News From The Library--March 17, 2008

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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.

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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.