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.