Wires and Lights in a Box

“This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck.”

~Edward R. Murrow in a speech to the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) convention in Chicago (15 October 1958)

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Computer Using Educators Conference in Palm Springs. After three full days of very worthwhile sessions I was lucky enough to finish up with a session by Gary S. Stager entitled “If Blogging is the Answer, What was the Question?” Mr. Stager is a provocative speaker, putting forth questions about the real value of our use of technology in education. It was very valuable for me to step back, so to speak, and look at the larger picture after attending a conference of great sessions with practical applications for teaching and a mind-boggling exhibit hall filled with over a hundred vendors displaying the latest new technology. Mr. Stager urged us not to passively accept this latest new technology, but to really evaluate how we can use it for truly innovative teaching and learning. We should not, in his words, deliver “old wine in a new bottle.”

He concluded with the above Edward R. Murrow quote, which is about television, of course, but could easily apply to computers today. It lingered in my mind as I drove home to Santa Barbara. And yes, I used some of this amazing new technology (Wikipedia) to find the quote this morning and to be sure I had it correct and the context in which it was spoken.

This is a challenging new world for education. And I’m glad to be a participant.


Before I left, we had two busy days in the Library.

Kindergarten—Mrs. Sickafoose’s classes was transfixed by the 1948 story by Dr. Seuss entitled Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose. It’s always amazing to me that our present day students with all the electronic and visual media available to them are still completely engrossed in the wonderful language and rhythm of Dr. Seuss’s words and the quirky originality of his illustrations.

First Grade—We read the fourth in our California Young Reader Medal nominees, The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle. When a boy wants a dog for a pet his mother tells him to find a dragon instead with hilarious consequences. The illustrations by Hanako Wakiyama are most intereting and have a decidedly mid-century modern feel to them.


Second Grade and Third Grade—Our fourth nominated book this week was Wild About Books by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. When the bookmobile goes to the zoo, the animals pick out books that match their interests perfectly and end up building their very own “Zoobrary.” Judy Sierra’s rollicking rhymes have just a touch of Dr. Seuss in them and the pictures from Marc Brown of the “Arthur” books add to the fun.

Fourth Grade--In preparation for Dr. Seuss' birthday on Friday, March 2, we read one of my favorite Dr. Seuss Books, The Lorax. While enjoying the eccentric story and illustrations, the fourth graders were able to see the message Dr. Seuss had in mind, and considering this book was written in 1971, it shows how prescient Theodore Geisel was. The current concerns about global climate change and our urgent need to take action were discussed by students. Ideas they had ranged from using alternative energy sources, to buying and driving hybrid cars, to recycling clothes. Some even hope they can someday design cars that could run on water!

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...

News From The Library--February 12, 2007

Research, Research, Research!

We are so lucky to have our new Encyclopedia Britannica Online as a resource for research, but we don't want to forget the value of our book version of the World Book. This week fourth graders worked on one of our favorite projects. In a tall top hat, I put a number of cards with topics on them. After pulling a card from the hat, fourth graders find the encyclopedia, and then the article about their topic. After reading the article they write four complete sentences about their topic in their own words. It was great to see with what ease they did the assignment this time. What researchers they are becoming. Anyone know what a nutria is? Just ask a fourth grader!

Our goal is to learn to research....and in this day and age that means to look at many sources and evaluate the authority of the sources. Print encyclopedias have an important role in the bank of resources we can draw upon. The internet is a fabulous source for updated and ever-changing facts.....but it is only one of many, and finding reliable information on the internet is becoming a much more refined skill than just typing in a search term on Google. Our World Book Encyclopedia will always have a place of importance in our library.

Also in the Library this past week....

Kindergarten--We are lucky to have Marni McGee, a well-known and well-loved children's author (and Santa Barbara resident), conducting a residency at our school over the next several weeks. In preparation, Kindergarteners heard the delightful story of Winston, the Book Wolf. Winston's a little eager for words but when Rosie teaches him that he can eat words with his eyes instead of his rather ferocious teeth, he becomes the favorite story lady at the Library. Devouring books becomes a good thing....such great message to children.

First Grade - Third Grade---we continued this week with our California Young Reader Medal nominees and read My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza. This time the fox is hilariously outfoxed by a piglet who ends up with a bath, and meal, and.....a massage!

Fourth Grade--see opening post

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders worked with the atlases this week and picked a state other than our own to research. We learned some fascinating information, especially the different state mottos. For example, can you translate the state motto of Massachusetts--"Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem?" ("By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.")

Sixth Grade--With Valentine's Day on the horizon, it seemed like a good idea to read the exquisite version of Cupid and Psyche written by M. Charlotte Craft and illustrated by Kinuko Y. Craft. With thoughts of the possibilities of being themselves pricked by Cupid's arrows in the near future, sixth graders listened with rapt attention and in the end understood the metaphorical meaning of the ending of the myth--from the marriage of Cupid and Psyche (love and soul) came their child, Joy.

Happy Valentine's Day to you, too!

News From the Library--February 5, 2007

Author Go Round 2007

Last Monday four sixth graders attended Author Go Round 2007 at the Santa Barbara County Schools Office. They listened to four children's book authors speak about their work and then they had a chance to meet in small groups with each author. Authors who participated this year were Marni McGee, Sherry Shahan, Joe Cepeda, and Michael Katz. It was a full day of fun and learning. The day culminated with lunch in the library with dessert by Mrs. Pedersen. (chocolate, of course!)

"I liked the Author Go Round because the authors told us how books are made (which is very interesting)."~Jared

" I had a lot of fun at the Author Go Round because I got to understand more about the author's ideas."~Bella

"I liked the Author Go Round because I got to experience the life of writers in their own eyes."~Jordan

I liked the Author Go Round because you can see the process of getting a book published."~Joshua

This week in the Library:

Kindergarten--Continuing our stories of Walter and William, we read No More Water in the Bathtub by Tedd Arnold and followed the hilarious adventure of William as his bathtub breaks loose and careens down floor after floor of his apartment building. We had lots of fun looking at the final picture as William floats down the street and imagining what adventures he might have next. What if William and his bathtub floated into our Library? Books might become surfboards?

Grades 1-3--This week we started one of our favorite projects in the Library--The California Young Reader Medal program. Each year 5 books are nominated by children, teachers and librarians all over the state. For the next 5 weeks we read each of the nominees and then vote for our favorite. Votes are tabulated and we declare our Cold Spring Winner and then our votes are sent to Sacramento to be counted with students' votes from all over the state. In May, the state winner is announced. This year's nominees are fantastic. They are:

The Best Pet of All by David LaRochelle. Illustrated by Hanako Wakiyama. (Dutton Children's Books, 2004)

My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza. ( G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2003)

Stanley's Party by Linda Bailey. Illustrated by Bill Slavin. (Kids Can Press, 2003)

Three Pebbles and a Song by Eileen Spinelli. Illustrated by S. D. Schindler. (Dial Books For Young Readers, 2003)

Wild About Books by Judy Sierra. Illustrated by Marc Brown. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004)

As we read each book we discuss the role of the author and illustrator and learn to state opinions and back them up with examples--all while enjoying some of the best of new books for children.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders are just finishing their California Mission studies and we read a delightful story written by Pam Munoz Ryan. Nacho and Lolita is the touching story of a pitacoche and a swallow who overcome obstacles to be together. Set in Mission San Juan Capistrano, the story tells about a magical bird who provides the beautiful colors of the mission gardens at the expense of his own beauty and by doing this his swallow, Lolita, can find the mission again upon her return.

Fifth and Sixth Grade--This week fifth and sixth graders had another chance to practice researching using our great new resource, Encyclopedia Britannica Online. After choosing a topic, students had to find information from the encyclopedia article, a magazine or journal article, and a website. All this can be done within the encyclopedia. One of the most interesting facts one researcher found this week was that Elvis Presley had a twin. Did you know that? The other important concept we learned and all agreed upon was that the easiest and best information came from the encyclopedia. The magazines and journals and websites were nice, but for finding facts, nothing beats the encyclopedia.

News From the Library--January 29, 2007

Information Literacy

As each day goes by I feel the urgent importance of teaching our students about information literacy. With all the information that's available to them, they need now and will need in the future good skills to evaluate the information they receive. Simply typing in a search term on Google is no longer enough. I read somewhere that getting information from that type of search is like trying to take a drink from a firehose! This week fifth and sixth graders practiced again their web site evaluation skills by using their laptops and the lesson on our Cold Spring School Library Skills Blog entitled "When in Doubt.....doubt!" After reviewing our criteria--authority, accuracy, objectivity, and currency---each student chose a website to evaluate from the list on the blog. At the end, we summarized our findings. Those who went to "bad" websites had to state what was wrong with them and what they would have wanted to find on them to make them a good site. Those who went to "good" sites had to defend their opinion. This is a lesson we'll repeat several times before the school year is over.

One of the most interesting comments made by a student was, "We should turn these guys in for making a misleading website!" Unfortunately, I told them, there are no "website policeman." They will have to be their own "policeman/woman" when it comes to looking at a website. These skills are so important for today's students.


Other classes in the Library this week:

Kindergarten--When I asked for a show of hands for how many students had heard these words from their parents---"No more jumping on the bed!" the response was unanimous. I also told them the story of my older brother who had to do that "one more jump" and ended up in the ER with a hysterical babysitter. So the stage was set for Tedd Arnold's book appropriately entitled No More Jumping on the Bed and kindergarteners loved the crazy tale (or was it a dream) of Walter and his bed crashing down, down, down through the floors in his apartment building. Next week, we'll have fun with Walter again in No More Water in the Bathtub!

First Grade--What makes a classic? First grade is exploring this idea and this week we read what has been called the first children's picture book, Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag. Published in 1928 and with black and white illustrations, this little book has lost none of its charm for today's children. They loved chiming in with the refrain, "....hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and millions and billions of cats!" When the story was over, we thought about why we liked it so much (the cats, the pictures, the story, the repetition) and why it has been a favorite for all these years. In future weeks, we'll continue this theme as we study a list of books deemed "essential literature" for children.

Second Grade--Second graders are busy working on their biography reports in class so this week I read them a charming biography of Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Mary Azarian. This beautiful book won a Caldecott Medal for its exquisite illustrations, and it tells the story of William Bentley and his passion for photographing snowflakes. I made a presentation for them on my laptop of his photographs along with some modern photographs of snowflakes. We were all entranced by their beauty and singularity.

Third Grade--This week we concluded our study of Cinderella stories with two books. In Princess Furball by Charlotte Huck, the beautiful princess uses her own bravery and intelligence to find happiness with her prince, and in The Rough Face Girl by Rafe Martin, the theme of the Cinderlla tale is beautifully presented in a Native American re-telling. As familiar as we all are now with the plot of the Cinderella story, we also discussed its enduring theme-- that of the beauty being on the inside, and actions showing beauty far more than physical attributes. After enjoying all these Cinderella tales, third graders now have a better understanding of the literary elements of plot and theme.

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders took a turn with Atlases this week and we looked at the structure of the atlas and then did a project finding out information about our own state, California. We discovered that 221 people live per sq. mile in California, while only 5 live per sq. mile in Wyoming. After thinking about it for a while, students came up with the answer: the weather! Although there are many breathtakingly beautiful places in Wyoming, maybe it's those cold, cold winters that make more people want to live in our mild climate in California, especially in our hometown of Santa Barbara!

Fifth and Sixth Grade--see opening post on information literacy.

Book Clubs are thriving!!! We have oodles of Bookworms, and many Red Dot members this week!

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?

Mr. Squirrel Fills in for an ailing Oliver, the Library Cat!

Mr. Squirrel, helped by one of our sixth graders, stepped in for Oliver, the Library Cat, who had a slight cough this week and just couldn't do another book review. Lucky for us, Mr. Squirrel and Oliver are good friends and he's a good reader, too. The book he's reviewing is Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.

A New Video Review by Oliver, the Library Cat!

Oliver has done it again....here's a new review of the book Artemis Fowl, the Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer. He's ably helped this week by a sixth grader.

News From the Library--January 15, 2007

Book Clubs Have Started in the Library!

This past week, we started our Library Book Clubs and already we have some enthusiastic members! Grades 1-4 have special clubs and grades 5 and 6 have chosen this year to continue doing video reviews on our blog as their club.

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. 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. As of the end of the first three days of clubs, we already have 9 Bookworms!

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 and submit it to Mrs. Pedersen. After completing 2 written book reports, members can choose a special prize. Congratulations to Marlon for being our first member!

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 and turn it in to Mrs. Pedersen. A new option (and one we are very excited about!) is to record a video report to be posted on our blog. 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 two reports or blog reports, members can choose a special prize.

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. Be sure to check for weekly updates on the Book Clubs.

Video Blog Review by Oliver, the Library Cat

Oliver, the Library Cat, the twin brother of Olive, makes his debut performance with a book review of Poppy by Avi. He is helped this week by a fourth grade student.

News From the Library--January 8, 2007

A New Year in the Library Has Begun!

We're back!! The Library was a busy place this week as classes began again after our nice Winter Break. Even though the sun in shining in Santa Barbara and pretty soon we might need to do some kind of rain dance, it was "chilly" in the Library for Kindergarteners and First Graders as we read penguin books this week.

Kindergarten--There were lots of chuckles as we read the story of Tacky The Penguin by Helen Lester. That Tacky!! He's an odd bird indeed. Finding the differences between Tacky and his companions was fun (a Hawaiian shirt on a penguin?) and his marching style is a little strange, but we all agreed that in the end when Tacky saves himself and his fellow penguins from the hunters, he was a good bird to have around. This humorous and fun story also gives a nice gentle lesson that being different can be something to be respected.

First Grade--Which Cinderella story has a glass flipper instead of a glass slipper? Cinderella Penguin by Janet Perlman. First graders had fun finding the similarities and differences in this version and the one they are more familiar with. As well as enjoying the story, it gave us the opportunity to begin a discussion of the literary element of plot.

Second Grade--We had fun learning about the parts of a book this week with an interactive Keynote presentation, complete with sound effects and quizzes. Using books from our own library, we located the cover, the spine, the table of contents, the index, and the glossary.

Third Grade--This week we started on our Cinderella Project. Over the next several weeks we'll read different versions of the Cinderella story as a way to discuss plot and theme as literary elements. We also get to see a multi-cultural snapshot of this famous story and find its enduring theme of the rewards of kindness and generosity. For our first stoy, we read Adelita by Tomie de Paola and found that instead of a glass slipper to help the prince find his Cinderella, it was a beautiful rebozo, and as always, in the end they "lived happily ever after."

Fourth Grade--Get out those scalpels! It's time to "Dissect a Book!" This week's skills lesson for fourth grade involved "taking apart" a non-fiction book in order to find the relevant information needed for a bibliography. With scalpels (pencils) in hand, they bravely found author's names, titles, publishing cities, publisher's names, and copyright dates. But one of their favorite parts was my story about my high school lab partner (fullback on the football team) who fainted when we dissected a frog in Biology lab!

Fifth and Sixth Grade--We are so lucky to have a new resource for research and with laptops in hand, the fifth and sixth graders were introduced to Encyclopedia Britannica Online, our new software subscription, which allows them access to three different versions of the Encyclopedia Britannica (elementary, middle school, and high school), plus a database of magazines and journals, and vetted websites for any topic. It is updated regularly--we checked the entry for Gerald Ford and James Brown and found they were current--and it's a wonderful, accurate, and safe place to do in depth research. Watch this week's Wednesday Word for information about how you can use this at home. This is now available to students and families 24 hours a day/7 days a week/ 365 days a year! It can be accessed from any computer--at home, in the classroom, or in the tech lab.

See you next week!

A New and Exciting Year!

Happy New Web 2.0 Year!

Welcome back! I hope you had a restful and peace filled holiday. As we don’t have any student work to post yet, I thought I’d take this week as an opportunity to direct you to an article in Time magazine about the interesting, challenging and exciting direction that education and specifically my role in educating your children is taking. The year 2007 looks to be year of tremendous change not only in technology but also in the way we as educators view our role. As a librarian I love information. I used to think the more the better. But with the overwhelming amount of information available to me now it becomes almost too much. How to sort through it? What’s accurate? What’s biased? If I feel overloaded, I can only imagine what it must be like for my students.

No longer is it enough to find information. Now we must be able to evaluate it in terms of its accuracy, reliability, and currency. No longer is it enough to “google” a word. We now must learn how to narrow our searches and then critically view the results. These are high level thinking skills but I am convinced that our students must begin to think in this way. The sooner the better.

Time magazine had an interesting cover article in the Dec. 18 issue. It’s entitled How to Build A Student for the 21st Century. It poses the ideas that schools need to be brought out of the 20th century in order to educate the students of today. Although I often feel that Time paints with rather broad brushstrokes, the article makes some good points. Take a little time to read it and let me know what you think.


I find that over the last few months my own reading habits have changed. In addition to reading books ( I’ll never give that up!), and the Los Angeles Times, I read about 15 to 20 blogs each day, getting information about things in which I’m personally interested as well as wonderful information and discussions about reading, literacy, teaching, and libraries. If you are interested in reading two of the very best, try Weblogg-ed by Will Richardson and 2 cents Worth by David Warlick.

This new world of Web 2.0 has indeed changed the way I see my profession, my place in my profession, my participation in my profession—all in an exciting, stimulating way. This is the world our children are growing up in. As an educator I must be part of that world so that I can find a way to guide them through it. Blogging, Wikis, Podcasts…..these are the tools they want to use and I want to both use them myself and make sure that I can teach them how to use them ethically and effectively. That’s the most wonderful part of being a teacher for me…..there’s always something new for me to learn. Here’s to a year of learning!

Sorry...no news this week...Dec. 12

Sorry to say, but I've been hit hard with the flu......not enough energy to do my regular posting this week. And as this is our last week before Winter Break, I'd like to wish you all Happy Holdiays and see you in January!

~Mrs. Pedersen

Our First Video Blog/Book Review!!

Look below and find our very first video blog/book review with Olive the Library Cat!

Just click on the play button below Olive's picture and you'll hear and see the review.

(Thanks to a wonderful 6th grader who wrote the review and loaned her lovely voice to Olive)

The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald

A book review of The Great Brain by John S. Fitzgerald

News From the Library--December 3

How Good is That Website?

This week fifth graders had a chance to put their critical thinking skills to use as we delved into what makes a good website. Our challenge is to sort through the enormous amount of information available on the internet and decide what is accurate, authoritative, and non-biased--especially if the information is being used for research purposes. Our lesson started with my telling the students 5 facts about myself (in an authoritative voice) and they had to determine from their prior and common knowledge which of the 5 facts were true and which were not. For example, I told them I love working with computers. Obviously true. Then I said my wedding anniversary was on April 31. After realizing that there are only 30 days in April, they concluded that that statement was untrue. Next we went to the Cold Spring School Library Skills Blog. After visiting the first site on the blog lesson, we evaluated it using a worksheet with specific criteria. We checked the domain type, the author, the author's credentials, the copyright date, the last update date, and looked for advertisements or commercials. If you go to the Skills blog, you'll see that the two sites we studied were both about the planets but their "goodness" was quite different. Next week, on their own, students will evaluate several sites listed in part 2 of the lesson. Sixth graders will do this lesson after the first of the year (there were several holiday conflicts for them this week and the next.)

I feel very strongly that becoming "information literate" is a critical skill in the world in which our children are today and will be in the future. We'll keep working on it during the school year.

Kindergarten--In Kitten's First Full Moon, a Caldecott Award winning book by Kevin Henkes, we not only enjoyed the story of a kitten mistaking the moon for a bowl of milk, but we studied how Mr. Henkes made the kitten's expressions go from sad, to curious, to happy with just the change of a line. These wonderfully expressive pictures are done with the simplicity of a true artist and it was fun for the children to see how they mirror the spare, yet eloquent text.

First Grade--In Rosemary Wells' book, Shy Charles, a quiet mouse resists all his parents efforts to make him more outgoing. From ballet to football, they try their best to bring him out of his shell, only to have Charles remain his shy self. But when the chips are down, and he needs to rise to the occasion, Charles comports himself with great success. This is a lovely story that children can relate to, especially its message that not everyone is outgoing but that doesn't mean they aren't competent and successful.

Second Grade--Second graders met Strega Nona this week in Tomie dePaola's classic story of the Italian "grandmother witch" who takes care of the town's needs. After hiring some help in the form of Big Anthony she leaves town with the admonition not to use the magic pasta pot. Students loved the humor of what happens when (of course) Anthony disobeys and after finishing the story, they understand the phrase "let the punishment fit the crime." Poor (fat) Anthony!

Third Grade--We had fun researching famous people using the World Book Encyclopedia. After a review of how to use guide words, they chose names out of the hat and then busily found their person in the encyclopedia and then wrote three facts about their person. Shoeless Joe Jackson was one of our favorites!

Fourth Grade--When fourth graders came into the library an image of Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa was projected on the screen. We began our lesson by telling what we knew about this famous painting but no one had heard about the strange thing that happened to her in the early 1900's. The Stolen Smile by J. Patrick Lewis and Gary Kelley is the true story of how the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911 and wasn't discovered again for 28 months in the possession of an Italian man who felt she should reside in Italy. Beautiful illustrations and the first person narrative of the thief made this a very enjoyable tale.

Fifth Grade--see first posting.

Sixth Grade--After reviewing how our atlases are organized, sixth graders had a good time researching several facts about any state other than our own. We had quite a variety of interests ranging from Hawaii to Massachusetts. Do you know that the motto of the state of Hawaii is: Ua mau ke ea o ka aina I ka pono? Better yet, can you say it?

Until next week....(we're getting reading for holiday stories....)

~Mrs. Pedersen

A Message of Thanks

Photo by Judy Ariel 2006

A message of thanks.......

This being the season for reflection and thanks, I just wanted to take a few lines here to express my gratitude. I’d like to thank our school administration--Dr. McCabe and the school board--for the tremendous support for both the library program and our technology program. Without this wonderful laptop on which I am now composing, I’m not sure this blog would have been “born.” Also I’d like to thank the Foundation for the support for the 1:1 laptop program that has revolutionized my ability to teach 21st century research skills to our students.

Thank you to the Parent Club and all the parents and children who work so hard to support their efforts. Without you we wouldn’t have the hundreds of new books in the library each year, not to mention the fun additions like our new bean bag chairs. Thank you to Rachel Moore and Nancy Eaton (and all the previous Book Fair chairwomen) who work so hard each year to bring the joy of reading to our students and to support our Library program. Thank you to the classroom teachers who tirelessly work to inspire our students and prepare them so well that it makes my job a joy.

I was having dinner with my older son a while back and we were talking about careers--choosing them, working at them, making those hard decisions to balance personal, intrinsic rewards with monetary rewards. I told him that there are times when I’m walking around our campus, particularly in the older parts of the building, and I’m aware this unique “school fragrance.” Many times as it drifts into my consciousness I have this thought:

I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

That is something to be truly grateful for. As a child, I loved school, loved books, loved reading. I have my own elementary school teachers to thank for that. Special thanks to Mrs. Barker, my fourth grade teacher, and Mrs. Dorsey, my sixth grade teacher. Wherever you are, you’d be very happy to see where I am now.

And as always, I am grateful for my health. February of next year will mark my five year anniversary as a breast cancer survivor. Every day is a gift for me. Thank you for letting me share some of that time with your children.



We had a short week in the Library and not all classes got a chance to come. But those who did were:

First Grade—Miss Ishikawa’s class was worried. In the delightful Thanksgiving tale by Eve Bunting, A Turkey for Thanksgiving, it looks as if the turkey has met his doom when Mr. Moose promises Mrs. Moose a turkey for their dinner. Imagine his relief (and the students') when Turkey is seated at the table, not on the table, and gratefully wishes us all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Third Grade—Mrs. Villa’s class had fun listening to Turkey Pox by Laurie Halse Anderson. Poor Charity discovers she has chicken pox on the way to Nana’s house for her favorite thing of all—Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. As they arrive back home, it looks as if all is lost until Nana arrives on a snowplow with a very unusual turkey—complete with red spots all over it. By the time we finished reading, we were all hungry and looking forward to our own Thanksgiving feasts.

Fourth Grade—For a change of pace, Mr. Orr’s class heard the story of Turkey Girl by Penny Pollack. This is a Zuni Indian Cinderella story and the evocative chalk pastel illustrations by famed illustrator Ed Young add to the almost somber mood of the story. At the end, students discussed how plot works as a literary device, and they found examples of similarities and differences in this story and the more traditional Cinderella story.


I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I certainly did.

~Mrs. Pedersen

News From the Library--November 20

What happens when the state of Kansas is bored? Miss Fargas’ 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…

We also had time to explore a great website called U.S. Geography Puzzles and test our new-found knowledge of the 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….

Kindergarten—Mrs. Campbell’s class heard a story to get us in the mood for next week’s famous Turkey Trot. In Cynthia Rylant’s, The Great Gracie Chase, a little dog who likes it quiet is disturbed by house painters and leads the entire town on a chase. Mark Teague’s wonderful illustrations really enhance the story.

First Grade—Miss Ishikawa’s class heard the story of The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza and were delighted to find out that while the wolf thought he was fattening up the chicken to make into his stew, instead he was feeding 100 little chicks who would eventually call him “Uncle Wolf.”

Second Grade—Mrs. Seeple’s class enjoyed Raising Dragons by Jane Nolan, and we call agreed that having a dragon of our own to take us on rides above the land would be the best thing yet. This gentle story of how a girl has to let her best friend go back to his own kind is sweetened at the end when she gets to take back a wagon full of dragon eggs to raise again.

Third Grade—(see first part of post)

Fourth Grade—no classes this week

Fifth Grade—After studying Native Americans in social studies, the fifth graders had a good appreciation for the legend I read them this week: Buffalo Dance: a Blackfoot Indian Legend by Nancy Van Laan. This retelling of a complex legend explains the mythical origin for the sacred buffalo dance of the Blackfoot people and is beautifully illustrated with pictographs of Blackfoot patterns and designs.

Sixth Grade—no classes this week

Happy Reading!

~Mrs. Pedersen

Thank you, Parent Club!!--Nov. 13

We Love Our New Bean Bag Chairs!!

Thanks to the generosity of our Parent Club we have two new places in the Library to cozy up and read. Everyone agreed they are really fun and really cool. So once again, your contributions make our library program ever more special.

This week in the Library:

Kindergarten: If you're a frog and you want to jog, well you certainly have to have the right outfit. In Finklehopper Frog by Irene Livingston poor Finklehopper finds out that it's not the clothes that make the man. After being teased by other joggers, he finds out that what he does best is hop, not jog, and there's room for his style. This story has a gentle message about not only recognizing your own strengths but being tolerant of others and their differences. The illustrations by Brian Lies are fantastic! (Mrs. Sickafoose's class went to the wonderful assembly by Michael Katz, storyteller, this week during their library time and were entertained by three wonderful stories told only as Mr. Katz can.)

First Grade: One of my favorite children's authors and illustrators is Leo Leonni. I remember using his books in my first classroom back in 1972. My own children (now 26 and 30!) loved his books as well. The imaginative illustrations using collage techniques, and his spare prose set the tone for the lovely messages in his books. In first grade this week we read Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse which tells the story of a little mouse who thinks he'd love to be a toy, only to discover that by his generosity he gets an even greater gift when he changes his mind as he's granted that wish.

Second Grade--Mrs. Seeple's and Ms. Warner's class have been studying insects so for this week we read the amazing story Leaf Men written and illustrated by William Joyce. Mysterious things happen in the garden and only the Leaf Men can save the day. The suspenseful story combined with Mr. Joyce's unique illustrations make this book a favorite of ours.

Third Grade--Third Graders played "Name That Book" this week (see last week's post for a description of the game) and enjoyed learning about various reference books in the library. The almanac was their favorite!

Fourth Grade-- Who is that guy, Mr. Melvil Dewey?? And what is the Dewey Decimal System? Fourth graders had fun watching a Thinkquest presentation called "Dewey and the Alien" and learned about why Mr. Dewey came up with his method for classifying books. Then we had a little scavenger hunt in which students drew a card from a deck and had to find a book in our collection that matched the Dewey 100s group that was on their card.

Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade--It was another fun week with our laptops as students learned about making bibliography citations using Citation Maker. I don't know about you, but making a bibliography was about my least favorite part of writing a report. Thanks to modern technology there are bibliography makers available on the Web and the one we used is one of the best. It follows the MLA protocol and can be used for various books and media. If you have junior high or high school students at home, you might want to try this out with them as well. There's a link to two Citation Makers on my website in the Resources page. For their assignment this week, students tried out making a citation for a book. The lesson is on the Cold Spring School Library Skills Blog if you'd like to take a look. Just scroll down to the posting for October 31 entitled "Make a Bibliography with Citation Maker."

Until next week....and thanks for all your positive comments about the blog. It means alot to me to hear from you.

~Mrs. Pedersen

Our First Blog Review!!

A Blog Review by Olive
(with the help of a very nice fifth grader!)

Hello! As you might remember, my name is Olive, The Library Cat. This week I'm very excited that a fifth grader has helped me blog a review of a wonderful book, Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes . (I especially liked the title even though I don't like water very much.)

I hope this is the first of many blog reviews to come!

Meow for now,

Olive, The Library Cat

BOOK REVIEW

Book Title: Olive’s Ocean

Author: Kevin Henkes

Published: 2003

Age group: 10-13 year olds

Olive’s Ocean was about a girl named Martha who gets a note from Olive’s mother a few weeks after Olive gets hit by a car and dies. The note says that Olive would have liked to be Martha’s friend and that she would have loved to go to the ocean. The story is about Martha’s struggles and things she discovers about Olive’s past.

My favorite part was when Martha painted Olive’s name on Olive’s front steps with water from the ocean. This was her way of bringing the ocean to Olive. The ocean water she collected in a jar she called Olive’s Ocean.

Yes, I would recommend this book to a friend. I think it is an interesting story about friendship and journeys.

News From the Library--Nov. 6

Web Drill!!

This week fifth and sixth graders participated in our first ever 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. So I created our new Cold Spring School Library Skills Blog for this lesson. 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.


Kindergarten—In Pamela Duncan Edwards delightful story, Livingstone Mouse, a small mouse must make his way in the world to build his own nest. Having decided China is what he’s looking for, he stumbles across many wrong choices until finally landing in the perfect spot (a China teapot). Students had fun seeing real world items though the point of view of a mouse and also got a start in understanding the concept of homonyms.

First Grade-- Can cows fly? Well, in The Cow Who Wouldn’t Come Down by Paul Brett Johnson, not only can Gertrude fly, but she doesn’t want to come down. After several hilarious tries to coax her down by her owner, Miss Rosemary, jealously wins out when Miss Rosemary creates a “Trojan Cow” and finally Gertrude can’t resist reclaiming her realm. But watch out for the farm machinery…have you ever seen a cow driving a tractor?

Second Grade—What if Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk had been a girl named Kate? In Mary Pope Osborne’s (of the Magic Treehouse fame) Kate and the Beanstalk, second graders got a chance to compare and contrast the two stories and many decided that maybe Kate’s story had the best ending.

Third Grade—We read Michelle Knudsen’s absolutely wonderful new book, The Library Lion, and learned that occasionally not following the exact rules in the library is a good thing. We also went on the Santa Barbara County Education Office Student Portal and explored the many resources available to our students. If you would like to try it out at home go the The SBCEO Portal and login in as: coldspringstudent. The password is: dolphins. You’ll have access to the World Book Online and other great educational resources.

Fourth Grade—This week we played our ever popular game, “Name That Book!” After reviewing different types of reference books in the library using a game I made in Keynote and projected on our screen, students had the chance to try out real life situations and decide in which reference book they would find their answer. For example, "If you’d like to buy your mother a really, really nice birthday present….maybe something with her birthstone in it....in which book would you find out what her birthstone is?"

Fifth and Sixth Graders did the Web Drill! (See the opening post.)

Until next week…..happy reading and happy blogging! Thanks to all who have emailed me about the blog. And leave a comment on the blog! I'd love to hear from you as a fellow blogger!

Happy Halloween from the Library!--October 30

Fourth graders are spooked!!

Happy Halloween!

This past week we had fun--just lots of fun--reading from our wonderful collection of Halloween stories. There are so many, it's hard to pick our favorites.

First graders giggled to the story of Porkenstein by Kathryn Lasky in which one of the surviving pigs from another familiar tale decides to create a friend since his two brothers are long gone and he's lonely. After several attempts he creates a huge pig who not only eats him out of house and home, but almost eats the home itself! But on Halloween night, his new "friend" proves to be a valuable one and after one familiar wolf is dispatched with ease, the two take off trick or treating together, friends forever. The illustrations in this book are wonderful and it makes such a fun read aloud.

Kindergarten--What would you do if your little sister accidentally switched costumes with you and instead of being Captain Zigg, Space Martian pilot, you had to dress as.....oh,no....a ballerina in a pink tutu!! This is what happens to Gilbert in Diane DeGroat's Trick or Treat Smell My Feet and kindergarteners loved how Gilbert made the best of it.

Second Grade--We felt like we were looking at a photo album in Susan Wojciechoski's fun story The Best Halloween of All. After years of wearing costumes lovingly made but uncomfortable to wear, Ben decides when he's seven that the time has come for him to make his own costume which he does with a grocery bag and paper towel rolls. To him, it is the best costume ever, not to mention he earns bonus points for using recycled materials!

Third Grade--Mark Teague has once again put Mona, Wendall, and Floyd in One Halloween Night, this delightful story about a Halloween night that starts out with strange happenings and ends up a wonderful mix of supernatural powers and putting some bullies/witches in their place. The bright, colorful illustrations make this book a great read aloud.

Fourth Grade--From Spain comes the tale of Esteban and the Ghost by Sisyl Hancock. In a haunted castle, Esteban, a simple tinker, faces the ghost who has scared many men to death, and wins the gold, silver and copper coins. The rollicking story and clever illustrations kept the attention of all and it was interesting to read a Halloween story from another culture.

Fifth Grade-How many times have children been told to pick up their own things? In Bruce Coville's wonderfully funny/scary story "Duffy's Jacket" three children find themselves in a lot of trouble when Duffy forgets his jacket. This story is so cleverly written that while I was getting close to the climax of the tale, you could hear a pin drop in the library. After finishing the story we had fun "de-constructing" it and seeing just how the author built that amazing tension at the end using short descriptive sentences in a rhythmic buildup. (This story can be found in Alice Lows's great collection of scary stories for older children, Spooky Stories for a Dark and Stormy Night)

Sixth Grade-We all know R.L. Stine for his Goosebumps series, but in a collection of stories he edited called Beware! he included one of his own creations, "The Surprise Guest," guaranteed to chill your bones. Not to give it away, suffice to say that the sixth graders also got very, very quiet toward the end of the story and all will be checking out their Halloween costumes before putting them on tomorrow night!

Happy Halloween to all!

News From the Library--October 23

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween.....

Pumpkins, black cats, witches, ghosts and goblins, and lots of Halloween books were all over the library this week as we head toward Halloween. And this week was also the "Week of the Hat." Once a month, (after I've sent out overdue notices the previous week) we have drawings in each class (grades 2-6) to reward one lucky student who has at least one book checked out and no overdue items. Student's names are put in a hat, a card is drawn, we check that lucky student's name on the computer and if all is well, a small prize is given. I'll do this each month during the school year. (K and 1 students will start in January as they are still getting used to the idea of checking out and returning books) This little incentive has worked wonders to keep our books circulating and returning in a timely manner, and several long lost books have even been suddenly found!

Last week in the Library:

Kindergarten--What happens when a witch grows a huge pumpkin and when she tries to harvest it to make her favorite pumpkin pie she can't get it off the vine? In Big Pumpkin by by Erica Silverman and S.D. Schindler the tiny bat saves the day. This is a fun, cumulative story with a nice message about the value of cooperation. Kindergarteners were very excited about their upcoming visit to the pumpkin patch, too.

First Grade--In a not-too-spooky haunted house, two escaped jailbirds encounter a variety of halloween creatures in Halloween House by Erica Silverman and Jon Agee. This clever rhyming story also introduces the concept of counting down and first graders loved getting into the rhythm as the story progressed.

Second Grade--What is Wittilda the Witch going to do in order to feed her 47 hungry cats? Delivering pizza on her broom is the hilarious answer in A Job for Wittilda by Caralyn Buehner and Mark Buehner. Not only is the story a lot of fun, but on each page is a hidden spider, and in the margins a concurrent visual story of a cat and a mouse! This is one of our favorite Halloween books!

Third Grade--Most of us are very familiar with Chris VanAllsburg's Polar Express but he has also written and illustrated (as only he can) a very interesting book perfect for Halloween. The Widow's Broom is a gentle and dryly humorous tale that touches on the idea of bullying and its consequences. Sepia-toned illustrations form a perfect complement. Not a book to be missed!

Fourth Grade--As with the fifth graders last week, I introduced the fourth graders to the blog and encouraged them to try their hands at book review blogging. After viewing a presentation on blogs in general, we tried our collective hand at a mock blog review. I'm looking forward to their contributions.

Fifth Grade--Get out those scalpels (pencils) and start dissecting those books! Fifth grade worked this week on "dissecting" a book in which they found all the locations of information needed for bibliography entries. This is in preparation for another lesson on making a bibliography. And once again they asked me to tell the story of how my high school lab partner (a fullback on the football team) fainted when we were dissecting a frog.....

Sixth Grade--After bringing their laptops to the Library (and I must compliment them on how well they are treating their laptops!) we had a short lesson on blogs, including the ethical ways to post to a blog, and then they had time to explore this blog and to learn how become bloggers of book reviews.

Until next week....happy reading!

News From The Library--October 16

Introducing......our resident book reviewer.....Olive, The Library Cat!

Starting soon, we will have book reviews from students and they will be posted with the "help" of our library mascot, Olive, The Library Cat. A little history about Olive....I was scouting around some garage/estate sales in Montecito one Saturday morning and at one house perched up high on an old bookshelf was this amazing stuffed animal. It looked so real I almost thought it was a pet cat. As it turned out it was for sale (for a great price, I might add!) and I knew she had to be mine. When I brought her home, I thought she'd be fun to keep in the Library and she could reside on the little wicker couch in the Inglenook. I made the mistake of temporarily setting her down on the floor in my living room and soon after heard growling and hissing sounds. My own cat, Katy, (a.k.a queen of the house) did not like her presence one little bit! So Olive had to sit in my car for the rest of the weekend until she came home to the Library. The Kindergarten students named her after one of our favorite books, That Olive! by Alice Schertle. Now she sits in the Inglenook and all the children enjoy her very much.

For safety reasons I felt it would be a good idea not to publish student's names on the blog for now as I am still pretty new to blogging myself. So from time to time students will submit blog reviews to me and I will post them using Olive as their pseudonym. I'll be sure to let each student know when their review will be posted. So keep an eye out for Olive's first review!

This week in the Library:

Kindergarten--We're warming up for those pumpkin patch visits and reading By the Light of the Halloween Moon by Caroline Stutson and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. This delightful poem is a lilting cumulutative tale in which a series of Halloween creatures try to nibble on a little girl's toe. We also read A Pumpkin Story by Mariko Shinju (which thankfully made it back to the Library just in time after a prolonged absence!) This lovely story is about a man who makes an entire community with the pumpkins he has grown from a few seeds. The engaging illustrations delighted the children and sparked their imaginations about what they might do with pumpkins. We also did some virtual pumpkin carving which the students agreed was fun but not as messily fun as the real thing.

First Grade--Remember that great song, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly? We have a Halloween book version called There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro and first graders loved comparing the two and chanting along with the parade of Halloween creatures.

Second Grade--One of our favorite silly stories for this time of year is Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini. Gritch, the Witch, wants piggie pie but she doesn't bargain for the clever pigs at Old MacDonald's Farm. The illustrations by Howard Fine are large and a little outrageous which only adds to the fun. The ending required a little knowledge of fairy tales and it was fun to see the "light bulb go on" for the children.

Third Grade--Third graders worked with encyclopedias this week and after drawing topics from our favorite hat, they found the correct encyclopedia, read a short article about their topic, and then wrote 3 sentences (complete sentences, that is) about their topic. They also learned the importance of returning the encyclopedias in correct order for the next person who came to use them.

Fourth Grade--As last Monday was Columbus Day, fourth graders listened to an interesting alternative version of the Columbus story. Encounter, by acclaimed author Jane Yolen, is written from the point of view of a Taino Indian boy and gives students an idea of what it must have been like for the native people living on the islands Columbus claimed. Evocative illustrations were done by one of our favorite illustrators, David Shannon. An interesting discussion followed about point of view and being able to look at historical events from more than one angle.

Fifth Grade--In preparation for blogging book reviews, fifth graders had a presentation on blogs. With a Keynote presentation as our starting point we discussed how blogs were different from websites, the safety and ethical issues related to posting or commenting on blog, and then saw our Library Blog. Together we followed a blog review template and did a mock review so they could have practice before doing their own blog reviews. I'm looking forward to receiving their submissions. They were happy to have Olive, our Library Cat, as their pseudonym, and yes....they now really know what the word pseudonym means!

Sixth Grade--I missed the sixth grade this week as they were happily off to camp!

I have compiled a list of fun online sites for Halloween and they are available on paper in the Library or at the following links:

Virtual Pumpkin Carving
Cyberhaunt
The Pumpkin Farm
Starfall pumpkin

Costume Game
Ghostina

Hangman Game
Halloween Hangman

Unitl next week.......

News From The Library--October 9

Two 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 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.

Kindergarten--Mrs. Sickafoose's class had the wonderful experience of the Ensemble Story Book Theater's presentation of Alice in Wonderland during their Library time this week. Mrs. Campbell's class got the chance to be "book reviewers" of a new book Dinosaur, Dinosaur by Kevin Lewis. With the funny rhyming story and the excellent illustrations this book got a resounding "thumbs up."

First Grade--What happens if you're a sheep who can't sleep? Counting sheep doesn't seem quite right (at first). In Russell, the Sheep by Rob Scotten, Russell tries all kinds of ways to get to sleep. In the end he finds that counting sheep really does work best, only by the time he's asleep everyone else is just waking up!

Second Grade--We continued this week with our lesson on point of view with the hilarious story The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugene Trivizas. In this twist on the story, the pig is the "bad guy" and surprisingly the most fragile house turns out to be the best. In the end, the unlikely former enemies find a creative way to live happily ever after.

Third Grade--The term, "rocks in his head" usually has a slightly negative meaning but as the title of Carol Otis Hurst's book, it takes on a wonderful meaning. In this story, based on her own father's life, she shows how living through the Depression couldn't dampen the inquisitive spirit of her father and his passion for knowledge. It tells how he went from being a custodian at a museum to becoming a curator of mineralogy there, all because of his love of learning and his love of rocks.

Fourth Grade--This week fourth graders were introduced to the 2007 Battle of the Books and there were many enthusiastic students wanting to give it a try and read those 30 books by next April. For the list of books please see the County School website page on the Battle of the Books. Meetings will start in January 2007.

Fifth Grade--see opening post.

Sixth Grade--As the fifth grade did a few weeks ago, sixth graders played Musical Genres this week. I added a few more genres to their game to correspond with their classroom reading assignments. I also shortened the time with each genre to make it a little more challenging. They enjoyed purusing the books in the different genres even finding the two little "tricks" I added to demonstrate that some books can cover two genres at the same time.

Website of the Week: Exploring Nature. Great database for those animal reports!

See you next week!