Week 5

A Book Is Just Like You! All About the Parts of a Book by Kathleen Fox  

Read to: Pre-K, Kinder, and Primer 

Skills: Parts of a book 

This week we learned about the parts of a book. This book goes into great detail about how a book is just like us, so I think the comparison helped our younger students understand the overall concept better. For example, just like we have a family, a book has one too, the author, illustrator, publisher etc. Or just like we have a birthday, a book has one too, its copyright date. This book also goes into great detail about the other parts of a book such as the index, glossary, and bibliography, but we didn't touch on those parts quite yet. We just stuck to the basic parts and later we can get into more detail. It is important to learn about the parts of a book so students can identify where the title or author is. In addition, knowing what the spine of the book is and what a call number is will help the students once they begin going to the bookshelves to choose a book.   

For the lesson we began by reading the book, then we reviewed what we read in the book with a quick Smart Board lesson, and then we played a game of Simon Says, while the kids pointed to the parts that Simon was saying. There were no losers in this game of Simon Says though. I just wanted the kids to practice finding the parts of the book and they did a great job! Some of the kids even decided to check out the book that they had for the game, and that was OK with me!      

In other unrelated news, we finally got our new beanbag chairs in for our reading area! The kids are already in love with them and we are too! Just another comfy chair to curl up in with a good book. What could be better?

Have fun reading some great books this week!

     

Week 4

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin

Both books read to CDC, Pre-K, and Kinder 

Skills: What we love about school, number sense, subtraction skills 

This week we rocked out to two awesome Pete the Cat books by Eric Litwin. The kids love Pete the Cat because he is cool and doesn't sweat the small stuff. All of the books have free downloadable songs so the books are best shared while listening to the author read and sing the words, and the kids loved singing along. We first shared, Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes, and then we shared the newest addition to our library, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. I used my document camera because the kids always love seeing the book really big up on the screen. 

After reading Rocking in my School Shoes, the kids shared what they loved to do in their school shoes. Then after sharing, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons the classes were given a coloring page where they could color Pete and his buttons according to the number key. It was a fun time had by all!  

In 4th grade we began working on their research data project in math. This is a project that the 4th grade math teacher and I have been collaborating on for a while so I thought I would share the details. In class they have been learning about different types of data and graphs, so this project is giving them a chance to explore data that they are interested in. The students were put into pairs and they could choose any topic to explore just as long as it was numerical or measurable. Some of the topics the students chose were things like, the top 5 tallest mountains in the world, or the top 5 busiest airports. It was fun to see what they wanted to know more about! The next step of the project was then actually gathering the data and that is where I came in. They visited the library to start to research their topics and gather their data. I helped them by giving them reliable sources to help their search and a cool online tool to help them make their graph once their data had been found.     

             

In their math class discussing different types of data and coming up with their project ideas.

In the library showing the students some of the sources they could use to search for their topics. 

Their next and final step will be making their graph to display their results. 

Overall, the kids seemed excited about the project and they enjoyed getting to come to the library to conduct the research. It made me happy because I really want all of my students to think of library and their librarian as valuable resources. So by having the chance to collaborate with the 4th grade math teacher we really felt like the project was taken to a whole new level that it had never been before. The kids got to utilize the library and they learned about some of its many valuable sources. So my hope is that this project is just the beginning of many more to come!

Week 3

 

The Library Dragon by Carmen Agra Deedy

Read to Pre-K, Kinder, and Primer

Skills: Library Manners 

This week we had fun reading, The Library Dragon, to our youngest kiddos.  In the story Miss Lotta Scales is a dragon who believes her job is to protect the school's library books from the children, but in the end she finally realizes that books are meant to be read, and the dragon turns into Miss Lotty, librarian and storyteller. While I read I had our very own library dragon sitting on my lap. 

 

The kids loved it! 

Then at the end of the story when the Library Dragon, Miss Lotta Scales, hears a child reading a story, she slowly turns into Miss Lotty, the librarian!

      

The doll is a two sided flip doll so as I read and she changed, I "transformed" her by hiding her behind the book and then revealed her new look! The kids were in awe and wanted to know immediately how I did that?! Of course, after reading, I clued them into the secret.

In the end we discussed important questions like, "Why did the library dragon act the way she did,  and what made her change?" The kids really picked up on the fact that at first the dragon was so scared that something was going to happen to her precious books that she she didn't want anybody to read them or check them out. However, in the end, the dragon realized that books were meant to be read and enjoyed and not meant to sit on the shelves of the library. I was so impressed that they caught on to this concept so quickly. Overall, they seemed to enjoy the story so I can't wait to tell them about the sequel, "The Return of the Library Dragon!"  

In the other grades this week we continued to review the new library layout since everything is in a new spot. I think the kids are slowly catching on and are able to find things a bit quicker each time they visit. 

In 4th grade we also began introducing parts of their exciting data research project that they will be officially beginning this week, so as soon as we get that underway I will be sure to share all of the details!