News From the Library--Feb 8, 2010

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--January 9, 2009

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!

News From The Library--September 22, 2008

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--January 22, 2007

It was a busy week in the Library with lots of new Book Club members in both the Bookworm Club and the Red Dot Club. We also had some great sessions in fourth and sixth grade learning how to research with our new Encyclopedia Britannica Online and how to evaluate web sites.

Kindergarten--It was cold this week in Santa Barbara and a lot of us were imagining what it would be like if it snowed. We're not used to those chilly, chilly temperatures! Kindergarteners loved hearing Steven Kellogg's The Missing Mitten Mystery and trying to figure out what happened to Annie's mitten. Was a mouse using it as a sleeping bag? Could she plant her remaining mitten and grow a mitten tree? In the end, the mystery is solved in a "heart-warming" way as her mitten turns up as the heart of the snowman she had built.

First Grade--Almost all of us have heard the story of Jack and the Beanstalk but Steven Kellogg's version is by far one of our favorites. The illustrations are wonderfully detailed and add great dimension to his rollicking text. I'm not sure who had more fun--me reading it or the children listening to it. This is the beginning of a unit for first graders on what has been called "essential children's literature" and in the coming weeks we'll discuss what makes a story a classic and read some of the best examples. In our high tech world of today we sometimes forget what makes a classic story and Jack and the Beanstalk is a stellar example.

Second Grade--On the surface, David Shannon's story, A Bad Case of Stripes, is a funny tale of a girl who finds herself changing in the blink of a eye to correspond to what those around her say. The illustrations, with their amazing color and sense of humor, add to the dramatic rhythm of the story. But underneath the story is the gentle reminder that we should all be ourselves, most especially if we want to eat lima beans when none of our friends do.

Third Grade--We continued our multi-cultural exploration of Cinderella stories with The Irish Cinderlad by Shirley Climo. This one really turns the story on end by having the main character an Irish goatherd with very big feet. The fairy godmother turns out to be a speckled bull and the ball is not a dance but a dragon slaying!! There's no glass slipper and the princess not the prince does the searching with a big black boot. But of course, she finds her "Cinderlad" and they live happily ever after. We had fun finding the similarities and differences in the plot and third graders are getting a clear understanding of this literary element.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders were introduced to our new Encyclopedia Britannica Online and learned how to sign in on any computer and then research a topic in the appropriate encyclopedia, in journals and magazines, and in the websites that are vetted and linked to the encyclopedia.

Fifth Grade--This week we played our very low-tech version of Library Jeopardy! and had a lot of fun. (Sometimes it's nice to take a break from those laptops much as we all love them) Students break into two teams and each team member chooses a category. I give the answers to a question relating to our Library. This has become a really fun way to learn some of the....how shall I put this....more boring aspects of library skills instruction. In one group the boys had a healthy lead only to be tempted by a "daily double" and betting all their points. They lost everything on this question. Can you do it? The answer is: The first name of the man who invented the numbering system for non-fiction books. So the question would be.....(see the end of the post for the answer)

Sixth Grade--Using our Cold Spring School Library Skills Blog sixth graders went through the first part of the lesson on Web Site Evaluation. After reviewing the criteria for evaluation-- currency, accuracy, authority, and purpose--we evaluated two websites as a group. Next week students will have a chance to put their critical thinking skills to use and evaluate websites on their own. If you'd like to look at the lessons, just follow the link to the Skills Blog and look for the lesson entitled, "When in Doubt.....Doubt."

Until next week.....

Oh, yes....the Jeopardy answer.....the correct question would be: What is Melvyl?