Best Friends
This week First Graders heard Laura Malone Elliott and Lynn Munsinger’s Hunter’s Best Friend at School -- one of those wonderful books that is entertaining, fun to read, has great illustrations, and has a wonderful lesson that is subtle yet important. What do you do when your best friend wants you to do everything they do? And what if some of those things are the wrong things to do? Peer pressure starts very early and discussing this with young children is a way to prepare them for the stronger pressures they will face, especially as teenagers. In the story Hunter’s friend Stripe is mischievous and funny but when Hunter goes along with something that he later regrets, he decides to be a best friend to Stripe and model good behavior in hopes that he will follow. I was impressed at how quiet the children were when I was reading that scene where Hunter had gone along with the wrong behavior….you could have heard a pin drop and that is pretty unusual for first graders! It’s my hope that these little lessons will lodge in their memories and will come back later when the stakes are so much higher.
Also in the Library this week…
Second Grade—Oh no….it’s the dreaded substitute Miss Viola Swamp! In what has become a classic, Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard, the kids in room 207 are the worst behaved class in the school. Their most grievous behavior? They were rude and silly during story hour! But Miss Swamp whips them back into shape and when Miss Nelson returns the class is more than happy to behave. Students love the last scene…..Miss Nelson’s little secret….and of course, I’ll never tell it either!
Third Grade—We all agree that we have a fine, fine school with fine, fine teachers, and fine, fine students…..but what if Dr. McCabe decided that we should go to school on Saturdays and Sundays and holidays and summer!!! This is what happens in Sharon Creech’s hilarious tale A Fine, Fine School. And as with all good stories, the subtle message is clear at the end…..too much of a good thing isn’t always best and we all need time to climb up a tree, and swing on a swing, and maybe just do…..nothing!
Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade—Both classes this week were introduced to the Battle of the Books and I’m happy to say we have some very enthusiastic readers who have checked out almost all of our Battle Books!
Sixth Grade—We played our ever-popular Library Jeopardy Game this week and had a great time. This is a fun way to learn some of the less exciting things about the library such as what’s on a spine label or how non-fiction books are shelved. Our daily double (in the category of Technology and the Internet) was….http. Do you know the question????
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