News From The Library--October 27, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Kindergarteners loved hearing Erica Silverman's book Big Pumpkin. There's something really wonderful in seeingthe little guy save the day--a message that certainly resonates with this group! After a witch has planted a pumpkin, it grows so large that she can't get it off the vine and a series of characters try one at a time to pluck that pumpkin. "Drat!" says the witch as each one fails until the little bat comes up with a plan using teamwork. In the end they all get that pumpkin pie they crave and the witch plants another seed so they can do it again next year. Kindergarteners love the patterns and repetitions, and the great message of this story.

Also in the Library this week....

First Grade--First graders heard A Pumpkin Story by Mariko Shinju--one of the most charming little books I have ever read. It chronicles the story of a man who uses pumpkins for everything! He starts small with bowls and cups for pumpkin soup, moves on the furniture (a pumpkin bath tub???) and ends up building a town and a hotel--all of pumpkins! The illustrations are simple but delightful and students love this story.

Second Grade---Mrs. Seeple's class heard one of my favorites for this time of year--A Job for Wittilda by Caralyn Buehner. Poor Wittilda has 47 cats and no job....until she applies as the delivery person for Dingaling Pizza. To get the job, she has to win the delivery race but just as things are going swimmngly for her she finds a little kitten stuck in a tree. Should she rescue it now and risk losing the job or come back later? Of course she gets the kitten and amazingly the job, too. Now 48 cats enjoy pizza for dinner every night!

Third Grade--Lane Smith's new book Madame President was a big hit with the third graders this week. With its quirky illustrations and humorous text, this book is a great way to introduce the duties of the President of the United States.

Fourth Grade--As a follow up to our lesson on plagiarism last week, fourth graders learned how to cite the website they used for their endangered animals research. After a break next week for Halloween stories, they will write their paragraph and cite their source. Then when their art project is finished it will all be posted on our Research Blog.

Fifth Grade--Fifth graders synthesized their research on spiders into a Comic Life page. The assignment was to "be the spider" and they wrote a first person narrative using the facts they found. We had visitors that day from Apple Computer and several school districts and our guests were very impressed with the skill level and creativity of the fifth graders.

Sixth Grade--After writing a want ad for president, sixth graders moved on this week to writing a resume for either Barack Obama or John McCain. To keep things even, they drew their candidates name from a hat and then used a sheet of information from VoteSmart.org to compose a resume using a template from the software Pages. Although some were disappointed to pick the candidate they didn't think they would support, in the end they realized that it was important to research the other candidate if for no better reason than to convince them of their original choice.

News From The Library--October 13, 2008

WANTED: POTUS

Sixth graders have had a great time designing a "want ad" for President of the United States using their laptops and Pages software. We researched the qualifications for president and what his or her duties are and students then designed a flyer advertising the position. I was amazed and delighted by the creativity of the students and also the incredible motivation it is for them to work with this fantastic software. The results looked absolutely professional!

Next week, using the same software, students are going to write a "resume" for either Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain as if they are applying for the job in this "want ad." They will research using an excellent website Project Vote Smart that gives them unbiased and equally presented information about both candidates. Learning about the office and the facts about the candidates will make these future voters well prepared to make their choices when they are old enough to vote!

Also in the Library this week....

Kindergarten---There are spiders in the library this week! On display are all our spider books and Kindergarteners loved hearing Eric Carle's classic The Very Busy Spider.

First Grade--Are you scared of spiders? Or....would you like one for a pet? In Lydia Monk's fun book Aarrgghh! Spider! a little spider does all he can to convince a family that he'd make a wonderful pet. Too bad he decided to invite a few too many of his friends!

Second Grade--A spider's life is comically chronicled in Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin and second graders loved the humor in this book. Trying to convince them that a spider and a fly could be friends is a bit of a stretch but students were willing to give that cute little spider the benefit of the doubt.

Third Grade--No giving benefits of the doubt to the spider in The Spider and the Fly, a great book based on the poem by Mary Howitt and fabulously illustrated by Tony Di Terlizzi. Third graders were "creeped out" by that spider and understood the message of the book....don't trust strangers (especially if they have eight legs and you're a fly!).

Fourth Grade--Fourth graders continued their research on the endangered animal they have chosen for their art project. Stay tuned for the final posting of their art work and their research.

Fifth Grade--In order to prepare for using their laptops in the Library this year we did a little "housekeeping" this week. Students made a folder for their library work, bookmarked the Skills Blog, and set their Google image search to "Strict Safe Search." Next week they will do research on a spider of their choice and the following week they will "become" their spider in a Comic Life presentation.

Sixth Grade--see opening post.