When a Leader from Outside of the Box Steps into Your Circle | The Alexander Group

When a Leader from Outside of the Box Steps into Your Circle | The Alexander Group

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. 

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!

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/.

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.

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.

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.