Charlotte Award Contest 2008
You’ve listened to all of the nominated books during library class…now it’s time to cast your vote!
National Children’s Book Week!
Children’s Book Week
This week students entered a bookmark contest to celebrate Children’s Book Week. Check the Library eBoard for a contest entry form if you need one. The bookmarks are coming out great. Good luck everyone!
Kindergarten
This week students listened to Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss and Wild About Books by Judy Sierra.
First Grade
Students listened to Read Anything Good Lately by Susan Allen and created an I Love Books craft.
Second Grade
We celebrated the joy of books with Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland. The story is about Zach, a second grader, who meets his new teacher and is pleasantly surprised at how much fun he has during storytime. Miss Smith reads from an incredible storybook that comes to life as familiar characters pop right out of the book! As I read aloud, the class recognized numerous characters from fairy tales, mother goose rhymes, and the classics. What a great book about books!
Third Grade
Third graders are now podcasting their book reviews. Each student is choosing a book that they have read and enjoyed and will recommend it to others. Just click on the WHB Podcast Program under “Links” and listen to what others are reading!
Fourth Grade
Today fourth graders learned the meaning of a URL and a website address. We talked about different URL extensions such as .com, .org, .net, .mil, and .gov. and the purpose of each extension. Students discussed the kinds of websites they like to visit and realized that most of them end in .com. They now know that .com means “commercial” and that like a T.V. commercial , these kinds of websites are trying to sell you something. Our discussion then led into Internet safety and how we can protect ourselves while using the Internet.
Fifth Grade
Fifth graders are finishing up their Planet research projects. Check out some of the students’ videos and powerpoints on the Library eboard!
Library Lessons
Kindergarten
Kindergartners learned the difference between fiction and non-fiction books. I teach them that fiction means “fake” and non-fiction means “not” fake. This helps them remember that fiction means it’s make believe and not about real things. I read Pumpkins by Ann Burckhardt, The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams to illustrate the difference.
Students recalled facts from the non-fiction selection and noticed that there weren’t any facts in the fiction selection. I pointed out that even though the illustrations, or pictures, in the Gail Gibbons book were make believe it is still a learning book.
First Grade
First graders reviewed alphabetical order in the Everyone Section of the library. Each student was given an index card with a call number on it and was asked to locate that book. Students were able to find their letter in the library but alphabetizing to the second letter is tricky. We will be practicing those skills, especially during our dictionary unit.
Second Grade
Second graders were introduced to Destiny, our new web-based library catalog. Students were taught how to search for a book by author, title, subject, keyword, or series. They learned how to fill out the “CATS” form. C = call number, A = author, T = title.
Third Grade
Third graders were also introduced to our new library catalog and learned how to find a book using the Basic search as well as the Visual Search. Here is a student highlighting the summary of the book. She has decided that this book sounds interesting and worth looking for on the shelf!
Fourth Grade
For the next few weeks I will be co-teaching with Mrs. Haack, our computer teacher, to teach fourth graders how to become effective users of the Internet. Kids today like to “Google” everything and even though there is a world of information out there, a lot of it is junk and inappropriate. It is important for kids to know how to evaluate information and be able to effectively use the Internet. This funny video, inspired by American Idol, is from TeacherTube and it’s a great way to start our unit!
Download Video: Posted by Dr. Loopy at TeacherTube.com.
Fifth Grade
Fifth graders will be doing a research project on planets, to align with the curriculum. Each student will be working with a partner and will be doing research in the Virtual Reference Collection as well as the Internet. Students will be taught how to use a bibliography to give credit to their sources. Students can present their information in a Powerpoint, a Photostory, or a skit.
Library Lessons
Kindergarten
ABC Letters in the Library by Bonnie Farmer is a good book to introduce all the things you can find in the library. It is also a good way to discuss how books can be found in ABC order by the author’s last name. Today I demonstrated where the “spine” of the book is located and how the address of the book, or “call number” is found at the bottom of the spine. The first three letters of the author’s last name is written on the spine. I tell the kids that maybe some day they will write a picture book and I ask them, “What three letters would be written on the spine of your book?” We go around the room and each student says the first three letters of their last name. During book selection time I ask each student to point to the author’s last name on their book and decide what the call number should be on the spine. The students really enjoy looking at the spines and figuring out what it means, like they are detectives!
First Grade
Today we talked about the role of the illustrator and how pictures help tell the story. I pointed out how the illustrator’s name can be found on the cover of the book. I read Dr. De Soto by William Steig, which was a Caldecott Medal winner. Students always wonder why certain picture books have medals on them and I explain that it was voted best illustrated book that year! As an activity, students were given a worksheet with words but no pictures. The class illustrated their very own story.
Second Grade
Today I asked the students why books need to have titles. Students responded, “Titles can make you want to read the book!” and “Titles might tell you what the book is about.” I showed the class two books that were covered and after reading aloud the stories the class had to come up with a creative, appropriate title. I read Not Norm: A Goldfish Story by Kelly Bennett and Beverly Billingsly Borrows a Book by Alexander Stadler. The students wrote their ideas on the SmartBoard and then we had a class vote on our favorite title.
Third – Fifth Grade
This week students wrote a book recommendation for their favorite book and posted it on the library eboard. I modeled what a good book review should include and had the sudents proofread a sample book review before they wrote their own. Check out what other students are reading!
Library Lessons
Kindergarten
Today I read What Happened to Marion’s Book? by Brook Berg to review book care. Marion the hedgehog doesn’t take very good care of her books and accidentally spills jam on her first library book!
First Grade
What is an author? Students reviewed the role of an author and listened to Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester. Each student was given a picture and they wrote 2-3 sentences describing the pictures. Many students said they hope to grow up to become an author someday!
Second Grade
Students reviewed and identified appropriate library rules and explained what it means to be a good citizen. I read Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons by Tomie de Paola to discuss the importance of following rules. In this story Big Anthony doesn’t listen to Strega Nona’s directions and finds himself in some big trouble!
Third – Fifth Grade
Students wrote a book recommendation on the library eboard. I modeled what a good book review should include and had students proofread a sample book review and make the necessary changes. Check out what other students are reading!
Library Lessons
Kindergarten
Today students listened to Manners in the Library by Terri DeGezelle. We discussed the terms polite, respect, sharing, patience, and responsibility. Students brainstormed what good manners include.
First Grade
We reviewed how to be a good listener and started off with a humorous story Listen, Buddy by Helen Lester.
Second Grade
I reviewed library rules with class and read I Took My Frog to the Library by Eric Kimmel. I reinforced prediction skills and used sentence stips to have students recall the events in the story. Then, students chose an animal and created a class book titled “Animals in the library”.
Third Grade
“You can’t judge a book by its cover!” I find myself repeating this to students many times and today I had students discuss different methods of choosing books. First, I displayed five different books and asked students to choose a book based on its cover. Then, I booktalked each book and asked students if they wanted to change their minds based on what they heard. Students listed different ways of self-selecting a book.
Fourth Grade
Today fourth graders reviewed different sections of the library by being assigned a section and working with a partner to answer specific questions.
Fifth Grade
Fifth graders reviewed Library Lingo which is a vocabulary game using library terminology.
Library Lessons
Kindergarten
Kindergartners were welcomed for the first time to the library media center this week! I taught the students proper book care and library manners. Students listened to Mr. Wiggle’s Book and I Just Forgot by Mercer Mayer.
Students learned how to use a shelf-marker to help keep our library shelves neat. A letter was sent home with your child today explaining library policies and asking you to please share your child’s book with each other!
First Grade
First graders were welcomed back to the library with the story The Shelf Elf by Miriam Hopkins. The shelf elf teaches students library etiquette and looks for children with really good library manners. The first graders met our library mascot, the Shelf Elf, and were told that he hides in a different shelf every week to make sure they are all treating the libary with great care! Students will be working extra hard to win the golden shelf elf award!
Last year’s Shelf Winners were:
Second Grade
I read The Library Dragon by Carmen Agra Deedy to second graders this week.
Third Grade
Third graders listened to LibraryLil by Steven Kellogg.
Fourth Grade
Fourth graders were asked to finish this sentence: “A good library user knows…” Many wrote the following: how to use the catalog; the difference between fiction and non-fiction; how to do research in the Virtual Reference Collection; how to use a shelf-marker; when to return your book; how to pick a just right book, etc. I told the class that we will be learning many new things about books, research, and technology. Each student was given a folder and I explained how they will be graded: behavior, participation, and skills.
Fifth Grade
Fifth graders were asked to write a list of library rules in order for us to have a successful learning environment. We discussed them as a class and then each student was given a folder to keep their library projects organized. I reviewed grading and highlighted the new features of our library catalog, eboard, and the new blog!
