Stories from the Library: May 17-21

Junior Kindergartners were acquainted with Jeff Brown's classic character Flat Stanley this week. When a bulletin board falls on Stanley Lambchop during the night, he discovers that there are some advantages to being half an inch thick-- like being mailed to and from California! But being used as a kite and getting stuck in a tree isn't so fun for Stanley. In the end, Stanley's little brother Arthur saves the day with some quick thinking and a bicycle pump. Flat Stanley continues to have adventures in his flattened form-- many teachers, students and parents around the country and around the world have embraced the Flat Stanley Project, taking Stanley to far-off places and photographing his travels. You can see some of Stanley's trip photos here on the Flat Stanley website. I gave Junior Kindergartners their own Flat Stanley to color and take home, with the hope that he will go on many adventures this summer!

Kindergarten: Kindergartners finished up their continent journey with Moon Rope, a Peruvian folktale (representing South America) retold and illustrated by Lois Ehlert. Ehlert's bold, colorful collages mimic Peruvian style and accompany this fun story of Fox and Mole who try to climb to the moon on a braided grass rope.


1st Grade: 1st Graders listened to the true story of Humphrey the Lost Whale by Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall. In 1985, a migrating humpback whale took a wrong turn into the San Francisco Bay and swam up the Sacramento River. The whale captivated and concerned onlookers, who tried to coax the giant creature back to the ocean. 1st Graders loved hearing about Humphrey's adventures and kept asking if this was really a true story. The book also served as a good reminder about the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Though the book resembles many of our fictional picture books, it's filed in our nonfiction section of the library.


2nd Grade: 2nd Graders did an amazing job presenting their Ancient Egypt Museum and missed their library time this week.


3rd Grade: 3rd Graders earned their good behavior party so we relaxed on the beanbags with snacks and the video version of Laurie Keller's The Scrambled States of America.


4th Grade: We finished with The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman, ending with a lively discussion about how authors create sympathetic characters. I asked if students felt more sympathy for Jemmy or for Prince Brat. 4th Graders shared some great insights and opinions, considering that neither Jemmy or Prince Brat are completely good or completely bad characters.


5th Grade: 5th Graders presented their amazingly creative library video projects this week. We did a rough filming of the initial performances, but will be working in the next weeks to cut and streamline their material into a wonderful final product.

Stories from the Library: May 3-7

 Preschoolers enjoyed Mo Willems' Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. The story is a lively romp through Pigeon's enthusiastic attempt to convince readers that he is a fully capable bus driver. Willems' illustrations are spare, yet full of emotion. Pigeon's expression changes from curious to angry to pained with just a few pen strokes. By the end of the stories, Preschoolers were interacting with Pigeon, answering his questions and telling him "no!" he can't drive the bus!

Junior Kindergarten: Spring can be a restless time for some of our little people at school. They've been in school for nine months and are preparing for the next grade level (and the summer that comes in between!). Jamie Lee Curtis gently identifies with this busy, wiggly age in her book It's Hard to be Five. The rhyming text and bright, squiggly pictures illustrate some of the frustrations that come with being five: sitting still, hearing "no" all the time, and going to a new, sometimes scary school. Curtis also highlights how fun being five can be: walking by yourself, learning and growing. The author concludes that "It's hard fun to be five!" and I think our Junior Kindergartners would agree.

Kindergarten: We traveled all the way to freezing cold Antarctica in our Kindergarten continent journey with Helen Cowcher's Antarctica. In the story we see male Emperor penguins balance eggs on their feet, Adelie penguins nesting on the beach, and Weddel seals caring for newborn pups. When noisy helicopters and research boats arrive, the Arctic creatures wonder if these new neighbors will be more harmful or helpful.

1st Grade: 1st Graders listened to How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long. A pirate's life sounds pretty jolly to Jeremy Jacob-- no bedtime, eating with your hands, stealing and plundering-- until he finds out that pirates don't get bedtime stories or goodnight kisses. 

2nd Grade: 2nd Graders celebrated their wonderful moms this week during the Mother's Day Tea.

3rd Grade: 3rd Graders endured two weeks of my western drawl with Diane Stanley's Saving SweetnessRaising Sweetness, a sweet story about a sometimes dim-witted western sheriff who adopts a passel of mistreated orphans. The books lead into a great lesson in similes, as we meet characters who are "as sweet as a Georgia peach" and "as sharp as a pocketful of toothpicks" and "as cute as kitten pajamas."  and

4th Grade: A runaway prince, a hot-potato man and a dancing bear: we're nearing the end of Sid Fleischman's The Whipping Boy.

5th Grade: Our wonderfully creative 5th Graders are working on projects that will eventually turn into a class library video. Inspired by this video produced by a Middle School in Florida, I gave the small groups free reign to create something (a song, dance, play, or commercial) that will inspire reading, teach about libraries or inform about book care. I'm excited to see what our groups come up with!

Stories from the Library: April 19-23

3rd Graders finished up our William Steig stories with Shrek, one of the original (but certainly not the first) ugly ogre stories that inspired the Disney movies. After mapping out the plots, character lists, settings and themes of our three Steig stories, 3rd Graders wrote a short poem about some of the themes and characters that show up in the books.

  Bones and rock                        

Pebbles that talk               

Shrek got married.        

                                         

He must love pebbles and bones that talk             

I wonder if he colors in chalk? 

He must like animals and ugly things

I wonder how many books there must be? 

I would love to go to William Steig land

So I could shake his hand

I would feel like the best in the land

If I could go to William Steig's land

 Preschool: Preschoolers earned their good behavior library party this past week. We sacked out on the beanbag chairs to watch a video of Syd Hoff's Danny and the Dinosaur and got to take home a small treat.

Junior Kindergarten: We had a bit of role reversal in the library this week as Junior Kindergartner's took turns sharing stories they had written and illustrated. It was especially fun to hear the students say encouraging words to their friends as they sat in my chair to read their original works.


Kindergarten: Kindergartners are getting ready for 1st Grade! They visited the 1st Grade classroom this week and only had time for check out. 

1st Grade: Have you ever mixed up your days? In Barney Saltzburg's Crazy Hair Day, Stanley shows up for school with the best crazy hair-do, only to find out that he has gotten the date wrong! With the help of his friends and a kind teacher, Stanley has a day he will never forget.

2nd Grade: To celebrate National Poetry Month, we read a book about American poet Emily Dickinson by Michael Bedard, called, simply, Emily. 2nd Graders were intrigued by this mysterious figure whom others called "the Myth." In the fictionalized story, a little girl meets her elusive neighbor who rarely leaves her home and comes away with a poem of her own. 

3rd Grade: See opening post. 
 
4th Grade: 4th Graders are still following the adventures and misadventures of Jemmy and Prince Brat in Sid Fleischman's The Whipping Boy.

5th Grade: We watched a short video produced by Columbia University Library called Murder in the Stacks. In this delightfully cheesy spoof, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve the mystery of the ruined library books while discussing proper ways to care for and preserve a library collection.

Stories from the Library: March 5-9

Right before Spring Break we started reading Sid Fleischman's The Whipping Boy in the 4th Grade class. When I was home in California, my dad, an avid obituary reader, asked if I was familiar with anyone named Sid Fleischman? As it turns out, the author of The Whipping Boy passed away two days after we started reading his Newbery-winning book and one day after his 90th birthday.

We're just getting to know some of Fleischman's clever and quirky characters. Prince Brat, Jemmy, Hold-Your-Nose-Billy and Cutwater have already made us laugh and are getting more interesting as the plot thickens. According to his obituary in the New York Times, Fleischman first began writing stories for children after a challenge from his own children. By the end of his life, he was a Newbery Award winner, National Book Award finalist and a beloved author who willed be missed in the literary world. 

Preschool: Preschoolers giggled through Stanley's Wild Ride by Linda Bailey this week. When Stanley  the dog digs his way out of his oh-so-boring backyard, he rounds up all the other dogs in his neighborhood for one night of glorious freedom. The wild ride really starts when the dogs find a collection of wheeled "things" and start rolling down the big hill in the middle of town.


Junior Kindergarten: Junior Kindergartners listened to Steven Kellogg's Can I Keep Him? Arnold is a little boy with a big imagination who dreams up a series of interesting pets. When he asks his mother, Can I keep him? the answer is always the same-- until Arnold stops imagining and comes by with the neighbor boy in hand.


Kindergarten: We continued our Kindergarten Continent Race with a stop in Australia this past week. Students listened to Big Rain Coming by Katrina Germein, a simple story about waiting patiently for rain in the middle of the hot Australian outback. Kindergartners enjoyed the bold and colorful Aboriginal-style illustrations and loved how the story is structured around the days of the week.


1st Grade: Every once in a while when I pull out our read-aloud for the week, I'm met with a chorus of "We already read that!" 1st Graders were not shy in letting me know they had already heard Lily and the Purple Plastic Purse, so I grabbed the nearest 1st Grade-friendly read from the shelf. Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke turned out to be a perfectly fun read-aloud, complete with clever pirate-speak and a twist at the end. I don't think I've ever seen our 1st Graders so well-behaved and engrossed in a story!


2nd Grade: 2nd Graders missed library this week because of a field trip.




3rd Grade: 3rd Graders actually came to library twice this week to make up missing the previous Friday. We started a unit on William Steig stories and enjoyed The Amazing Bone and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble this week. Steig not only delights children with stories of magical objects and fantastic circumstances, but he also does not underestimate their vocabulary by peppering his pages with colorful words like "revile,"duped" and "bewildered."


4th Grade: See opening post.


5th Grade: We said farewell to The Little Prince this week with a few closing comments and a fun class quiz. Remember, "Anything essential is invisible to the eyes," says the fox. 

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.

Stories from the Library: February 16-19

 

We've been enjoying the 2010 Caldecott Medal and Honor books in the library this week. The Caldecott Medal is awarded to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book for children (ALA.org). It is named for 19th century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott and has been awarded yearly since1938.

We "read" this years Medal winner The Lion and the Mouse illustrated by Jerry Pinkney with the Kindergarten class on Friday. One of the criteria for the Caldecott Medal is that the illustrations interpret the story. In the case of Pinkney's The Lion and the Mouse, the illustrations are the story. The only words that appear on the golden-hued depictions of the African savannah are a few roars, squeeks and screeches. Kindergarteners were captivated into silence by the detailed full-page illustrations. I read a short version of Aesop's The Lion and the Mouse before diving into Pinkney's gorgeous watercolor illustrations to provide context for the story. For the most part, Kindergarteners enjoyed experiencing a wordless book, saying it was both "different" and "fun" to let the pictures tell the story. 

We had a short week due to the Presidents Day holiday...

Preschool: Imogene causes quite a stir when she wakes up with a set of antlers one morning in Imogene's Antlers by David Small. By the end of the day, though, the set of bony apendages prove to be pretty useful. Preschoolers had fun imagining what they would do if they woke up one morning with their own set of antlers!

2nd Grade: We finally revisited and finished The Ink Drinker by Eric Sanvoisin, a quirky tale of a book seller's son and his encounter with an ink-drinking vampire. The book, which is sadly out of print, was translated from its original French into English and excited even the most reluctant readers with its bizarre and mysterious characters. I have a long list of 2nd Graders begging to check out our only copy and inquiring about the next books in the series.

3rd Grade: 3rd Graders practiced their observation of aesthetics as we took a close look at one of the 2010 Caldecott Honor books, All the World by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon. Illustrator Marla Frazee creates an idealistic backdrop in a rural seaside community for Scanlon's beautiful poem. After reading through the book, 3rd Graders came up with words that reflected the style and mood of the illustrations. Our list included colorful, joyful, multicultural, dark and light, perfect and cartoon-like. 

5th Grade: The Little Prince is off on his journey to the neighboring planets. 5th Graders are working in small groups on chapter studies, paying close attention to whom the Little Prince meets and why the author chose to introduce this peculiar character.

Stories from the Library: February 1-5

As 1st Graders become more independent readers, I like to introduce easy reader and chapter books into our library times. I especially love seeing when students have latched onto a certain series and can't wait to come back for the next book. One such series that's wonderful for emerging readers is Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. The books are narrated by Nate, a boy detective who solves cases around his neighborhood, and give great "kid perspective" into the world of mystery-solving. We started reading Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine, in which Nate is not shy in telling us that "I was glad that no one had given me a valentine. I, Nate the Great, do not like mushy words. Or slushy words. I, Nate the Great, do not want to be anyone's valentine."

We had a short week because of conferences this week...


Preschool: We followed another runaway dog in Cynthia Rylant's The Great Gracie Chase: Stop that Dog! When the house painters disturb Gracie's peace and quiet, she escapes the yard and starts running. Soon nearly everyone in town joins in the Great Gracie Chase-- across the schoolyard, up the hill, through the fountain. Preschoolers love this fun story and bold, colorful illustrations.


Junior Kindergarten: Junior Kindergartners earned their party for good library behavior this week! We celebrated with an episode of Reading Rainbow (a personal favorite) and a small treat. 


1st Grade: See opening post. 


4th Grade: We discussed plagiarism in 4th Grade this week with the aid of Brooke Berg's book When Marion Copied: Learning about Plagiarism. When three people in Marion the Hedgehog's class use the same internet site to research for their reports, their papers end up sounding strangely identical. The book thoroughly explains what plagiarism is, the gravity of plagiarism (a combination of lying, cheating and stealing- oh my), and strategies for avoiding it.


5th Grade: House-sized planets,sheep, flowers and baobabs? Just another week with The Little Prince.

Stories from the Library: January 24-29

Preschoolers had a rollicking time with Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion. Harry, the family dog, decides that he dislikes baths so much, he buries his scrubbing brush and runs away! After playing in the rail yard, sliding down a coal chute and meeting other dogs to play with, Harry finally comes home, but he's so dirty his family doesn't recognize him. The Preschool class loved seeing Harry change from a white dog with black spots, to a black dog with white spots, and back again!


Junior Kindergarten: Junior Kindergartners were captivated by Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. The little ones were drawn in by the detailed illustrations of 1930s machinery and the twisting and turning story of Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann, his trusty, but outdated, steam shovel.


Kindergarten: Kindergarteners finished up their fairy tale unit with Steven Kellogg's Jack and the Beanstalk. Each page of Kellogg's illustrations is an intricate piece of artwork that serves as the perfect backdrop to Jack's fun story. 


1st Grade: We were interrupted by a fire drill in the middle of reading Tacky the Penguin, a sweet and silly story about an "odd bird" and his perfect penguin friends. When the hunters come, Tacky's eccentricities come in handy...


2nd Grade: 2nd Graders laughed along with another fractured fairy tale, Prince Cinders by Babette Cole. In the story, the small gangling prince longs to go to the palace disco with his three big hairy brothers. True to Cinderella form, the prince is visited by his fairy godmother...but she can't seem to get her spells quite right. Unaware of these spell snafus the prince goes to the disco, loses his trousers, and gets the girl in the end.


3rd Grade: We encountered another bath-hater in this weeks' chapter from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle: "The Radish Cure." Patsy lives the dirty child's dream life for awhile. That is, until radishes start springing from her dirt-caked skin!


5th Grade: Still off in the land of The Little Prince...

Stories from the Library: January 19-22

5th Graders began a journey into Antoine De Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. I'd been vaguely aware of this book when I was growing up, but hadn't actually read it until last year. It's a beautiful piece of literature that delves into the idea of childlike thinking and maintaining a sense of wonder and creativity. We learned a bit of background about the author, Saint-Exupéry, a French-born pilot who considered writing his second occupation after flying. The students wondered if the story was autobiographical, since our narrator is also a pilot who makes an emergency landing in the Sahara Desert (part of Saint-Exupéry's story, as well). We talked about how authors often use personal experiences in fiction. But I'm willing to bet that Antoine De Saint-Exupéry never had an encounter with an inquisitive prince from another planet...


*Several classes missed Library this week because of the MLK holiday and Chinese New Year celebration.


Preschool: Preschoolers enjoyed David Shannon's Too Many Toys. The author and illustrator behind the No, David books presents another colorful tale about Spencer, who, you guessed it, has too many toys. He and his mother argue, bargain and finally come to a head about Spencer's over-the-top toy collection. That is, until he discovers the best toy of all.


Junior Kindergarten: After reading about Katy the snowplow's heroic acts in Katy and the Big Snow last week, we read about yet another brave machine in The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper. Junior Kindergarteners were captivated by the story (how is little train full of toys and food going to get over the mountain?) and the chugging refrain "I think I can. I think I can."


3rd Grade: We were completely engrossed in Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and her "Won't Pick Up Toys Cure" this week.

Stories from the Library: January 11-15

In honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, we read This is the Dream by Diane ZuHone Shore in 4th Grade. This illustrated poem is simple yet powerful, depicting scenes from the escalating civil rights movement. We stopped to talk about the lunch counter sit-ins and what it looks like to have a peaceful protest. The book also led into a great discussion about why it's important to look at these admittedly ugly parts of history and how knowing the past helps us avoid mistakes in the future.


Preschool: To gain a greater understanding of this month's core virtue, courage, we read Kevin Henke's Sheila Rae the Brave. Sheila Rae isn't afraid of anything: she steps on cracks, faces monsters in the closet and keeps her cool during thunderstorms. But when she gets lost on the way home from school, Shelia Rae's courage wanes a little, giving her little sister Louise a chance to save the day.



Junior Kindergarten: Even though we've had a rather mild winter, Junior Kindergarteners could still relate to Virginia Lee Burton's Katy and the Big Snow. Before reading we looked at pictures of buildings that appear in the city of Geopolis and discussed the importance of the police station, hospital and electric buildingseeing Katy the snowplow save the day.
to a community. The students were enchanted by Burton's detailed drawings and loved


Kindergarten: For our second fairy tale, we read a version of Rumpelstiltskin by Caldecott winner Paul O. Zelinsky. Beautiful oil paintings in subdued colors accompany this captivating story and students were wide-eyed and curious to find out about the mysterious little man who appears to the miller's daughter.



1st Grade: 1st Graders listened to Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer, a classic tale about a little polar bear who floats away on an iceburg during the night and is suprised to find himself...in the jungle? The book serves as a good lesson about animal habitat and why animals like polar bears are better suited to arctic climates and why hippos aren't great rock climbers.



2nd Grade: We enjoyed another fractured fairy tale in 2nd Grade this week, Falling for Rapunzel by Oregon author Leah Wilcox. Apparantly it's a little difficult to hear correctly when you're way up in a tower and have a lot of hair covering your ears. When the prince calls up for Rapunzel's hair, rope, or a ladder, she throws down underwear, a cantelope and pancake batter. While the tale doesn't have quite the same ending as the traditional Rapunzel, all characters would agree it's a happy one-- even the maid.



3rd Grade: We read a little more of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle before most of the 3rd Graders had to leave to particiate in our wonderful Martin Luther King, Jr. presentation. 


4th Grade: See opening post.


5th Grade: Team Roadkill emerged victorious in week 2 of our Library Competition. We're starting to remember all those Dewey categories!

Stories from the Library: January 4-8

Junior Kindergarten: A circle story is a story that ends almost the same way as it begins. In Footprints in the Snow by Mei Matsuoka, Wolf is compelled to write a story about Mr. Nice Wolf after reading so many cruel depictions of storybook wolves. His story begins with Mr. Nice Wolf following a set of footprints in the freshly fallen snow that he believes will lead him to a new animal friend. When Wolf's true nature starts to overcome his writing process, he is interrupted by a knock at the door and opens it to reveal...a set of footprints in the freshly fallen snow.

Preschool: What would happen if the animals in the zoo could take pictures of themselves? When someone drops a camera inside the penguin exhibit in Penguins by Liz Pichon, the penguins can't get enough of posing and acting silly for the camera. When the little girl finally returns for her lost camera, she is met with a big surprise after she develops her film!



Junior Kindergarten: See opening post.



Kindergarten: Fairy tales are fun anytime, but they especially brighten up the dreary January days we've been having lately. We started off with James Marshall's colorful version of Hansel and Gretel. The author/illustrator inserts quite a bit of higher level vocabulary into the otherwise straightforward story. Words like vast, badgered, fret, tarry and sumptuous make the text in this classic story as colorful as the illustrations. Kindergarteners also enjoyed another mini-debate about the identity of the witch. The witch Hansel and Gretel encounter in the forest looks remarkably like the evil stepmother they have left behind. Both characters die at the story's end. Though Marshall does not tell readers to make these connections, our clever Kindergarteners pointed out the subtle similarities.


1st Grade: 1st Graders listened to a final Jan Brett story, The Three Snow Bears, a version of Goldilocks set in an Inuit village. As always, Jan Brett charms her audiences with intricate illustrations and a sense of fun. Even though many 1st Graders had read this book in Kindergarten, most voted to read it again.


2nd Grade: We visited wolves again in 2nd Grade with Beware of the Storybook Wolves by Lauren Child. With colorful collage-style illustrations, Child tells us the story of Herb, a little boy with a healthy fear of the wolves who grace the covers of his picture books. When the cover wolves show up one night, Herb enlists the help of the not-so-helpful Fairy Godmother and the two twist up more than a couple classic fairy tales in the process.


3rd Grade: One of my favorite books to read to 3rd Graders is Betty MacDonald's Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. I grew up hearing these fun stories and love sharing them with a new generation of children. MacDonald's quirky descriptions of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle (who wouldn't want to hang out with a woman with "brown sparkly eyes" who smells like sugar cookies and has a lump of magic on her back?) also made for a great lesson in characterization. 


4th Grade:We had a special presentation from the Matsiko children's choir from Uganda this week, so 4th Graders only did the checkout portion of their library time. 


5th Grade: 5th Graders competed in a library game testing their knowledge on library skills we've learned so far. "Team Roadkill" is currently ahead of "The Girls," but the final round will prove who is the true Library Champion.

Stories from the Library: December 14-18

Happy Holidays from the SPS Library! 

We enjoyed a number of holiday books in the library this week: Christmas Trolls by Jan Brett, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel, Merry Christmas, Curious George by Cathy Hapka, A Visit from Saint Nicholas by Clement C. Moore, A Wish for Wings that Worked by Berkeley Breathed, and Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini. It's been a fun and festive week that included the elementary holiday show (featuring the Seven Peaks penguins-- all week I heard our music teachers instructing children to "keep waddling!"), many classroom celebrations, staff Secret Santas, and an office kitchen brimming with treats. 

Have a wonderful holiday break-- there are many more books and stories to come in the new year!

Stories from the Library: December 7-11

Kindergarteners impressed me with their inference skills while reading Eric Carle's Dream Snow this week. Before reading the story, we looked at some of the pictures and guessed what kind of animals were in the farmer's barn windows. We charted our animal predictions and had fun turning the pages to see if our guesses were correct (most were!). At the end of the story, we had a mini-debate about whether the man pictured on the cover of the book is Santa Claus or not. He is simply identified as "the farmer" in the story, and we had children making cases for both sides. This book was a fun treat at the end of a long, busy week.

Preschool: I shared one of my favorite childhood Christmas books with the Preschoolers this week, Merry Christmas Mom and Dad by Mercer Mayer. While Little Critter has good intentions to help his parents wrap gifts, decorate the tree and pick out presents for his little sister, he encounters a number of setbacks. I think the picture of Little Critter wrapped in too-sticky tape was enough to make me giggle many years ago, and the Preschoolers shared my sentiments. We also enjoyed If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, the Holiday companion to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Numeroff.


Junior Kindergarten: The sight of Santa Claus on the cover of Hurry Santa by Julie Sykes was enough to enthrall the Junior Kindergarten class. Colorful cartoon-ish illustrations accompany this fun and simple story about Santa Claus running late on Christmas Eve. At the end of the story, Santa Claus finds one last gift at the bottom of his bag-- a new alarm clock from his animal friends.


2nd Grade: Maria's family Christmas is almost ruined when she thinks she has lost her mother's wedding ring while kneading the cornmeal dough for tamales in Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto. Before diving into the story, we looked at step-by-step pictures of how tamales are made. This book is a fun look at how holidays are celebrated among other culture groups, but the gentle lessons about honesty and truth-telling are universal. 


Quite a few classes missed their regular library time this week due to the book fair and holiday show rehearsals. 'Tis a busy (but fun) season! 

Stories from the Library: November 30-December 4

The Scholastic Book Fair is in full swing this week! Our first day was this past Friday the 4th and the students are so excited to see our Library turned into a Scholastic "store" for a few days. Some of the children were jumping up and down when they saw the Scholastic delivery truck driving toward the school last week!
Because of the Book Fair, only a few classes were able to have regular library times this past week:

Preschool: When one of the twins loses a red mitten in Florence Slobodkin's Too Many Mittens, the whole town sends red mittens their way. As you can imagine, their home is soon overflowing with lost red mittens! First published in 1958, this delightful story is still fun more than 50 years later. 
Junior Kindergarten: Junior Kindergarteners enjoyed The Dream Jar by Lindan Lee Johnson. New to our library, this charming book tells the story of a little girl who learns how to transform bad dreams into "dreamy dreams" with the help of her big sister and a seemingly magical jar of good thoughts.
1st Grade: 1st Graders laughed at all the silly animals in Jan Brett's The Mitten: A Ukranian Folktale. Jan Brett is beloved by students for her colorful, detailed illustrations and fun stories. In The Mitten, a bevy of forest animals find shelter from the snow in Nicky's lost mitten-- that is, until the bear sneezes! 
4th Grade: We finished up our unit on Chris Van Allsburg with the holiday classic The Polar Express. In our closing comments about Van Allsburg we decided that "dreamlike," "mysterious," and "muted" were appropriate words to describe his stories and illustrations. One student astutely noted that as an author, Van Allsburg does not like to tell his readers what to think about a certain character or situation. Rather, he gives us clues that will lead each reader to infer his or her own conclusion. This mysterious quality draws me--and the students-- into Van Allsburg's dreamlike worlds.
5th Grade: After watching a commercial highlighting books in the Scholastic Book Fair, 5th Graders listened to part of a Beverly Cleary Christmas story: "Ramona, The Sheep Suit, and the Three Wise Persons" from A Newberry Christmas, a book of Christmas short stories from fourteen Newberry Award-winning authors.

Stories from the Library: November 2-6

3rd Graders encountered The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter this week, a luscious ramble through the adventures of a voracious word collector. Though his chums call Selig an oddball, the word lover eventually finds a way to direct his passion for language. Before entering the library, each student received a sticker featuring a word from the story and its definition. Words like aflutter, djinn and emporium tantalized our tongues. (All italicized words are featured in the book.)


Preschool: Preschoolers met the famous bear Corduroy by Don Freeman this week. In this sweet story, Corduroy lives his life in a department store, ventures off to find his lost button, and eventually goes home to live with his new owner. 


Kindergarten: To supplement their learning about Native Americans this week, Kindergarteners listened to a Ute Tale called Coyote Steals the Blanket, retold and illustrated by Janet Stevens. In this rollicking tale set in Arches National Park, proud Coyote decides not to heed the advice of Hummingbird, who warns him against taking things that don't belong to him. Kindergarteners enjoyed watching the silly coyote get into trouble, and we agreed that the silliest part of all was that he didn't learn from his mistakes! 


1st Grade: 1st Graders worked on comparing and contrasting this week with There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback and the Halloween version There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro. These classic folk poems are also wonderful tools for teaching rhythm and story patterns. By the third page or so, students are chanting along with the words. 


2nd Grade: A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry tells the environmental history of the Nashua River in Massachusetts. The story follows the river through times of plenty, pollution and eventual restoration. We talked about the book in connection with our Core Virtue for the month, Stewardship, and 2nd Graders pointed out examples of good and bad stewardship throughout the story. 


3rd Grade: See opening post.



4th Grade: 4th Graders became Nonfiction tour guides this week, guiding their classmates through the sections of the Dewey Decimal System. Each pair presented their section number and name, talked about what kinds of books could be found there, and highlighted three specific books to recommend from their section.


5th Grade: This week 5th Graders learned about the Battle of the Books and we discussed strategies for finding "just right" books. We discussed how reading books that are too difficult can make the reader frustrated, bored, or confused. Check here and here for some strategies and an article on student book choices from a 4th Grade teacher.

Stories from the Library: October 26-30

  

What would you do if you heard a news report saying aliens were invading earth? In 1938, a radio play of Orson Welles' version of War of the Worlds set off a mass panic throughout the United States. 4th Graders learned about this bizarre historical event through Meghan McCarthy's book Aliens are Coming! The True Account of the 1938 War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast. The book features 1930s style comic book art and a section at the back explaining more about the 1938 event. After reading the story, we listened to a YouTube clip of the original broadcast. We all agreed that the crackly radio noise make the news report about aliens even more creepy. Happy Halloween!

Preschool: Preschoolers choose their check-out books so quickly these days, we decided it was a two book day. We started with Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley, a fun book with movable parts in which each turn of the page adds another element to the big green monster. Preschoolers also listened to Mouse's First Halloween by Lauren Thompson and had fun guessing what those scary noises could be. Rustle Rustle Rustle, Drop Drop Drop, and Grin Grin Grin may seem frightening, but each turn of the page reveals that rustling leaves, falling apples and glowing jack-o-lanterns aren't so scary after all!


Junior Kindgergarten: Junior Kindgergarteners learned the value of cooperation in Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. After Witch struggles to yank her ripe pumpkin from the vine, a series of spooky characters try to help. The big pumpkin doesn't budge until one particularly clever (but very small) creature appears to offer some advice.  


Kindergarten and 2nd Grade were partying away at the Costume Carnival during their regular library time.


1st Grade: In Bone Soup by Cambria Evans, Finnigan the Eater arrives in a new town tired, lonely and very hungry. Unfortunately, his reputation precedes him and everyone in town has already decided not to give him a thing to eat. In this spooky twist on the classic Stone Soup, Finnigan cleverly acquires all the bat wings, snake eyeballs, and friends he needs to make Bone Soup. 


3rd Grade: 3rd Graders listened to poems from Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich (and other stories you're sure to like, because they're all about monsters, and some of them are also about food, you like food, don't you? Well, alright then) by Adam Rex. The poems are about as silly as the book's subtitle and include poems like "The Phantom of the Opera who gets It's a Small World Stuck in his Head" and "The Invisible Man Gets a Haircut."


4th Grade: See opening post.


5th Grade: To wrap our unit on Poe, one of our 5th Grade parents read the author's chilling narrative poem "The Raven." The poem's lyrical quality makes it the perfect read-aloud, and our reader shared stories about reading "The Tell-Tale Heart by candlelight during power outages in New York as a child.

Stories from the Library: October 19-23

5th Graders loved hearing an abridged version of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Masque of Red Death" this week. In the story, a wealthy prince locks himself and a number of guests in a castle to escape the Red Death, a sickness that has been plauging the countryside. While the people outside are sick and dying, those inside the castle decide to have a masquerade ball. During the ball a mysterious figure dressed like a corpse affected by the Red Death appears and reaks havoc on the entire party. 5th Graders love Poe's storytelling and are amazed that a story written in 1842 can still rival many modern horror tales.
Preschool: Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar? is the repeated question in the picture book by Bonnie Lass and Philemon Sturges. Preschoolers listened and watched as Mr. Skunk makes the rounds with all his animal friends in the desert to figure out who took those cookies!
Junior Kindergarten: Jr. K enjoyed Delicious! by Helen Cooper, another Pumpkin Soup Story about Duck, Cat and Squirrel. When the three roommates run out of ripe pumpkins, they have to improvise and please Duck, a very picky eater.
Kindergarten: In Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems, Leonardo is really a terrible monster; he can't seem to scare anyone! He eventually finds the perfect candidate: a particularly jumpy little boy. Kindergarteners love Willems' fun, minimalist illustrations, his wacky sense of humor and the idea of "scaring the tuna salad out of someone"!
1st Grade: To finish up our unit on Fables, we read Tony Ross's Foxy Fables, a picture book with short chapters featuring some of the more cunning Fable characters. Ross's colorful, cartoonish illustrations and witty interpretations make classic Fables more accessible (and fun) to young readers. 
2nd Grade: 2nd Graders started a unit on Fractured Fairy Tales, a fairly recent genre in which classic fairy tales are twisted up a bit for comedic effect. We started with reading The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig by Eugenios Trivizas, a twist on the classic Three Little Pigs story.
3rd Grade:  We revisited our friend Gritch the Witch this week in Broom Mates by Margie Palatini. 3rd Graders learned about puns and found them throughout this very "punny" book about Gritch's interactions with her sister Mag, who comes to help prepare for the annual "howliday" party.
4th Grade: 4th Graders learned about the Dewey Decimal System, the numbered classification system we use to categorize our nonfiction (and some fiction!) books. To help us remember the ten categories better, we looked at the story of Dewey and the Alien on a website designed by a group of students and librarians from Nettleson Intermediate Center in Arkansas.
5th Grade: See opening post.

Stories from the Library: October 12-16

This week, 3rd Graders bravely tackled a lesson in allusions using Margie Palatini's fun book Piggie Pie. I introduced allusions (a literary tactic in which a writer uses characters or moments from a well-known story to enhance his or her own story) and challenged the class to become "Allusion Detectives" as we read through Piggie Pie, a story about Gritch the Witch, a comical witch who tries to satisfy her craving for Piggie Pie. 3rd Graders rose to the challenge and loved pointing out how the author used Old MacDonald's farm, the Big Bad Wolf and visual allusions from The Wizard of Oz. I gave out badges reading "I'm an Allusion Detective" to our very clever 3rd Grade class.

Junior Kindergarten: Junior Kindergarteners listened to Pumpkin Soup, written and illustrated by Helen Cooper, a lively tale about friendship, sharing and delicious soup. The Junior Kindergarteners had fun remembering what kinds of soup they've eaten before and were intrigued by the pumpkin soup recipe at the end of the book.


Kindergarten: In honor of the Kindergarten's field trip to the pumpkin patch on Thursday, we read Arthur's Field Trip by Leslie Tryon. In this picture book, Arthur the goose's class takes a field trip to the apple farm, where they get to pick apples, press apple cider, sample apple pie and learn about apples.


1st Grade: Continuing in our unit on fables, 1st Graders read an adaptation of the Indian fable, the Blind Man and the Elephant called Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young. The moral, "Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole" led into a good discussion about how we look at people-- do we judge people by just knowing a little bit about them or do we wait until we know the whole person to make a judgement?


2nd Grade: We learned more about how fiction and nonfiction books are arranged on the shelf, and 2nd Graders became experts in identifying fiction and nonfiction spine labels. 


3rd Grade: See opening post.



4th Grade: 4th Graders heard about Oregon Battle of the Books this week. Team sign-ups start now in the library!      


5th Grade: We started a unit on Edgar Allan Poe, the father of the modern horror story, in 5th Grade this week. I presented a PowerPoint about Poe's life and highlighted some of his famous stories. The 5th Graders decided we wanted to read "The Masque of Red Death" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" as a class and many of them were excited to check out Poe's book and read his works for themselves.

Stories from the Library: October 5-9

When learning about history or current events, it's easy to gloss over numbers and facts without stopping to think about the individual lives those numbers represent. This week the 5th Graders listened to The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter, which tells the true story of Alia Muhammad, a librarian in Basra, Iraq, who saved thousands of books from her library during the war in 2003. We talked about why it's important to hear stories like Alia's--oftentimes we can mistakenly look at certain people and make judgments about the whole group without knowing its individual parts. Winter's wonderful book gently delves into wartime realities, providing an opportunity for discussions about how we view our world and the people in it.  

Preschool: After a freak snowstorm this past Sunday, we're back to "regular" fall weather, which serves as a great backdrop for seasonal stories. Preschoolers enjoyed Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell, a picture book about visiting a farm. We also peeked out the library window to observe the changing leaves.   


Junior Kindergarten: To celebrate the changing seasons, we read Mouse's First Fall by Lauren Thompson. This fun picture book introduces many colorful words as Mouse and Minka run, kick, skip and swish through the leaves. 


1st Grade: Continuing our unit of Fables, we read Tony Ross's The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a modern twist on the classic story. Though the ending is just a bit goofier, the message of "crying wolf" is still loud and clear.  

4th Grade: To help us understand why we need to learn things like reading a spine label and how to use our online catalog, 4th Graders listened to Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything by Toni Buzzeo. As the book points out, a librarian's job is not simply to find books, but to give students the tools needed to be "a Library Success Story." After the story 4th Graders watched a presentation on how to use OPAC, our online search catalog. 


5th Grade: See opening post.


Kindergarten, 2nd and 3rd Grade missed Library time this week due to conferences.