Weeks 7 and 8

These last two weeks of school have been fun but so busy! We had a day off and then a late start day to start off the week. On the late start day the library was paired up with the Primer class to do an activity. We decided it would be fun to have the kids decorate pumpkins to look like their favorite story book character. Here was our set up.      

We had the kids choose what character they wanted to create so we could get all of the materials together ahead of time.  

Kids working hard at painting and creating their pumpkins. 

The final products! Can you guess who these fun characters are? 

I'll give you some hints: 

Elephant and Piggie.    

Pete the Cat. I loved the red guitar the kids made.

Olivia the pig. She is just missing her crown in this picture. 

During regular class time, we spent the past two weeks learning all about the Caldecott Award. I  taught this lesson to our Kinder through 4th grade students because in a few weeks those students have the opportunity to meet this year's Caldecott winning illustrator, Brian Floca! It is a pretty big deal so I wanted to be sure the kids knew all about the award itself and books that have won this award. Next week we will of course focus on Brian Floca and get to know more about him.       

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, Illustrated by Erin E. Stead

Read to: Pre-K

Skills: Caldecott and Jobs People Do

Recently Pre-K has been discussing jobs people do in their class, so I wanted to bring that theme into our story time, but I also wanted to teach them about the Caldecott Award (even though they will not get a chance to meet Brian Floca). I decided to share, A Sick Day for Amos McGee because not only was it a Caldecott winning book, but the main character works at the zoo. After reading we discussed what we thought people who work at the zoo do, and other jobs they have been learning about. I think the kids enjoyed it.   

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

Read to: Kinder and Primer 

Skills: Read a Caldecott Winning Book and making predicitions

With our Kinder and Primer students I discussed the Caldecott Award, but I also wanted to share a recent Caldecott winning book with them. This year's Caldecott winning book, Locomotive by Brian Floca, is obviously beautiful and wonderful, but it is too long to share with our younger students and in our short time frame that we have in the library. So I decided to share last year's winner, This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.  This book is a great book to really use the pictures to help practice the skill of making predictions. So I decided to squeeze that skill into our lesson as well. Many of the kids had already read this book before, but they still loved it, especially at the end when it is left up to the reader to decide how the story really ends. A great book to make predictions with and a super book overall.    

   

Finally, this week with all of our First Grade classes we began their Nocturnal Animal research.     

This is the second year the first grade teachers and I have collaborated on this project and it is so much fun. Everyone, and especially the kids, really enjoy it.  

The students came in and utilized our books, new iPads, and first grade friendly databases to begin their research. They took notes on what their animal ate, what it looked like, its habitat, and other cool facts.  Later the students will use the information they gathered to write a report and to create a model of their animal. I can't wait to see their final products and go and hear some of their presentations soon.