Friends Old and New at Open House!

A former student, two current students, and a future student!

Monday night was Open House, can you believe it??  (I am always amazed by how quickly the time flies!)  It was, as always, a fun evening.  I got to see lots of my new kindergartners who proudly showed off their library to their families, led them to where they sit, and of course made introductions to Bear.  I always enjoy getting to see all the students and their families who stop in, but it's a special treat to see my former students return with their families!  I got to discuss "Rooster Books" with many of the middle schoolers, and we compared notes on which titles were our favorites.  Some even brought books they were reading with them to share with me, and I now have a list of recommended titles on my desk!  It's so wonderful to see that they love their libraries!

Well, they're new to us!

Are the kids starting to get antsy now that the summer is beginning to fade?  Or maybe a rainy day has you looking around for something to do?  Well, here's an activity that will help free up some of your space and benefit the library as well.  One of our third grade students took advantage of her extra vacation time and went through her bookshelves at home.  Knowing she'd see me at the HopRec reading program, she brought in two crates stuffed full with books that she no longer reads to donate to our library!  I'm happy to accept donations all year round.  I add books that our library can use to the collection, and the rest are put aside for our free book swap during Reading Week.  I can tell that this young lady takes excellent care of her books at home because all of the copies are in great shape.  You'll see many of these titles appear in our "New Book" display at school in September!

Donations don't have to be in perfect condition to be accepted.  

Even a worn book can find new life in the hands of an eager reader!

Fourth Grade Fable Theater!

Our group meeting last Thursday consisted of only three students!  Fortunately vacationing children didn't put a damper on our fun.  After all, "The show must go on!"  I made some quick changes to a play that I had on hand, took on a non-speaking role, and away we went!  They had almost as much fun performing this story as they did watching the resulting video.  Enjoy!

Yay, it's Reading Thursday!

"Yay, it's Reading Thursday!"  That's what the kids have been heard saying when they realize what day it is.  It's the day that volunteer readers visit the Hopkinton Rec Summer Camp to share a good book or two.  I know that the grown-ups feel the same way!  The volunteers love spending time with these eager listeners, the parents are happy that the children are spending time with books, and the staff members are thrilled to see the kids' enthusiasm!

I brought in a laptop so my group could watch the video from last week.  Before I had a chance to ask them if there was anything they would have done differently, they asked if they could re-record it to make it better!  I didn't need to offer any suggestions; they recognized on their own what could be done to improve their performances once they were able to evaluate it.  I told them we could do "The Sick Lion" again in a few weeks after they've had a chance to act in a few more plays.  Stay tuned!

In the book we're reading, Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School, Mr. Jupiter tells his students about George Washington's false teeth.  Despite the legend, they were not made of wood.  Click here to learn the surprising materials that were used!

Here are some pictures from our last "Reading Thursday".  Enjoy!

Matt, a student from Chariho High School, reads to a group of elementary school students.

Eager readers!

Mrs. Falcone reads to a group of newly-minted middle schoolers!

Summer Reading at HopRec!

Thanks to the efforts of Chariho teacher Brenda Medina, the Hopkinton Recreation Summer Read Aloud Program is in full swing!  The program invites Chariho staff members to volunteer an hour of their time to read aloud to the participants of Hopkinton Rec Summer Camp.  (The reading program is also taking place in Charlestown!)  The children are grouped according to age, and the readers can bring along their own favorites to share or the books can be provided.

This is the second year of the program, and I love it!  I signed up to take the same group every week: students going into fourth grade.  To help them along their way to qualifying for the Rooster Games next spring, we are reading the RICBA nominee The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary.  Each chapter concludes with a moral, and we've been discussing what they mean and how it reflects what happened in the story.

As an extension activity, I transformed a number of Aesop's fables into scripts for the children to perform.  Last week we tried it out for the first time, and we had a blast!  I was really impressed by the kids' enthusiasm and have started selecting pieces our next meeting.

During the read-through I helped the kids with pronunciations and defined words they didn't know.

All of the kids used a marker to highlight their own parts in the script.

I'll post a video of their first performance below.  Considering we only did one read-through, I was really impressed!  I plan to show it to them so they can critique what they did and discuss what they might want to improve the next time.  Keep an eye on the blog for more videos!  :)

One World, Many Stories!

Happy summer, everyone!  I just wanted to remind you all of the summer reading program, going on now at your local public library!  It's free to sign up, and children can earn prizes by keeping track of the books that they read.  You should also stop by or call to find out what fun programs are being offered over the summer...all for FREE!

During the last week of school, the Ashaway School students designed some beautiful bookmarks, and I brought them all to the Ashaway Free Library.  They are now proudly on display on the circulation desk.  I challenged them to create a design that goes with the summer reading theme, One World, Many Stories.  Anyone who visits the library is welcome to take one.  Please stop in to see their work and pick up one for yourself!

Our students' bookmarks are on display at the Ashaway Free Library!

Zoo You Know Who I Am?

A few weeks ago I wrote about the first graders' zoo research project, which they conducted with the help of their fourth grade research buddies.  In the past, the first graders would use the information they recorded to write a report, but this year we decided to try something new!  Mrs. Ward, librarian at Richmond School, has her first graders use their research to write clues for a project she calls Zoo You Know Who I Am?  We had our first graders write their clues during the school day, and a group of fourth graders volunteered to stay after school to turn them into PowerPoint presentations. 

On Thursday the entire first grade came to the library to use the SmartBoard for our Zoo Am I? game show!  Each time the first grader tapped the board a new clue would appear, and the presenter would choose a student to make a guess.  Mrs. Austin even brought a prize box for the winners!

If you'd like to try out a game for yourself, here they are!

Mrs. Gigliotti's Class

Mrs. Campbell's Class

Mrs. Breault's/Mrs. Austin's Class