Voices from the Inglenook

News From the Library--Feb. 22, 2010

2010-02-19T11:04:00.000-08:00

We've moved!

Sorry to say that due to ongoing video problems at blogger.com, Voices From the Inglenook has moved to Word Press as of February 22, 2010. This blog will remain but all new posts will be found at our new address.

Our new address is:

csslibrary.wordpress.com

See you there!!

News From the Library--Feb. 15, 2010

2010-02-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry to say that blogger.com is having huge problems with their videos. I have contacted them (along with lots of others) and hope they are working to fix this. You may get a message saying this video is not available. If so please try later. I will try to re-load the videos each morning if I can.

Bad Day for Ballet by Carolyn Keene

A Video Book Review by Josie & Olive

Happy President's Day! This was a short week for us due to the holiday on Friday.

Kindergarten--no library this week

First Grade--My Life as a Chicken by Ellen Kelley was our CYRM nominee this week. Pauline Poulet doesn't want to be the farmer's dinner so she takes off on a rollicking adventure. Her cry of "Pauline, Prevail!" delighted first graders (and we learned was prevail means, too). And prevail she did as she lands in a lovely petting zoo instead of ending up in a chicken pot pie. This delightful book was especially fun for us to read as Ellen Kelley is a local Santa Barbara author and her husband, John, is the architect who designed our fantastic library!

Second Grade--no library this week

Third Grade--Mrs. Campbell's class heard Do Unto Otters: A book about manners by Laurie Keller. This adorable book combines humor with some great lessons on how to be a friend. The students loved the illustrations. Mrs. Lewis' class heard Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Alan Madison and Kevin Hawkes. This is the charming story of a little girl who had previously lived in the shadow of her two older sisters until she finally gets a chance to stand out with her knowledge of butterflies and an especially exciting encounter with a monarch.

Fourth Grade-As part of Black History Month, fourth graders heard Diane Shore's wonderful book This Is The Dream. This book gives a perfect overview of the civil rights movement for fourth graders and it elicited a lively discussion afterward.

Fifth Grade--Also for Black History Month, fifth graders hear the poignant book Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles. This is the story of two boys, one black and one white, who dream of being able to do things together, especially swimming. When the city pool becomes integrated after the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, they think they finally will have that chance. But on the day the pool is to open a truck pulls up and fills the pool with asphalt. We had an interesting discussion about why this happened and how different things are today. The story does end on an upbeat note and brings forth the idea that change didn't take place overnight but in small steady steps. This is a book I highly recommend for older students.

Sixth Grade--To get in the mood for Valentine's Day, sixth graders heard the myth of Cupid and Psyche retold by Charlotte Craft. This is a visually beautiful book and students loved hearing the story and seeing all the "threads" that have been woven into fairy tales and literature.

News From the Library--Feb 8, 2010

2010-02-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

Mercy Watson Crime Fighter by Kate DiCamillo

A Video Book Review by Maddi and Olive

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Kindergarten missed library this week but for a very good reason--our Annual Cold Spring Talent Show. Congratulations to the kindergarteners who participated!

First, Second, and Third Grade--This week we started one of our favorite events in the Library-- The California Young Reader Medal competition. Each year 5 books are nominated by children and librarians throughout California and students in these grades get the chance to vote for their favorite. Think of it as the Academy Awards for children's literature in California. In the Primary Catagory we have great nominees this year, including one that was written by a Santa Barbara author and the wife of the architect who designed our beautiful library! Beginning this week students in these three grades will hear the nominees, one each week. The choices this year are:

My Life As A Chicken by (our local author) Ellen Kelley and illustrated by Michael Slack
A Frog Thing by Eric Drachman
Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners by Laurie Keller
Velma Gratch and the Way cool Butterfly by Alan Madison and illustrated by Keven Henkes
Millie Waits for the Mail by Alexander Steffenmeier

Fourth Grade-We concluded our Tall Tales unit by reading Sally Ann Thunder Ann Crockett by Steven Kellogg. Once again Mr. Kellogg had provided fantastic illustrations to accompany his story of the larger than life woman who was the legendary Davy Crockett's wife. Fourth graders enjoyed finding all the characteristics of tall tales in this great story.

Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade--To review Library terms and skills we played several great rounds of Library Jeopardy this week. In a stunning reversal, the 6th gradeboys' team bet all their cards on a daily double to catch up with the girls, forcing a tie breaker. Congrats to the girls for coming up with the correct "question" for: a unit of a video picture. Do you know the answer?
(What is a pixel)

Bookworms are really "crawling" in the Library as first and second graders are reading up a storm and keep watching for those video book reviews from our Red Dot Club.

News From The Library--Feb 1, 2010

2010-01-29T14:56:00.000-08:00

Clementine's Letter by Sara Pennypacker

A Book Review by Gabriela & Olive

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten---A cat building a nest? How can that be? In The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend, Jack the Cat has a hankering for omelettes. To lure a chicken to the barn he builds a delightful nest complete with pillows, a welcome mat, and colored lights. He gets his chicken all right but also a French speaking duck and a goose from the South! They all lay eggs and they all fight for the nest until he suggests they move to the next farm. What's left? Three lovely eggs. Three lovely omelettes, Jack thinks. But when the eggs hatch instead he finds himself the surrogate mother to three baby birds and he decides it was the perfect nest after all. Kindergarteners love the wonderful illustrations by John Manders making this the perfect read aloud for this age group.

First Grade--Owen wants to send a hug to his granny through the mail. Not a drawing of a hug but a real hug. The Giant Hug by Sandra Horning is a delightful story that also shows all the steps involved in mailing something from one side of the country to the other. And Owen's granny is so happy with her hug she sends a kiss back! Students love to imagine the story happening all over again in the opposite direction.

Second Grade--As part of our participation in the ADL program "No Place for Hate" I've purchased some new books for our collection. This week second graders heard Bullies Never Win by Margery Cuyler. This was the perfect book for this age group as they followed the story of how a little girl finally stood up for herself. I was amazed at how absolutely silent they were while I read the story. This was, I could tell, a subject they could all relate to. The message in the book was simple and really stressed how to handle a bully without "sinking" to their level. A great addition to our collection.

Third Grade--Teaching safe practices on the internet is so very important today and I feel we need to start as early as possible. Third graders discussed how to be safe when using the internet and then watched an excellent DVD called Faux Paws, Adventures on the Internet. This appealing video really stressed in simple terms how important it is not to reveal personal information on the internet and how to seek help from adults when encountering something that doesn't seem right. It's a lesson that will be repeated many times in our curriculum and this was a great start.

Fourth Grade, Fifth, and Sixth Grade--This coming Wednesday, Feb 3, will be our first official Battle of the Books lunchtime practice session. Students in grades 4-6 were reminded again how to join our Battle Team and watched a presentation about the Battle of the Book which will be held at the Santa Barbara County Schools Auditorium on April 15.

Sixth Graders also learned how to use Wonder Wheel on google. This is a great way to focus your searches on google. After you type in your subject and get your first results, you can click on the link that says "Show Options." Then click on Wonder Wheel and you get a graphic organization of many sub topics under your main topic. Students were also shown how to limit their searches to specific domains, especially .org, .gov, or .edu. This helps them narrow down results to websites that most likely will contain accurate information and be free of bias. To do this, type in your subject, then site:(domain you want). An example of this type of search would be: dolphins site:edu

News From the Library--January 25, 2010

2010-01-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

Shoeshine Girl
By Clyde Robert Bulla

A Book Review by Devan and Olive

Congratulations to Red Dot Book Club member Devan for being our first video book reviewer this year!

(This was a short week in the Library due to the Martin Luther King Holiday....)

Kindergarten--Kindergarten just had checkout this week due to the wonderful Dancing Drums assembly.

First Grade-First Graders were treated this week to Steven Kellogg's version of Jack and the Beanstalk. I can still remember the chills I got when my father used to read the "Fee, fi, fo, fum" part and I had a great time reading it to the students this week. It is so reassuring to see that even our students of today with all their video input and sophistication are still absolutely transfixed by this old fairy tale. Mr. Kellogg's illustrations are fantastic and are a huge part of the appeal of this version.

And congratulations to 19 first graders who are now proud members of the Bookworm Club!

Second Grade--What if you woke up one morning and you were covered with stripes in every color of the rainbow? In David Shannon's A Bad Case of Stripes, Camilla Cream finds herself in this unbelievable dilemma. After enduring several unsuccessful cures, she finds that being true to herself and not worrying about what others think of her is the answer. This book, like all of Mr. Shannon's, wraps its subtle but powerful message is a delightful story enhanced by fantastic illustrations.

Third Grade--In order to learn about the literary concept of plot, third graders heard Tomi de Paola's enchanting book Adelita. Before reading the story I asked the students to summarize the plot of a Cinderella story which they did easily. Then as we read Adelita we compared and contrasted the difference in this Mexican version.

Fourth Grade--We continued our study of American tall tales with Steven Kellogg's rollicking version of Paul Bunyan.

Fifth Grade--Fifth Graders went on a Book Hunt this week and with their partners located different resources in our Library.

News From the Library--January 18, 2010

2010-01-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

There are Bookworms in the Library!

This week we started our very popular Library Book Clubs for grades 1-4. In first and second grade, students can be in the Bookworm Club and choose books from our beginning reader section. After reading the entire book, they come in and read their favorite page to me. For each book, they receive a sticker and after every six books a small prize. An official personalized bookmark is given with the first book read. This is one of my favorite parts of the year as I watch those beginning readers blossom.

Third graders move up to more difficult books in the Red Dot Book Club and can do a variety of projects based on their book choice. Book reports, multimedia slide shows, and video book reviews are among the projects. After each project is completed they receive a small prize.

Fourth graders love the Mystery Book club and can read any mystery in our Library. They also have a number of options for book projects and receive a prize for each completed one.

Watch for video book reviews on this blog in the near future!

Fifth and Sixth graders don't have a club but participate in the county-wide Battle of the Books in April.

The goal for all the clubs is to encourage reading for pleasure and fluency and students are guided to books that are at or just slightly above their independent reading level. Above all, we want to make reading fun! That's the number one rule for all the clubs.

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--We can't get enough of Tacky the Penguin and this week we read Tacky Goes to Camp by Helen Lester. In this rollicking story of the penguins at camp, once again Tacky saves the day--this time with his love of 'smores. He is an odd bird, be we all agree, a nice bird to have around.

Fifth and Sixth Graders worked on website evaluation using websites I have chosen as examples of good or bad in relation to whether or not they are reliable sources of information. After seeing a presentation about how to evaluate a website for accurancy, currancy, and objectivity they could choose from several on our Skills Blog and they wrote written evaluations of those sites. If you'd like to look at the lesson on the Skills Blog scroll down to the one entitled "When in doubt, doubt!"

Hope you are enjoying the Martin Luther King holiday this week!

News From the Library--January 11, 2010

2010-01-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

Bookworm Says.....

Second graders started the new year with a game of "Bookworm Says..... " After seeing a presentation about the parts of a book, each student chose a book for the game. Then our favorite mascot, Bookworm, said, "Bookworm says, 'Show me the title page.'" The student then found it in his or her book. We went through all the parts of a book in the same way. This is a fun and interactive way for students to learn about the parts of a book.

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--There's something about penguins that we all love and Tacky, the Penguin by Helen Lester is one of our favorite books. Tacky doesn't look like the other rather proper penguins but in the end he saves his friends from the hunters and they all agree he's an odd bird but a very nice bird to have around. In a gentle and subtle way, this book is a good introduction to encouraging students to look beyond appearances when choosing friends.

First Grade--Continuing with our penguin theme, first graders heard Cinderella Penguin by Janet Perlman. I use this book to discuss the concept of plot and after we remember the plot of a Cinderella story, students listen to Cinderella Penguin (with lots of laughter) and then we compare and contrast how this book follows, or doesn't follow, the "regular" plot of a Cinderella story.

Third Grade--Mrs. Lewis' class heard The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brembeau. This is a lovely story about the power of generosity and the advantages of giving instead of receiving. The illustrations by Gail de Marken are exquisite.

Fourth Grade--We are starting our Tall Tales unit and this week after seeing a presentation about the elements in a tall tale, students watched a great video of Anne Isaacs' wonderful book Swamp Angel. The illustrations in this book won a Caledecott award for illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky and are nothing short of amazing. Made to look as if they had been painted on wood they give so much "flavor" to this story of a Tennessee girl who wrestled a bear called Thundering Tarnation!

Fifth Grade--To start off the new year (and get our brains back in gear) we played a round of Library Jeopardy this week. Students always enjoy this way of learning some of the less exciting things about the library and research.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders missed library this week due to the Monday teacher in-service day.

News From the Library--December 15, 2009

2009-12-15T21:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry no posting this week. Hit hard with the flu.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Holiday Season.

See you again in 2010.

News From the Library--December 7, 2009

2009-12-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

Just in time for those holiday lists....

Third graders heard a hilarious story this week just in time for them to think about what they might put on those holiday lists. When Charlie McButton Lost Power by Suzanne Collins and illustrated with great gusto by Mike Lester, tells the story of a boy who spends a lot of time playing with computer games only to find his world grinds to a halt when lightning causes a power outage. Third graders could relate to his anxiety as he tries to find battery backups even going so far as to attack one of his sisters dolls! The story takes a charming twist as he finds how much he enjoys playing hide and seek with his sister and eating dinner by candlelight. This is a fun way to remind children that not every toy or game needs to squeak, move, compute, or do everything for you.

Also in the Library this week.....

Kindergarten--One of our favorite books in Kindergarten is Cynthia Rylant's The Great Gracie Chase. Oh, that naughty little dog led the whole town on a chase after she gets out of her yard. And all she really wanted was a little peace and quiet! Mark Teague's large, boisterous illustrations really add to the story.

First Grade--At first being copied might look like flattery but in Ruby, The Copy Cat by Peggy Rathman, the main character takes it just a little too far. Thanks to her gentle teacher, Ruby learns that being Ruby first is the best thing to do. Copying can cause lots of trouble in classrooms and this book is such a nice way to present both sides of the issue.

Second Grade--It's always fun to turn a fairy tale on it's head (or tail) and Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox is a great twist on the Sleeping Beauty story. When Prince Charming finally arrives at the castle he's greeted with loud snoring, dirty hair, and a scary amount of "morning breath." He tries several options before finally, bravely, kissing the princess only to be bopped on the head for it. I must say the boys really enjoy this version of the story!

Third Grade--see opening post

Fourth Grade--A book that grabs the attention of fourth graders and holds them in its grip is Mrs. Marlowe's Mice by Frank and Devin Asch. The illustrations are fantastic--dark and a little eerie, and at one point in the story the children are horrified at the turn of events, only to be as relieved as the mice when it turns out that all is well. This book could also be used with older readers by having them figure out the historical comparison.

Fifth Grade--We played our first round of Library Jeopardy this week. It's always a little bit of a struggle to "think backwards" and come up with a question instead of an answer but after a few false starts we had a good game. This is an enjoyable way to learn some of the more, shall we say, boring parts of the library curriculum.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders had a great time going on a Book Hunt this week and I'm so pleased at how adept they have become in locating books in our Library.

News From the Library--November 23, 2009

2009-11-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

Fourth Graders go on a Book Hunt!

This week Mr. Orr's class went on a Book Hunt in the Library. This is a fun way to learn how to find books and resources in our library. Each team of 4 students was given 4 items to find and record, and the directions even included putting one shoe in a specified section. (This was their favorite part.) The first team to finish and sit down in alphabetical order by the last name was the winner. Warning to librarians: This is not a quiet activity! But the results are well worth it as students learned library locations and had a lot of fun doing it!

Teams using the Catalog

A shoe in the Reference Book section

Also in the Library this week..

(Several classes didn't have library this week due to early dismissal for parent conferences)

Second Grade--Mrs. Seeple's class heard Eve Bunting's delightful book, A Turkey for Thanksgiving. Students were a little worried about poor Mr. Turkey but were relieved to find that in the end he was at the table, not on the table.

Third Grade--Third graders heard Weslandia by Paul Fleischmann and loved the innovation that Wesley shows when he designs his own civilization. (This is the same book I read to the fourth graders last week because they missed it as third graders due to my absence during the Tea Fire). This book also serves well in our "No Place for Hate" program by showing how Wesley dealt with his "tormentors,"--those who teased him for being different.

Fourth Grade--see opening post

Fifth Grade--Mrs. Wooten's class finally got to do their portal lesson using World Book Online. (We had a complete computer disaster the week they were supposed to have this lesson) Mrs. Pickles' class played a game of "Name That Book" as a review of reference books and how they are used.

News From The Library--November 16, 2009

2009-11-15T15:19:00.000-08:00

Several summers ago, I stopped at Manzanar on my way to a vacation in Mammoth and was struck by the eerie, solemn sense of the place. I took several pictures and when I returned did some research and put together a lesson to go with a touching and important picture book written by renowned children's book author Eve Bunting. The book is called So Far From the Sea and is the story of a Japanese American family in present day who is moving from California to Boston. They travel to Manzanar one last time to pay tribute to their grandfather who lies buried there. Their story is woven with facts about Pearl Harbor and the ensuing imprisonment of Japansese Americans in internment camps. Prior to reading the book to the students I showed a Keyote slideshow I made incorporating my present day photos with historical photos I obtained from the internet and from a wonderful site created by the state of California and UC Berkeley called Calisphere. After seeing the slide presentation, sixth graders had a context for the story and later we had an interesting and lively discussion . One of the most interesting comments centered around the care we should take not to overreact to fear, and understanding that this historical part of California's history is not an easy "black or white" issue with one side right and the other wrong, something that is very touchingly told by the father in the story who was himself a child at Manzanar. Students also had a chance to see the other books we have in our Library about this subject including two other wonderful picture books, The Bracelet by by Yoshiko Uchida and Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, and two novels by Yoshiko Uchida , Journey to Topaz and Journey Home.

It was a short week in the Library due to Veteran's Day on Wednesday....

Kindergarten--If you're a frog and you want to jog then you must have the right jogging suit. Finkehopper Frog gets just that in story of the same name but he find that the other joggers continually tease him because he hops not jogs. Poor Finklehopper is so discouraged until along comes a rabbit who explains that hopping is just as good as jogging, maybe even better! A gentle lesson on tolerance that fits right in with our No Place for Hate program.

First Grade--Just in time for the holiday season....we read Too Many Toys by David Shannon. As Spencer and his mother negotiate over toys to be given away he finds that in the end the best toy of all is....the cardboard box the old toys were gathered in! A good lesson about using one's imagination and turning what seems like nothing into the best toy of all.

Second Grade--It was another week for our favorite party dog Stanley but this time he's entered into a Dog Beauty Contest by his people. Unfortunately in all the preparations they forget to feed poor Stanley and his hunger gets the best of him as well as all the prizes. Stanley's Beauty Contest by Linda Bailey scored another hit with grade two!

Third Grade--The late William Steig is one of my all time favorite children's authors. His books never talk down to children and encourage them to figure out wonderful words like flabbergasted and dawdling. Third graders heard Gorky Rises and chuckle to the adventures of a frog and his magic potion. They are also surprised to learn that Mr. Steig is the original creator of Shrek. (And I must confess I much prefer his version!)

Fourth Grade--How is a civilization formed? That's the theme of the wonderful book, Weslandia, by Paul Fleischman. Students are intrigued as they watch Wesley, an outcast from his own society, create an entire civilization from plants that grow from a seed that lands in his garden. From shelter, to clothing, to food, a business, and games, Wesley creates the entire thing, finally even inventing a language and written alphabet to document it. This is one of those priceless picture books that is both entertaining and educational. The students love it!

Fifth Grade--no library this week due to the holiday

Sixth Grade--See opening post.

On a personal note, this week was the one year anniversary of the Tea Fire in which I lost my home. I'm happy to say that I have settled comfortably into my new home and I'm looking forward to a happy holiday season this year. I am so thankful for all the good wishes and sympathy from many of you who read this blog. That, along with the incredible support from my community, was the proverbial "silver lining" in this tragic event.

News From the Library--November 9, 2009

2009-11-08T18:24:00.000-08:00

Online Research using World Book Online

This week fifth and sixth graders reviewed how to use the World Book Online to do research. After logging in to the SB County Schools Portal, they chose a topic out of our "hat." The topics such as vicuna, are, I admit, a little esoteric but it was fun for students to find out information about things they had never encountered before. After finding their topic, they wrote five complete sentences about it. One note: We had a complete computer fiasco in Mrs. Pickles' class. The Portal wasn't working. Then when it did, I didn't have the student password! After a frustrating few minutes we had a "teachable moment" when I told students to turn off their laptops and go find the print encyclopedias. A good lesson in what to do when the technology doesn't work (and the teacher didn't check those passwords before the lesson!). We'll do the lesson next week.

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--We read Pamela Duncan Edwards' charming book, Livingstone Mouse. Livingstone sets off to find a great place to live and has been given a good recommendation from his mother--china. (Yes, china. Not China.) Livingstone tries place after place until at last he finds it and kindergarteners got a little lesson in homonyms along the way.

First Grade--One of my all time favorite children's authors is Leo Lionni. This week first graders heard Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse--a great fable about the pitfalls of envy. The children get absolutely silent and breathless as Alexander, the mouse, meets the magic lizard and at the last second changes his request to turn into a wind-up mouse and instead helps his friend Willy become a real mouse like him.

Second Grade--Stanley the dog wonders what it would be like to sit on his owners' couch--just for a minute. One night when they are gone Stanley finds out and can't resist taking over the whole house for a wild party--only this is the one night his people decide to come home early. Linda Bailey's book Stanley's Party is just one in her series about this lovable pooch and the students love these stories.

Third Grade and Fourth Grade--This week we played "Name That Book." After a review of what a reference book is and which ones we have in our Library, the students try to guess the right book after getting clues. Then I make up a real world scenario for each of them and they have to show me in what reference book would they find their answer. They love my story about late one night when a friend called me (because I'm a librarian) and told me her dog was expecting and she needed to know the gestation period for puppies. I found the answer in my 1958 World Book Encyclopedias that I had been lugging around with me for years (sadly, I lost them in last years' fire....). We talked about how some information doesn't change, but some certainly does. Those same encyclopedias had no mention of the landing of men on the moon.

Fifth and Sixth Grade--see opening post

News From The Library--November 3, 2009

2009-11-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween in the Library!

It was a busy week at school with our Fall Sing and our Fall Festival so several classes didn't make it to the Library for their regularly scheduled times. Those who did were treated to a variety of Halloween stories. Our favorite for 5th grade is Duffy's Jacket by Bruce Coville, 4th graders heard Esteban and the Ghost by Sibyl Hancock, 3rd graders love One Halloween Night by Marc Teague, and 2nd graders chuckled along with Porkenstein by Kathryn Lasky and David Jarvis. Next week we'll be back at work with our regular schedule. Happy Halloween!

News From the Library--October 26, 2009

2009-10-23T15:04:00.001-07:00

BibMe!

This week fifth and sixth graders used their "book dissections" from last week to enter information into an incredible time-saving web based applications called BibMe. (Where was this at 3 A.M. when I was typing bibliographies on a manual typewriter in the late sixties!) This program allows students to enter the information about books used in a report, then formats it into a bibliography that can be downloaded to Microsoft Word (if you register). All for free! It also has formats for all other types of media you might use in a report. We didn't register here in the Library but students practiced entering data and watching the bibliography appear. It even has a feature whereby you can enter a title, author, and/or ISBN number and it will find all the information about the book and then format it for you! I did, however, have students use the manual entry mode so they would know how to do that if the book couldn't be found using the auto mode. They actually enjoyed doing this but I must say they aren't nearly as impressed with this as I am. Maybe I should have made them hand write those bibliographies first???

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Kindergarten missed Library this week because of the Move-A-Thon.

First Grade--Two escaped convicts try to hide in a haunted house in Erica Silverman's fun story The Halloween House. As well as being delightful to read, it is a counting story and students loved joining in as we counted down from ten to none.

Second Grade--What can you do when your family wants to keep making your Halloween costume every year? In Susan Wojciechowski's book The Best Halloween of All, Ben takes us through a "photo" album of his past six Halloweens from being a clown to a bunch of grapes. He knows his family means well, but this year is going to be different as he designs and makes his own costume--not as elaborate as in past years--but best of all, his very own creation.

Third Grade--We had fun this week with a new Halloween book, Miss Smith and the Haunted Library by Michael Garland. I made a "book trailer" using animoto to introduce the book and then we read it. It was so much fun finding all the characters from other stories--the Headless Horseman, Captain Hook, the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk, to name just a few. The illustrations are fantastic and there is even a little chart at the end explaining where all the characters came from.

Here's the book trailer:

We're planning to use animoto in the spring when students do projects for their book clubs.

Fourth Grade--Another new book this year is Halloween Night by Marjorie Dennis Murray and illustrated by Brandon Dorman. A take off on the Night Before Christmas this book delighted fourth graders with its creepy inhabitants and rhyming verse. And again, the illustrations are magnificent.

Fifth and Sixth Grade--see opening post.

News From the Library--October 19, 2009

2009-10-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

A Different Point of View

As we celebrated Columbus Day this week, I read Jane Yolen's haunting book Encounter to the fourth graders. As well as being an excellent example of the literary device point of view, it gives students a new perspective on Columbus and what his discoveries meant to the indigenous peoples who lived on the islands he discovered. The book is told from the point of view of a Taino Indian boy who warns his tribe not to welcome Columbus and his men and it concludes with a chilling image of the boy as an old man. David Shannon's remarkable illustrations add greatly to the impact of this rather sad story. An interesting discussion followed in which we came to the conclusion that while we admire Columbus' bravery and persistence, there was a heavy price paid for his discoveries.

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--What happens when a town mouse and a field mouse fall in love with the same pumpkin? The pumpkin becomes enormous! In The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll and Jeni Bassett, two mice both feed and water the same pumpkin each with his own hopes for a prize at the end. In a great example of compromise one wins the prize for the biggest pumpkin as the other agrees to help him move it with the promise of being able to carve it into the biggest jack o' lantern. This is one of our favorite Halloween stories in Kindergarten.

First Grade--I found this charming book several years ago and always save it for the first graders. Even now, upper grade students fondly remember it and ask to see it every year. A Pumpkin Story by Mariko Shinju is the story of a man who builds an entire village out of pumpkins--pumpkin houses, pumpkin furniture, a pumpkin hotel and even a pumpkin swimming pool!

Second Grade--Another of my favorite Halloween books is A Job for Wittilda by Marc and Carolyn Buehner. Poor Wittilda the witch has 47 cats and needs to feed them. She looks for a job and finally lands one as a delivery person for Dingaling Pizza. And in her quest for the job (on her broom, of course) she rescues one more cat bringing her total to 48 pizza loving felines.

Third Grade--There isn't a much more darkly moody story about a witch than Chris VanAllsburg's The Widow's Broom. The illustrations are exquisite and the wonderful twist at the end delights third graders.

Fourth Grade--see opening post

Fifth and Sixth Grade--This week we "dissected" non-fiction books in preparation for making bibliographies. Students used their "scalpels" (pencils) and their "lab sheets" to find the title, author, publisher, publishing city, and copyright date in several books. Next week I will show them how to use one of the online bibliography makers (that I wish had been available when I was in school!).

News From The Library--October 12, 2009

2009-10-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Tree of Kindness

This year our school is participating in the Anti-Defamation League's program called "No Place for Hate." As a project for that program, we decided to do an all school project and create a "Tree of Kindness" in our Library. I gathered a list of books with kindness as their theme and read one to each class over the last two weeks. Then, with the kind help of Ms. Billie Olson who cut out hundreds of colorful paper leaves for us, each child in the school wrote or dictated one act of kindness they had done recently. As the weeks went by our tree got larger and larger and fuller and fuller. It became a magnet in the Library for students as they read their classmates' and siblings' leaves. We all agreed that in a school where there is kindness, there's no place for hate!

One of our kindness leaves

A student writing a kindness leaf

In the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Mrs. Morgan's Lawn by Barney Saltzburg is a perfect story about kindness for little ones. The narrator tells how he keeps losing his favorite balls on Mrs. Morgan's perfect lawn where not a leaf is allowed to touch the grass. When he finally gets up the nerve to confront her he find out she has a terrible cold and as the days go by her lawn get covered with fallen leaves. At first this is great but later the boy decided to rake the leaves for her. The next day he not only finds all his lost balls on his own lawn but ends up with a very unlikely playmate!

First Grade--To get us in a spooky mood we studies spiders this week. After seeing a Keynote about spiders first graders heard Linda Monk's delightful story Aaaargh!Spider! about a little spider who tries to convince a family that he'd make a great pet.

Second Grade--Second graders also studies spiders this week and after the Keynote heard Diane Cronin's hilarious Diary of a Spider.

Third Grade--After the Keynote, third graders listened to Mary Howitt's classic poem The Spider and the Fly. This version is wonderfully illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi and even has a letter from the spider to the children reminding them of the dangers of talking to strangers.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders enjoyed doing spider research this week. After picking the name of a spider out of our hat, they became "Web Weaver Investigators" and used a great set of books about spiders to find out information about their spider's appearance, habitat, prey, and other interesting facts. We chose to use books as our resource for this lesson after demonstrating the number of hits on Google you would have to "wade" through to find the information. It's important for students to understand that many times a good book that has been edited and published is a much faster and more reliable source than the internet.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders made their leaves for the "Kindness Tree" after hearing Enemy Pie by Derek Munson. They all enjoyed the main character's dawning realization that one of the best ways to lose an enemy is with kindness. (A good tasting pie doesn't hurt, either!)

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders made their leaves after hearing a classic African folktale, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe or The Talking Eggs by Robert SanSouci. We discussed how the African folktale and changed a bit when it became a folktale from the American South but the message of kindness remained the same.

News From the Library--October 5, 2009

2009-10-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

WEB DRILL!!

This week fifth graders participated in our Web Drill! Although we have an excellent internet filter at our school, I felt it was important for students to understand that, in reality, they are their own best filters. They have control over what they see and hear on the internet and that control is at the tips of their fingers. Even the best filter can let something inappropriate through and they aren’t always going to be using a computer with a filter. After showing them a presentation on different ways they could exit a website, they opened their laptops and had time to surf several pre-selected sites I had linked on the blog. ( Of course, these were not sites that were inappropriate….but worked for the sake of a drill) After they were engrossed in their perusing, I called out “WEB DRILL!” and they had to exit the site using one of the methods we had practiced. Besides having lots of fun, I think they learned some valuable personal skills for using the internet in an ethical manner. If you’d like to look at the lesson for yourself, go to the Cold Spring School Library Skills Blog and check out the Web Drill post.

Also in the Library this week..

Kindergarten--It was our very first Kindergarten visit to the Library! Students learned library manners using the story book, Manners in the Library by Carrie Finn and then have a great time learning how to choose a book to take home for a week. This is a big step for kindergarteners---checking out a book, taking it home, and bringing it back!

First Grade--We worked on our "Tree of Kindness" project this week. This project is part of our participation in the Anti-Defamation League "No Place for Hate" program. Each class is hearing a story about kindness and then writing an act of kindness on a paper leaf. We are building a huge kindness tree on our Library wall. (Next week you will see the results of this school wide project!) The book first graders enjoyed was Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester and we discussed how the characters in the story changed from being unkind to Wodney to respecting his differences.

Second Grade--Second graders heard the charming story, Amos and Boris by William Steig as their book about kindness. This simple tale shows how kindness can be reciprocated even by the most unlikely of friends.

Third Grade--Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler by Margery Cuyler was our choice for third grade. Mrs. Ruler's rather unruly class channels their energies into coming up with 100 acts of kindness and has a great time doing it.

Fourth Grade--How to get rid of enemies? Why, baking an Enemy Pie, of course. Hoping his father's recipe for enemy pie will really help him get rid of his new enemy, the little boy in this story finds out the best recipe for getting rid of an enemy is treating him with kindness. This very enjoyable book of the same name is written by Derek Munson with whimsical illustrations by Tara Callahan King.

Fifth Grade--see opening post

Sixth Grade--After returning from Astro Camp (and missing library last week) the sixth graders reviewed how to use our computer catalog to find books.

News From the Library--September 28, 2009

2009-09-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Choosing books for K-6 grade students

This week in the Library we spent quite a bit of time talking about how to look books up in our catalog and how to choose the right book. I noticed last year and this year that we have had fourth and fifth graders carrying around copies of Stephanie Meyer's very popular Twilight Series. To be honest, I was bothered. I'm not for censoring books or telling students they can't read a certain book. Instead, I try to guide them to books that are not only at or slightly above their reading level but also, most importantly, books that have age appropriate content and are stories they can comprehend. While the Twilight series might be fine in a middle school and high school school library, I don't think it's appropriate elementary age children.

Busy parents sometimes don't have time to read the books their children are reading but there are some great ways to find out the appropriateness of a book. One of the easiest is to go on amazon.com and see if there is a review by Booklist or School Library Journal. For example, the reviews of the book Twilight clearly state that they are for grades 9 and up. Another new website that has a search feature by age and grade level is Jacket Flap . A Book and A Hug is another great one that can give parents suggestions about books at appropriate age levels. There are several more to your right in the links section of this blog.

Choosing the right book is a skill and we do work on that in our library lessons. This week grades 3-5 learned again about the "5 finger rule" to check for words they don't understand or can't read, and also how to look at the summary of the book on the jacket flap or on the back of the book to see if the book would appeal to them. Then they practiced reading the first couple of pages to see if the writer had "hooked" them into the story. We also reviewed how to search for books by author, title, or subject in our online catalog.

Grade 1--This week first graders heard the charming story Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson. Fletcher is a sweet little fox who tries to rescue falling leaves only to find that the tree is really okay, especially when it is transformed into beauty with the first snow.

Grade 2--Is it fiction or non-fiction??? Second graders saw a Keynote presentation on the differences between fiction and non-fiction and then we played a game of "Bookworm Says..." Each student was given a command--Bookworm says,"Find a fiction book!" or "Find a non-fiction book!" and they chose from an array of books on our main library table. We had a lot of fun and then when they checked out their book of choice for this week they had to tell me whether it was fiction or non-fiction.

Kindgergarten will start library next week when they stay in the afternoon and Sixth graders missed library this week but had an adventurous week at AstroCamp.

Welcome Back 2009!

2009-09-17T11:52:00.001-07:00

Welcome Back to the Library!

We’ve had a great first two weeks of library classes! Each class had time to refresh their memories about the rules of the library and then time to check out books.

To make our review of library rules a little more fun this year, I put questions about library rules on index cards and put them in our “top hat.” Students took turns pulling a card out of the hat and reading the question. Then I gave the answer and we discussed the reason for each library rule.

In K-3 we read a new addition to our Library collection, Goldisocks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins. It was a charming way to introduce some of our rules and also gave students a good way to determine if a book is “not to hard,” “not too easy,” but “just right.”

Just so everyone is on the “proverbial same page” our check out rules are:

* K- one book for one week. If a K student forgets to return their book on their Library day, they can “save” a book to check out when the original book is returned.

* 1—one book for one week (until January when the Bookworm Club begins. At that time it will change to 2 books for 1 week).

* 2—two books for two weeks

* 3—three books for two weeks

* 4—four books for two weeks

* 5—five books for two weeks

* 6—six books for two weeks

Additional books may be checked out for classroom assignments.

Books can be renewed up to 5 times and need not be physically returned to renew. We can do it on the computer.

You can find lots of additional information on the Library Web Page at: http://www.coldspringschool.net/Classrooms/jpedersen/Mrs.-Pedersen.html

My goal this year is to strike a balance between the wonders of technology and the wonders of books. It’s sometimes easy to get sidetracked by technology so we’re going to work on keeping that balance between our fantastic library collection and those wonderful technological tools at our fingertips.

And as some of you know, my name changed over the summer (to one that coincidentally better matches the library!) If you have any questions about the Library program, please feel free to email me at: jreid@coldspringschool.net. Library hours are Monday, Wednesday, & Friday 8:00 to 3:30.

Here’s to another great year!

~Mrs. Reid

News From the Library--June 1, 2009

2009-05-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

Have a great summer!

This has been quite a year....we started the year with a huge wildfire (in which I lost my home) and ended the year with another one! But through it all we prevailed and the sense of community both here at Cold Spring School and in Santa Barbara has uplifted all of us who were affected. Now it's time to "close the book" on this school year and take a nice relaxing break during the summer.

Summer is a great time to read and for this last post I have collected a number of links to reading lists. I think you'll find something for everyone! It will remain on this blog until September.

So relax, kick back with a lemonade, and read, read read!

~Mrs. Reid

Summer Reading Lists

www.bookwink.com
Video booktalks listed by grade level.

http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/5_8.htm.
Nancy Keane’s list of “Books of Interest to Grades 5-8”, with links to her booktalks on the titles.

Battle of the Books 2010 Reading list
These are the 30 books that 4-6th graders will read in order to participate in next year’s Battle of the Books.

2010 Battle of the Books list (pdf file)

abe books Children's Reading Lists
http://www.abebooks.com/docs/Browse/childrens-young-adult.shtml

Education World Reading Lists
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr244.shtml

The Horn Book Magazine Reading Lists
http://www.hbook.com/booklists/default.asp

100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know from the NY Public Library
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=60

100 Favorite Children's Books from the NY Public Library
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=61

BookHive
BookHive is a web site designed for children ages birth through twelve, their parents, teachers or anyone interested in reading about children's books. Providing reader's advisory service, this site contains hundreds of recommended book reviews in a variety of reading levels and interest areas. Parents may find special "parental notes" attached to some reviews that provide additional information about the book. Users can search for books by author, title, reading level, interest area, number of pages, and even favorite illustrator.
http://www.bookhive.org/

Books for Boys
http://www.talestoldtall.com/BooksforBoys.html

Big a, little a
This is a blog with a booklist of recommended Early readers that you can download as a pdf file
http://kidslitinformation.blogspot.com/2007/05/early-readers_04.html

Bank Street College Children's Library Summer Reading Lists K-8
http://streetcat.bankstreet.edu/children/booklists.html

I also have a some printed lists in the Library if you'd like to look at those. Please stop by anytime over the next two weeks.

News From the Library--May 25, 2009

2009-05-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for Summer

In the spirit of getting ready for summer, second graders loved hearing Margaret Mahy's hilarious book The Great White Man-Eating Shark. Norvin was a good actor and although plain, looked very much like a shark. In his desire to have the swimming cove all to himself, he used his acting skills and his sharkish appearance to scare everyone from the water. What he didn't count on was how convincing his performance was....even to a love starved lady shark who set her sights on him for her mate!

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Did you ever get the dates mixed up for and important event? Stanley Birdbaum was sure this Friday was Crazy Hair Day but instead it was School Picture Day!! When he shows up with his hair gelled and in colored spikes he hide in the bathroom. He's mortified until he is coaxed back to class and finds his classmates have all turned their hair into something crazy too so that he will fit in to the school picture. This charming story by Barney Saltzberg shows the power of friendship and making the best of a difficult situation.

First Grade--A few weeks ago we read Garth Pig and the Ice Cream Lady and at the end Mrs. Lupino was tossed into the river and not heard from again for a very long time. This week, first graders were very concerned when the piglets were left with a babysitter named, of all things, Mrs. Wolf in Mary Reyner's Mr. and Mrs. Pig's Evening Out. When Garth becomes the object of Mrs. Wolf's late night snack, the other piglets rally around to save him. And in the end, Mrs. Wolf is dumped into that same river again. Wonder where she'll show up next?

Second Grade--see opening post

Third Grade--What would you do if you could have any wish? Third graders pondered that while listening to Chris VanAllsburg's The Sweetest Fig. This book has a wonderful twist at the end and it was fun to whatch the children's faces as they got it. One of the best wishes we came up with was a sprinkler system in the sky to douse any future fires here in Santa Barbara!

Fourth Grade--no library this week due to our Spring Sing.

Fifth Grade--no library due to testing

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders finished and printed out their essays on their god or goddess. These will be only display with their ceramic plates during next week's Art Faire.

One more week of classes this year! I will post summer reading lists next week and those will remain on the blog during the summer.

News From The Library--May 18, 2009

2009-05-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

We had a quiet week at the Library as for several days we were still under an evacuation warning due to the Jesusita Fire. We are grateful to the amazing dedication of all the fire fighters who have been on the fire lines since May 5. As of Friday, the fire is almost completely controlled and we are looking forward to a calmer week ahead. Two major fires during this school year has been unbelievably stressful but we have all survived.

In the Library last week...

Kindergarten--Kindergarteners enjoyed The Egg by M.P. Robertson and had fun guessing what was in that enormous egg. The dragon was one of the top choices, along with dinosaur, elephant, and very big bird.

First Grade--What happens if you get lost in the Lost and Found? In Mark Teague's book of the same name, three students find themselves in the mysterious world of the Lost and Found bin and after finding lucky hats get back to school just in the nick of time. This was a fun way to remind students to start checking our own Lost and Found bin before the school year ends.

Second Grade--Margaret Mahy's book, The Three Legged Cat is just simply funny and this seemed like a good week to read it. Second graders laughed at the hat that became a cat and the cat that became a hat.

Third Grade--One of the most wonderful things about the late William Steig's books is his love of the language and his unflinching view that children should be exposed to its beauty. The Amazing Bone is peppered with what we like to call "ten dollar words" and students had fun figuring out what they meant by using contex clues.

Fourth Grade--Mrs. Edwards' class worked on their Tall Tales and Mr. Orr's class missed Library this week in order to have a make-up art class in preparation for our Art Faire.

Fifth Grade--Fifth grade missed library due to STAR testing.

Sixth Grader--Sixth graders wrote their essays about their god or goddess this week. These will be displayed with their ceramic plates during the Art Faire.

Good News (So Far)

2009-05-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update....the fire is 70% contained and I am back in my home after four days of evacuation and our school was in session today. Weather played a big factor in helping firefighters get some control. Unfortunately sundowner winds are forecast for Tuesday through Thursday but not as strong as last week and there is a huge fire fighting presence still on the fire lines. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, please.

Sad news from Santa Barbara Again--May 8,2009

2009-05-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

Once again I have very sad news.....another fire. This one is threatening most of Santa Barbara extending from Goleta to Montectio. I am safe. I had to evacuate my new condo near downtown (where ironically I thought I'd be safe). I bought it after losing my house in November's fire and have been out since Wednesday. My school is closed and in an evacuation area.

No blogging for awhile. Please keep us in your prayers.

~Janet Pedersen

News From The Library--May 4, 2009

2009-05-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

The Test is coming.....

Third graders and I tried to keep our sense of humor about the upcoming state testing slated to begin next week by reading Judy Finchler's hilarious book Testing Miss Malarkey. Oh those sharp #2 pencils, the upset stomachs, the teachers acting....well, acting a little crazy. These were things we could all relate to. But in the end we agreed, it was just a test. A good night's sleep, a good healthy breakfast (none of those PopTarts!), good listening skills, and yes, a sharp #2 pencil would be a great way to get started on those tests!

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Mucky Moose lives up to his name in Jonathan Allen's funny book about a moose who is so smelly he almost kills a wolf who wants to eat him for his dinner. Time after time, the wolf is felled by Mucky's odor until he finally gives up and becomes a guide dog for the blind! Kindergarteners love the idea of dirty wins the day!

First Grade--In Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens, a lazy bear gets taken advantage of again and again by a wily rabbit family. This is a great book to introduce "trickster" tales as well as work on spatial attributes of top, middle, and bottom. The format of the book lends itself so well to the subject and the students love the illustrations.

Second Grade--Another classic fairy tale captured the attention of second graders this week. Rumplestiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky won a Caledecott honor for its beautiful illustrations and the best part of the story lies in its very strangness. As we discussed, why would the miller's daughter want to marry a king who had threatened to kill her if she didn't spin the straw into gold? And was Rumplestiltskin really all bad? Strange, that's for sure, but he did help her out. Once again, I love to see students completely enthralled with a classic.

Third Grade--see opening post

Fourth Grade--We read Pecos Bill by Steven Kellogg this week as our final Tall Tale. We also reviewed the elements of a tall tale and discussed how students will begin to write their own tall tale next week. Stay tuned for some amazing stories!

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders played Book Scavenger Hunt this week and located books in both fiction and non-fiction sections of the Library.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders finished up their research about their god or goddess and next week will begin writing their essays.

News From The Library--April 27, 2009

2009-04-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to our Battle Team 2009!

On Thursday, April 23, our great group of fifth grade students attended the Santa Barbara County Battle of the Books at our County Schools Auditorium. These dedicated readers started reading the list of 30 books as early as last summer and then met in the Library every Tuesday at lunch since January to practice the Battle questions. Once at the Battle, they were put on teams with children from all over the Country of Santa Barbara and spent the morning "battling" away answering questions about the 30 books. Greg Trine, the author of one of the Battle Books--The Great Cape Caper--was on hand to ask the final Battle questions. This is such a great program to recognize our fantastic readers!

In the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Poor Mr. Greely---he dreams of planting a vegetable garden only to have it ravaged every night by three (very cute) little bunnies. Finally after building wall after wall and still finding the bunnies inside his garden, he realizes the best way to solve the problem was to not make it a problem at all and to share his bounty with the bunnies. Muncha, Muncha, Muncha by Candace Fleming is not only fun, but a great way to introduce prepositions to kindergarteners.

First Grade--Henry had a messy room, a very messy room. It was so messy that when he finally decided to clean it, the news media came! When the fish, and the racoons, and the fleas, and even a green, scaly thing finally were cleaned out he at last had a clean room. But when he tried to sleep that night he found it too clean. Just when he was worried he never be able to be comfortable in his room again, he hears the window open and one by one his old friends return, each bring back a little of the mess until Henry is comfortable at last. The Day Henry Cleaned His Room by Sarah Wilson is a great read as first graders can really relate to Henry and his dilemma.

Second Grade and Third Grade--This week we had fun learning about reference books in our Library. After looking at each type of book, we played "Name That Book," a game designed in a Keynote presentation in which students are given clues about each of the different reference books and have to name the correct book. Then each student is given a "scenario" posing a reference question and they have to identify the book in which they would find the information needed.

Fourth Grade--no library this week due to assemblies

Fifth Grade--Fifth Grade played a more advanced version of "Name That Book" as a review of reference books.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders started their research on a god or goddess this week. They learned how to use a social bookmarking site called del.icio.us in which I had posted websites they could use for their research. They will continue researching next week and then begin writing their blog post for the project they are doing in collaboration with art.

News From the Library--April 20, 2009

2009-04-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Wacky Wikis

Fifth Graders posted to their wiki pages this week and had a good time finding wacky facts from a variety of sources. The purpose of this lesson was for them to experiment with the wiki environment and learn to post safely and to insert pictures. In future weeks, we will collaborate using one wiki page. It's hard to tell what new web applications will be available in the future but I feel it's important for students to understand how to work safely in the Web 2.0 world. Whether or not wikis will be the application of choice for them even next year, the important part of using this technology is to be open to its possibilities and to always approach it in a safe and ethical way.

Also in the library....

Kindergarten--If you have a cat, then you can relate to Night Cat by Margaret Beames. Oliver the cat wants to stay out all night, chasing moths and exploring the garden at night but when it starts raining, he changes his mind and howls to be let in. The illustrations in this books are magical and really give the almost spooky sense of the garden at night.

First Grade--Dieter Wiesmuller's book, In the Blink of an Eye is a great inteactive story. Each page shows the eye of an animal and gives clues as to its identity. First graders loved trying to guess each one. This is a great book to use to teach prediction and using context.

Second Grade--Second graders learned how to use guide words in the dictionary this week using their own copy of a dictionary page. We circled guide words and then found a word that was drawn out of our hat. Even though we have great online dictionaries now, it's important for students to know how to navigate a print dictionary.

Third Grade--Continuing the story of the little orphan, Sweetness, we read the sequel of Saving Sweetness--Raising Sweetness by Diane Stanley. The sheriff and the orphans are struggling along eating pickle pie and mashed potatoes with raisins until a letter arrives. Sweetness figures it out and sends a return letter. And who should arrive but the sheriff's long lost love, Miss Lucy! After a proposal and a wedding there is no more tunafish soup!

Fourth Grade--Mrs. Edwards' class heard John Henry by Lester Julius and we once again descontructed the tall tale in preparation for writing our own. (Mr. Orr's class attended the symphony this week)

Fifth Grade--see opening post

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders had a "scavenger hunt" for books this week. Each team of two had cards with call numbers on them and had to locate the books on the card. With strict rules for how to show their books, we had fun seeing who could follow them and finish first.

News From The Library--April 13, 2009

2009-04-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

Jack is Back

When I was a child my father used to read Jack and the Beanstalk to me and I'll never forget the chilling way he said those "Fee, fi, fo, fums...." It both scared me and delighted me all at the same time. This week I read Steven Kellogg's version to the first graders and I'm happy to say I both scared and delighted them! The illustrations in this version are fantastic. As I read I took a peek at the faces before me and eyes were wide and mouths were open. There's nothing like a classic fairy tale to make you understand the power of a good story. And I think my dad would be proud of my "Fee, fi, fo, fums."

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Fidgeting is something kindergarteners are very good at and yet I don't think they really understood the meaning of the word until they heard Erica Silverman's charming story of a duck and a goose and their "freeze-in-place" content. Don't Fidget A Feather has all the characteristics of a great story....humor, drama, repetition, and a great ending. And even a moral--friendship is the greatest prize of all.

First Grade--see opening post

Second Grade--There's just something fun about Janet Stevens' book The Great Fuzz Frenzy. Those little prairie dogs, that fuzzy tennis ball, their wild desire to get some of that fuzz....and yet the story also shows how teamwork and friendship make the day.

Third Grade--Saving Sweetness by Diane Stanley is such fun to read aloud. The story is both funny and touching and dialect of the sherriff who narrates the tale adds so much to the experience. Little Sweetness is an orphan who decided to "hit the road" and the sherriff is sent to save her, only she ends up saving him. This is a great book to teach irony as often the words and the pictures tell a different story. Next week, we'll read the sequel, Raising Sweetness.

Fouth Grade--Continuing with our tall tales unit, we read the classic story of Paul Bunyan and students picked out all the hallmarks of a tall tale in this story. For the next several weeks we will read other tall tales and then students will write their own illustrated tall tale that will be posted on our research blog or wiki.

Fifth and Sixth Grade--To get those spring break minds warmed up again, we played Library Jeopardy this week.

News From The Library--March 27,2009

2009-03-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

One of my favorite things to do in our Library is to introduce students to a book I loved as a child. And so it was this week with the third graders and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, the classic by Betty MacDonald. There's something irresistible about a grown up with magical powers who really understands children and that describes Mrs. Piggle Wiggle perfectly. I read "The Radish Cure"--one of my favorites, having had two boys myself who were not fond of the bathtub. There's something reassuring in this age of computeres, video games, and DVDs in cars that children still love hearing a story written in 1947.

Also in the library this week..(we had short days because of parent conferences)

Kindergarten--Mrs. Sickafoose's class heard Cats, Cats, Cats by Leslea Newman and enjoyed the rhyming story of Mrs. Brown and her 60 (!) cats. Using a book with rhyme for this group is a great way of helping them with their auditory perception as well as honing their prediction skills.

First Grade--no library this week.

Second Grade--Another of my favorites as a child was Toads and Diamonds. This version, retold by Charlotte Huck and illustrated by Anita Lobel is always a hit and students do get the "moral" of the tale--kindness leads to riches in your life.

Third Grade--see opening post

Fourth Grade-- no library this week.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders entered the wonderful world of wikis this week! We went to the Library Wiki and they each made their own folder. In future weeks they will post research.

Sixth Grade--In preparation for their study of Greek mythology in art, I read Persephone and the Pomegranate by Kris Waldherr. After Spring Break, 6th graders will start their Greek Mythology ceramics project and will begin researching their god or goddess in the library.

Have a great Spring Break! See you back here on April 13!

New From The Library--March 23, 2009

2009-03-22T08:54:00.001-07:00

What Does It Mean To Be A Digital Citizen?

Sixth graders did a great job of posting a comment on our Library Skills Blog on the subject of "Digital Citizenship." They answered the question, "What does it mean to be a digital citizen?" Understanding their place in the virtual world is extremely important and thinking about their behavior online in an ethical manner will help them make difficult decisions not only now but in their futures. Their responses were thoughtful and open the door to more discussion of this important topic. To read what they posted, please go to The Library Skills Blog, to the first post and click on comments.

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Kindergarteners loved Sandra Horning's The Giant Hug. This is the charming story of Owen who wants to send his granny a hug for her birthday. Not just a picture of a hug but a real one. The story shows how his idea made people happy all the way from coast to coast. It also gave students an idea of what's involved in mailing something--from a letter to a hug!

First Grade--Lily, in Kevin Henkes' books, is quite a character and she does have a mind of her own. In Lily's Big Day, she decides she will be the flower girl at her teacher's wedding. When she finds out his niece has been picked for the job she is crestfallen. But when asked to be the "assistant" to the flower girl, she takes the job with her usual gusto. And as it turns out, she does become the star of the wedding by doing something unselfish. Great little lessons in this book for students of this age.

Second Grade--Why would someone send a family one penguin a day for 365 days? In 365 Penguins by Jean Luc Fromental, the family struggles with the math until the mystery is finally solved. Students loved this book and the message about caring for endangered species and global warming was just right for them.

Third Grade--Mrs. Villa's class missed library because of an assembly and Mrs. Lewis' class heard their last California Young Reader Medal nominee, Hilda Must Be Dancing. They were the last class to vote for their favorite and we had the fun of counting all the ballots. And the winner for 2008-09 for Cold Spring School is....The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend. Our votes will be sent to Sacramento next week to be counted with those of students from throughout the state. The results will be available to us in May.

Fourth Grade--We started our Tall Tales unit this week with a Keynote about the characteristics of a Tall Tale and a video of Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs. Each week for the next several weeks, I will read a tall tale and then students will write and illustrate their own which will be posted to our Fourth Grade Wiki.

Fifth Grade--Miss McLaren's class played a great round of Library Jeopardy and then they were off to CIMI with Mrs. Pickles' class.

Sixth Grade--see opening post.

News From the Library--March 16, 2009

2009-03-13T14:46:00.001-07:00

Art and Library Team Up for Endangered Animal Project

This week fourth graders finished their Endangered Animal Project--a collaboration between the Library and the Art Program at Cold Spring. Students picked an animal, researched its appearance, diet, habitat, and endangered status and then took their knowledge to the Art Room where they sketched their animal and then designed a ceramic plate and cup represeting it. When the ceramic pieces were fired, Mrs. Kaganoff, our art teacher, and I photographed them and put them together with their written research on both the Art Blog and the Library Research Blog. Students learned safe blogging skills as well as having the joy of seeing their work displayed for all to see. Take a few minutes to check out the two blogs and the students' fine work.

Also in the Library this week....

Kindgergarten--To get ready for Tuesday, we read Jeremy Bean's St. Patrick's Day by Alice Schertle. Poor Jeremy. All the best laid plans, but he forgets to wear great on St. Patrick's Day. Fearing the worst he hides in a closet at school until he's rescued by his kind principal who shares some of green with Jeremy.

First Grade-First graders heard their last California Young Reader Medal nominee--Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding by Lenore Look and cast their ballots. After all classes have voted, we'll unveil this year's Cold Spring winner. Then the ballots will be sent to Sacramento and counted for the state winner. Results usually come in May.

Second Grade--Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies was their final CYRM book this week and they voted.

Third Grade--Mrs. Villa's class heard Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding and voted, but Mrs. Lewis' class didn't have library this week due to the Talent Show. We'll read and vote next Friday.

Fourth Grade--Students got a chance to see all their work on the Art Blog and the Library Research Blog and also on Santa Barbara's new online newspaper Noozhawk. They feel they are famous!

Fifth Grade--Fifth Graders posted a comment on the Skills Blog about what it means to have "an ethical online presence." You can view their work at: http://csslibraryskills.blogspot.com Scroll down to the second lesson entitled "Assignment 08: Making a Comment on a Blog" and then click on Comments.

Sixth Grade--After viewing a Keynote presentation, Sixth graders discussed what "Digital Citizenship" is and how important it is to understand the effects of actions online. Next week, students will blog about what digital citizenship means to them.

News From The Library--March 9, 2008

2009-03-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

A Prescient Voice

In honor of Dr. Seuss' Birthday, I read The Lorax to the sixth graders this week. I'm always surprised at how much these "older" students still love to be read to. Parents, don't forget that. Even though they are trying so hard to be sophisticated at this age, they are still children and benefit greatly for hearing someone read and even better spending a little special time with you.
Before I read the story, I explained that this book was published in 1971 and Dr. Seuss was sending a message not only to children but to adults as well. I challenged the students to find out later what the word "prescient" meant and how it related to Dr. Seuss and the Lorax. They enjoyed finding the definition and talking with me about the relation.

Also in the Library this week..

Kindergarten--In the fall we read Karma Wilson's Bear Snores On and talked about hibernation. This week in anticipation of spring, we read Bear Wants More, her charming sequel. That hungry bear eats so much when he wakes up that he can't fit into his cave anymore!

First Grade--First graders heard their fourth California Young Reader Medal nominee, Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies.

Second Grade--Mrs. Seeple's class heard Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson and Mrs. Campbell's class heard The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend.

Third Grade--Mrs. Villa's class heard Hilda Must Be Dancing and Mrs. Lewis' class heard Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding by Lenore Look.

Fourth Grade--We worked with our atlases this week and compared facts about California with facts about two other states of their choice. This is a great lesson in which students have to research, locate specific information, record it, and then synthesize what they have learned in order to compare.

Fifth Grade--We started our two part lesson on Posting Comments on a Blog. This week they saw a Keynote presentation that explained blogs and then talked about what it means to have an ethical online presence. Next week they will actually post a comment on our Skills Blog in which they have to write about what that means.

Sixth Grade--see opening post.

News From the Library--March 2, 2009

2009-02-27T15:23:00.000-08:00

Rockin' Reptiles by Stephanie Calmenson and Joanna Cole
A Book Review by Oakleigh and Olive

In the Library this week...

Kindergarten--To get ready for our celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2, Kindergarteners heard Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. I'm always amazed at how the language of a Dr. Seuss book enthralls the children and this time was no exception. Very little wiggling, lots of wide eyes when listening to this charming tale about a moose who above all must be nice to his guests.

First Grade--First graders heard our 3rd nominated California Young Reader Medal book, Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson. Hilda the hippos passion for dancing is driving her fellow jungle mates crazy and it's not until she finds water ballet that things calm down--literally!

Second Grade--Mrs. Seeple's class heard The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend and Mrs. Campbell's class chuckled along with Stanley's Wild Ride by Linda Bailey. (see previous posts for information about these two books)

Third Grade--Mrs. Villa's and Mrs. Lewis' classes both heard The Perfect Nest. Students are having fun "practicing" their voting and learning how to evaluate books according to their own personal tastes.

Our Battle of the Books lunch practice group is doing a fantastic job. The "Big Test" is scheduled for March 25 and the results will determine our team of five.

Fourth Grade--In honor of Dr. Seuss' coming birthday we read The Lorax. I pointed out that the book was published in 1971 and we thought about how prescient Dr. Seuss was about the environmental problems we are now facing.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders had a great time evaluating websites on our Skills Blog. They looked for accuracy, authority, and currency. No Northwest Tree Octopuses will be saved by these now saavy internet users!k

Sixth Grade--By popular request, we played a rousing game of Library Jeopardy this week!

News From the Library--February 20

2009-02-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

In the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Kindergarteners chuckled over Keiko Kasza's My Lucky Day in which a wily pig outwits a fox and ends up with a bath, a dinner, and a massage instead of becoming dinner. We had a chance to discuss how different animals portray different characteristics in literature and this books turns those conventions on their heads!

First Grade--no library due to President's Day.

Second Grade--Second graders in Mrs. Seeple's class heard their second California Young Reader Medal Nominee, the hilarious Stanley's Ride by Linda Bailey and Mrs. Campbell's class heard My Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding by Lenore Look. It's going to be a hard choice when voting day comes!

Third Grade--Mrs. Lewis' class loved the illustrations and the rhyming story in their third nominee, Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies. It was fun to imagine themselves as bats and how being at the beach would end at sunrise instead of sunset.

Fourth Grade--Mrs. Edwards' class really enjoyed pulling a topic from our hat and researching it the "old fashioned way" using our print version of the World Book Encyclopedia. After locating their subject, they wrote five complete sentences in their own words. Even though we have all our amazing technology at hand, it still seems important (and for them very enjoyable) to look at a book for information. Mr. Orr's class complete their endangered animal paragraphs which will be soon on our research blog along with pictures of their amazing endangered animal art project.

Fifth Grade--Mrs. Pickles class played a rousing game of Library Jeopardy this week. One team bet all their cards for a "daily double" and....oh, no......didn't know the answer. Good sports all they will remember in the future that the first name of the man who invented the number system for non-fiction books is......Melvil!

Sixth Grade--no library due to President's Day.

News From the Library--February 16, 2009

2009-02-17T14:28:00.000-08:00

(please press play)

Pee Wee Scouts--Blue Skies, French Fries by Judy Delton
A Book Review by Angel and Olive

In the Library this week...

Kindergarten--we had the privilege of watching the second and fifth graders perform on the drums after their drumming residency. What a treat!

First Grade--First graders loved the California Young Reader Medal nominee Stanley's Party (see previous posts for information on the book). It's going to be a hard choice. Three more books to go!

Second Grade--no library this week due to President's Day holiday.

Third Grade--Mrs. Villa's class heard their second California Young Reader Medal nominee, Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies. They loved the moody illustrations and the delightful text about family of bats and their nighttime visit to the beach.

Fourth Grade--Mrs. Edwards class heard one more book in honor of Black History Month--Nikki Giovanni's exquisite Rosa about the bravery of Rosa Parks. We reflected on the legacy of Mrs. Parks, especially in light of our recent presidential election.

Fifth Grade--Mrs. McLaren's class heard Freedom on the Menu by Carole Boston Weatherford.and we had a lively discussion about the bravery of the Greensboro five and how things have changed today. Mrs. Pickles class heard Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine and the best comment was the answer to a question by one student. He asked, "I wish there was a sequel to this book." Another student answered, "There is. We have an African American president today!"

Sixth Grade--Sixth Graders heard Riding to Washington by Gwenyth Swain. This is an interesting picture book for older readers and is told from the point of view of a white girl who rides on one of the buses to Washington D.C. to hear Martin Luther King's famous "I Have A Dream" speech. It gives a vivid picture of conditions in our country at that time and at the same time underscores that many white people supported the struggles of African Americans during the Civil Right's Movement.

News From the Library--February 9, 2008

2009-02-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

(please press play)

The Old Fashioned Mystery by Carolyn Keene
A Book Review by Olive and Oakleigh

In the Library this week....

Kindergarten--This week we followed the further adventures of Walter and William in Tedd Arnold's No More Water in the Tub. As well as being a fun tale, this story gives students lots of time to make predictions and to recognize rhyme. They also enjoyed coming up with further adventures for Walter and William.

First Grade--We started our annual California Young Reader Medal program this week with a reading of The Perfect Nest, written by Catherine Friend and illustrated by John Manders. This delightful book is the story of Jack, the cat, who has a fondness for omelets. He constructs the perfect nest in hopes of attracting a chicken to lay an egg. He gets the chicken (who speaks Spanish) and a duck (who speaks French) and a goose (who speaks...well...Texan) and between their fights over the nest and the hatching of the eggs, Jack ends up with three little friends instead of his omelet. We have four more books to read before students will vote for their favorite but this one is a favorite already.

Second Grade--Second graders in Mrs. Seeple's class heard California Young Reader Medal nominee, Uncle Peter's Amazing Chinese Wedding by Lenore Look and illustrated by Yumi Heo. This is a lovely story that combines the interesting customs of Chinese weddings and a little girls sadness at "losing" her favorite uncle. In the end, however she discovers she has gained an aunt. Mrs. Campbell's class heard Hilda Must Be Dancing by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Suzanne Watts. This delighful rhyming story shows how Hilda the Hippos dancing causes great trouble in the jungle until she finds water ballet.

Third Grade--Stanley the dog is back! After his party (Stanley's Party), he's been relegated to the back yard and in Stanley's Wild Ride by Linda Bailey and illustrated by Bill Slavin, he makes his escape and ends up on a skateboard! Students love this funny story and it also gives us a chance to talk about the literary device point of view as the book is told in Stanley's voice.

Fourth Grade--In honor of Black History Month, we read This Is the Dream by Diane Z. Shore and James Ransome. This amazing book is a brief history of the civil rights movement told in poetry and illustrated by Jessica Alexander with drawings and collages of real images. It gives students just the right amount of history and the illustrations are a springboard to discussion and questions. It was especially meaningful to read this book this year after our recent election.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders worked with me on the first part of their web site evaluation project. Together we looked at two websites about the solar system and checked them for authority, accuracy, and currency. Next week they will evaluate two websites on their own.

Sixth Grade-Sixth graders really enjoyed finding the problems in some of the websites they evaulated this week. Using our Skills Blog lesson "When in Doubt, Doubt!", they looked at two different websites and followed our protocol for evaluation. They discovered websites that were appropriate to use for information and some that, well.....were just plain silly!

News From the Library--February 2, 2009

2009-01-30T14:52:00.000-08:00

(Please Press Play)

Stonewords by Pamela J. Conrad
A Book Review by Detective McDolphin (aka Junia)

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten-Walter loves jumping on his bed but his father has said "for the millionth time"No Jumping on the Bed! Tedd Arnold's book of the same name never fails to delight kindergarteners. Is it the idea that Walter misbehaves or the hilarious results as he falls through floor after floor, or is it the possibility that it was all a dream??? In any event, this book is always a hit and students are looking forward to next week's sequel, No More Water in the Tub!

First Grade--First graders got to hear the book Butterfly Beach by Polly Caldwell Bokwaltert hat I also read to second graders last week. It's the story of our very own Butterfly Beach and how the butterflies stopped coming to winter there after houses and a hotel were built. But little by little they are comng back thanks to the efforts of all to re-create the enviorment they loved.

Second Grade--After reading Jacqueline Griggs Martin's excellent biography about Snowflake Bentley, second graders got the chance to see some of his photographs of snowflakes and also some beautiful current photgraphs of snowflakes. We all marveled at the wonderful and mysterious way they never repeat themselves.

Third Grade--Third graders watched the videos about internet safety--Faux Paws Adventures on the Internet and Faux Paws Meets the First Lady. These were an excellent springboard to our discussion of how to keep safe when online. For more tips and information for parents go to ikeepsafe.org This is a great website for both students and parents alike and very helpful when dealing with this very important subject.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders worked in the atlases this week and found out some great facts about our state.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders also worked in the atlases this week and compared California to two other states of their choosing. They looked at population, date of statehood, ranking in land area and population, and total land area.

Sixth Grade--Our internet was down on Monday so we turned it to our advantage and read and discussed the interesting picture book, Mrs. Marlowe's Mice by Frank Asch. As with the fifth grade last week, we had a great discussion about the historical metaphor in this book and the question of ambiguity.

Battle of the Books Meetings begin this week for grades 4-6!

News From The Library--January 26, 2009

2009-01-25T16:08:00.000-08:00

(Please press play)

Encyclopedia Brown: House of Cards by Donald Sobol

A Video Review by Detective McDolphin (aka Kenna)

This was a short week in the Library because of Martin Luther King Day on Monday.

Kindergarten--We had lots of fun reading and looking at Lois Ehlert's book Snowballs and imagining all the creative ways we could make snowdads, snowmoms, snowboys, snowbabies, snowcats, and snowdogs. Of course we have to travel to the snow.....doesn't get quite cold enough here in Santa Barbara, but we can dream.

Second Grade--Thanks to a generous donation from the Goligoski family we have a great new book in our Library about our very own Butterfly Beach. Written by local author Polly Caldwell Bookwalter, Butterfly Beach, tells the history of one of our favorite spots and how the monarch butterflies used to winter there. But with the advent of roads, houses, and hotels they had to find another spot until the people began to replant the eucalyptus trees and native vegetation to bring them back. The illustrations in this book are wonderful and styled like mosaic tiles.

Third Grade--We all loved Traction Man by Mini Grey when we read it last year as part of the California Young Reader Medal Program. Well this week we had a treat--a sequel. Traction Man Meets Turbo Dog is done in the same graphic novel style and tells the story of how the faithful Scrubbing Brush gets thrown out (too unhygenic) and replaced with the battery operated Turbo Dog. Not the best idea as Turbo Dog is not quite up to the adventures of Traction Man. In the end, Scrubbing Brush saves the day. Confused? You kind of have to be there to get it.....or better yet, check out this book. It's a winner!

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders helped me preview a new DVD I bought called Faux Paws: Adventures on the Internet. I purchased it in order to teach lessons to second, third, and fourth graders about internet safety. The two videos cover excellent points about not revealing personal information online and how to deal with online bullying. Fourth graders gave the videos a resounding "two thumbs up." You can learn more about helping your child be safe online at iKeepSafe.org. There are great tips for parents concerning what you should know about your child's activities online and how to talk to your children about how important it is to be responsible online citizens.

Fifth Grade--In Mrs. Pickles' class, we had a chance to read Mrs. Marlowe's Mice by Frank and Devin Asch and as well as being really impressed with the visual style of the book, students discussed some "lofty" ideas. I challenged the students to figure out the historical metaphor in the book--the imprisonment of the Jews by the Nazis--and the discuss the concept of ambiguity--whether or not it is okay to sometimes break the rules. A lively discussion followed!

Stay tuned next week for more great video book reviews--Book Clubs are in full swing!

News From The Library--January 16, 2009

2009-01-16T14:15:00.001-08:00

Happy Bookworms!

Book Clubs Have Started in the Library!

This week our ever popular Library Book Clubs have started and already we have some enthusiastic members! Grades 1-4 have special clubs and grades 5 and 6 will have the chance to do blog reviews this year.

The most important rule for all the clubs is to have fun reading! Books are chosen at a student’s independent reading level so that reading for the Book Clubs is a pleasurable and relaxing experience. This also builds confidence and fluency as the children have the opportunity to practice the reading skills they have learned in the classroom.

Each grade level has a club and the “rules for membership” vary. Personalized bookmarks are given to members after they have read and reported on their first book. Following is a brief summary of the clubs. If you have any questions, please feel free to stop by the Library or email me. We’re off to a great start!

Grades 1 and 2 are the Bookworm Club. Members read books from our Easy and Beginning Reader section. After taking the book home, or keeping it in their desk at school, and reading the entire book, members make an appointment with Mrs. Pedersen to read their favorite page either before school, at any recess, after school, or during their library time. This year I’ll record their reading in a podcast format if they’d like so we can track their fluency improvement. Each time a book is finished it is entered on their “official” log and a sticker is awarded. After each 6 books are read, members can choose a special prize.

Grade 3 is the Red Dot Book Club, so named for the red dots on the spines of many books in our collection that are especially chosen for readers who are ready to read chapter books. After reading a “red dot book,” members write a book report or a do a multimedia project using their laptop and submit it to Mrs. Pedersen. After completing a book report or a project, members can choose a special prize.

Grade 4 is the Mystery Book Club and members choose from the wide array of mysteries in our Library. Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books are among the all time favorites for this club. To report on their books, members have several options. One is to write a book report or do a multimedia project on their laptop and turn it in to Mrs. Pedersen. One option (and one we are very excited about!) is to record a video report to be posted on our blog, Voices From the Inglenook. Students will use our stuffed animal dolphin as their avatar—named Dectective McDolphin for the club—or they can dress in one of our two Detective McDolphin costumes and perform their report. After completing a project, members can choose a special prize.

Grades 5 and 6 has an individualized book club in which students can read a particular genre or author and do a video review for our blog. Also, many of our 5th and 6th graders are participating in Battle of the Books.

Book Clubs are one of my favorite parts of being a librarian at Cold Spring! It’s such a joy to see students excited about reading.

Fifth and Sixth Grade--This week we began our unit on Website Evaluation entitled "When in Doubt, Doubt!" After viewing a Keynote, we had a discussion about what to look for in a good website including its authority, currency, purpose, and objectivity. In the next few weeks student will have a change to evalute actual website.

News From the Library--January 9, 2009

2009-01-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

A Notable Book

To start off the new year, third and fourth grade classes heard The Quiltmaker's Gift written by Jeff Brumbeau and illustrated beautifully by Gail de Marcken. Although this might have made a great holiday read, it seemed almost better to read it this week when students were not quite so distracted by the anticiation of the holidays. This is a really lovely tale about the power of generosity and the rewards of giving. It's not a surprise that it won the Book of the Year Award from Books Plus. In addition to the book there is an interesting companion website you can find at: http://www.quiltmakersgift.com/ Don't miss this one! Better yet, get a copy now for next year's holidays. (Thank you, Goligoski family, for this wonderful addition to our collection.)

In the Library this week.... (we had a short week due to the inservice day on Monday)

Kindergarten--There is something about Helen Lester's Tacky the Penguin that just tickles the funny bone of kindergarten students. But underneath the humor is a sweet message about acceptance of those who might not act (or dress) the same as we do. After hearing a non-fiction book about penguins first, kindergarteners chuckled their way through Tacky's adventures with the rough and tough hunters.

Second Grade--As I told the students, I heard it was -50 degrees in Alaska this morning, and that seemed the perfect setting for reading charming book, Caralyn and Mark Buehner's Snowmen At Night. We also talked about parts of a book today and found especially interesting the dedication of this book to two surreptitious snowman shifters. What fun it is for students of this age to learn the meaning and use of such words as surreptitious!

Third and Fourth Grade--see opening post.

Fifth Grade--Nothing like a rousing game of Library Jeopardy to start off the new year with a bang. Fifth graders love this game and it's such a great way to learn the....shall be say.....less interesting aspects of library skills. The boys risked all with their daily double and squeaked by with a one point victory!

Next week we'll start our Library Book Clubs. Watch for future posts!

Moving Ahead

2008-12-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

We are moving forward and recovering from the Tea Fire.....it's been quite a process. I will do regular blog posting again after the Winter Holidays but here are a few thoughts.

Thank you to all who have expressed your concern and sympathy. Our community at Cold Spring School has been wonderful. I am happy to be back in the Library and we are spending this week and next enjoying a variety of holiday stories and spending lots of quiet time reading by the fire.

To all families who lost library books in the fire, please don't worry about them. I am checking with students on an individual basis and we are clearing their records. I'll replace the books with library funds so please don't even think about this with all you have to do.

Here's to a peaceful holiday and New Year!

News From Santa Barbara

2008-11-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

News From Santa Barbara

For those of you who might not know, we have suffered a catastrophe here in Santa Barbara. The good news is that our school is fine even though the fire started very close by. Sadly, I have lost my home and most of my possessions. I do however have some pictures of my children, my handmade Christmas ornaments, my car, my laptop....and most important my life. The community here is amazing and we will prevail. Many, many families in my school lost everything.

I probably won't be blogging for a while on a regular basis. But we'll be back as soon as we can.

News From the Library--November 10, 2008

2008-11-10T08:11:00.001-08:00

Dissecting A Book

With scalpel (pencils) ready, fifth graders "dissected" some non-fiction books this week in order to learn how to find the information needed for a bibliography. With concerns about plagiarism increasing, knowing how to cite your sources has become an important skill. Students were given two books and they needed to dissect or find the title, author, publisher, publishing city, and copyright date. Next week, we'll use an online bibliography maker Citation Machine. (I wish that had been available when I wrote bibliographies...usually very late at night!)

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Time for a classic fairy tale this week and kindergarteners were transfixed by James Marshall's version of Red Riding Hood. I am always amazed how these classic tales capture children's attention even in this time of television, movies, and internet. We also talked about the fact that many of these tales were told to teach children an idea and everyone agreed that the moral of this tale was "Don't Talk to Strangers!"

First Grade--Keiko Kaska's My Lucky Day is the delightful story of a wily pig who outfoxes the fox and instead of being eaten for dinner gets the fox to give him a bath, dinner, dessert, and....a massage! First graders had a great time predicting who the pig was going to outwit next.

Second Grade--Do you ever wonder what your dog does when you go out? In Linda Bailey's Stanley's Party, Stanley the dog takes some tentative steps beginning with sitting on the couch but things progress until he has all the dogs in the neighborhood over for a wild party....on the one night his family comes home early! According to the author, dogs around the world are still talking about that party!

Third Grade--We played a rousing game of Name That Book and third graders are becoming very familiar with our reference materials--atlases, encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries, and thesauruses. At the end of our game I gave each student a scenario and they told me in which book they would find the necessary information.

Fourth Grade--We started writing our paragraph on an endangered animal this week. After doing research, students are going to write a paragraph to go with a photo of their endangered animal art project. Writing a topic sentence was our task for today and it's not easy to find that perfect hook and introduction to the topic. Next week we'll continue working on the body of the paragraph.

Fifth Grade--See opening post

Sixth Grade--We wrapped up our unit on the presidential elections by having groups explain why the candidate for which they wrote a resume would be the best for the job as president. A lively debate followed and we finished with a "straw vote." The results: Obama in the lead by 7 votes!

News From the Library--November 3, 2008

2008-11-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

The Widow's Broom
by Chris Van Allsburg

This week third graders heard one of my favorite Halloween stories, The Widow's Broom by Chris Van Allsburg. It's a haunting tale, a great one to read aloud, as the suspense grows and grows and the ending challenges the listeners to see if they picked up the clues. As with all of Van Allsburg's work, the illustrations are evocative and unusual. In addition, there is a subtle but powerful message about prejudice and bullying. All in all, a great story to read aloud at this time of year.

Also in the library this week....

Kindgergarten--The rollicking verse in Julia Donaldson's Room on the Broom tickled the kindergarteners this week. This is a great little story about generosity and cooperation as well as just being a fun book to read at Halloween.

First Grade--In Diane deGroat's Trick or Treat Smell My Feet, Gilbert wishes that he could have a really unique Halloween costume. Well, his wish comes true but not in the way he expected. This story is a great one to show children how flexibility and "rolling with it" is a good idea....especially when you find yourself in your sister's ballerina tutu for Halloween by mistake!

Second Grade--Poor Dr. Pig. The sole surviving member of the Pig family made famous in that other story about the wolf finds himself friendless at Halloween. After several attempts at creating a friend in his lab, he finally creates a monster! Porkenstein!! Kathryn Lasky's book of the same name is a delightful tale of fairy tale revenge and true friendship and best of all, someone to go trick or treating with on Halloween!

Third Grade--see opening post.

Fourth Grade---In a great little folktale from Spain, Esteban and the Ghost, the main character bravely spends the night in a castle haunted by a ghost who robbed some robbers. This tale is both funny and scary--a great combination for reading aloud! Sibyl Hancock does a great job re-telling this tale and the illustrations by Dirk Zimmer add to the charm.

Fifth Grade--In preparation for their explorer reports, fifth graders learned how to access and use our great online resource, Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders finished their resumes of the presidential candidates this week. Next week (the day before the election) we'll discuss what they learned from making the want ad and the resume.

News From The Library--October 27, 2008

2008-10-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Kindergarteners loved hearing Erica Silverman's book Big Pumpkin. There's something really wonderful in seeingthe little guy save the day--a message that certainly resonates with this group! After a witch has planted a pumpkin, it grows so large that she can't get it off the vine and a series of characters try one at a time to pluck that pumpkin. "Drat!" says the witch as each one fails until the little bat comes up with a plan using teamwork. In the end they all get that pumpkin pie they crave and the witch plants another seed so they can do it again next year. Kindergarteners love the patterns and repetitions, and the great message of this story.

Also in the Library this week....

First Grade--First graders heard A Pumpkin Story by Mariko Shinju--one of the most charming little books I have ever read. It chronicles the story of a man who uses pumpkins for everything! He starts small with bowls and cups for pumpkin soup, moves on the furniture (a pumpkin bath tub???) and ends up building a town and a hotel--all of pumpkins! The illustrations are simple but delightful and students love this story.

Second Grade---Mrs. Seeple's class heard one of my favorites for this time of year--A Job for Wittilda by Caralyn Buehner. Poor Wittilda has 47 cats and no job....until she applies as the delivery person for Dingaling Pizza. To get the job, she has to win the delivery race but just as things are going swimmngly for her she finds a little kitten stuck in a tree. Should she rescue it now and risk losing the job or come back later? Of course she gets the kitten and amazingly the job, too. Now 48 cats enjoy pizza for dinner every night!

Third Grade--Lane Smith's new book Madame President was a big hit with the third graders this week. With its quirky illustrations and humorous text, this book is a great way to introduce the duties of the President of the United States.

Fourth Grade--As a follow up to our lesson on plagiarism last week, fourth graders learned how to cite the website they used for their endangered animals research. After a break next week for Halloween stories, they will write their paragraph and cite their source. Then when their art project is finished it will all be posted on our Research Blog.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders synthesized their research on spiders into a Comic Life page. The assignment was to "be the spider" and they wrote a first person narrative using the facts they found. We had visitors that day from Apple Computer and several school districts and our guests were very impressed with the skill level and creativity of the fifth graders.

Sixth Grade--After writing a want ad for president, sixth graders moved on this week to writing a resume for either Barack Obama or John McCain. To keep things even, they drew their candidates name from a hat and then used a sheet of information from VoteSmart.org to compose a resume using a template from the software Pages. Although some were disappointed to pick the candidate they didn't think they would support, in the end they realized that it was important to research the other candidate if for no better reason than to convince them of their original choice.

News From The Library--October 20, 2008

2008-10-20T08:41:00.001-07:00

EEEK! Spiders!

Third Graders had fun this week doing research on spiders. Although some were a little squeamish at first, they found that by learning more about spiders some of their fears diminished. Using a research template, students chose a partner, then drew the name of a spider from a hat.

They used a great set of reference books about spiders and found out what their spider looked like, where it lived, what it eats, and a few amazing, interesting, or just plain "cool" facts about their spider. After everyone finished we gathered together to share the information. Mrs. Pedersen pretended she was a reporter and interviewed the "experts" on each spider.

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--In Helen Cooper's Pumpkin Soup, three friends make a soup together that is always superb, but what happens when one of them decides he wants a different job during their soup making? Chaos! Hurt feelings! But in the end all works out and the soup and the friendships are delicious again.

First Grade--When a city mouse and a field mouse both grow the same pumpkin they find out that they've grown the biggest pumpkin ever! In Steven Kroll's book of the same name, Desmond and Clayton come to a great compromise and everyone wins with the biggest jack-o-lantern ever.

Second Grade--With the elections fast approaching, second graders enjoyed hearing Doreen Cronin's Duck for President. This was a great way to talk about presidential campaigns, voter registration, and voting. And in our "straw" vote.....Obama beat McCain! They are now looking forward to the results of the real election.

Third Grade--see opening post.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders listened to the story When Marion Copied by Brook Berg as a way to introduce the concept of avoiding plagiarism. This is a great little book that illustrates how easy it could be to plagiarize and what to do to avoid it. Next week, I will teach them how to cite the source of their endangered animal research.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders did their version of spider research this week and found pictures of their spiders. Next week they will "be their spider" and present their research using Comic Life software.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders continued with their presidential want ads this week. They look fantastic! Next week they will begin writing a resume for either Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain.

News From The Library--October 13, 2008

2008-10-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

WANTED: POTUS

Sixth graders have had a great time designing a "want ad" for President of the United States using their laptops and Pages software. We researched the qualifications for president and what his or her duties are and students then designed a flyer advertising the position. I was amazed and delighted by the creativity of the students and also the incredible motivation it is for them to work with this fantastic software. The results looked absolutely professional!

Next week, using the same software, students are going to write a "resume" for either Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain as if they are applying for the job in this "want ad." They will research using an excellent website Project Vote Smart that gives them unbiased and equally presented information about both candidates. Learning about the office and the facts about the candidates will make these future voters well prepared to make their choices when they are old enough to vote!

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten---There are spiders in the library this week! On display are all our spider books and Kindergarteners loved hearing Eric Carle's classic The Very Busy Spider.

First Grade--Are you scared of spiders? Or....would you like one for a pet? In Lydia Monk's fun book Aarrgghh! Spider! a little spider does all he can to convince a family that he'd make a wonderful pet. Too bad he decided to invite a few too many of his friends!

Second Grade--A spider's life is comically chronicled in Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin and second graders loved the humor in this book. Trying to convince them that a spider and a fly could be friends is a bit of a stretch but students were willing to give that cute little spider the benefit of the doubt.

Third Grade--No giving benefits of the doubt to the spider in The Spider and the Fly, a great book based on the poem by Mary Howitt and fabulously illustrated by Tony Di Terlizzi. Third graders were "creeped out" by that spider and understood the message of the book....don't trust strangers (especially if they have eight legs and you're a fly!).

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders continued their research on the endangered animal they have chosen for their art project. Stay tuned for the final posting of their art work and their research.

Fifth Grade--In order to prepare for using their laptops in the Library this year we did a little "housekeeping" this week. Students made a folder for their library work, bookmarked the Skills Blog, and set their Google image search to "Strict Safe Search." Next week they will do research on a spider of their choice and the following week they will "become" their spider in a Comic Life presentation.

Sixth Grade--see opening post.

News From the Library--October 6, 2008

2008-10-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

Howling First Graders

First graders howled in sympathy this week with the coyote in Verna Aardema's retelling of a Mexican trickster tale, Borreguita and the Coyote. The simple story line was matched with the charming illustrations and while at first the sympathy was definitely with Borreguita, at the end several students were siding with that Coyote. It's great fun to introduce students to the trickster genre with such a wonderful example.

Also in the Library...

Kindergarten--It was a rainy day and Rover had a nice, snug, dry doghouse until one by one the animals joined him. At last it was too much, especially when a skunk sought refuge. Karen Beaumont's wonderful repetitive story, Move Over Rover! gave lots of chances for "audience participation."

First Grade--see opening post

Second Grade--We turned the plot of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf on its head this week with one of our favorite books, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivias. Students not only enjoyed the story (especially the house blowing up!) but the way it went backwards from strong house to fragile house. This is a great way to highlight the element of plot by using a familiar storyline and looking at the variations.

Third Grade--Third graders enjoyed Suzanne Williams' Library Lil. With its delightful illustrations by Steven Kellogg this book is always a hit. The meeting of Library Lil with Bust 'em Up Bill is hilarious and ends with a great lesson on the power of compromise and the power of reading.

Fourth Grade--This week fourth graders started a collaborative project between the library and the art room. Mrs. Kaganoff, our art teacher, has designed a great project in which they will make cups and saucers in the shape of endangered species. Using a wonderful website she found--Kid's Planet ESpecies Fact Sheets-- students chose their animal this week and will begin to do directed research next week. The finished cups and saucers will be photgraphed and the written research will be added to them. The end result will be posted on the Library Research Blog. This is a great way to make curriculum connections and showcase the ways students can effectively use Web 2.0 technologies publish their work for all to see.

Fifth Grade--Just for fun and to get students comfortable with using the dictionary on their laptops we played a round of "Dictionary Balderdash." I made a Keynote with slides of unfamiliar words. Each word was used in three sentences--as a noun, a verb, and an adjective or adverb-- and students had to try to figure out the meaning of the word using the context of the sentence. They voted on their choice and then checked the answer in the dictionary. We ended with the word "ethical" and I used that as a brief intoduction to future lessons on using the internet and their laptops is a safe and appropriate manner.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders finally got to see the Keynote on Battle of the Books and we have several interested readers who will read, read, read and try out for our team.

News From the Library--September 29, 2008

2008-09-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Was he framed???

After listening to the "evidence" this week, our second grade "jurors" decided that there was reasonable doubt and perhaps the wolf has been judged unfairly. Using Jon Scieszka's hilarious book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs we had a great discussion about the literary device, point of view. After recalling the most familiar story of the pigs, students gave the wolf the benefit of the doubt after hearing this one. After all, as Alexander T. Wolf states, "If cheeseburgers were cute, you might be called big and bad, too."

Also in the Library this week........

Kindergarten--This was an exciting week for Kindergarteners as they started coming to the Library for their scheduled class. We talked about the library rules, where to find books, and read Library Manners by Carrie Finn. Best of all each student left with a book to take home for a week!

First Grade--What happens when the librarian leaves a window open at night? (The alarms go on at our school!!!) In Brian Lies' charming story Bats in the Library, the bats have a wonderful time reading and swooping around the library. First graders had fun imagining what would happen in our library. We also played "Bookworm Says...." as a way to practice our understanding of fiction and non-fiction. I set several books on the table and students are given the direction, "Bookworm says, pick a fiction book," or "Bookworm says, pick a non-fiction book." This is a fun and simple way to work on this skill and encourage them to vary their choices in the Library.

Second Grade--see opening post.

Third Grade--Third graders love to hear "fractured" fairy tales and this week we read Bruce Hale's Snoring Beauty. This is a great way to teach the literary element of plot as they compare and contrast the orginal tale to the fractured one.

Fourth Grade--Writing is important to fourth grade curriculum and working with Mr. Orr and Mrs. Edwards, I am preparing students for their writing requirements by helping them compose a response to literature assignment. This week we focused on theme and I read The Rough-Face Girl by Rafe Martin. This is a variation of the Cinderella story and after discussing the theme of kindness and beauty, we worked as a group and orally completed a sample assignment. I plan to do this about once a month, working up to having them write their response.

Fifth Grade--This week, fifth graders were introduced to our Battle of the Books program. We have some very enthusiastic readers who are going to try out for our team!

Sixth Grade--Sixth grade missed Library this week because they were at Astro Camp.

News From The Library--September 22, 2008

2008-09-22T12:16:00.001-07:00

Happy Autumn!

Our scarecrow reminds us that with Autumn comes cool days and perfect times to snuggle up with a good book!

In the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Kindergarten will begin library on Wednesday, Sept. 24.

First Grade--What do you do if your very best friend acts silly in school? Do you go along with him, or do you try to help him be his "very best self?" Laura Elliot addresses this dilemma in her wonderful book Hunter's Best Friend at School. In a story that children can really relate to, Hunter goes along with his best friend stripe only to discover that he doesn't like being silly. In the end, with a lot of self control and perseverance Hunter uses his own good behavior to convince Stripe that behaving in school can be just as much fun as misbehaving!

Second Grade--I'm not sure what tickled second graders the most about Rob Scotton's Splat the Cat--the absolutely charming illustrations or the hilarious story about a cat who goes to the first day of Cat School. In any event, we loved this new book in our Library!

Third Grade--Rules are rules and in a library the rules must be enforced at all times--especially this one. "No roaring in the Library." Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen is a delightful book and shows that sometimes the rules need to be broken, especially is someone is in need of help. To go along with the story, I showed students a Keynote about the famous library lions of the New York City Library, Patience and Fortitude.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders learned about the Battle of the Books competition and how to join our team. For more information and a list of books, go to our website and click on Library and then Battle of the Books. The competition isn't until next Spring but we have some eager fourth graders already reading like crazy!

Fifth Grade--Using Google Earth we traveled on a virtual field trip from our Library to Basra, Iraq in preparation for the reading of Jeanette Winter's book The Librarian of Basra. In addition students watched a Keynote presentation about the bombing of the library in Basra. We all agreed that saving the books was a courageous undertaking and made us appreciate what we have here in our own Library.

Sixth Grade--To get us started in the Library this year, we played a rousing game of Library Jeopardy. Students love this game and it makes learning some of the more--dare I say--boring aspects of the library fun and exciting. Here's one for you: (answer) The first name of the man who invented the number system for putting non-fiction books into categories. Do you know the question????

News From The Library--September 15, 2008

2008-09-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

Friends reading by the Fireplace

In an interesting and provocative article in the July/August issue of the Atlantic, Nicholas Carr poses the question, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” He wonders in the article if perhaps our brains are being physically changed by the way we are now getting our information. As he states:

“My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”

This idea has implications for teaching and libraries. While there are times when being on a Jet Ski are great, we should be careful to encourage that time for scuba diving. As I’ve said before, one of my goals this year is to find that balance between technology and books—time for both jet skiing and scuba diving.

For the full article, follow this link.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

In the Library this week….

Kindergarten—K classes will start Library the week of September 22 when they begin their full day.

First Grade—First Graders had a tour of the Library and had a chance to check out books.

Second Grade—A story book where the characters come to life and literally leap off the page sounds like fun until things get out of hand in Michael Garland’s fantastic book Miss Smith’s Incredible Story Book. Second graders had fun identifying all the unruly characters until Miss Smith put them back in their place. Second graders also watched a short video on how to choose a book using the “Five Finger Rule” and all left with confidence that they had chosen a book just right for them.

Third Grade—What would happen in the town’s library had to close because it was too old and needed paint and repairs? In Our Library by Eve Bunting the children rally around to raise money, paint. and even move the library so their precious resource won’t be lost. Third graders also watched a video on the "Five Finger Rule" and reviewed how to use our library catalog before checking out books.

Fourth Grade—This week we reviewed how to look up books in our catalog and how to choose books using the Five Finger rule.

Fifth Grade—Fifth grade classes missed library this week due to a meeting.

Sixth Grade—We also reviewed how to search for books in our catalog and students had a chance to check out books.

News From the Library--September 9,2008

2008-09-08T10:17:00.001-07:00

Welcome Back!

We’ve had a great first week of library classes! Each class had time to refresh their memories about the rules of the library and then time to check out books.

Just so we’re all on the proverbial “same page” I though this first posting would talk about those rules.

We’ve condensed our rules to the three “Rs” of the library:

Be Responsible
Be Respectful
Be Ready to Learn

Simple as that! Each class discussed what it mean to be Responsible, Respectful and Ready to Learn and they included all the salient points—bringing back books on time, taking care of library books, listening quietly, reading and working quietly, and having a positive attitude.

Check out rules are:

K & 1—one book for one week
2—two books for two weeks
3—three books for two weeks
4—four books for two weeks
5—five books for two weeks
6—six books for two weeks

This year we have many wonderful opportunities from our laptop computers for research projects to Book Clubs and Battle of the Books. Each Monday in this blog, I will let you know what your students are doing in the Library.

My goal this year is to strike a balance between the wonders of technology and the wonders of books. It’s sometimes easy to get sidetracked by those computers so we’re going to work on keeping that balance between our fantastic library collection and those wonderful technological tools at our fingertips.

I’m looking forward to another great year!

Have a great summer.....

2008-05-31T14:37:00.001-07:00

Have a great summer!

This is my last post for the school year and what fun we've had this year in our Library. We especially enjoyed posting our video book reviews with Olive, our Library Cat!

Summer is a great time to read and for this last post I have collected a number of links to reading lists. I think you'll find something for everyone! It will remain on this blog until September.

So relax, kick back with a lemonade, and read, read read!

~Mrs. Pedersen

Summer Reading Lists

http://www.ilfonline.org/AIME/ReadAloud/ReadAloud.htm
From the Association for Indiana Media Educators. Read Aloud Book Lists by publication year and reading interest level (primary, intermediate, young adult and “ageless”).

www.bookwink.com
Video booktalks listed by grade level.

http://nancykeane.com/booktalks/5_8.htm.
Nancy Keane’s list of “Books of Interest to Grades 5-8”, with links to her booktalks on the titles.

Battle of the Books 2009 Reading list
These are the 30 books that 4-6th graders will read in order to participate in next year’s Battle of the Books.

2009 Battle of the Books list (pdf file)
or look at our new added feature--Shelfari--on your left. If you let your mouse hover over the book cover you can get additional information about each book!

abe books Children's Reading Lists
http://www.abebooks.com/docs/Browse/childrens-young-adult.shtml

American Library Association Children's Reading Lists
http://www.ala.org/ala/librariesandyou/recomreading/recomreading.htm

Education World Reading Lists
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr244.shtml

The Horn Book Magazine Reading Lists
http://www.hbook.com/booklists/default.asp

100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know from the NY Public Library
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=60

100 Favorite Children's Books from the NY Public Library
http://kids.nypl.org/reading/recommended2.cfm?ListID=61

BookHive
BookHive is a web site designed for children ages birth through twelve, their parents, teachers or anyone interested in reading about children's books. Providing reader's advisory service, this site contains hundreds of recommended book reviews in a variety of reading levels and interest areas. Parents may find special "parental notes" attached to some reviews that provide additional information about the book. Users can search for books by author, title, reading level, interest area, number of pages, and even favorite illustrator.
http://www.bookhive.org/

Books for Boys
http://www.talestoldtall.com/BooksforBoys.html

Big a, little a
This is a blog with a booklist of recommended Early readers that you can download as a pdf file
http://kidslitinformation.blogspot.com/2007/05/early-readers_04.html

Bank Street College Children's Library Summer Reading Lists K-8
http://streetcat.bankstreet.edu/children/booklists.html

I also have a some printed lists in the Library if you'd like to look at those. Please stop by anytime over the next two weeks.

News From the Library--May 26, 2008

2008-05-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Arlington West Memorial Santa Barbara, California

Memorial Day
May 26, 2008

The memorial in Santa Barbara, California, which was first put together on November 2, 2003, is installed each Sunday by a team of volunteers on the beach immediately west of Stearns Wharf. Visitors walking to the tourist attractions on the wharf have a clear view, from the boardwalk, along the beach with the white crosses in the foreground. From the walkway, visitors can see a flag-draped coffin and more than 3,000 crosses, made of wood, which are intended to resemble and represent traditional military grave markers. In addition to the simulated graveyard, a placard listing all the fallen American military personnel since the U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq is prominently displayed; this list is updated weekly. Adjacent to the placards is a sign containing the message: "If we were to put up a cross for each Iraqi person killed, the numbers of crosses would fill the entire beach." (article from Wikipedia)

In the Library this week.....

Kindergarten--Barney Saltzerg's story Crazy Hair Day delighted Kindergarteners this week. Even though get the wrong day, his class rallies around him and and makes it a day he will never forget. This story combines both humor and the idea that being flexible in difficult situations is a great attribute. Having good friends and classmates helps too!

First Grade--Where does all the stuff in the Lost and Found end up? Mona, Floyd and Wendell are once again off on an adventure in Mark Teague's delightful fantasy, The Lost and Found. In addition to enjoying the story, first graders were urged to think about all the places their library books might be.....next week all books are due and hopefully none will find themselves in our Lost and Found!

Second Grade--Norvin, who looked a little like a shark and aspired to acting greatness, got a little greedy and wanted Caramel Cove all to himself for swimming. His acting abilities got him some attention he didn't really want (from a female shark!) and he learned that it might have been better to have shared the Cove with the other swimmers. Margaret Mahy's The Great White Man Eating Shark is always a hit with second graders.

Third Grade & Fourth Grade--third and fourth graders missed Library this week because of our (fabulous) Spring Sing.

Fifth Grade--We had a rousing game of Library Jeopardy this week. Can you do our daily double? The answer is: The first name of the man who invented the decimal number system for putting non-fiction books into categories.

Sixth Grade--We only had half and hour because of the Spring Sing so to cap off our gods and goddesses studies I read Persephone and the Pomegranate written and illustrated so beautifully by Kris Waldherr.

Next week is our last week of regularly schedule classes for the Library this year. Check under those beds and in the refrigerator (!) for those missing library books!!

News From the Library--May 19,2008

2008-05-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Martians Don't Take Temperatures
by Debbie Dadey

A Book Review by Amanda and Olive

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Almost every kindergartener knows how to fidget....it just seems to come naturally so they truly enjoyed Don't Fidget A Feather. This is a great story with a lovely lesson.....what true friendship really means.

First Grade--When Mr. and Mrs. Pig go out they hire a babysitter with the name of......Mrs. Wolf??? In Mary Rayner's hilarious and dramatic story, Mr. and Mrs. Pig's Evening Out, the 10 piglets have a harrowing experience but their cooperation wins the day and maybe next time they should interview the babysitter before letting their parents go out!

Second Grade--Martha the dog loves alphabet soup but one day when she eats some a strange thing happens. The letters go to her brain instead of her stomach and she begins to talk. And talk, and talk, and talk until her owners are at their wit's end. So Martha stops eating the soup, and stops talking only to find herself trying to call 911 to report a burglar. Fortunately for her and her family, the burglar gives her alphabet soup and locks her in the kitchen. She saves the day and now her talking is appreciated.....most of the time. Susan Meddaugh's Martha Speaks is a second grade favorite.

Third Grade--Going along with our theme this month "Pig Out on a Good Book," third graders heard one of my favorite pig tales Hog Eye by Susan Meddaugh. The hilarious story of a pig who tricks a wolf into making soup from poison oak left students rolling on the floor, especially with that wonderful incantation...."Hog Eye, Hog Eye, magic stare.....make him itchy everywhere.....even in his underwear!"

Fourth Grade--Our tall tale Keynotes are almost done and the students have done a fantastic job. Hopefully they will be on display during our annual Art Faire which is coming up soon.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders did another round of website evaluation using our Library Skills Blog lesson, "When in Doubt, Doubt!" They have become very adept at recognizing the hallmarks of a good website--currency, accuracy, authority. Rumor has it that a few students have tried their hand and making a hoax website of their own. Can't wait to see it!

Sixth Grade--I am so pleased with the sixth grader's work on their blog project, "Gods and Goddesses." This was a collaborative project with the art department in which they created a ceramic plate and then did research on the particular god or goddess they chose for their art project. Please take a moment to look at the results at our Research Blog.

Keep looking for those lost library books.....all books are due by Friday, May 30!!

News From The Library--May 12, 2008

2008-05-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

The Amazing William Steig

This week the third graders enjoyed hearing William Steig's book, The Amazing Bone, and once again I was struck by the genius of Mr. Steig. As a writer of children's books he is in a class of his own. The respect with which he treats his readers is wonderful to behold and his love of language is contagious. In The Amazing Bone we were treated to a bounty of delicious words such as flabbergasted, dawdled, and odiferous wretch (we decided that last one would be a good phrase to hurl at pesky siblings). This is a great story, full of drama and redemption, and best of all it gives us great practice on using context clues to understand the meanings of words.

If you'd like more information about this wonderful children's author, please go the the William Steig website.

Also in the Library this week.....

Kindgergarten--While it may seem that some people will never change, the boy in Barney Saltzberg's Mrs. Morgan's Lawn finds out that you never can tell. The boy in the story keeps losing balls to his cranky neighbor, Mrs. Morgan, who wants her lawn to be absolutely perfect. Especially painful is the loss of his new purple and white soccer ball. He tries to talk to Mrs. Morgan about its return but he gets nowhere. When her illness keeps her from keeping her lawn perfect or taking any more balls, at first it seems like a great thing but after a while it just doesn't seem right to see her lawn so unkempt. A happy ending ensues when the boy takes care of her lawn and find that when she recovers from her cold she has also recovered her sense of humor, too. This is a great story about the power of compromise.

First Grade--I love telling the story of my own son's incredibly messy room (we even had visits by a rat once!) and Pigsty by Mark Teague gives another version of what might happen if you don't clean up your room! First graders loved the idea of the visiting pigs but many decided that maybe when they got home from school they would clean up their own rooms just in case!

Second Grade--We read two different versions of the same story this week. The Fisherman and his Wife, retold by Rosemary Wells, was heard by Ms. Warner's class, and Luba and the Wren, retold by Patricia Polocco, was heard by Mrs. Seeple's class. The lesson of the dangers of greed and envy and the joy in being happy with what you have came through loud and clear. It was interesting also for students to compare the plots of the two stories and find their similarities and difference.

Third Grade--see opening post

Fourth Grader--Fourth graders have begun putting together their original tall tales and will continue to work on them for the new couple of weeks.

Fifth Grade--STAR testing meant that fifth graders did not have library this week.

Sixth Grade--All but a few students have finished their blog posts about their god or goddess plates and they look wonderful. After next week, I will put a final post on the Research Blog to explain the collaborative project.

We are busily winding down our Library program for the year. The Library will close to students on May 30 so I can do my end of year inventory and other library "chores." Start looking for those lost books!!

News From the Library--May 5, 2008

2008-05-05T09:32:00.002-07:00

Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
by Betty McDonald

A Book Review by Amanda and Olive

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Finding a "critter" and keeping it as a pet is something all children like to dream about. Anne Mazer's lovely book The Salamander Room is the musings of one little boy and his mother about what it would be like to have a salamander as a pet. The gentle back and forth between them has a rhythmic quality and the illustrations are magical. The interesting thing about this book is that it quietly explains why bringing a wild creature into the house as a pet would be an almost impossible task and that it is best left to daydreams.

First Grade--Poor BlabberMouse. He just cannot keep a secret. After annoying his friends and family to no end a solution must be found. His classmates and teacher come up with a novel approach and one that first graders thought was a very good idea. (And not something they had ever though of before....) True Kelley's sweet book gives a great example of creative solutions to sticky personal problems.

Second Grade--There is nothing like a classic fairy tale. I like bringing out a book and listening to the students say they have heard it before or seen it as a movie and then find that there is truly something different about having a story read to you. This week I treated second graders to Paul O. Zelinsky's gorgeous version of Rumplestiltskin. What a strange and odd tale this is but it is captivating and attention was paid by all.

Third Grade--to "celebrate" STAR testing this week, we read Testing Miss Malarkey by Judy Finchler and Kevin O'Malley. This is a very funny take on the whole achievement testing phenonemon in which the teachers and administration are more nervous about the test taking than the students.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders finished their illustrations for their tall tale Keynotes and next week we will start to put the project together.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders didn't have library this week because of the STAR tests.

Sixth Grade--We finished our drafts of the blog posts for the gods and goddesses project. Their plates have been fired and I will photograph them now. Next week they will make their final postings with their research and a photo of their plate. Stay tuned....

News From The Library--April 28, 2008

2008-04-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Aliens Don't Wear Braces
by Debbie Dadey

A Book Review by Taylor and Olive

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Mr. McGreely decided to plant a garden this year with yummy vegetables but 3 little bunnies have a different idea. Listening to Candace Fleming's Muncha, Muncha, Muncha! made kindergarteners giggle with delight as the bunnies kept getting into the garden despite Mr. McGreely's best efforts. We learned many prepositions as the bunnies went under, over, and through to get to those vegetables. And best of all, in the end we learned the power of sharing.

First Grade--First graders were researchers this week as they prepare to do their animal reports. With the help of my new document camera (thank you, Parent Club!) I showed students the different parts of non-fiction book and how to locate specific information. After that, students chose from our great collection of animal books.

Second Grade & Third Grade--We had fun this week reviewing different types of reference books--encyclopedias, atlases, almanacs, dictionaries, and thesauruses. First we used the document camera to look at each book. Then we played "Name That Book" using a Keynote with clues about the different books. And finally, each student was given a scenario of a research problem and had to decide in which book could they find the answer.

Fourth Grade--We continued to work on our Tall Tales this week. Next week, students will be illustrators and we continue to put together our Keynotes.

Fifth Grade--We played a rousing game of Library Jeopardy this week.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders wrote their rough drafts of their blog postings on their god or goddess. In a few weeks, we'll post their research along with a picture of the ceramic plate they made in art.

Also, on Monday our Cold Spring Team participated in the Santa Barbara County Battle of the Books. Congratulations to our Team: Makala, Katie, Siena, Baylor, and Lauren. These great readers read as many as 30 books, passed a test, and practiced on their lunch hours in order to represent our school. A great time was had by all!

News From the Library--April 21, 2008

2008-04-20T09:54:00.001-07:00

!
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The Witches by Roald Dahl

A Book Review by Ava and Olive

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Oliver the cat wants to stay out all night. At first it's fun....munching on moths, his owner finally let him in? Of course, but he doesn't want to let her know that he was the one who was concerned. Margaret Beames' book, Night Cat was enjoyed by Kindergarteners, who especially liked Sue Hitchcock's illustrations.

First Grade--First graders were off to Lake Cachuma this week and had so much fun they didn't make it back in time for library!

Second Grade--Using our wonderful new piece of equipment, our document camera, second graders learned about guide words in the dictionary and then using a xerox of an actual dictionary page, they found guide words, pulled a word out of our hat, and found their word on the page.

Third Grade--Last week, third graders heard about little Sweetness and how the sheriff "saved" her and the other other orphans. This week, we read the sequel, Raising Sweetness by Diane Stanley and illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Things at home are a little strange with peanut butter and pickle pie, but when a letter arrives and little Sweetness learns her letters to figure out what "that there letter said" things change. The sheriff's long lost love, Miss Lucy, returns and they all lived happily ever after---even though she doesn't know enough to put the raisins in the mashed potatoes! These charming books are filled with similies and metaphors and third graders had fun finding these literary devices.

Fourth Grade--This week fourth graders worked on their storyboards for their Tall Tales Keynote projects. It looks like we're going to have some real whoppers! Next week they will work on their laptops and begin their projects.

Fifth Grade--Once again we worked on our wiki, Random Research and Wacky Facts, but this time with an audience. We had many visitors from Apple Computer and teachers from around our county who came to see how amazing our students are with our 1:1 laptop program.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders continued to work on their gods and goddesses research in preparation for their blog posting. Their god or goddess plates are being glazed and fired in art and in the next few weeks I will photograph them so they can be included in their blog posting.
Stay tuned!

News From The Library--April 14, 2008

2008-04-13T10:11:00.001-07:00

The BFG by Roald Dahl
A book review by Amanda and Olive

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Oh,that Mrs. Brown....she has sixty cats and people think she might be just a little batty, but kindergarteners this week loved all her cats and thought she was just fine. In this delightful rhyming story, Cats, Cats, Cats by Lesléa Newman and Erika Oller, students giggled at the antics of the cats and loved figuring out the rhymes. Reading stories aloud like this one are a great way to reinforce the phonics foundation of rhyming words and above all make learning fun.

First Grade--Where else would a mouse go if he wanted to be an artist? Why, Paris, of course! That's just what Henry Mouse does in George Mendoza's and J. Boucher's Henri Mouse. After changing his name and donning the proper artistic outfit and pose, Henry Mouse (now known as Henri) paints his way across Paris with his magical magnetic paints. Unbeknownst to him, whatever he paints disappears when it lands on his canvases. As well as being a charming story, this book is a good way for students to practice visual discrimination as they compare the scenes before Henri paints then and after he paints them.

Second Grade--It's round, it's green, it's fuzzy. What is it? Prairie dogs discover it as it tumbles down their tunnels and what happens next? The Great Fuzz Frenzy (by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel) !!! As funny as this story is and with its fantastic illustrations, it teaches a good lesson about sharing and responsibility to the group as well as resisting peer pressure. It's also a great example of how alliteration can enhance a story.

Third Grade--Diane Stanley's and G. Brian Karash's humorous story, Saving Sweetness, was enjoyed by third graders this week. Told from the point of view of the town sheriff and filled with colorful dialect, this is a really fun story to read aloud. The subtle humor is delightful and it's fun for me as a teacher to see "the lightbulb" go on in the heads of the students as they get the jokes. Next week, we'll read the sequel and find out what happened after the sheriff adopted "all them orphans."

Fourth Grade--We heard our final tall tale this week-- ulius Lester's and Jerry Pinkney's rousing story of John Henry. The illustrations in this book are really exquisite. Next week we will begin writing our own tall tales. Hold on to your hats!

Fifth Grade--We worked again on our wiki this week. After drawing a card from a hat with the name of a reference book on it, students researched and then posted a fact on their page. They are beginning to feel at ease in the wiki environment and even made a few minor corrections on their classmates pages. We are also working on the idea of always citing your sources for information. I'm finding the wiki a great arena in which to cover many of our 21st century library skills and the students really enjoy working on it. They not only have the responsibility for their own page but for the quality of the wiki as a whole.

Sixth Grade--I missed 6th grade this week due to an assembly. Next week we will continue out research on gods and goddesses.

Spring Break 2008

2008-04-06T16:10:00.001-07:00

We were on Spring Break this past week. Happy Spring!

ImageChef.com Flower Text

News From The Library--March 31, 2008

2008-03-31T09:46:00.001-07:00

Mercy Watson To The Rescue
by Kate DiCamillo

A Book Review by Kenna & Mercy (aka the visiting Library Pig)

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Kindergarteners could really relate to in Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems . A sequel to Knuffle Bunny, our protaganist, Trixie, is a few years older and takes her favorite Knuffle Bunny to school one morning. Lo and behold, Sonja is there with another Knuffle Bunny! How can that be? There can only be one Knuffle Bunny! After a difficult day of arguments and disagreements , it is discovered at 2 a.m. that the Knuffle Bunnies have been accidentally switched. Parents rise to the occasion and make the middle of the night exchange and as it turns out a friendship is forged. The illustrations are a wonderful mix of photographs and drawings that really appeal to children.

First Grade--What happens when the Prince just won't go to bed not matter what the court provides? In Dayle Ann Dodds rollicking tale, The Prince Won't Go to Bed it takes the Princess to finally figure out what it is. The text is poetry and the repetition is infectious and by guessing the rhyme students were able to figure out what the Prince finally needed. A goodnight kiss! This is a great book to read to children to foster prediction skills.

Second Grade--One of my favorite fairy tales and one I remember well as a child is Toads and Diamonds. In this version by Charlotte Huck the story is told but it is the illustrations that really make the point. We talked about how fairy tales were often used to teach children lessons about manners and this one really drives home the point. That's one of the great things about the classic tales.....the narrative is clear and the symbolism at a level that children can really understand it. After seeing the toads and snakes falling from that wicked sister's mouth when she spoke, I noticed some very polite conversation in the library afterwards!

Third Grade--Chris VanAllsburg is famous for the Polar Express but one of his most intriguing books, I think, is The Sweetest Fig. Set in Paris with a grumpy dentist and his little white dog Marcel as its main characters, it is a strange tale about the destructive power of selfishness. The twist at the end takes the students by surprise and it,s fun to watch the proverbial "lightbulb" go on in their heads when they understand it.

Fourth Grade--We read our second Tall Tale this week, Mike Fink retold by Steven Kellogg. This is not one of the most famous tall tales and it was fun to read it and find the different characteristics that made it a tall tale. We are about ready to embark on our Tall Tale project where students will write and illustrate (as a class) their very own tall tale.

Fifth Grade--It was time for fifth graders to jump into the world of wikis this week. We discussed what a wiki is and they created their own page of our wiki Random Research and Wacky Facts. They posted a wacky fact on their page. The purpose of our wiki is to give students a chance to practice a skill--collaboration online--and to get used to the concept of a group document that can be changed and edited. This is a skill that they will probably need as they advance in their education and in the workplace. And right now, it's fun!

Sixth Grade--This week sixth graders started research on a collaborative project we are doing with Mrs. Kaganoff, our art teacher. Students are making ceramic plates with a Greek god or goddess as the central motif. In the library, they did research on their particular god or goddess using books as well as a new internet source. I showed them a social bookmarking site, deli.ci.ous, on which I have a set of bookmarks arranged by subject. These can be viewed online at anytime from any computer. I have one set on mythology. These are sites I have checked out in advance and are appropriate for students to use. I wanted to show them how social bookmarking worked as well as limit their searching time to sites I had pre-approved.
The final part of this project will be posting the research on our Research Blog along with a photo of their ceramic project. Keep watching!

News From The Library--March 24, 2008

2008-03-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Mercy Watson To The Rescue
By Kate DiCamillo

A Video Book Review by Junia and Olive

Also in the Library this week.....

Kindergarten---shhhh......Kindergarteners worked on our "secret project" this week and did a fantastic job.

First Grade--Happy Birthday to one of our first graders this week and in honor of her birthday she donated Lady Bug Girl by Jacky Davis and David Soman to our Library. What a lovely story of a little girl who finds that she is as "big" as she wants to be and can become anything she wants.

Second Grade--Another wonderful birthday book donation 365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental and Joëlle Jolivet was read to the second graders this week. This charming story about the delivery of one penguin a day for a year weaves humor, math, and and awareness of global warming into a wonderful story.

Third Grade--It's always fun for me to introduce a classic to students and this week it was Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. After a brief introduction by way of a Keynote, students loved hearing the story of the "Radish Cure" and we had to have a drawing to determine who would be able to checkout our remaining Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books. Good writing and a knowledge of what interests children is timeless and after sixty years, Betty MacDonald's Mrs. Piggle Wiggle stands the test of time.

Fourth Grade--This week we read our second tall tales--Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan retold by Steven Kellogg. Students enjoyed finding the characteristics of tall tales in each story and the wonderful illustrations added much to the experience. We are already beginning to plan our own tall tales.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders missed library this week as they were on their adventure to the Catalina Island.

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders did a great job of posting a comment on our Library Skills Blog on the subject of "Digital Citizenship." They answered the question, "What does it mean to be a digital citizen?" Understanding their place in the virtual world is extremely important and thinking about their behavior online in an ethical manner will help them make difficult decisions not only now but in their futures. Their responses were thoughtful and open the door to more discussion of this important topic. To read what they posted, please go to The Library Skills Blog, to the post for March 10, 2008, and click on comments.

News From The Library--March 17, 2008

2008-03-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

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The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

A Book Review by Carlile and Olive

Also in the Library this week...

Kindgergarten--We were getting reading for St. Patrick's Day and read Jeremy Bean's St. Patrick's Day by Alice Schertle. Poor Jeremy. With the best laid plans to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, he forgets. Teasing by his classmates sends him scurrying into the janitor's closet and he's rescued by the principal. This is a nice tale about turning a bad day into a good one and I don't think any of our kindergarteners will forget green on Monday!

First, Second, and Third Grade--These classes worked on our "secret project" this week and they were excellent illustrators.

Fourth Grade--This week we started our Tall Tales unit with a Keynote presentation about the characteristics of a tall tall. Then we watched a wonderful video of Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs. Over the next several weeks we'll read more tall tales and finally we'll write one of our own.

Fifth Grade--We explored the wonders of GoogleEarth this week. I asked students questions about the location of current events and we traveled to those places. GoogleEarth is a great way to establish context for lessons whether it's current events or the setting of a story.

Sixth Grade--Digital Citizenship was our topic this week and students watched a Keynote and then discussed what it means to be a "digital citizen." The ethical decisions our children are making in cyberspace are a challenge for them--how to be safe online, what to do about cyberbullying, how to avoid plagiarism--all of these are things adults didn't have to deal with when we were children. The more exposure and practical practice with these decisions educators and parents can give them the better. Next week sixth graders will blog about the topic and in doing so practice their digital citizenship skills. If you would like to view a pdf file of the Keynote on Digital Citizenship please go the the Cold Spring School Library Webpage for downloads.

News From The Library--March 10, 2008

2008-03-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

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Ghouls Don't Scoop Ice Cream by Debbie Dadey
A Book Review by Olive & Lauren

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--It's spring and Kindergarteners enjoyed the further adventures of Bear in Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson. We read Bear Snores On last fall and watched bear enjoy a party in his lair with all his friends. This time Bear wakes ups and is very hungry. While he's out scouting for food (and eating a lot!) his friends plan a party for him. But too much food means Bear can't fit back into his lair so the party moves outside. It was great to compare both stories and for students to find the differences between the two seasons.

First Grade, Second, Grade, and Third Grade--It was voting day this week! After hearing the five great nominees for the California Young Reader Medal, students had the difficult task of voting for their personal favorite. We reviewed each book and then students were given a ballot to circle their favorite. At the end of the week our ballot box was full. Stay tuned for election results next week!

Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade--All three classes worked on a "secret" project this week. I can say no more than it involves a bookmaking project as a gift of one of our teachers who is retiring this year.

See you next week!

News From The Library--March 3, 2008

2008-03-03T10:57:00.001-08:00

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Zinnia's Magical Adventure by Pippa leQuesne

A Book Review by Olive & Bridgette

(Our video book reviews are a hit! We have four more already lined up for the weeks ahead! Stay tuned!)

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--In honor of the celebration of Dr. Seuss' Birthday we read Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose. This is one of the "older" Dr. Seuss books and was the favorite of my two boys when they were young so it's always had a place in my heart. Thidwick is a good hearted moose who lets all kinds of animals and pests ride along on his horns because "a host, above all, must be kind to his guests." But when they endanger him and hunters have him cornered he remembers that "wonderful thing that happens each year to the horns of most moose, and the horns of most deer." The children love his triumph. Once again I was pleasantly amused at the rapt attention the kindergarteners pay to this story with its two color illustrations and longer passages of text. In this day when color and sound and motion are so attractive to them, it was the words and the rhythm of the words that kept them completely enthralled. Thank goodness for Dr. Seuss!

First, Second, and Third Grade-We read our next nominees for the California Young Reader Medal and are looking forward to voting next week!

Fourth Grade--Again, to honor Dr. Seuss, fourth graders saw a Keynote I prepared about Dr. Seuss and his work and had great fun remembering all the Dr. Seuss books they have read. Then I read them his prescient book The Lorax and we had a lively discussion of its implications for today. It's wonderful to hear students talking about hybrid cars, biofuels, and alternative energy as if those are things they assume will be in their futures!

Fifth Grade--Continuing with our lesson on what it means to have an "ethical online presence" fifth graders posted a blog comment this week. You can read their comments by going to the Library Skills Blog and looking in the comments section on the very first post. (They posted using my username or the library username and then put their intitals at the end.) This was a good way for them to actually practice what it means to post their work on a blog as well as to express their understanding of what it means to have an ethical online presence. My goal in these lessons is to introduce them to the new Web 2.0 tools that are available today but to also remind them that these tools change rapidly. What does not change, however, is their sense of personal ethics. What we learned in this lesson should be applied to any new tools in the future.

Sixth Grade-We are having fun with our Wiki! I'm learning right along with the students, too. We named our Wiki "Random Research and Wacky Facts." This week they posted their Tornado research from notes they had taken several weeks ago. Some had time to add a picture or two. We also started a page called Wacky Facts that anyone in the group can contribute to as long as they follow the rules for posting. This includes citing their fact, establishing that the fact comes from a reputable source, and signing their post with their initials only. My goal with the Wiki is to expose them to the way we can collaborate using Web 2.0 tools. Collaboration and the ability to work in this kind of web-based environment will be critical real world skills for our students. The technology will surely change by the time they are in the work force but the skills of flexibility, collaboration, and safe and ethical behavior online will always be important for success.

2008-02-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

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Lavender's Mid-Summer Mix-Up

A Book Review by Junia & Olive

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--In the spirit of our California Young Reader Medal Race, Kindergarteners heard last year's winner My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza. Mr. Fox thinks that his favorite dinner has landed on his doorstep but it turns out he has to provide a bath, dinner with dessert, and a massage to the clever pig after which he faints from exhaustion and the pig goes home! We had great fun discussing how Keiko Kasza showed the emotions of the characters with the delightful illustrations.

First, Second, and Third Grade--We continued with our readings of the California Young Reader Medal Nominees this week. First Grade loved The Giant Hug, Second Grade enjoyed I Wanna Iguana, and Third Grade giggled over Henry and the Bucanneer Bunnies. I'm almost glad I'm not entitled to vote....it's going to be a hard choice and we have two more great books to go!

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders did some biographical research this week by picking a name out of our hat and then looking up information in our print encyclopedias. As wonderful as our online resources are I want to be sure our students can also find information in books. In a few weeks, they will post their research online on our new Library Wiki (see Sixth Grade).

Fifth Grade--What does an ethical online presence mean? Fifth graders this week were shown a Keynote presentation in preparation for next week's lesson on blog commenting and posting. I feel it is of utmost importance to teach our students how to be "digital citizens" in a world where technology will be a seamless part of their lives in both the workplace and home. We talked about not revealing personal information online as well as not writing personal attacks or uncalled for criticisms. If you would like to view the Keynote called "Commenting on a Blog" you can find it on the Library Web page under downloads. Next week fifth graders will post comments on our Skills Blog relating to this topic.

Sixth Grade--Together we took a leap this week into the world of Wikis! After discussing what a wiki is, each student got the chance to make their own "space" on our new Library Wiki. We discussed again what "digital citizenship" means and how behaving in an ethical manner online is so very important. Next week, students will post research on Tornadoes from notes they took three weeks ago. My purpose in introducing them to this Web 2.0 tool is to show that how collaboration can take place online. In their adult work lives this will be an important skill and while I'm sure the actual programs they will usemight look different from today's wikis, the skill of working online in this matter will be part of working in the digital world.

News From The Library--February 18, 2008

2008-02-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

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Wild Cherry Makes a Wish by Pippa Le Quesne

Yet another great book review from Olive & Kenna!

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten-Kindergarteners were lucky enough to have their library time fall on Valentine's Day and to celebrate we read Eve Bunting's The Valentine's Bears. What's a romantic bear to do when they are hibernating on February 14? Mrs. Bear sets her alarm clock and surpises Mr. Bear with sweet summer honey, Valentine poems, and crunchy bugs! And Mr. Bear reciprocates with chocolate covered ants!

First Grade--This week we hear nominee number 2 for the California Young Reader Medal. I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff and David Catrow is a story told in the exchange of letters between a mother and her son. Gradually he convinces her that an iguana is in his future. We decided this was a great tip for future negotiations with parents especially since his promise to take responsibility for his pet was the convincing point.

Second Grade and third Grade--Henry and his father don't see eye to eye at the beginning of the rollicking tale Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi and John Manders. Instead of following his father's pirate ways, Henry wants to read all the books the pirates have inadvertently taken as bounty. But after a huge storm (predicted by Henry after reading his meteorology books) and the buccaneers are shipwrecked Henry saves the day with all of his knowledge. What a fun way to see the message that reading is truly important! And we learned a new literary technique as well--alliteration!

Fourth Grade--Mrs. Edwards' class heard This is the Dream by by Diane Z. Shore, James Ransome, and Jessica Alexander in honor of Black History Month. With incredible illustrations by that combine photos and paintings this book tells the story of the civil rights movement. The text is a poem and a powerful one at that. We discussed how far we have come as a country but how careful we must be to continue the lessons learned and that prejudice of any kind must never be tolerated. (Mr. Orr's class missed library this week because of a field trip to the symphony)

Fifth and Sixth Grade--When I asked fifth and sixth graders who is that little guy with the wings and the arrows that flies around on Valentine's Day they all knew it was Cupid. But did they know the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche? M. Charlotte Craft's book Cupid and Psyche is a work of art. Illustrated lavishly by K.Y. Craft it beautifully retells the myth whose message-- of true love must be that of the heart and the soul--was perfect for Valentine reading. We also had great fun pointing to all the fairy tales and one Shakespearean play that have taken references from this ancient story.

News From The Library--February 11, 2008

2008-02-10T18:33:00.000-08:00

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Another Great Video Book Review
The BFG by Sarina

We are really having fun making these video book reviews. Olive is enjoying it, too!

Also in the Library this week.....

Kindergarten--After reading No More Jumping on the Bed last week, we continued this week with William, Walter's brother, in No More Water In the Tub by Tedd Arnold. Big brother Walter turns on the water as fast as he can for that last minute and.....oh, no, the tub breaks loose from the wall and down the hall and out the door went William in his bathtub! Kindergarteners giggled as William goes down and down through the floors of his apartment building until he puts out a fire in the basement and ends up on the street with the fireman. But it turns out it was just a story Walter told him as he was bathing and as William begged for another story, we came up with our own ideas of what could happen to William next.

First Grade, Second, and Third Grade---This week we started one of our favorite "events" of the year--voting for our favorite book among the nominees for this year's California Young Reader Medal Award. These books are nominated by students, teachers, and librarians from around our state and are voted upon by the students. This year we have a great set of books to choose from:

SuperDog by Caralyn and Mark Buehner

The Giant Hug by Sandra Horning

Traction Man by Mini Grey

I Wanna Iguana by Karen Orloff and David Catrow

Henry and the Bucaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi and John Manders

Each week I'll read one selection to each class and at the end of five weeks we'll vote. From there we'll declare our Cold Spring winner and then the ballots are sent to Sacramento to be counted will other students from around the state. In May the state winner will be announced.

Fourth Grade--To complement their beautiful mission projects that are on display in our library I read Pam Munoz Ryan's lovely story Nacho and Lolita. This romantic tale (perfect for Valentine's Day, too) traces the story of Nacho, the pitacoche and Lolita the swallow and how their love prevailed at the Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Fifth Grade--In honor of Black History Month fifth graders heard Freedom on the Menu by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jerome Lagarrigue. The story of the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins is told and illustrated from the point of view of a black family and really puts the students into the time and place. Following the story we had an interesting discussion about how far we have come since the 1960s especially considering some of the candidates running for president this year.

Sixth Grade--Also in honor of Black History Month sixth graders heard Doreen Rappaport's and Curtis James' powerful picture book This School Is Not White. Students attention was riveted to the haunting story of the Carter family and their five year struggle to remain in a integrated school. Amidst threats and bullying the children prevailed and gave hope to so many who followed.

News From The Library--February 4, 2008

2008-02-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

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"Stanley and The Magic Lamp"

A Video Book Review by Lucas (& Olive, the Library Cat)

Also in the Library this week.....

Kindergarten--Walter's been told over and over, "Don't Jump On the Bed!" but he just can't resist. Kindergartener's loved Tedd Arnold's story No Jumping on the Bed, and giggled as Walter's bed crashed down and down through the floors of his apartment building until at last he landed in the basement....or was it the basement? Had it only been a dream? In any event, Walter decided there wouldn't be any more jumping on the bed for him!

First Grade--It's always interesting to me how a classic story with black and white illustrations can capture the attention of our 21st century students. This week first graders heard Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag. Published in 1928, its charm is in the repetition of the refrain, "Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats!" and by the end of the story students were joining in. What a fun way to begin to understand those huge number concepts!

Second Grade--The concept that every snowflake is unique is a fascinating one and this week second graders heard Jacqueline Briggs Martin's and Mary Azarian's Caledecott Honor winning biography of Snowflake Bentley, the man who first photographed snowflakes. His perseverance gave us a beautiful gift--a peek into the complexity and awesome beauty of nature. After reading the book, I showed the students a Keynote with pictures of Snowflake Bentley at work, pictures he made of snowflakes, and some modern pictures taken with a photo-microscope.

Third Grade--In order to understand the literary device of plot, third graders and I read several versions of Cinderella. This week they heard one of the oldest versions, Wishbones, retold by Barbara Ker Wilson and Meilo So. We had fun finding the similarities and differences in this Chinese Cinderella story and the more familiar French version. All our extensive collection of multicultural Cinderella stories are on display for students to check out if they wish.

Fourth Grade--As the second part of our Atlas lesson, fourth graders really had fun finding out about the symbols of different states. They used their skills at finding information using the index and the almanac section about the different states.

Fifth Grade--Ms. Zannon's class finished up our Web site evaluation lesson this week by doing their own evaluation of websites. Their class missed one lesson due to a network problem (one of the "joys" of teaching with technology!). Mrs. Pickles' class enjoyed a library time devoted to reading quietly. How nice it was to have time for this!

Sixth Grade--Taking notes is a skill and learning how to do it helps prevent plagiarism. Sixth graders this week watched a keynote presentation on ways to take notes and then took notes from a magazine article about Tornadoes. I put their notes away and in about 3 weeks, they will use those notes to write a paragraph. In watching them work, I realized that text messaging may have a benefit--they were very adept at using abbreviated writing and had no trouble understanding what they had written.

News From The Library--January 28, 2008

2008-01-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

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Our First Video Book Review Of The Year!

We are having lots of fun in our book clubs this year and one of the choices for students in grades 3-6 is to film a video book review of the book they've read. Georgia in fourth grade was our first brave video blogger! Students are given a "script" to fill out and after practicing we film using Olive, our Library Cat as an avatar. This is to practice good internet safety as blogs can be seen all over the world and it adds a sort of whimsical touch to the review. Thank you Georgia!

In the Library this week:

Kindergarten--Not everyone progresses at the same rate and in the lovely book Ruby In Her OwnTime by Jonathan Emmett children are encouraged to understand that being a little slower isn't necessarily a bad thing. This book was a nominee last year for a California Young Reader Medal and it's easy to see why it was a favorite. The pastel illustrations are beautiful and underscore the gentle theme.

First Grade--Fee, Fi, Fo Fum......there's something so scary and funny about that ogre in Jack in the Beanstalk. First graders love Steven Kellogg's version of this classic fairy tale with its fantastic illustrations. Once again I was amazed at their rapt attention to a story many had heard several times before. There is something about those classic fairy tales that remains compelling for generation after generation.

Second Grade--David Shannon is one of my favorite authors because he has such a subtle way of imparting a valuable lesson. A Bad Case of Stripes is one of the best and as the children watch how Camilla Cream tries desperately to be what others want her to be with a disastrous outcome, they are ready to cheer her return to being herself--even if some people still think she's a little weird for loving lima beans!

Third Grade--It was off to the Third Grade Library Skills Blog again and this week students went to the World Book Online Encyclopedia to do research for their project. They took notes on their topic and I will put these away for a few weeks before we return to the project. I do this so they will have to be able to read their own notes and to encourage their use of original thoughts when writing. We'll be using Comic Life for our projects and to further encourage originality, they will become their topic!!

Fourth Grade--Atlases can be a lot of fun--great for imagining the places you can go. Using our United States Atlases this week students learned how to navigate an atlas, find interesting and valuable information, and best of all, how to use the index and the letter and number coordinates on a map to find a specific location.

Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade--Continuing with our lesson on website evaluation, fifth and sixth graders evaluated two websites on their own this week using the criteria we discussed last week. One of the favorites sites was "Save the Northwest Tree Octopus." Hmmm....common sense came in handy with this one! If you'd like to see all the sites we evaluated, please go to the Cold Spring Library Skills Blog, scroll down to the lesson "When in Doubt, Doubt!" and
click on the links for Week 2.

News From The Library--January 21, 2008

2008-01-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

Martin's Big Words

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King and although we aren't in school today I had the chance last week to share a beautiful and moving picture book with the fourth graders entitled Martin's Big Words. Written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated with incredible collages by Bryan Collier, this is a powerful and poetic history of Dr. King and how his message of non-violence and the worth of all human beings was expressed through his use of words. It gave us a chance to discuss metaphor in both visual and print and to trace the trajectory of Dr. King's message. We also had one of those wonderful "teachable moments" in which our access to the internet deepened and enhanced our study. One of the illustrations in the book contains four candles and in the illustrator's notes it tells that they are symbols of the four girls who were killed in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombings. One student asked for more information about the incident and within minutes the two of us used my laptop, found a reliable website, and got more information.

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten-We started out this week by closing our eyes and imagining what it would be like if at recess we went outside and the entire playground was covered in snow! Snowmen were imagined. Snowboarding fun, skiing, ice skating, snowball fights and snow angels were enthusiastic ideas. Then we read Louise Ehlert's charming book Snowballs. The rhythm of the story and the detailed collage illustrations gave us lots of chances to practice our skills of observation and sequencing.

First Grade--What would happen if a kind hearted hunter decided to share his cabin on a cold snowy night with a hare, a fox, and a bear? Could they all trust each other? In Tilde Michels's poetic story Who's That Knocking At My Door? they do make it through the night but one by one sneak out in the morning so as not to tempt fate. We had a nice discussion of harmony and tolerance as well as enjoying the rhyming story and lovely illustrations by Reinhard Michi.

Second Grade--"You're too small." This is a remark that second graders are all too familiar with and in Margery Cuyler's book The Biggest Best Snowman, little Nell finally proves that with the help of her animal friends she can build an amazing snowman, big enough to impress Big Momma, Big Lizzie, and Big Sarah.

Third Grade--Third graders brought their laptops to the Library this week to begin a 3 part lesson on research. This week I introduced them to their very own Third Grade Library Skills Blog and they bookmarked it and made a folder on their desktop for library work. Next week they will use the blog to get to a link to do research and the following week present their research using their laptops and Comic Life.

Fourth Grade--see opening post

Fifth Grade--We started our two part lesson on Website Evaluation called "When in Doubt, Doubt!" and after seeing a Keynote presentation about website evaluation, they went to their Library Skills Blog and together we evaluated two websites using the criteria presented in the Keynote--accuracy and authority, objectivity, and currency. Next week they will evaluate websites on their own. This skill--critically evaluating information--is so important for students to master and we will take time to practice it often in the Library.

Sixth Graders--I missed them this week as they had a makeup Art lesson.

News From The Library-January 14, 2008

2008-01-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

When In Doubt, Doubt!

How do you know if a website in reliable? With the enormous amount of information available to all of us through the Internet, the skill of evaluating websites is critical. This week Fifth and Sixth graders worked on part one of our lesson in website evaluation called "When In Doubt, Doubt!" First students viewed a Keynote presentation that gave them "markers" to use when looking at a website--the most important of these being authority and accuracy, currency, and objectivity. Using their laptops and our research blog as a starting point, students reviewed two websites with me and discovered the difference between one that looked okay but wasn't one you would want to use for research, and one that had all the hallmarks of a site that was valuable. If you want to see the lesson and the websites for yourself, go to our Skills Blog and scroll down to the week one lesson with all the question marks entitled "When in Doubt, Doubt!" Next week they will evaluation sites on their own.

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--What happens when all of Bear's friends want to have a party in his lair while he's hibernating? Karma Wilson's charming story, Bear Snores On, delighted the kindergarteners this week with its rhyming text and gorgeous illustrations. Before reading the story I showed them a Keynote presentation on hibernation and they chose where they would like to hibernate. Sleeping bags were certainly preferred!

This was Book Club launch week! Students in grades 1-6 were introduced to their respective Book Clubs. These are voluntary books clubs and the emphasis is on reading for pleasure. I've added a technology component to each club this year and we're already looking forward to some multimedia projects! Using Garage Band, I'm recording the Bookworms each month so they can hear how their fluency improves. If you'd like more information about the clubs please go to the Cold Spring School Library Website and click on BookClubs.

News From The Library--January 7, 2008

2008-01-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

Why War Is Never A Good Idea

The new year is a time for reflection and resolution. Fourth graders this week heard Why War is Never a Good Idea, a picture book for older readers written last year by Pulitzer Prize and American Book Award winning author Alice Walker. The book is a sobering look at the sometimes unconsidered devastation of war on all life , especially innocent victims of a battle. The text is a poem and the illustrations by Stefano Vitale underscore war's destructive nature and unforeseen consequences. In a lively discussion fourth graders suggested that peace is a resolution we should all strive to keep and that living in a democracy gives us the precious right to speak our thoughts and vote in elections to keep our elected politicians on the road to peace, not war.

Also in the Library this week...(Tuesday classes didn't meet)

Kindergarten--Brrr.....it's cold outside and what better time to learn about penguins. We read See How They Grow: Penguins and then laughed with Tacky, the Penguin by Helen Lester. The gentle message of the story is that even those of us who may be "odd birds" have great value to the group.

Second Grade--It's good to know the Parts of a Book and second graders saw a Keynote presentation about authors, titles, illustrators, spines, covers, table of contents, index, and spine labels. Then each student took a book from our collection and found all its parts. Then using the spine label, the students arranged themselves in alphabetical order as if they were on the shelves!

Third Grade--Continuing with a Penguin theme, third graders heard And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. This is the true story of Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins in the Central Park Zoo, who hatched an orphaned egg and raised the baby penguin, Tango. This delightful story underscores that there are all kinds of families and gives us a peek at these charming animals.

Fifth and Sixth Grade--To get the year off to a rousing start we played Library Jeopardy this week. The answer that stumped them this week was.....pseudonym. But they know it's meaning now!

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

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This was a very busy and festive week so many classes understandably didn't make to the Library. Of those who did---Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth graders heard our Cold Spring holiday favorite--The Amazing Christmas Extravaganza-- wonderfully written and illustrated by David Shannon. Kindergarten heard Eric Carle's beautiful Dream Snow and First Graders were charmed to see their old friend Bear in Karma Wilson's Bear Stays Up for Christmas. Second Graders loved Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera and most really understood Elf Rule Number One---"It's far better to give than to receive."

Here's to a peaceful and joyous holiday to you all. We'll see you in 2008!

News From The Library--December 10, 2007

2007-12-10T11:29:00.001-08:00

'Tis The Season

While Christmas shopping last week I came across this beautiful book in our Art Museum Store. There are hundreds of versions of The Night Before Christmas but this one, re-designed and published this year, is now my favorite. It is illustrated by arguably the most famous American folk artist, Grandmas Moses. She began working on the illustrations for Clement C. Moore' classic poem The Night Before Christmas in 1960 at the age of 100! The book, with its imaginative and charming illustrations was published first in 1962, a year after her death at the age of 101.

Third graders, who had all heard the poem before, we entranced by the illustrations. I made a short Keynote slideshow about Grandma Moses and her art that students saw before we read the story. It was a great lesson in self-teaching, perseverance, and how the passion of creative endeavors can fuel a long and fruitful life.

If you're looking for a great gift this year, look no farther!

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten-We're getting in the spirit with The Mouse Before Christmas by Michael Garland, gentle tale about a tiny mouse who stows away with Santa on Christmas Eve.

First Grade--December 6 is St. Nicholas Day in Holland and book The Baker's Dozen by Aaron Shepard is a lovely way to teach students about the tradition of St. Nicholas and how it relates to Santa Claus. In addition, the gentle message of the story about the virtues of generosity blend beautifully with the historical background. Wendy Edelson's evocative illustrations make this a special holiday book.

Second Grade-Strega Nona appears again this week, this time in a holiday version, MerryChristmas, Strega Nona by Tomi DePaola. When Strega Nona asks Big Anthony to help with her feast, he keeps wanting her to use her magic. "No," she scolds, "Christmas has a magic all its own." And true to her word, Big Anthony brings the magic of Christmas to her with his generous and unexpected gift.

Third Grade--see opening post

Fourth Grade--One of our holiday favorites is Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A. Kimmel and this year's fourth graders loved the story of brave Herschel who outwits the goblins who have stolen Hanukkah from the villagers. Trina Schart Hyman's illustrations are a huge part of this book and make it both spooky and funny at the same time. After the story, we had time for a lively dreidel game.

Fifth Grade--We finished our encyclopedia research projects this week and once again I was amazed at how creative the students were using their laptops and the program Comic Life. I used to have them write a simple paragraph for this assignment. Not the most exciting task, but a useful one. Now, with the advent of the laptops and programs like Comic Life, the level of engagement and creativity has absolutely soared! They wrote more, wrote better, and had fun at the same time. Once again I am grateful to our Foundation, School Board, and administration for providing this amazing tool, and our technology teacher, Mr. Garfield ,who has sparked their technology skills and technology courage. It makes teaching this kind of lesson a dream for me!

Sixth Grade--Sixth Graders had an all important art lesson to make up this week so I missed them.

Happy Holidays!

News From The Library--December 3, 2007

2007-12-03T08:51:00.001-08:00

Will Books Disappear?

More often than I like I am asked the question, "Do you think books as we know them will disappear someday?" Not on my watch, is what I'm temped to answer. I love technology, I really do, but the one place I don't think it makes sense is for reading a book.

In the Opinion section of last Sunday's Los Angeles Times William Powers, media critic for National Journal, had an interesting piece entitled "We've heard this story before..." in which he talks about this holiday's offering of the latest e-book from Amazon.com, the Kindle, something he says Newsweek magazine dubbed "the future of reading." Hmmm....even I have trouble imagining myself curling up with a little machine. One of the greatest pleasures I know is losing myself in a book and I have noticed a marked lack of that relaxing posture and loss of connection to the outside world when I'm looking at a screen. I've wondered why and in the article Powers explains studies done by cognitive researchers about the difference between reading something on paper and something on a screen. According to these studies...

.....when you read something on a screen, the eyes and brain are constantly at work figuring out where you are on the page, how many pages from the end of the text, etc. With paper based media, the fingers and hands take over much of the navigational work. Because you can feel where you are, the brain is freed up to concentrate on the words themselves....The book iteself--its physical presence and format--has a dramatic effect on how we experience the content.

So that's how it works....

As Powers suggests maybe ebooks have their place as a convenience for travelers who don't want to lug multiple books around with them. I don't know....next time I'm in Hawaii reading on the beach with my (less than literary) paperback novel at least I won't have to think about sand in my equipment or recharging batteries. In fact, some of my favorite books still have some of that Hawaiian sand in them or blotches of sunscreen on the covers and every time I see them a little bit of me is transported back to those relaxing tropical escapes.

If you'd like to read William Powers article go to http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-powers2dec02,1,1397292.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Also of note in the Los Angeles Times Book Review this Sunday was an article about Philip Pullman and The Golden Compass. If you are thinking of seeing the movie, you might find this an interesting viewpoint.

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/books/la-bk-miller2dec02,1,4772987.story

In the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Continuing with our study of classic fairy tales, we read Goldilocks and the Three Bears. As well as a lesson on manners (using an extreme example of bad ones, we decided) there is also a great introduction to size and superlatives.

First Grade--Alas, I was out with a bad case of laryngitis on Tuesday so I didn't get to see the first graders this week. Sorry.

Second Grade--Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola is one of our favorite books. The antics of Big Anthony mean that the magic pasta pot has a mind of its own and only the return of Strega Nona can save the village. It was fun to discuss the meaning of "the punishment must fit the crime" and we came up with some other rather humorous crimes and punishments.

Third Grade--(same as first grade) :(

Fourth Grade--The Stolen Smile by J. Patrick Lewis is based on the true story of the theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911 by an Italian man who felt it should be in Italy, not in the Louvre in Paris. We started out with a slide show about the Mona Lisa and had fun with a website called The Interactive Mona in which we could change her expression to one of disdain, disappointment, happiness, disgust, fright, merriness, surprise, or aggression (!) Great way to learn the meaning of some of those words, too!

Fifth Grade--At the request of their teachers, fifth graders found books of historical fiction for their book projects. We discussed the genre first and then they had a chance to check out one from our collection.

Sixth Grade--As a preliminary to an upcoming lesson on Web Site Evaluation we watched a short video called Mission Possible: Successful Online Research which covered the history of the internet, internet search skills, writing, using citations correctly, and internet safety. The video is provided by answers.com, an interesting an valuable search tool for students that gives them access to a variety of credible sources.

Happy Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-21T15:12:00.001-08:00

photo by Judy Ariel 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you to everyone from around the world who has taken the time to leave a comment or send me an email this year. I'm so happy this blog has been helpful to you.

We had an abbreviated week and lots of Thanksgiving activities so the library was quiet (for a change!) See you next week.

News From The Library--November 19, 2007

2007-11-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

What happens when the state of Kansas is bored? Third graders this week found out in Laurie Heller’s hilarious book, The Scrambled States of America. In the story, all the states decide to switch places and have a party, but in the end, they get homesick for their spots and return. And what will become of that long distance romance between Arizona and Mississippi? Only time will tell… What a fun way to learn about our states!

We also had time to explore our newly found knowledge of the states and work on a word search with the names of all 50 states.

This was an abbreviated week in the Library because of parent conferences so some classes didn’t have library this week.

Those who did….

First Grade--Miss Ishikawa's class heard the mysterious tale, Nursery Crimes by Arthur Geisert, and they were able to solve the mystery of the disappearing turkey topiaries. In the process we had a great time looking at a slide show of topiary animals and learning a bit about deciduous trees. Because those missing turkeys were cleverly made with trees of this kind the thief was caught after the first frost turned the leaves into brilliant colors. Truly an unusual Thanksgiving story but one we all enjoyed.

Fifth Grade--We brought out their notes from 3 weeks ago and students worked on presenting their information. After attending a wonderful workshop by Gigi Kelley of Fisler School about how to incorporate laptops into the curriculum, I decided to have the students use Comic Life to do their short reports. What an amazing transformation from the rather dry paragraphs written in a word processing program! The students were creative and engaged and produced some great final products. Thank you to our administration and school board for having Ms. Kelley come to our school!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

News From The Library--November 12, 2007

2007-11-12T19:14:00.001-08:00

Take Me To Your Leader

How do you teach students about the Dewey Decimal System? Not the most exciting of library skills subjects but with the help of a great website called Dewey and the Alien I created a Keynote presentation to show students in fourth grade how the system puts non-fiction books into categories. The beauty of the system becomes apparent as students understand that they can go to almost any library and find books filed according to Mr. Melvil Dewey's ideas. After working with the website and the Keynote students draw a "hundreds" card from a hat and go off to search our collection for a book that exemplifies the category.

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Classic fairy tales sometimes get lost in the shuffle of all the wonderful new children's books that are published every year. So I've decided to spend a few weeks with our Kindergarteners reading some of the classics. This week, we read the Little Red Riding Hood that is told and illustrated by James Marshall. I am always amazed at how these old tales mesmerize students and we discussed how fairy tales were used to teach lessons so long ago. And this one everyone got....don't talk to strangers!!

First Grade--Leo Lionni is one of my favorite children's authors and I had fun this week reading to the first grade one of my older son's favorites. Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse tells the tale of Alexander, a little mouse who wishes he could be loved like his wind-up toy counterpart Willy. But when he gets the chance, he chooses to give his chance to Willy. Students at this age really relate to the idea of toys that are once loved and then tossed aside and cheer that Willy gets his chance to be a real mouse.

Second Grade--Mysterious things happen in the garden on a moonlit night and Leaf Men tells the enchanting story of an old woman, a neglected garden, and a battle to bring life back to both of them. After studying arthropods and insects recently, second graders really enjoyed this book written and illustrated by Kevin Joyce.

Third Grade-This week we played a rousing game of "Name That Book." After looking at several books in our reference collection students watch a Keynote that gives them clues and then they have to name the correct reference book. After that we try out several scenarios and figure out in which book might we find the answer. For example, if you wanted to get your mother a really nice birthday present with her birthstone in it, in which book would you find the correct birthstone for the month in which she was born? (Good to know when your mom's birthday is, too....)

Fourth Grade--see opening post

Fifth and Sixth Grade--Get those "scalpels" ready...it's time to dissect a book! With our scalpel/pencils students chose two books and "dissected" them to find out the information needed for a bibliography. It would be so nice if all publishers put the information in the same place but of course that isn't the case, so students learned all the different places to look for copyright date, publishing city, and publisher's name. This will help them with those reports that are coming up.

Until next week....

News From The Library--November 5, 2007

2007-11-05T10:11:00.000-08:00

Web Drill!!!

We are fortunate to have wonderful web filtering software at our school but what happens when our students are elsewhere? And what if they accessed inappropriate material by accident? This week sixth graders practiced again our WebDrill! and they could choose one of four options to get out of a website that contained material that wasn't good for them. After we discussed the four options--closing the laptop, using control+Q, using control+W, or the back arrow---they had fun using the Halloween websites I had posted on our Skills Blog. (It was Halloween day, by the way.....) Once they were engrossed in the sites (which were all appropriate for them) I shout out "Web Drill!" and they have to quickly get out of the site they are using. Although our "drill" is a little humorous, they understand the seriousness of the matter and the reason we practice this in the same way we practice for a fire or an earthquake.
This drill is also a chance to discuss being digital citizens and using the internet in an ethical manner. And yes, having a little bit of Halloween fun at the same time....

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--Mariko Shinju's charming book A Pumpkin Story was heard by the Kindergarten this week. Starting with a little pumpkin seed a man uses pumpkins for cooking pans, furniture, houses, and finally a hotel complete with a pumpkin swimming pool! This book never fails to delight young children with its clever message about using common things for extraordinary purposes.

First Grade--An 800 year-old-man wants a pumpkin pie but when he goes to get this pumpkin he finds it gone. In Tomie de Paola's The Vanishing Pumpkin the old man and his 700 year-old-wife enlist the help of many critters to finally find that elusive pumpkin. Repetition in the story make this a favorite of first graders.

Second Grade--By the time second graders came to the Library this week, Halloween was over, and so as much as we liked all those Halloween stories, it was kind of nice to go back to something (somewhat) normal. Tired from trick-or-treating the night before, they happily settled in for Mary Pope Osborne's Kate and the Beanstalk. A variation on the traditional story, the giant is still there doing his "fee, fie, fo, fum...." but the protagantist is plucky Kate out of avenge her father's death at the hand of the giant. Giselle Potter's interesting and quirky illustrations are a wonderful enhancement to the story.

Third Grade--Mrs. Villa's class heard One Halloween Night by Mark Teague and they loved how Wendall, Floyd, and Mona outsmarted those teasing witches who were chasing them. Miss Fargas' class came after Halloween and heard Berkeley Breathed's Edward Fudwupper Fibbed Big. With its rhyming story and almost surrealistic illustrations this book is lots of fun for me to read aloud and for the students to hear.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders brought their laptops to the library this week and as it was Halloween, we had a short lesson on how to get to the Library Skills blog, and how to bookmark in the toolbar, and then they had a chance to explore the fun Halloween websites that were posted on the blog. Working in an elementary school on Halloween Day is always an interesting experience......

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders graciously hosted some guests this week who were here to observe how we work with our laptops in the library. They did research using World Book Online and took notes that we will use in a couple of weeks to write a short essay on their topic. Again, my thanks to them for being able to focus so well on Halloween!

Sixth Grade--see opening post

See you next week!

News from The Library--October 29, 2007

2007-10-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

How Spooky Should We Go?

Halloween stories are lots of fun. For the younger students we have stories of funny witches, and pumpkins, and costume contests. But for the older students there are several books with what are considered "scary stories." Is this valuable literature for children? The debate goes on. Some of the most read are the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" series by Alvin Schwartz. While some of these are collections of tales from American folklore, personally I feel they may be a little intense, especially for children who are living in a world where the overall environment is more than a little frightening. Couple this with their exposure to the media and I have begun to wonder if reading scary stories is the right thing to emphasize on Halloween. So this year I spend the early weeks in October doing research with them on spiders and reading stories with a spider "theme." I liked this. Here we are, however, nearing Halloween and I admit I love reading those stories, but I have chosen stories for fourth, fifth and sixth grades that, while a little spooky, are somewhat humorous. I also chose them to illustrate the style of writing where a writer uses the length of sentences and the rhythm of sentences to create tension and mood so after we were done being "spooked" we "de-constructed" the scary part and looked at those literary devices. The story I read for fourth grade is a Spanish folktale Esteban and the Ghost by Sibyl Hancock. For fifth grade I read "Duffy's Jacket" by noted children's author Bruce Coville, and for sixth grade it's "The Surprise Guest" by none other than R.L. Stine.

Also in the library this week.....

Kindgergarten--Kindergarteners loved the rollicking rhyme of Room On the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffle. What happens when a witch lets too many passengers on her broom and it breaks? She has to face a scary dragon with half a broom, but her friends come to the rescue at the last minute. And her new broom? Well, let's just say it's the Mercedes of brooms!

First Grade--One of the worst things that could happen on Halloween is to have the wrong costume, and in Trick or Treat Smell My Feet by Diane Degroat, Gilbert and his sister accidentally switch costumes for their school's Halloween parade. To make matters worse, Gilbert has to wear the costume in the parade....a pink ballerina tutu! The best part of this story is how he handles it all with aplomb by dancing his way to the food table---a good lesson for us all!

Second Grade--Poor Dr. Smart Pig. He's all alone without a friend on Halloween since his brothers were eaten last year by the Big Bad Wolf. But since he's a scientist he comes up with an ingenious plan to create a friend. After a few missteps, he creates.....a monster pig who eats him out of house and home (literally). But when the Big Bad Wolf appears dressed as granny to trick or treat at his door, Porkenstein saves the day. His insatiable appetite actually comes in handy! Porkenstein is by Kathryn Lasky and illustrated with wonderful humor by David Jarvis.

Third Grade--Chris Van Allsburg is one of my favorite children's authors and I must say The Widow's Broom is my favorite of all his books. The story is mesmerizing and funny at the same time and the illustrations are exquisite. Third graders loved the twist at the end and got the subtle but powerful message that we should not judge without information.

Happy Halloween (and don't get spooked!)

News From the Library--October 22, 2007

2007-10-22T08:28:00.001-07:00

Balancing Books and Laptops

It's very tempting when doing research to simply "google it" but this week in the library third, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders found that when doing their spider research, a book was the best source of detailed information. After each team of students picked the name of a spider out of a hat, we started our research with our online encyclopedia. Some students found the answers to their research questions quickly, but others realized that the encyclopedia article was simply too general. The books about individual spiders that we have in our collection provided not only detailed information but had incredible illustrations and photographs as well. At the end of our hour, student agreed that the books were a better source for this kind of information and that they could trust that the information was accurate.

Just to make a final point I "googled" tarantula and showed the students that there were 1,390,000 web sites returned!!! Although the internet is a fantastic resource, it requires careful evaluation and quite a bit of time and patience to find the same information that was in the books. One of my goals this year is to provide students with a balance between books and computers and to help them understand that each "venue" of information has its unique and valuable characteristics.

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--Kindergarteners are on the way to the pumpkin patch tomorrow so to get read ready we read Big Pumpkin, by Erica Silverman and S.D. Schindler. This delightful tale reads a little like This is the House That Jack Built, only this time it's a witch, a ghost, a goblin, a vampire, a mummy and a little bat all trying to get a huge pumpkin off the vine in order to make pumpkin pie. Great messages here too....the value of team work and the smallest might be the one with the solution to a large problem!

First Grade--We all remember the song "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." In Lucille Colandro's and Jared D. Lee's There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat the progression goes from a bat, to an owl, a cat, a ghost, a goblin, some bones, and a wizard until finally she shouts "Trick or Treat!" and ends with a burp! This delighted the first graders as you can well imagine.

Second Grade--One of my personal favorites for reading at Halloween is A Job for Wittilda, Caralyn Buehner and Mark Buehner's charming tale of a witch who has so many cats to feed she has to find a job. The perfect one? Delivering pizzas on her broom. The story is complemented with wonderful illustrations and the chance to find a spider on every page. There's even a little sub-story going on with a cat chasing a mouse at the bottom of each page. This book is always a hit with this age group and I never get tired of reading it.

Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth graders---see opening post.

Until next week.....

News From The Library--October 15, 2007

2007-10-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

EEEK! Spiders in the Library!!!!

This week, in preparation for Halloween, we had lots of fun learning more about spiders. Thanks to a generous donation we now have a huge spider web on our window to go along with other spiders (and books about spiders) lurking in the library. Each class viewed a Keynote about spiders and then either heard a story with a spider as the main character or did a little online research about spiders.

Kindergarten--After viewing the Keynote, we read Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider. This classic picture book tells the story of a little spider who floats into a barn yard and begins to spin her web. As each farm animal entreats her to play, she doesn't answer. She's too busy spinning her web. The charming repetition continues until at the end she falls asleep (after catching a fly, of course). Repetition coupled with a simple narrative is an excellent way for pre-readers and early readers to learn to read and comprehend the flow of a narrative. But above all, Eric Carle's magnificent illustrations make this book one to read again and again.

First Grade--Poor Miss Spider....she is all set to have a tea party but one by one her invitations are greeted with fear and dread. Finally after saving a rain-soaked moth, her intentions are seen as only friendly and she has her tea party after all. We had lots of fun counting her eight legs and her eight tea cups, one for each leg. Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk gave us the chance to compare what we had learned in the Keynote with the ideas in the story and in the end we agreed most spiders aren't that scary at all!

Second Grade--While they were viewing the Keynote, second graders had a great time telling me what they were learning in their classroom about spiders...especially that they are called arachnids! We read Diane Cronin's hilarious Diary of a Spider and our favorite part was the Vacuum Drill. Stop, Drop from the web, and Run like crazy. This really tickled their funnybones.

Third Grade--After viewing the Keynote, we read our wonderful adaptation of Mary Howitt's 1829 cautionary poem The Spider and the Fly. Third graders loved the spooky illustrations by award winning artist Tony Di Terlizzi. Set on black paper with white lines, the drawings have the feeling of a silent movie and the spider, complete with a pencil thin mustache, does make a wonderful villain. The unfortunate demise of the fly serves as a little lesson on the results of falling for flattery, and in one of the best features of the book the villainous spider gets his own special afterword. There he is, sitting at the table, wiping his mouth delicately with a napkin and looking full, while the fly's pretty little hat rests on the plate in front of him. As he points out that all spiders are trappers, even the beloved Charlotte from E.B. White's classic book, we had to sadly agree that the fly should have known better!

Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade--We set up our online version of Encyclopedia Britannica on their laptops this week and they had time to do a little exploration (including a look at spiders, or course). Next week, we'll be doing more research on spiders using both books from our collection and the online encyclopedia. Mr. Orr's class did the set up last week, so this week they heard Jane Yolen's interesting book Encounter which tells the story of Columbus' arrival from the viewpoint of a Taino Indian boy. This is an interesting way to discuss different views of history as well as the literary device point of view.

See you next week!

News From The Library--October 8, 2007

2007-10-08T09:59:00.000-07:00

Genre Scavenger Hunt

Sixth graders had a lot of fun this week learning about different genres of literature. First we viewed a Keynote that explained the common genres and gave examples from our library. Next we divided into 3 teams and each team was given cards with the genres written on them. Students had to go out into the library and find an example of each genre, put the card in the book, and make a stack on the table for their team. Lots of fun was had trying to be the first team to finish and learning how to find different genres in our library was accomplished as well!

Also in the Library this week...

Kindergarten--This week we worked on a very important skill--how to turn the pages in a library book! We sat in a circle and I gave each student one of our ABC books. (We have a great collection) I showed them how to carefully turn pages, both forward and backward, by starting at the top right hand or bottom right hand corners respectively. Then they carefully found the page in their book that corresponded to the first letter of their name. With our newfound skills, we had a good time finding the first letters of other things from fish to zebras.

First Grade--When George the puppy's mother asks him to bark, the strangest thing happened. He quacked, mooed, meowed....everything but barked. Bark George by Jules Fieffer is hilarious and always elicits great belly laughs from the children. We had a lot of fun coming up with other sounds that George might make.

Second Grade--We finished up our "study" of the 3 little pigs this week with The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. This is one of the most popular read aloud books I use in the library. Something about switching the characters makes it inherently funny and the ending is such a surprise. I use these books to teach students about plot, character, and point of view and by using a familiar tale we can focus on learning about those literary devices.

Third Grade--This week we read Carol Otis Hurst's charming book Rocks in His Head which is the true story of her father's passion for rocks and how during the Depression he kept that passion alive and ended up a curator of minerology. This inspiring story shows the value of perseverence and the value of a true love of learning.

Fourth Grade--For the first time, fourth graders brought their laptops to the library and we set up their online version of Encyclopedia Britannica. After a quick tour, they drew topics from a hat and did some research. You are welcome to use this at home as well. You'll need a user name and password and if you give me a call, I'll be happy to give it to you.

Fifth Grade--This week we studied a touching and important picture book written by renowned children's book author Eve Bunting. The book is called So Far From the Sea and is the story of a Japanese American family in present day who is moving from California to Boston. They travel to Manzanar one last time to pay tribute to their grandfather who lies buried there. Their story is woven with facts about Pearl Harbor and the ensuing imprisonment of Japanese Americans in internment camps. Prior to reading the book to the students I showed a Keyote slideshow I made incorporating some present day photos I took when I visited Manzanar with historical photos I obtained from the internet and from a wonderful new site created by the state of California and UC Berkeley called Calisphere. After seeing the slide presentation, the students had a context for the story and later we had an interesting and lively discussion . One of the most interesting comments centered around the care we should take not to overreact to fear, and understanding that this historical part of California's history is not an easy "black or white" issue with one side right and the other wrong, something that is very touchingly told by the father in the story who was himself a child at Manzanar. Students also had a chance to see the other books we have in our Library about this subject including a non-fiction book with excellent historical photos, two other wonderful picture books, and two novels.

Sixth grade--see opening post.

Until next week....