Frogs: Facts & Fiction!

Ask any of my second graders and they'll tell you that I love frogs!  We just concluded a unit comparing fiction with non-fiction, and the culminating activity was centered on my favorite amphibian.  The students started off researching facts in the many, many books I have on the subject.  They learned a lot as they practiced how to take notes and cite sources!  Here are a few of their fascinating frog facts:

Jaxon learned that one kind of frog eats mice!
(source: Frogs by Nic Bishop)

Tyler learned that the goliath frog can jump father than any other frog!
(source: The Frog Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta)

Casimir learned that some frogs use their eyeballs to swallow.  The food is pushed down their throat by blinking!
(source: Frogs! by Kathryn Satterfield)

Joey learned that a frog can eat more than 5,000 insects in one summer.
(source: Nic Bishop's Frogs by NicBishop)



Taylor learned that leaches are predators of frog eggs!
(source: A Frog's Life by Ellen Lawrence)

Ramsey learned that the African clawed frog has no tongue!
(source: Frogs by Barbara Taylor)

Next, the students were challenged to exercise their creativity by imagining a frog that couldn't possibly exist.  By designing their "fiction frogs" I hope to give them a concrete, personal image they can refer back to when trying to remember that fiction means "not real".  (The terms fiction and nonfiction are frequently mixed up!)  As you can see, their illustrations provided some hilarious results!

 "FICTION FROGS"

You'll never see a frog...

Click on image to enlarge!

 

 

Click on image to enlarge!

A Wonderfully WaCKy Wednesday!

Ashaway School celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2nd by enjoying a very "Wacky Wednesday"! 

Greeting the students as they came into the school

There were a whole lot of interesting Things at school today!

In trying to be as mismatched as possible, Mrs. Lee and I accidentally ended up matching each other!

In the library I introduced classes to some of the fun activities that can be found at Seussville.com! 

Who Would YOU Vote for?

No, I'm not talking about the presidential election!  The end of February is when the students get to vote for their favorite Rhode Island Children's Book Award nominee!  They need to read at least 3 of the 20 books on the list to qualify to vote. (Visit the RICBA blog to learn more about the books, the award, and more!)  

How's a girl to choose???

As usual, some of the students struggled to pick just one title!  This fourth grader was having such a difficult time making a selection that she asked if she could take some time to think it over!  She filled in her ballot the following week.  No worries, there was still time before the results were due back to the committee!





The winning book won't be announced until all the votes from students across the state have been tallied, but at Ashaway School we had a clear winner: El Deafo by Cece Bell! 

Collaboration & Organization!

"We found some great books for you!!"

The Monday after winter break, I had put away all of the December holiday books that were on display on the windowsill.  Rather than filling them back up as usual, I decided to try something new!  Mrs. Bliven's third grade class visited in the morning, and I gave them a mission: select a book from the nonfiction section that you would recommend to other students and place it in one of the empty book easels.  I encouraged them to try and represent a variety of the ten categories represented in the Dewey Decimal system.  They were really excited to see their own choices on display, and it gave us the perfect opportunity to review that section of the library!

Once book look was over and everyone was back in their seats, I invited the students to take turns showing us which book they had selected and explaining why they made that choice.  Then I challenged them to identify which of Dewey's categories it would be found in based on the book's subject.  (I have posters in the library that gave them clues to try and figure it out!)  Of course, I took the time to explain why fictional titles like The Star Wars Encyclopedia and folktales are found in this section! *  

We had a very lively discussion and I know the students left the library with a stronger understanding of how the nonfiction section is organized.  Plus, several of the students looked at the call numbers of books in the new display to find other books to borrow.  It was definitely a win-win situation!!

Thanks for your help, third graders!

* Are you wondering why some fictional titles live in the nonfiction section?  Well, when Melville Dewey created his system to organize books, he actually accommodated all books, including, for example, novels, poetry, and folktales.  However, libraries usually separate the fictional chapter books into their own "fiction" section to make those books easier to find and browse.  Poetry, folktales, books based on movies and TV shows, etc., aren't typically in the style of a novel.  They stay better organized in the nonfiction section in the categories assigned to them rather than being shelved by author's last name in the fiction section!

Season's Readings!

 

These students are helping their classmates qualify for the Ashaway School "Rooster Games"!

 

Some of our fourth graders helped me spread some good cheer by participating in my "Share a Book" program.  Thanks to their help, I had ELEVEN more copies of the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award (RICBA) nominees available for students to read over winter break.  This is how the program 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 2016 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!

It was a blast handing out the extra copies of the books today.  It brought me a lot of joy to hear the students' enthusiastic responses when I asked who wanted to borrow one!  The "hold" list for these titles are really long, so they truly acted as though they had been given a gift!  The books are in such high demand because I challenged the students to read at least 5 of these books in order to participate in our year-end Rooster Games.  (Click here to learn more about them!)

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!

Don't Let the Pigeon Touch the Books!

Each first grade class made a book!

As a culminating activity for our unit on taking care of books and library procedures, my first grade classes created their own version of Mo Willem's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  I was inspired by this wonderful video, and it occurred to me that my students could create an adaptation of the book using their own illustrations and text!

My first graders were familiar with all of Mo Willem's Pigeon books from a unit we enjoyed in kindergarten.  We discussed why I might be cautious about letting him touch the books based on the evidence we've seen of his past behavior.  After all, Pigeon thinks he can drive a bus, desperately begs for a pet without having any idea of what he's getting himself into, and demonstrates a serious reluctance to be considerate of others.  We agreed that he doesn't show a whole lot of good judgement!  (We did decide, however, that our version of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus would have a happier ending for Pigeon.  I hope I don't end up regretting it!) 

The students came up with lots of great promises the pigeon could make to convince the librarian that he should be allowed to touch the books.  When they had trouble coming up with more ideas I opened up the "Sad Bag" of hurt books to remind them of behaviors that might result in a book getting damaged.  I formatted their text into a book and printed out the pages for them to illustrate.  Before they began we watched a video of Mo Willems showing how to draw Pigeon, and the students followed along to create a first draft.  (The segment "Mo and Pigeon Visit a School" is on the Scholastic DVD Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and more stories by Mo Willems.)

"Quiet on the set!"

The students were thrilled to see their work put together into a book that will be on display in the library for all to read and enjoy.  I wanted them all to be able to share their creations with their families, so I imported their illustrations into Windows Movie Maker and gave them each a chance to read their pages aloud.  I recorded their voices and created a video that you can watch right now!  Enjoy!

Mrs. Breault's Class

Click here for a direct link if you're having trouble viewing Mrs. Breault's video!

Miss Mooney's Class

Click here for a direct link if you're having trouble viewing Miss Mooney's video!

Fabulous Fall Festival Fun!

Like many, I look forward to the fall festival season.  This time of year brings to mind hot apple cider, haunted hay rides, and strolls through a pumpkin patch.  As fun as all those things are, however, my all-time favorite is the one and only Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors at the Lincoln School in Providence.  It always takes place the Saturday after Columbus Day, and it's the one fall event that I look forward to all year!

I found one of my students in the auditorium listening to an author presentation.  She was happy to show off some of the books she discovered!

As always, there was a line-up of extremely talented authors and illustrators who gave very entertaining and informative presentations.  Throughout the day there was also opportunities to meet these special guests to get your own copies of their books signed.  (You can read an excellent overview of the festival and all it had to offer, including a link to many remarkable photographs, by clicking here!) 

I stood in line with another one of my students while we waited for our turn to meet the remarkably talented author and illustrator Meghan McCarthy!







For me, a highlight of the festival was the hilarious Chris Grabenstein, author of the 2015 Rhode Island Children's Book Award for Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library.  Honestly, I could have listened to him talk all day.  Not only was he a charismatic speaker but his storytelling ability had his audience's full attention.  (To my first graders who keep hearing me belt out in a deep tone of voice, "That's awesoooooooooome!", I totally picked that up from him!)  With his permission, I recorded some segments of his presentation to share with you here.  It was difficult to pick just a few to feature, but it was so much fun watching all of my footage again while trying to make my selections! 

Like all authors, Chris was asked, "Where do you get all of your ideas?" 

Another common theme in author presentations is the message to keep trying.  I think it's important for students to know that success is something one needs to work hard for.  Here is Chris's take on persistence:

As a fan of alliteration (see this blog title for an example!) I was happy to hear Chris's comments about the topic:

Many people have compared Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library to Roald Dahl's classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  While similarities certainly do exist, Chris explains where the inspiration for his story really came from:

Well, I've saved the best for last!

Chris reads aloud the beginning of his upcoming sequel to Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library!  It won't be released until next year, but here's a sneak peek of Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics!!!  

(Yes, he's reading it from his iPhone!)

A heart-felt and enormous thank you goes out to Meagan Lenihan, Colleen Zeitz, and Kate Lentz of Lincoln School for organizing this event.  It was an amazing day and I know I'm not alone when I say that it was a truly remarkable celebration!  :D