News From The Library--January 28, 2008

(please press play)

Our First Video Book Review Of The Year!

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


In the Library this week:

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

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

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

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

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

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

News From The Library--January 21, 2008

Martin's Big Words

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

Also in the Library this week....

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

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

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

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

Fourth Grade--see opening post

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

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

News From The Library-January 14, 2008

When In Doubt, Doubt!

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

Also in the Library this week....


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


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

News From The Library--January 7, 2008

Why War Is Never A Good Idea

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

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

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

News From The Library--December 10, 2007

'Tis The Season

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

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

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

Also in the Library this week....

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

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

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

Third Grade--see opening post

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

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

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

Happy Holidays!

News From The Library--December 3, 2007

Will Books Disappear?

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

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

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

So that's how it works....

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

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


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

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


In the Library this week...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving 2007

photo by Judy Ariel 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

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

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

News From The Library--November 19, 2007

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

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


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

Those who did….

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

News From The Library--November 12, 2007

Take Me To Your Leader

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


Also in the Library this week....

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

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

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

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

Fourth Grade--see opening post

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

Until next week....

News From The Library--November 5, 2007

Web Drill!!!

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

Also in the Library this week....

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sixth Grade--see opening post

See you next week!

News from The Library--October 29, 2007

How Spooky Should We Go?

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

Also in the library this week.....

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

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

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

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


Happy Halloween (and don't get spooked!)

News From the Library--October 22, 2007

Balancing Books and Laptops

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

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

Also in the Library this week...

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

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

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

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

Until next week.....

News From The Library--October 15, 2007

EEEK! Spiders in the Library!!!!

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


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

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

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

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

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

See you next week!

News From The Library--October 8, 2007

Genre Scavenger Hunt

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

Also in the Library this week...


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

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

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

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

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

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

Sixth grade--see opening post.

Until next week....

News From The Library--October 1, 2007

Dictionary Balderdash!

In the library this week, the fifth graders brought their laptops for the first time. After talking a little bit about how we are going to use them and putting the online dictionary/thesaurus on their dashboards, we launched into a lively game of Dictionary Balderdash. For this game I created a Keynote with several words I was fairly sure the children didn't know. Each slide gave three choices of definition by using the word in a sentence. Students had to use the context to try to figure out which definition was the correct one and then vote for their choice. After voting they used their online dictionary to find out who was correct. The words ranged from quahog, to abject, to the final one--ethical. This led to our first discussion of what it means to be an ethical user of technology. We talked about downloading music, plagiarism, filtering and the idea that just because you don't get caught doing something unethical it is still the wrong thing to do. There is a great website coordinated by the National Cable Telecommunications Associates and Cable in the Classroom to help families and children make appropriate choices and stay safe while using the Internet. PointSmartClickSafe offers simple instructions, tips, and scenarios that can help parents and caregivers teach children to make good choices about Internet use. It's well worth checking out.


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

Kindergarten--This was our first time in the Library! After reading a short storybook called Manners in the Library by Carrie Finn, we spent some time touring the library, learning how to choose books, and checking out that first book! I had lots of fun trying to learn all those new names.

First Grade--Oh that coyote! Usually he's the trickster but in story Borreguita and the Coyote by Verna Aardema and Petra Mathers , the little sheep tricks the coyote time after time. This Mexican folktale is a great introduction for first graders into multicultural folklore and also gives them plenty of practice honing their prediction skills.

Second Grade--We all know the story of the Three Little Pigs. But have you ever considered the wolf's side of the story? This week we read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and at the end we weren't so sure the pigs had been telling the truth all this time! This is a fun way to introduce the literary device, point of view, to children. Next week we're really going to mix it up....and read the Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig!

Third Grade--What happens when a motorcycle gang meets the town librarian? In Library Lil by Suzanne Williams and wonderfully illustrated by Steven Kellogg, Lil has "saved" the town from too much TV when along comes Bust-em-up Bill and his gang. Infuriated by the lack of television, the storm the library. When they refuse to move their motorcyles so Lil can park the bookmobile, Lil surprises them by lifting those bikes and tossing them aside. (You see, as well as being an great librarian, she's incredibly strong, too.) By betting she couldn't do it and losing the bet, the gang has to read books and lo and behold, they become readers, too!

Fourth Grade--We went on an encyclopedia hunt this week using the print edition of our World Book Encyclopedia. After drawing a topic card from a hat, students had to find the encyclopedia, find the article, and write down four facts about their topic (complete sentences, of course). Next week we're going to do the same assignment using the online version of the encyclopedia and then compare the two methods.

Fifth Grade--see opening post

Sixth Grade--Sixth graders were at AstroCamp this week and from the looks of the photos they posted to their website, they had a great time!


Until next week.....

News From The Library--September 24, 2007

Best Friends

This week First Graders heard Laura Malone Elliott and Lynn Munsinger’s Hunter’s Best Friend at School -- one of those wonderful books that is entertaining, fun to read, has great illustrations, and has a wonderful lesson that is subtle yet important. What do you do when your best friend wants you to do everything they do? And what if some of those things are the wrong things to do? Peer pressure starts very early and discussing this with young children is a way to prepare them for the stronger pressures they will face, especially as teenagers. In the story Hunter’s friend Stripe is mischievous and funny but when Hunter goes along with something that he later regrets, he decides to be a best friend to Stripe and model good behavior in hopes that he will follow. I was impressed at how quiet the children were when I was reading that scene where Hunter had gone along with the wrong behavior….you could have heard a pin drop and that is pretty unusual for first graders! It’s my hope that these little lessons will lodge in their memories and will come back later when the stakes are so much higher.


Also in the Library this week…

Second Grade—Oh no….it’s the dreaded substitute Miss Viola Swamp! In what has become a classic, Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard, the kids in room 207 are the worst behaved class in the school. Their most grievous behavior? They were rude and silly during story hour! But Miss Swamp whips them back into shape and when Miss Nelson returns the class is more than happy to behave. Students love the last scene…..Miss Nelson’s little secret….and of course, I’ll never tell it either!

Third Grade—We all agree that we have a fine, fine school with fine, fine teachers, and fine, fine students…..but what if Dr. McCabe decided that we should go to school on Saturdays and Sundays and holidays and summer!!! This is what happens in Sharon Creech’s hilarious tale A Fine, Fine School. And as with all good stories, the subtle message is clear at the end…..too much of a good thing isn’t always best and we all need time to climb up a tree, and swing on a swing, and maybe just do…..nothing!

Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade—Both classes this week were introduced to the Battle of the Books and I’m happy to say we have some very enthusiastic readers who have checked out almost all of our Battle Books!

Sixth Grade—We played our ever-popular Library Jeopardy Game this week and had a great time. This is a fun way to learn some of the less exciting things about the library such as what’s on a spine label or how non-fiction books are shelved. Our daily double (in the category of Technology and the Internet) was….http. Do you know the question????

News From The Library--September 17,2007

Do You Remember What Book Got You Hooked?

This summer I got an email about a program called First Book. First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. They provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs.

This summer First Book was celebrating its 50 millionth book given to children in need. They put out a survey asking people to remember that one book that got them hooked on reading as a child and then they published a list of the top 50 books.

It’s available at : http://www2.firstbook.org/whatbook/top50.php

It’s really fun to look over this list….kind of like a trip down memory lane…..and I’m pleased to say that we have all those books in our Library today.

For more information about the valuable First Book Program, please visit their website at: http://www.firstbook.org/


And yes…it was Nancy Drew that got me hooked!!


In the Library this week, we had our first week of regular classes (except for Kindergarten which will start the week of Sept. 24). After going over the library rules, how to check out and return books, we were off to a great start. One change this year…..we’re going to try this out….each grade can check out as many books as their grade! Kindergarten and first grade will both have one book for one week, and all the other grades can check out the corresponding number of books to their grade for two weeks.


Here’s what went on this week in each class….


First Grade—As this was our very first meeting we got reacquainted with how the library works and how to find and check out books. It was great to see all the students again and hear how much they read and traveled over the summer!

Second Grade—The students at Sunrise Elementary school have a new librarian this year in Carmen Agra Dreedy’s The Library Dragon and watch out…..she’s really a dragon when it comes to protecting those library books. Nothing can be checked out, nothing can be touched until one little girl stumbles into the library and transforms the “dragon” into a wonderful librarian. After all, the library is for the children, but we can’t forget there’s still a little dragon in all librarians when it comes to protecting the books. This was a fun way to remind the students about book care practices and that taking care of the books means that they will be there for everyone to use.

Third Grade—Last year I purchased a wonderful book entitled Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen. It’s the charming story of a lion who enters a library and has a little trouble following all the rules. When the librarian gets hurt, a rule must be broken, and the lion is the one who saves the day. Before we read the story, we had fun looking at a Keynote presentation I made on the two lions—Patience and Fortitude--that “guard” the entrance to the New York Public Library. They are featured in the illustrations in the book.

Fourth Grade—Our Librarian Won’t Tell Us Anything! is the humorous book by Toni Buzzeo about Mrs. Skorupski who won’t tell fourth graders where the books are in the library…..she makes them look it up for themselves in the online catalog!!! This was an introduction for fourth graders into how our catalog works and how to find books on their own. Using our projector, students had a chance to practice how the catalog works and then they were off looking up books on their own!

Fifth Grade--This week fifth graders heard The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter. First we used Google Earth and started at our own school library and traveled to Basra, Iraq. The difference between our locations was sobering. Then I presented a Keynote with some actual pictures of the Central Library of Basra which was destroyed during the invasion of Iraq in April of 2003.

This interesting picture book tells the true story of Alia Muhammad Baker who saved over 70% of the books in the Central Library of Iraq by removing them night after night in her car and hiding them in her house and the houses of friends. Even though the library was destroyed by bombs, Alia managed to save over 30,000 books.

Books "are more precious than mountains of gold" says Alia, and the message of this book is both the great importance of books in our lives and the terrible effects of war on everyone. A portion of the book's sales will go toward helping rebuild Basra's library and if you are interested in helping this worthy effort you can do so by contributing to a fund administered by the American Library Association. Make checks payable to ALA with "Basra Book Fund" on the memo line, and send them to International Relations Office, ALA, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. (For more information, contact the ALA's International Relations Department at 1-800-545-2433 x 3201.)

Sixth Grade—Sixth graders were introduced the Battle of the Books Program this week. They saw a Keynote of a previous Battle and we discussed the list of 30 books that are this year’s Battle books. To access the list you can visit the County Schools website at: http://www.sbceo.org/~ims/botb/index.html

The Battle takes place in April 2008 so there’s lots of time to read as many of those books as possible!



Until next week……happy reading and I’m so glad we are Back to School!

Have a great summer....

This is my last post for the school year and what an exciting year it has been with all the new technology and our incredible laptop program. Many thanks to the Cold Spring School Foundation for their support in implementing that program and for taking it even farther for the next school year.

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

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

~Mrs. Pedersen

Summer Reading Lists

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

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

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah_treas_sh_nov.html
Jim Trelease’s list of short novels for read alouds. Short novels in this case are books that “...usually contain chapters, many more words than a picture book, but fewer than 100 pages. . . and shorter than the full-length novel.” Each entry contains brief blurb about the book.

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah_treas_ful_nov_p1.html
Jim Trelease’s list of novels for read alouds. Novels in this case are “...more complex than the short novels, contain more than 100 pages and are divided into chapters.” Each entry contains brief blurb about the book.

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

Battle of the Books 2008 Reading list
These are the 30 books that 4-6th graders will read in order to participate in next year’s Battle of the Books.
http://www.coldspringschool.net/component/option,com_uhp2/Itemid,98/task,viewpage/user_id,83/pageid,68/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Summer is coming...

Kindergarteners this week enjoyed Candace Fleming's delightful book, Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! and in the process learned about prepositions. Three bunnies find ways to get over and under and through all the fences Mr. McGreely builds around his garden to keep them from eating his newly planted vegetables. Students cheered for the bunnies as they delighted in the clever sound effects and vibrant, funny illustrations. In the end, the message is that sharing the bounty may be the best and perhaps munching on a carrot or two is a good idea too!



Also in the Library this week...

First Grade--Is it possible to get lost in the "Lost and Found?" Wendell and Floyd meet their new friend Mona while sitting outside the Principal's office waiting to be punished for missing an arithmetic test. (Who knew there would be a giant squid keeping them prisoner in the boys' bathroom that morning?) All three children disappear into the magical world at the bottom of the Lost and Found bin and their adventure pays off with three lucky hats and a new friendship. Mark Teague's bold illustrations and fanciful story addresses that age old question, What's at the bottom of the Lost and Found? and first graders are eager to hear next week's story, The Secret Shortcut.

Second Grade--With summer coming and trips planned, I thought it would be fun to read Margaret Mahy's hilarious story, The Three-Legged Cat. Tom, the cat, would love to roam the world but his owner would prefer a cat that "likes to sleep, and doesn't eat." Her rascal of a brother comes for his yearly visit, complete with his "molting, revolting Russian hat" that looked remarkably like Tom. In a serendipitous mix-up, Tom leaves on top the brother's head and the hat remains behind. And they all lived happily ever after!

Third Grade--With it's rollicking prose and hilarious illustrations, Sir Cedric by Roy Gerrard is always a favorite with third graders. The story of the gentle knight and the black-hearted villain, the princess in need of rescue, the battle, and the happy ending (complete with cucumber sandwiches) would make it easy to just see this as a pleasant tale, but the underlying theme of standing up to a bully is one that resonates with children. Stay tuned, third graders, next week we'll read Sir Cedric Rides Again.

Fourth Grade--In keeping with their studies of California, fourth graders first watched a Keynote presentation I made about the ghost town Bodie, California, and then heard Sonia Levitson's story, Boomtown. It was fun to try to imagine what life would have been like in those early towns of California during the gold rush and students were intrigued by how some of the early settlers made more money than the gold miners ever did just by using their ingenuity and finding the things the miners needed and selling them. In this delightful story, Amanda finds that baking pies leads to having a bakery, which leads to needing more pans, which leads to someone starting a store, which leads to a bank.......you get the idea. It was fun, too, for the students to see the pictures of Bodie and to figure out why Bodie didn't last.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders worked on finishing their research and writing their first drafts of their blog posts for The Research Blog. Next week, our last library time for this year, we'll finish them up.

Sixth Grade--This week was it! Our last library class! To celebrate we played a rousing game of Library Jeopardy. My best wishes to the Class of '07 !

This is the last regular posting on "Voices From the Inglenook" for this year......next week I'll post a list of links to some great summer reading lists. Thanks for all the loyal readers who have made the journey with me this school year. Have a great summer and we'll see you in September!