Stories from the Library: March 8-12

To prepare for Saint Patrick's Day, Kindergartners listened to Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato, an Irish folktale adapted and illustrated by Tomie DePaola. Jamie O'Rourke, the laziest man in all of Ireland, cannot be bothered to tend to such things as potato farming, even though his life depends on it. When his long suffering wife injures her back and cannot care for the praties, Jamie is at a loss. In Jack and the Beanstalk fashion, our lazy hero runs into a leprechaun who sells him magic potato seeds that grow into the biggest potato the town has ever seen. Jamie's problems turn from small to large as he and the entire town deal with their sudden potato wealth.


Preschool: In Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina, a peddler wears his wares atop his head. When he leans against a tree for a nap, a troop of monkeys swipe the stack of caps right off the peddler's head! The Preschoolers loved the silly, sound-filled interactions between the peddler and the monkeys.
 
Junior Kindergarten: When you're too small to reach the basketball hoop or swim out to the raft, you just may want to grow into a giant-- especially if you have an older brother who gets to have all the fun. Much Bigger Than Martin by Steven Kellogg approaches the classic big brother/little brother rivalry with gentle humor and illustrations that still seem fresh after 32 years. Our littlest library patrons laughed along with the little brother's antics and agreed that they sometimes wished they were bigger. This book also holds a soft spot for my family since my dad grew up with an older brother whose name just so happens to be Martin! 



Kindergarten: See opening post.


1st Grade: 1st Graders earned their class party for good library behavior this week. We had an extended check out time and watched a video of Edward Marshall's book Space Case.


2nd Grade: We read Remy Charlip's fun book Fortunately. This short and extraordinary story alternately uses the transitions words Fortunately and Unfortunately to introduce the, well, fortunate and unfortunate events. After unfortunately running into sharks, nearly landing on a pitchfork and digging into a strange ballroom, Ned eventually (fortunately!) makes it to his surprise party. 2nd Graders also created our own Fortunately/Unfortunately story that you can view here.


3rd Grade: We learned about another famous Italian this week in Michael the Angel by Laura Fischetto, which tells the story of the famous painter, Michelangelo. Even though Michelangelo's actions were not always angel-like , his artwork is a little glimpse of heaven. We ended our lesson by looking at some of Michelangelo's paintings and sculptures, pausing a bit to talk about the art of sculpting from a block of marble.



4th Grade: 4th Graders dove into a lesson about the Caldecott Award through one of this years' Caldecott Honor books, All the World, a poem by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Marla Frazee. One of the criteria of a Caldecott book is that the illustrations enhance and fit with the words. To test out this criteria, we read through the book twice, once without looking at the pictures and once with the pictures. During both read-throughs, students recorded words that described the style and mood. We charted our findings and saw how the pictures "fit" and bettered the existing poem.


5th Grade: "Here is my secret. It's quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes." The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Stories from the Library: March 1-5

In between sickness and holidays, I've fallen behind on my blogging...My apologies!

A palindrome is a word that is spelled the same forward and backward. When Bob unwillingly becomes the poster boy for palindromes in his classroom, he panics as he realizes that palindromes are all around him. Mom and Dad are Palindromes: a Dilemma for Words...and Backwards by Mark Shulman is a fun introduction to the world of palindromes. The forward-backward words hide throughout the edgy graphic illustrations and 2nd Graders had fun spotting them.We figured out that there aren't any palindrome names in 2nd Grade, but we did have fun saying our names backwards!

Preschool and Junior Kindergarten: Have you ever had a zower in your shower? How about a vug under the rug? To celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday week, we read There's a Wocket in my Pocket, a classic Seuss story highlighting the author's love of rhymes and nonsense words. During each reading I asked students to give me a thumbs-up every time they heard a made-up word. We put up our thumbs for Suess's yeps on the steps, the nooth grush on the toothbrush, the yottle in the bottle and the jertain on the curtain!

Kindergarten: Kindergarteners followed the clever quest of Ananse the Spider Man in A Story A Story by Gail E. Haley. In this brightly illustrated Caldecott winner, we learn how all the stories of the world came to the earth. Based on an African folktale, this book marks our first stop in a "world tour" of stories from the seven continents.

2nd Grade: See opening post.

3rd Grade: We lost ourselves in Galileo's world of stars in Peter Sis's Starry Messenger. Peter Sis, a Czech-born illustrator, author and filmmaker, is one of my favorite illustrators and the recipient of three Caldecott awards. Sis's detailed drawings are awash with soft watercolors and glow with the story of a man who dreamed of looking at the heavens.

5th Grade: A bit of truth from The Little Prince:

" Where are all the people?" The little prince finally resumed the conversation. "It's a little lonely in the desert..."

"It's also lonely with people," said the snake.