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