Students and I explored many new books we received this week. In many classes we read Now by Antoinette Portis. The Washington Post states the book beautifully captures the concept of mindfulness for children.
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This week was an inspirational week in the library. We read and discussed After the Fall by Dan Santat. The book describes how Humpty Dumpty is motivated to overcome his fear of heights when his paper airplane lands out of reach. This book has a surprising and creative ending! Students discussed fears they have overcome as well as some fears they still have. Some classes read Snowballs by Lois Ehlert. Fourth Graders and fifth graders reviewed how to use WebPath Express for research, and the fourth graders explored this website full of California History Topics.
I only had two days to meet with our wonderful elementary school students this week, but we had rich conversations. We discussed compare and contrast in the younger grades using Eileen Spinelli's book, The Perfect Thanksgiving. In some classes we read Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende Devlin and Harry Devlin.
We compared and contrasted Chromebooks and Macbooks in the upper grades at Neil Cummins, and students wrote persuasive paragraphs with the information. We explored researching using WebPath Express in the fourth grade classes as they start their California history reports. This week we welcomed in November by reading and discussing Cynthia Rylant's beautiful book, In November. Students used the images to write their own poem called "In November." In the upper elementary grades, students reviewed signing into their library accounts and checking their information. The fifth graders at Neil Cummins discussed and checked out books for an upcoming book project. Students in Ms. DeMartini and Mr. Reiter's classes chose historical fiction books. The students in Ms. Emmons and Mr. Owen's classes chose mystery, adventure, science fiction
October was a special month in the libraries. Thank you to the PTOs and all the volunteers that helped us put on the Book Fairs at both elementary schools. A very special thank you to our library staff, Ms. Benz, Ms. Oliver, Ms. Merrill, and Ms. Traverso, and to Susan and Mari at Book Passage.
Courtney Spain Aragon, author of Fraydo's Dragon, read and discussed her book with students at Neil Cummins and at Cove School. Students were thrilled with her engaging presentation and discussion. This week the students and I shared some lovely books. The upper grades were introduced to one of my new favorite books, Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. This week we celebrated the work of Kathryn Otoshi. Ms. Otoshi will be speaking at both elementary schools on October 10th. Her new book, Draw the LIne, is about friendship, boundaries, and healing after conflict.
It was a wonderful week at the elementary schools. In the younger grades we read Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein. You can imagine why that is an appropriate story for the younger ones! :-) We read and discussed Wanted: The Perfect Pet by Fiona Roberton. This story falls under the "you can't always get what you want, but you get what you need" category! The image of Henry carrying the duck (who wants to be dog in order to have a friend) is so touching. In the fourth grade at Neil Cummins, we focused on persuasive writing. We discussed writing a compelling thesis and backing that up with reasons and examples. We used the books Hey Little Ant and Hey, Have I Gotta Book For You to get us started. The fifth graders at NC were choosing Newbery Award winners to do a class project. And, of course there were some stories read for the sheer pleasure of story. Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt falls into that category! Mrs. Traverso has a video (that I have paid her not to share) with a certain someone and a narwhal puppet reading that book to a group of third graders!
It was wonderful to be at the elementary schools this past week! In addition to reviewing the basic library procedures and how to care for the books, we read some wonderful stories. One book, Be a Friend by Salina Yoon was a big hit! Students mimed different activities after reading the book. (Using some of the arts integration skills from the Integrated Learning Specialist Certificate Program! Thanks, LCMSD for your commitment to professional development!) See photos below.
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Joy Lynn King
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