program.  This is how it works:

• The student can order one or more copies of the books and get a 20-30% discount from the standard cover price.  (By placing a larger order, I can get a better price.)
• The book is barcoded and be given a library book jacket to help protect it.
• If the student would like, I place a bookplate inside which reads:  “This book is on loan to the library by [student’s name] until the 2015 Rooster Games!”
• The student who bought the book can check it out first.
• Then, the book is checked out to other fourth graders.
• When the Rooster Games are over, the book is given back to the student who ordered it...to keep!

Of course, the students do not have to buy a book to participate in the Rooster Games.  It's just another way to help them achieve their goal of reading five RICBA nominees.  

This year I had students ask if they could bring in a personal copy from home for the other students to borrow.  (Many of the books were available during October's Scholastic Book Fair.)  I responded with an enthusiastic "of course"!  I treated these books the same as those ordered through me and gave them book jackets, barcodes and book plates.  

Because of the Share-a-Book Program, I now have ELEVEN more copies of the books available for students to borrow.  That's ELEVEN students who are making progress toward their goal who might not have been able to!  Woohoo!  

A great big THANK YOU goes out to the students who were willing to share their books with their classmates.  The other students and I really appreciate it!

See you at the Rooster Games!

Exploring Computer Science With an "Hour of Code"!

As part of an effort to introduce more STEM learning into the elementary curriculum, Ashaway Elementary School participated in the Nation Wide Hour of Code. 

 

Hour of Code events are one-hour tutorial sessions that give students the opportunity to write their first few lines of computer code.  The tutorials are game like and self-directed, enabling students to work at their own pace and skill level.  These activities provide children the opportunity to be exposed to the basic foundational skills of math, science, engineering, and computer science.   You can access them by visiting http://code.org.

Principal Scanapieco designated today as our school's official day of coding (although the teachers have also been integrating activities into their daily teaching all week).  Both fourth grade classes scheduled an hour in the library to give their students lots of hands-on interaction time.  The students loved it.  Not only were they super engaged, but they worked tremendously well together.  I was really impressed with the problem solving and cooperation I witnessed!

By chance I caught this moment when a student figured out the solution to a problem he had been grappling with!

These fourth graders proudly show off their computer-generated "Certificates of Completion"

I strongly encourage everyone to visit http://code.org to explore, play and learn!