News From the Library--Feb. 15, 2010

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--February 16, 2009

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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.

An Ethical Online Presence

What is an ethical online presence?

This week Fifth and Sixth graders pondered this question. After viewing a Keynote presentation about how to comment on a blog and what an online presence is, our discussion turned to understanding the concept of ethics.

Here's a quick video of the Keynote:

Students then went to the Cold Spring School Library Skills Blog and followed the directions on the current post. They answered the question with their comments. Read their comments on the Skills blog.....they are very interesting! Just click on the little comments link on the bottom right hand side of the post. To date there are 47 comments!

This is part of a larger lesson we will do involving researching, posting that information on a blog entry, and then commenting on one another's posts.

To me it is very important to start training our students to understand their online presence as soon as possible. The online world is changing every minute and we need to give our students a clear grounding in how they will behave in this new world. In many education related blogs I read there is great concern over the way high school students are using Web 2.0 technologies. Hopefully, if we can instill ethical behavior at an early age, those concepts will be embedded in our children when they reach the age where they will be making daily decisions about how to behave online. I welcome any comments or suggestions you might have.


Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten--What would happen if all the signs we read suddenly asked us to do silly things? Would be follow them anyway? This is the interesting ideas behind Tedd Arnold's delightful book, The Signmaker's Assistant. Norman, the assistant, starts out playing harmless jokes with his signs but suddenly chaos breaks out and he has to fix all the trouble he has caused. This was a fun way Kindergarteners to talk about the importance of reading and thinking about what you have read.

First Grade--We continued this week with our California Young Reader Medal Nominee, Three Pebbles and a Song, written by Eileen Spinelli and exquisitely illustrated by S. D. Schindler. As winter approaches a mouse family scurries to gather things for the long days ahead, but one little mouse just seems to dance and collect pebbles. Only when they all are bored with their confinement on the cold snowy days does the family realize the value of his collections.

Second Grade--In honor of Black History Month, second graders heard the story of two girls, one black, one white who lived in a small town. In that town was a fence that separated their two houses. The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson is the story of one summer when the fence and what it stood for began to change. Beautiful watercolor illustrations by E. B. Lewis add so much to the story that gently moves to the point where the two little girls bridge the gap by making a simple gesture of sitting on the fence side by side . With a little help, second graders understood the metaphor of the fence we had a discussion of how much better things are today without the prejudices that existed before the Civil Rights movement.

Third Grade-The true story of Ruby Bridges is one that children can relate to and Robert Cole's book, The Story of Ruby Bridges, is a wonderful introduction for younger children to the courage of this six year old girl and how her actions set about a series of events that changed our society. Before we read the story, the students viewed a Keynote presentation with pictures taken for her own remarkable book entitled Through My Eyes. Most impressive to students was the fact that Ruby went to school all by herself and was the only student in her first grade class for an entire year. Also interesting to them is the fact that Ruby is still alive today and is, in fact, leading efforts to repair the school she went to during that troubling time. It was heavily damaged in Hurricane Katrina. For an interesting look at this part of her story, see this link to a recent segment on the NBC Nightly News entitled "What Happened to Ruby Bridges?"

Fourth Grade--The road to civil rights was not an easy one even after laws were passed to guarantee those rights. Fourth graders learned this in Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles. Two boys--one black, one white--are thrilled when they learn that they can finally swim together in the city pool, but their excitement is dashed when the pool is filled with asphalt as a reaction to the new law. The ending of the story gives a picture of a smaller step ahead as they go into a store together to buy an ice cream. It seems hard for our students to understand that there was a time when things like this were common, and this book gives is a great historical lesson as it touches on the emotional impact of civil rights and integration. Not surprisingly, Freedom Summer was awarded both the Coretta Scott King Award and the Ezra Jack Keats Book Award.

Fifth and Sixth Grade--see opening post.

Also, please check out our wonderfully re-designed web page! Just click on the link and you'll be there! The web page has all the information about our library programs and this blog will continue to give up-to-date postings of what's happening in our programs.

I'm off to Palm Springs at the end of next week for the Computer Using Educators annual conference.....can't wait to see all those wonderful new things!!

News From the Library--February 19, 2007

Black History Month

This amazing book by Diane Shore and Jessica Alexander was the centerpiece this week for our discussions of Black History in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. Told with spare, rhyming verse and juxtaposed with thought provoking collages by James Ransome that blend painting with archival photos, This Is The Dream chronicles the sequence of events in the Civil Rights Movement that ultimately changed our society. The opening image is a powerful one...two drinking fountains, one labeled "white," the other "colored" and the words "These are the fountains/that stand in the square,/and the black-and-white signs/say who will drink where." As is often the case, simplicity of word and image is powerful and students were riveted to this book. In future weeks we will research in depth some of the events and people who were instrumental in the Civil Rights Movment.

Also in the library this week..

Kindergarten--for Valentine's Day Mrs. Sickafoose's class enjoyed the lovely story The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond. They were very ready for their Valentine's Day Party after listening to this story! Mrs. Campbell's class enjoyed last year's winner of the California Young Reader Medal, Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland. With its fabulous illustrations and wonderful message, it's clear why this book earned the prize!


First, Second, and Third Grades---we continued our reading of this year's nominee's for California Young Reader Medal. My Lucky Day continues to be a favorite but his week we added Wild About Books by Judy Sierra and The Best Pet of All by by David Larochelle and illustrated most charmingly by Hanako Wakiyama.

Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grades--see opening post.

Until next week...