Wednesday, November 24, 2010

November News

November has been a busy month in the library so far and we still have a week left!  The second grade studied folktales so we read Stone Soup in the library and identified the characteristics of a folktale that could be found in this particular version of this old European story.  Then all of the second graders and their teachers came to the library to make stone soup.  We used five crock pots and five stones and assorted ingredients that were added by the students into the crock pot for their class section.  Ingredients included pinto beans, black beans, taco seasonings, dry ranch salad dressing, tomato juice, Rotel, chopped chilies, and browned ground beef.  The soup cooked all day in the crock pots in the library and at the end of the day, Ms. Manso and I delivered the crock pots, spoons, bowls, and crackers to each second grade classroom so the children could sample their culinary skills. 
Second grade teachers adding the stones.

Yoselin and Ms. Navarrete adding ingredients to the soup.
                      
Ms. Chavez and the students in 2F enjoying their soup.
                                                                                                                                 












Early in the month, the third graders studied the celebration of Dia de los Muertos.  They used print resources as well as information available through the Kidsclick! Internet browser for children to complete a worksheet on the holiday.  From there, the children took their information and used it to complete a fill-in-the-blank paragraph about the traditions surrounding this holiday.  In the next week, the third graders will take their fill-in-the-blank paragraphs and write their own reports that will be added to an altar shaped construction paper folder.  The students will decorate their altars with illustrations that represent what they learned about the Day of the Dead.  Stay tuned for pictures of the final products. 

Using websites on Kidsclick! for research.

Using print resources for research.



 
 The fourth and fifth graders listened to another Bluebonnet Book, Sparrow Girl for fifth grade and The Uglified Duckling for fourth grade.  The fifth graders compared the historical fiction account of the killing of sparrows by farmers in China in 1958 with the plague of locusts and the Dust Bowl that affected the southwestern United States in the 1930s.  They used EBSCO to view a short video clip of the Dust Bowl and then answered a worksheet about the Dust Bowl from magazine articles available through EBSCO.  The fourth graders compared The Uglified Duckling to Hans Christian Anderson's The Ugly Duckling and identified the characteristics of a folktale that could be found in this story.  When fourth grade returns to the library in two weeks, they will complete a worksheet about Aesop and the origin of fables. 

Friday, October 22, 2010

Red Week in the Library

The week of October 25th will be library classes for PK-K-1st grades.  In celebration of the approaching Halloween holiday next weekend, we will be doing Halloween-y activities in the library and reading Halloween books as we learn the differences between fiction and nonfiction books.  

PK and PPCD/EE will read Big Pumpkin and make bats as props to use when they share the story with someone at home.  Kindergarten students will read Pumpkin Jack and Pumpkin:  from seed to plant and will complete a worksheet that requires them to recall the details from the story and the life cycle of a pumpkin.  Students will be able to identify the characteristics of nonfiction and fiction books.  

First graders will read Skeleton Hiccups and My Bones and Muscles.  We will compare the two books and discuss the characteristics of nonfiction and fiction books then the children will work in groups to sort a stack of books into fiction and nonfiction piles.  The children will listen to a cassette recording of the book/song Dem Bones while creating their own skeletons with Q-tips following the sequence that the bones as they are mentioned in the song.

My husband, Paul, and I will be attending our very first Halloween costume party on Saturday night.  We are dressing as a Civil War soldier and southern belle, respectively.  Pictures to come!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Skoob, the Shelf Elf, Visits Moye

One hundred and twenty +- H.R. Moye  second graders squished together today on the carpet of the library to participate in a Skype video conference with Ms. DeArmond’s class of second graders at Binion Elementary, Richland Hills, Texas.  Both groups of children (and adults) enjoyed spending time learning a little about each other’s school, city, and visit with Skoob, the shelf elf.
The students at Binion performed a song with tips  students can use in order to select the right book to read.  The Moye students shared the details of some of Skoob’s activities while he was at our school visiting and gave a few facts about the geography of our desert home.  The second grade teachers at Moye had graciously photographed Skoob’s adventures and I put them into a little PowerPoint presentation that both groups of children watched toward the end of the video conference.Both groups of children were well behaved and enthusiastic about this opportunity to make new long distant friends.  A great time was had by all and I think we we’d love to make this an annual event.

Skoob left El Paso last Monday afternoon on his way to Mullen, Nebraska.  I will be updating a map in the main hall of our school that follows Skoob on his travels across the United States.  You can also follow Skoob's adventures at http://kidblog.org/TravelingSkoob/.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

The 2010-2011 School Year is Underway!

As of today, we have the first month of the new school behind us. I have met with all of the children now and by the end of this week, will have met with the students in grades 2-5 twice. Because our student population is larger than ever and we have more class sections than ever, I have had to continue utilizing a three week library schedule this year. I dislike the many days between library visits because the children often forget what we have discussed in the previous lesson and I have often forgotten the new children's names.

There are blocks of time between classes where teachers can sign up to exchange books or to come for a special research project or video conferencing activity. I look forward to engaging each grade level in some kind of research and some kind of distance learning opportunity.

We are doing Bluebonnet, Accelerated Reader and RIF again this year. I need to put together my RIF order over the coming weekend. I have read two of this year's Bluebonnet books to the third, fourth and fifth grade students. The first title I read was 14 Cows for America written by Carmen Agra Deedy in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, which I read during the week of the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attack we call 9/11. I showed a slide presentation with photographs from 9/11 to the children after reading the book with them.
This week I have been reading The Hinky-Pink, an old Italian folktale retold by Megan McDonald. The children are making their own hinky-pinks with pom-poms and wiggly eyes. We are also talking about the library rules and I am showing the kids a PowerPoint with the library rules outlined. Where time has allowed, I have shared the Mackin Book Talk website with the kids and they have gone onto the site and rated the two Bluebonnets we have read so far.

With the second graders I have read The Shelf Elf, the children have watched a slide presentation with the rules for using the library, and then they have made a Skoob, the shelf elf, bookmark. We are going to be participating in a video conferencing activity around Skoob in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Finally, the PK, K and first grade children listened to stories about babies, and we compared the way we care for library materials and behave in the library with the way we care for a baby. The PK and K children colored pastel paper babies and the first graders made origami diapers.

The first official day of fall is today and the library is decked out for the season. I love this time of year and look forward to a beautiful autumn.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Up to My Ears in Books



As the Texas Library Association Annual Assembly approaches, I find myself almost drowning in potential Bluebonnet books. The selection committee will be meeting for most of two days next week in Austin to discuss the first 90 recommended titles. In preparation for this meeting, I have been reading and reviewing books night and day. I receive boxes of books on an almost daily basis and have books on every shelf in my loft as well as lined up along the walls. Some of the books I have read have been very good...Corner Kicks and Love Puppies, The Million Dollar Throw, Louisa: the Life of Louisa May Alcott. I am in the process of reading The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech and have mixed feelings about it at this point. Just finished reading several graphic novels and it is possible that this will be the debut year for a graphic novel on the Bluebonnet list.

I just learned today that I should have been assigned to a subcommittee so have been assigned to the Youth Participation subcommittee but have no idea what it is I will be doing other than working with the children representatives to the Bluebonnet Luncheon. I also learned that I should have received an orientation and copies of Policies and Procedures so that I would know the kinds of things to look for in the books I read. Wow! I have been floundering around without much direction and didn't realize how much I had missed out on. So stay tuned for updates as I participate and learn my way through this process.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Podcast Links



I just learned a new bit of technology from librarian friend, Beth Jones, who works at Collins Elementary. She has been recording podcasts of her students giving booktalks on books they have recently read. The booktalks are then made available to other Collins' students to listen to. These podcasts work as advertisements, enticing friends and classmates to " check the books out!" I have just set up a podcast account for H.R. Moye Elementary Library at http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/5313. We will be using a program called Audacity to play the podcasts once they are recorded. I am just becoming familiar with this wonderful software application, so stay tuned for more information. I look forward to using this in conjunction with our Bluebonnet Book Reading Program and Accelerated Reader, encouraging students to share their favorite books with one another.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

RIF and Scholastic Book Fair


Whew, am I tired tonight. Sponsoring a RIF distribution and a Scholastic Book Fair on the same day makes for one exhausted librarian. But the day was a success! Almost 700 students received free books in our final RIF (Reading is FUNdamental) distribution for the school year and we sold almost $700 on our first day of the book fair...not bad for a Title I school!

Coming up next week, I will be offering an activity, book and movie to each grade level in order to work with the students one last time. Fifth grade will be reading A Picture Book of Anne Frank, watching "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas", and creating butterflies to be shared with the Houston Holocaust Museum. The museum is trying to collect enough paper butterflies to represent each child killed during the Holocaust. Fourth grade will be reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, watching the movie "Hiroshima Maidens" and making origami cranes. Third grade will be reading Aunt Harriet and the Underground Railroad and will watch "The Quest for Freedom: the Harriet Tubman Story" and second grade will read A Picture Book of Helen Keller and watch the movie "Helen Keller: Tragedy to Triumph". I have always enjoyed being able to share the stories of these heroic women and look forward to working with our students one last time this spring.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Rags to Riches: Book Recycling

One of the sessions at the annual conference of the Texas Library Association was entitled "Rags to Riches: Book Recycling for Fun, Fashion and Furniture". I had planned to attend a different session so just ran into Rags to Riches for a minute before my session began next door. The presenters had some adorable ways of recycling books into usable, decorative items. This was one time I wish I could have been two places at one time because I would have loved to hear more uses for old books as I am weeding my library with great abandon and have boxes of weeded rags that I would love to turn into riches! Here are a couple of pictures of some little tea pots I purchased. There is a little story as to why I purchased tea pots...some of the books were cut into cowboy boots, the shape of our great state, and other things. But I chose the tea pot shape because months ago Paul's mom, May, sent me some money to buy a tea pot. She had been shopping there in Ohio and had bought old timey tea pots for her other daughters-in-law. Thoughtfully, she had sent money so I could get myself a tea pot. I had looked in Ruidoso and Cloudcroft and other places when we have taken weekend trips but hadn't found the "right" tea pot til I saw these tea pots cut from books...the perfect librarian's tea pot! I bought one for myself, green of course, and one for May. Today I took a day off from school with allergies and laryngitis and I spent my day doing some of the things I love but never have time to do. I jazzed up May's tea pot with a few flowers and have been trying to decide whether to paint my tea pot, too. Take a look!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Texas Library Association Annual Conference 2010


The TLA Annual Conference was held this year in San Antonio. I love San Antonio but with "global warming" making spring weather everywhere a little crazy, we librarians had to carry umbrellas and sweaters with us everyday of this year's conference. But even the daily drizzle couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of this librarian as she attended workshops, presentations and strolled through the exhibit halls.

Among the presentations I attended were some on creating library centers and learning experiences around the elementary science TEKS, using props and magic with storytelling, and tips for developing an effective presentation toolkit. I am excited about sharing some of these ideas with teachers at Moye and using some of these ideas with my Moye babies. As the TLA District 6 councilor, I am beginning to get involved with TLA on a deeper level and look forward to having a voice in next year's conference. I have also been chosen for the Bluebonnet Reading Program selection committee and will serve a three year term, selecting the books that are among the 20 Bluebonnet nominees during my stead.

I attended the Bluebonnet Reading Program Award luncheon and even met winning author and illustrator, sister Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, respectively. Their book
Help Me, Mr. Mutt! was the second place choice among Moye 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. We chose Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, which was the second place winner state-wide.

Each evening after a day at the conference, my sister Valerie, a librarian in Spring, Texas, and I would return to our hotel room and scrapbook. We had photographs, stickers and scrapbook paper all over our beds. Great fun!

I would like to thank my principal, Alicia Ayala, for finding money in the school budget to help me with the expenses of this trip. I hope by sharing some of what I learned, all of us at Moye can benefit from the great presentations at TLA 2010.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Bluebonnet Luncheon April 2009

On April 1, 2009, Moye 5th grader Gisel Fregoso traveled on an airplane for the very first time in her life. She flew to Houston, Texas with her mother, where she spent the night in a hotel, another first, then represented District 6 and H.R. Moye Elementary the next day as one of ten student representatives chosen to attend the Bluebonnet Award luncheon.

Gisel and the nine other student representatives enjoyed a special breakfast with the 2009 Bluebonnet Award winning author and illustrator, Cynthia DeFelice and Andrea U'Ren. Following breakfast, the children, Ms. DeFelice and Ms. Uren posed for pictures and then each child was given a backpack full of goodies, including a copy of the winning Bluebonnet book, One Potato, Two Potato to have autographed.

At the luncheon, Gisel was the belle of ball, sitting at table 6, among District 6 TLA representatives, members of the Bluebonnet selection committee, her mother and ME! She and the other children introduced themselves and the winning author and illustrator
to an audience of more than 1000 TLA members. After lunch, Gisel toured the exhibit hall and received several gifts of books, bookmarks and posters from many of the publishers. Gisel returned home with the experience of her young life. It was a whirlwind, 24 hours adventure for Gisel, who represented H.R. Moye so well.