Media Musings

Silver Crest Memorial Day Display

2010-05-31T18:20:00.000-06:00

Memorial Day at Silver Crest Elementary.

For Memorial Day we wanted to talk to our classes about the meaning and origin of Memorial Day.

We did that and read the book “The Wall” by Eve Bunting. We displayed books about the different wars that the United States has been involved in,

but we also wanted to give it a personal touch. We asked the teachers to bring a picture of a family member who had served in the military to display in the library.

Only one teacher brought something in, so the rest of the photographs are our family members. We thought it really added to the display. We had some great discussions

with our students and we think it helped them gain a better understanding of Memorial Day, and hopefully a greater appreciation for the men and women in the military who have served our country.

Rosamond Elementary

2010-05-04T11:37:00.000-06:00

"Teacher Appreciation Day" by Lynn Plourde (May Report)

Our school acknowledged Teacher Appreciation Week the first week in May.

We had a new book in our collection called "Teacher Appreciation Day".

We thought it was the perfect time to read this story.

Maybella Jean Wishywashy has a difficult time making decisions.

Rather than choose one item for breakfast, she has several foods from eggs to muffins,

cereals and jams. Because of this, she also has a hard time selecting a gift for her teacher.

She chooses so many items that they fill a shopping cart. During the school day Maybella

cleans everything, draws everything and picks everything in nature for her teacher,

who has become quite overwhelmed with her generosity.

A local TV station comes to do a report on Teacher Appreciation Day.

What will the students say?

Will Maybella Jean Wishywashy know what to say?

You'll be surprised by her response.

We discussed ways to show our teachers appreciation without spending money.

Some ideas were to follow their instructions the first time, be quiet when they ask

and help out where possible. They could also draw pictures or make cards to let their

teachers know they are grateful for them. They could even clean out their desks.:)

Rosamond Elementary

2010-05-03T15:33:00.000-06:00

"Are You A Horse?" by Andy Rash (April Report)

Ray is a clueless cowboy who is given a saddle for his birthday.

It came with these instructions:

1. Find a horse

2. Enjoy the ride!

He is so excited to try it out, but he has one problem - he doesn't know what a horse is.

The story describes his adventures in trying to find "a horse".

He encounters objects, plants and several animals, asking each time "Are you a horse?"

To incorporate the Dewey System, we displayed books about all the things he saw in his search.

The children could see that even an easy reading book could encourage them to study real things.

The books we chose were:

cacti - "Life in the Desert" by Lucy Baker

snakes - "Snakes" by Gail Gibbons

crabs - "Crabs" by Jen Green

chameleons - "What Color is Camouflage?" by Carolyn Otto

owls - "Owls" by Elin Kelsey

pigs - "Farm" by Ned Halley

sloths - "Strange Creatures that Really Lived" by Millicent Selsam

lions - "Lions" by Susan Schafer

zebras - "Zebras" by Sandra Markle

horses - "Handsome Horses" by Anders Hanson

cowboys - "Cowboy - an Album" by Linda Granfield

Does Ray ever find a real horse and get to use his new saddle?

This book is enjoyable reading, with a funny ending.

The kids loved this story.

National Library Week---Majestic

2010-04-21T10:02:00.000-06:00

NATIONAL LIBRARY WEEK MAJESTIC ELEMENTARY

Our library theme this year is: "Reading is your ticket to Paradise". So activities for National Library Week were centered on our theme. These were the activities for the week:

1. Students and teachers dressed as their favorite book character on their library day and time. The boy and girl with the best costume received a lei. A photo of all who dressed up was taken and will be posted in the library. We, as media specialists, dressed up also. Kids loved guessing who we were.

2. A DVD played during library time featuring a paradise island.

3. We hosted a hula hoop contest during library time. Each student hulaed until they missed. The winners received a lei. For some reason the students loved the leis. Every student wanted onenext year!!!

4. Each student received a paradise bookmark and paradise treat on their library day also.

5. Thursday we had an all school assembly. All of the teachers and staff wore leis that day. The presenters taught about the history and details of scripts and plays, staging, lighting, costumes and makeup. They brought costumes and scenery from Beauty and the Beast and had 6 volunteers dress the parts and act out a few lines. The students loved it.

Eastlake's Library Week

2010-04-20T14:25:00.001-06:00

At Eastlake, we are celebrating National Library Week by - reading books about libraries. We selected books by grade level and have used them to facilitate discussions with each class about the importance of libraries. The students have really enjoyed this activity! These are the books we're using:

Kindergarten: "Read it, Don't Eat it!" and "Manners with a Library Book"

1st and 2nd: "Born to Read"

3rd and 4th: "Library Lion", "Wild About Books", and "The Library"

5th and 6th: " The Librarian of Basra"

I love to come to the library because. . .

2010-04-16T13:51:00.018-06:00

In addition to lots of good books and wonderful people who read stories and help in many ways, here are more reasons our students love to come to the library:

"If we didn't have libraries I wouldn't have anything to read."

"Reading is like T.V. in your head. There are many books to choose from."

"I love books and the library is a place where I don't have to buy them."

"I like to see all the books that our school paid for, and this is proof they care about their students."

"I become a better reader and I learn how to respect books and people."

"It's like heaven."

"Who ever discovered the library?"

"Its always there waiting with great information in the nonfiction section and very funny books in fiction."

"If I did not have a library I would be a sad child."

"I don't have to sit in front of a computer and let my brain cells die."

"The library is the best place to get books. My mom tells me I read too much."

"My mom says I watch too much T.V. But some books are better than the T.V. and fun to read."

"I love to read to my brother and sister. Thats why I like to check out books."

"There's knowledge, wonders, imagination, and adventure everywhere. There isn't anything else as good as to just lay on your bed and read a great book."

"It will take you on a fantastic vacation to wherever you want."

"If I could I'd stay for long time because you have more privacy from siblings."

"When I need help on a subject I can serch (sic) and get it."

"I learn more from books than movies."

"I wish everyone would read as much as I do."

"Hay muchos libros para leer. Y con libros aprendes cosas nuevas."

"I just don't get a hed (sic) ache like I wood (sic) in class."

"There are hundreds of new worlds to explore through books and all of them are interesting."

"It has so many books and I love to roam the shelves and find a good book. It nice to get out of class and give my mind a rest. Reading is my life!"

"Sometimes I wis I was hear every day." (sic)

"You can read books according to your personality, attitude, or mood."

"I like to help out."

"All you have to do with books is sit back and read. With internet you have to turn it on find the correct link and we know how long that takes!"

"I even learn somthing every week." (sic)

"I like to read chapter books because they are long."

"You get to learn how to use the Dewie Desimal System." (sic)

"There is no downloading."

"It smells great."

"I can learn and fall into the history of mankind."

". . . how anyone could come and read any book they like and not be judged."

"Because some of the stories really get to me."

"I love to read, is't (sic) so much fun, reading make your brain so so so so so smart."

"I love reading. Some books at the library are my favorite. I want to work at the librery somday. (sic)"

"I can read dinosaurs books!!!!"

Riverton Elementary

2010-04-14T12:35:00.000-06:00

We're so excited about National Library Week!

We have featured 2 different authors including Beverly Cleary and Gertrude Warner Smith. A display was set up with their books along with photos and biography information for both authors. We made a Hats off to Authors sign and placed different hats around with the books (sombrero, pioneer bonnet, cat in the hat, witch hat, magician hat, safari hat etc.).

We have a large banner that reads "National Library Week" and letters on the front of our desk D.E.A.R. for drop everything and read along with a picture of Ramona reading atop a stack of books.

We have a CD to play quietly if teachers want their students to hear it while they search for books titled "Library Songs" from Scholastic.

We'll be reading "Mind your Manners B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra.

We'll also be briefly talking about how fortunate we are to have a wonderful library and featuring the book "My Librarian is a Camel" which teaches the ways other children around the world get their books.

Happy National Library Week!

Working in the Library is Great!

Kris and Suzanne

Daybreak

2010-04-12T13:19:00.001-06:00

For National Library Week we have been showcasing different authors and their books. We will be doing Rick Riordan, Anthony Horowitz, Mary Pope Osborne, Mo Willems, David Shannon, Brandon Mull, Margaret Haddix and Dav Pilkey. We have had fun finding out about the lives of these authors. For an author like Mo Willems after we talk about his life then we read a book like "Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late". For Rick Riordan, after going over his biography, we book talk "The Lightning Thief" series. We also have a poster up where the children have to match pictures of the authors to their books.

Terra Linda

2010-04-07T10:54:00.001-06:00

There are some fun happenings here at Terra Linda for National Library Week. We are having a contest where students can illustrate the cover of their favorite book. We will pick a winner from each grade and they will receive a brand new book. Also, they can express their feelings about the library, books and reading by writing "What My Library Means To Me." Each student that submits one of these will receive a "Super Reader" sticker. We will display these and the book covers around the school for all to see.

We have also made a display table with new Teacher Reference materials and equipment for the teachers to see. Have fun in your libraries celebrating National Library Week!!

Silver Crest

2010-04-07T10:53:00.001-06:00

Our plans for National Library Week:

We are having a contest where the students guess "How many books we have in our library." The winners will get a free book.

We are also reading the book "How Much is a Million?" by David Schwartz to go along with our contest. It is a fun informational book dealing with numbers.

Earth Day

2010-04-07T10:36:00.001-06:00

Oakcrest Elementary

For Earth Day I thought for the younger grades we could make "handprint trees" and the older grades could write an acrostic poem. Both of these ideas are also from the Random House Storytime booklet. Something else that I felt would be fun is from something that Bev sent to us last August that is about "Trees for Life". I want to do the M&M game, hand out the "Trees for Life" poster to color.

national library week

2010-04-07T10:29:00.000-06:00

Oakcrest Elementary

For National Library Week I took my ideas from the Random House's Storytime booklet that we received in the mail. I thought because of time (I should have started this week) that I would show the students things that they can do to cover their books, different materials, such as wrapping paper or cellophane with the different prints on them. Also this week I have been asking the classes to think of stories they could write or draw to make scrolls out of them. Then when they are done, if they want, we can display in the media center. Also I will give them books marks to design themselves and instructions for "bead bookmarks".

Rosamond Elementary

2010-03-30T11:24:00.001-06:00

To celebrate Library Week in April we chose to highlight our new selection of books. We have such a wonderful variety that students of all ages will be able to benefit from the many choices. We will be reading "What REALLY Happened to Humpty?", as told to Jeanie Franz Ransom, for our storytime.

We also have our "Picturing America" art collection displayed in our exit hallway. We wanted everyone that comes into the library to see it and enjoy it. This way teachers will be able to see what is available for discussion and class use.

Many classes have been working on science and history fair projects, so we will be reinforcing the use of reference books and writing bibliographies. The students can see that the library is so much more than just checking a book out and returning it.

Looking forward to a fun-filled, exciting week.

Butterfield Canyon Elementary

2010-03-30T10:48:00.001-06:00

April is National Poetry Month and so we are planning on reading a variety of poetry books to the kids so they can learn to enjoy poetry.

Also, we are having the children design bookmarks to celebrate and represent their favorite books. We will chose a winner from each grade level and print them to distribute to all the classes and the winners will get a book that was donated by the PTA from the bookfair.

Can't wait to hear what everyone else is doing.

Becky and Nancy

Rosamond Elementary

2010-03-29T12:58:00.000-06:00

"Fox in Socks" by Dr. Seuss (March Report)

Every March we are excited to celebrate Dr. Seuss. We first ask the children several trivia questions concerning his life and the books he has written. We display the colorful creatures from his books around the room to add to the Seussical adventure.

This year we chose to read the book, "Fox in Socks". The first page states; "Take it slowly -- This book is dangerous!" The last page asks; "Now is your tongue numb?" The cover suggests you read the book aloud slowly, as the fox is tricky. Of course the book has great pictures and the story makes no sense at all.

We read a few pages of the story and then let the children read a few passages also. We were all laughing and having such a wonderful time reading together. Dr. Seuss is definitely the most fun read aloud experience. you can have. Your mouth may be tired, but your mood will be fantastic. Have fun!

National Library Week (April 11-17, 2010)

2010-03-24T14:12:00.002-06:00

Share your ideas on the blog.

Picture from Majestic

2010-03-19T13:35:00.002-06:00

media picture from Majestic

2010-03-19T13:35:00.001-06:00

Riverton Elementary

2010-03-11T15:17:00.001-07:00

Look Out, Suzy Goose

By Petr Horacek

"Look Out, Suzy Goose was a great read-a-loud for our OI, ID, and K classes.

Suzy doesn't like being with the noisy crowd of honking geese. She heads to the woods to be by herself and find a quiet place but Suzy is not alone.

I had the students flip flop their hands on their laps as Suzy walked. We tip toed our fingers for the fox. When wolf snuck behind we crept or slid our hands across our laps. As big bear pads along we cupped our hands and slapped our laps like a big bear would walk. The children were also able to Honk and Whooooo with the story animals. They really enjoyed participating in the story telling. One teacher said they liked it so much they went back to class and retold the story so the children could play along again.

Rosamond, We loved "Love Splat" also and all age students at our school enjoyed it too. We love all the ideas we get from everyone else. Thanks to all people who post on the blog for sharing with us.

Kris

Rosamond Elementary

2010-03-10T14:16:00.001-07:00

"Love, Splat" by Rob Scotton (February Report)

February is such a fun month to talk about love and sending love notes or Valentines to those we care about. Splat is a black cat in love with a beautiful girl cat named Kitten. The only problem Splat has is that every time Kitten is around him she always pulls his ears, pokes his belly, ties his tail and calls him smelly. He wonders if she likes him at all. Nevertheless Splat makes a special Valentine just for her.

Everything goes well until the school bully and show-off announces that he likes Kitten better than Splat. He then proceeds to show him just how much more he likes her. Splat is discouraged, especially after seeing Spike's huge Valentine. He is so upset that he throws his card away. How Sad.

Will Kitten ever see his heart-felt Valentine?

Why does Kitten always tease Splat?

Does Kitten like Spike better?

Read this cute love story and warm your heart and bring back fond memories of Valentine's Day in elementary school.

Rosamond Elementary

2010-02-10T13:01:00.001-07:00

"The Boy Who Wouldn't Share" by Mike Reiss (January Report)

This month we highlighted an award-winning illustrator named David Catrow.

We pulled several books that he illustrated:

"The BoyWho Wouldn't Share" by Mike Reiss

"Are You Quite Polite?" by Alan Katz

"Smelly Locker" by Alan Katz

"Take Me Out of the Bathtub" by Alan Katz (Beehive Award Winner, 2003)

"The Fungus that Ate My School" by Arthur Dorros

"The Emperor's Old Clothes" by Kathryn Lasky

"My School's a Zoo" by Stu Smith

We asked the students what the similarities were between the books? Of course the illustrations looked the same. Mr. Catrow is a nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist.

He was awarded the New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year by illustrating Kathryn Lasky's book, "She's Wearing a Dead Bird on her Head".

The book we read was "The Boy Who Wouldn't Share". Edward has lots and lots of toys

and won't share them with anyone, including his sister Claire. He won't even let her touch them. When his mother comes into the room with a plateful of fudge she can't find Edward anywhere and gives it all to Claire. Will Edward come out of hiding? Will he learn to share because others do? Find out by reading this delightful story and even more delightful illustrations.

2010-01-14T14:52:00.001-07:00

We have read the book. My Lucky Day . While reading we have the kids from the class act out the fox and the piglet with puppets. It's been a lot of fun to see the kids reaction. The author of this book is Keiko Kasza. It's a cute story as well.

Riverton Elementary

2010-01-13T13:58:00.001-07:00

With thoughts of the people in Haiti I set up a tiny display. Books on Haiti, Earthquakes, and Rescues were placed together on a table. Also included were books on the Dominican Republic which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

Kris

Oakcrest Elementary

2009-12-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

We have finished the Curriculum lessons for this year. It took a lot of hard work and determination, but we were happy to have this be our gift to each other. We hope that you all are doing well in achieving this goal as well and that you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks for all you do for the children in your schools. Keep up the Great Work!

Riverton Elementary

2009-12-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

Santa's Eleven Months Off

written by Mike Reiss

We talked about students having time off from school when they are off track. We also talked about parents taking a few weeks a year off from work. The younger children are asked how many months are in a year and then we share the story of "Santa's Eleven Months Off".

This is a fun rhyming story about Santa. It is sure to make the students and teachers giggle. It's one of those stories that the students enjoy and the teachers get even more humor from it than the students.

Hope you all have a Happy Holiday Season!

Kris

Foothills Elementary

2009-12-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

When I mention "GRINCH" what do you think of?

The book and movie "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" written by Dr. Seuss.

We found another animated movie about the Grinch. It is called Halloween is Grinch Night. We showed this movie the week before Christmas when the children don't check out books. It was 23 minutes long.

This is the information we shared with the children about the Grinch movies.

----------------------------

The book "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" was written by Dr. Seuss in 1957. Dr. Seuss produced the movie in 1966.

On October 29, 1977 Dr. Seuss produced another animated Grinch movie that aired on ABC. It was called "Halloween is Grinch Night". It won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Production.

Then in 1982 Dr. Seuss produced another Grinch movie which won 2 Emmy awards. We're going to try and show this on Dr. Seuss Day over the system.

-------------------------------------

All the kids were surprised, as I was, to hear of other Grinch movies because we usually associate it with just one about Christmas.

Have a Grinchy Merry Christmas.!!

Foothills Elementary - let's try again.

2009-12-15T13:06:00.001-07:00

Foothills Elementary

2009-12-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

This is our storytime area. We leave the fireplace up throughout the cold months. The kids love it. It makes us feel a little more like home.

Daybreak

2009-12-15T11:01:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas to all!!!

The Polar Express

By Chris Van Allsburg

We began the holiday season by listening to The Polar Express narrated by Garrison Keillor. This is a story of a young boy, a train ride to the North Pole and a special gift from Santa, it's a classic and one we read every year.

The Dinosaurs' Night Before Christmas

By Anne Muecke

This is a new book to our library and one the kids loved. The book came with a CD and was narrated by Al Roker. It's the story of dinosaurs coming to life on Christmas Eve and having a party at the Museum of Natural History and there is also a little boy who gets to join in the fun. The best surprise of all is at the end of the book where they have taken some holiday tunes and reworked them with a Dinosaur theme. We had fun singing along with "Hark! The Pterodactyls Sing, The Allosaurus Chorus, Deck the Halls With Stegosaurus and We Wish You a Dino Holiday. The music is included on the CD. Lots of smiles and giggles as we listened and sang along with this book.

Emma's Christmas

By Irene Trivas

Emma is a farmer's daughter who likes to go barefoot. On the first day of Christmas, a prince spots Emma sitting in a cherry tree and falls in love with her but she refuses to marry him. The prince, not wanting to give up, sends her a partridge in a pear tree. The second day of Christmas he sends her two turtle doves and another partridge in a pear tree. She keeps refusing to marry him and he keeps sending her gifts. Emma is left to cope with doves, calling birds, etc. as well as, a lot of pears! This is a wonderful book! Our only regret is we have to check it out of the Riverton Library because we don't have our own copy. (HINT, HINT)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

By Dr. Seuss

We have a tradition of showing the animated version of the Grinch the week before Christmas break. We do not check out this week. The movie runs 26 minutes which works perfectly with our 30 minute blocks. This gives us a chance to put books away and run reports as to which books are still out.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2009-12-11T14:26:00.001-07:00

Columbia elementary

2009-12-11T11:31:00.002-07:00

This month the PTA at Columbia hosted a bookfair at Barnes and Noble and had authors and an illustrator there. Greg Newbold who illustrated the book "The Barnyard Night Before Christmas" was the illustrator so we read his book that week. It is a version of the Night Before Christmas and the kids loved it. Cute story and the pictures are great. The author of the book is Beth Terrill.

Rosamond Elementary

2009-12-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

"The Best Christmas Ever" by Chih-Yuan Chen (December Report)

Our little reading corner is very cozy with a decorated Christmas tree and other decorations. What fun to sit by the light of the tree and read a wonderful srory. This sweet book looks like it was typed by an old-fashioned typewriter.

The bear family has had a tough year financially and are too poor to buy Christmas presents. They go to bed hopeful. When they wake-up on Christmas morning they find five presents under the tree - one for each of them. Each gift means something special to that family member. Mysterious footprints are seen under the tree. They are toddler size! Who brought these wonderful gifts?

This is a timely story since it might be a hard year for many families financially. Gifts of the heart are always the best present you can give. Even without a lot of money you can still make it "the best Christmas ever".

HERRIMAN

2009-12-08T15:12:00.002-07:00

Decembers Report

This is a wonderful and well-loved Christmas Story. We turn the lights off and just by the light of our three little Christmas trees we let the author of the stroy read to the children. They are captivated by the soft grandfather voice that tells his story of long ago. The boys especially love the war pictures and the children almost always ask why they have to go back to war when the morning breaks. We talk with the children about the war we are in and ask if any of them know people who are protecting our freedoms. We discuss how they don't get to come home for Christmas, that they stay and protect us even though they would rather be home with family and love ones.

Lene' Hartley

Rosamond Elementary

2009-12-04T12:02:00.001-07:00

"The Thanksgiving Door" by Debby Atwell (November Report)

Ann and Ed have burned their Thanksgiving dinner. They decide to see if the new cafe down the street is open, as they are very hungry. The door is open so they go inside to find an immigrant family celebrating their first Thanksgiving in America. They become part of an unusual celebration. They make many friends and eat a delicious meal. Who left the door open to welcome these two strangers? It becomes a treasured lesson of thanksgiving and kindness.

We asked what an immigrant was and how they affected our country's history. Pilgrims and personal ancestors became part of the discussion. A charming story that shows the true meaning of thanksgiving

Rosamond Elementary

2009-12-04T10:04:00.001-07:00

"Tell Me Another Scary Story, But Not Too Scary" by Carl Reiner (October Report)

We were excited to receive this new book by Carl Reiner, because we already had his first "scary story" in our collection. This book came with a CD that we decided to use. The author, Carl Reiner, is the storyteller. We carefully matched turning the pages at the scary time to help the children feel the anticipation of something spooky.

A young girl's grandfather tells a tale about his neighbor Mr. Neewollah, who makes a scary costume for him to wear on Halloween (when he was little).The tension is broken-up when the grandfather asks if he should turn the page or is it too scary? Of course you know what the children will answer.

We discussed sound effects and music. They can definatley make a scene more frightening.

It was a nice change from regular storytelling.

Rosamond Elementary

2009-12-03T15:09:00.001-07:00

"Ted" by Tony DiTerlizzi (September Report)

This is an older book, but a fun story to read. It is about a young boy and his father. The father has forgotten what it was like to be a boy. One day Ted, a great big pink dog/pig/bear-like creature who loves raspberries, comes into the boy's life. Of course mayhem begins, especially because Ted is invisible to the father. After several crazy antics Ted leaves. The boy decides to run away and find Ted. He finds him and Ted tells him about when his father was a boy and the fun they had together. Does the father ever find his son and renew his friendship with Ted (Ned to him)? Read "Ted" and you'll understand the magic of childhood and best friends.

Discuss things that children do with their parents to have fun together.

Rosamond Elementary

2009-12-03T14:39:00.000-07:00

"First Day Jitters" by Julie Danneberg (August Report)

Sarah did not want to go to school. It was going to be her first day in a new school and she was scared. She got dressed, ate breakfast and grabbed her lunch. Finally she was on her way. The principal, Mrs. Burton, met her and wanted to show her to her new classroom. Sarah was introduced to the students. Oh, the anxiety, the fear and the terror that filled her heart. Will she survive this ordeal? There is a clever twist on the last page of the story.

It is helpful to explain to the children that ALL ages are fearful of new experiences. We need to at least give it a try. It is a good story for the beginning of the school year to help children that are experiencing such anxiety to try to overcome it.

Riverton Elementary

2009-11-19T14:03:00.003-07:00

Bev asked me to post instructions on how to add a picture to your blog post. For those who would like instructions, they are quite simple.

Open your catalog and find the book that you are posting information about.
Right click on the picture and select copy.
Open your email and click on create mail.
Enter the following...
to:beverly.stout.media@blogger.com
cc:
subject: enter your school name

Begin your post.
Wherever you would like to add your picture make sure the cursor is in that spot.
Right click and then select paste.
Your picture should be in view.
When finished just click send and your blog post should be available on the blog right away.

Happy November,
Kris

Bev

2009-11-03T14:08:00.002-07:00

Thanks for sharing your lesson and read-aloud ideas! Keep them coming..........

Daybreak

2009-11-03T13:32:00.013-07:00

For the month of October, our Library Detectives were investigating, Bigfoot aka Sasquatch, The Yeti, The Abominable Snowman. Is it fact or fiction? First we shared some facts and pictures we had gathered from the internet on encounters with Bigfoot, some even right here in Utah! Did you know that just this last June an expedition was sent out in Northeastern Utah looking for the creature?

The next week we read from Michael Teitelbaum's book "The Scary States of America," about a bigfoot encounter in Alaska and finally we even had some recorded Bigfoot sounds!

We read and told all our stories around our homemade campfire with the lights dimmed. The kids loved this fun month of adventure.

Riverton Elementary

2009-11-02T14:27:00.001-07:00

Mrs. McMurphy's Pumpkin

This book was written by Rick Walton who is a Utah author. The illustrations are very colorful and very entertaining. The children loved the book and especially the surprise ending (however, some of the older kids figured it out before I turned the page). Cute book. Good for all ages.

Suzanne Thelin

Riverton Elementary

2009-10-29T10:26:00.001-06:00

Shake dem Halloween Bones

by W. Nikola-Lisa

I needed a last minute story for a K class who had already heard our Halloween story. "Shake dem Halloween Bones" was great fun. The students giggled through out the story and when I sang the chorus they let their fingers wiggle and dance in the air. The chorus repeats twice at the end of the story so we all stood up to dance. It was the kind of story that when we were finished they all clapped. We'll have to remember to share it with more classes next year.

Happy Halloween!

Kris

Oakcrest

2009-10-28T11:35:00.001-06:00

We have been continuing our curriculum lessons and are getting pretty close to being done. The children are responding well to all of the lessons and seem to be having fun checking out encyclopedias and biographies. Hooray were getting through to them!

Foothills 2009 Author Visit

2009-10-28T11:22:00.001-06:00

Monique did this bulletin board to welcome the author. He was excited with the board.

Foothills Almanac Worksheet

2009-10-28T11:14:00.001-06:00

Attached is an Almanac Worksheet I created using the blackline information provided in the packet. I only chose a few but it was plenty. The teacher checked out the books and finished the worksheet in her classroom because we didn't have enough time. I think the kids enjoyed it. I hope they will use them more and more as time goes on.

Because we didn't use them with 5th and 6th graders when they were in 4th - We decided to give it to them now with their other lessons.

See if you can complete the worksheet as well. Happy hunting...... :P)

-------------------------------------

Using the Almanac

QUESTIONS	PAGE	ANSWER
The oldest national park		__E__________
Roman goddess of beauty		V___________
The capital of Mongolia		__L__________
The Milky Way is one of these		G___________
Carries people up skyscrapers		__L_________
Samuel B. Morse invented this		T___________
Largest city of New Mexico		__L__________
Eight-day Jewish holiday in December		H___________
English word for the Spanish word "mano"		__A_________
First name of 22^nd U.S. President		G___________

Herriman

2009-10-19T13:31:00.001-06:00

The other day I couldn't get my curriculum up and running so I decided to do a hands on experiment with my 6th and 5th graders. I have 6th graders at 8:45 in the morning and then 5th graders at 9:50 so this experiment worked great.

First I checked in all the books that were from the night before and the ones returned from that morning. Then I separated them into two different piles making sure they both had about the same amount of FIC, NON FIC, and E books. I set them on a table out on the floor and put a empty book cart by each pile.

When the class came in I told them that we were going to have a test on the sections of the Media Center. I asked if anyone thought they knew the four main parts of the media Center. I had that person come up to the front of the group. I asked them to not point at the section but to only name them. These could be in any order. Answer: FIC Then I asked if anyone knew where to find the FIC section, many students raised their hands, depending on the size of the class I choose 3 to 4 students and then asked them to go stand by the FIC sections. Next Answer: E then I would ask for more volunteers to stand by the E sections. Next Answer: Biographies. Volunteers for that section. Last Answer: NON FICTION or Dewey Decimal.  4 or 5 students to go stand by the NON FICTION carts. I try to leave 8 to 12 students still sitting on the rug while everyone else is standing by their sections.

Now I divide up the students on the reading rug sending 3 or 4 to stand by the empty carts. Make sure both carts have the same amount of people. Try to have two people left on the rug for judges.

Now call all students that are standing by sections to come back and sit on the rug.

Explain to the students that are at the empty carts that they are going to race the other team. They have to separate their pile of books into three different section on the cart E, FIC, and NON FIC.  We take a minute to talk about how the first three letters of the authors name is on the E and FIC and I let them know that they will need to alphabetize them on the cart. Then we talk a little about NON FIC or Dewey Decimal System and I tell them that they will need to organize that section by the numbers. Then they race.

After the race we talk about speed and accuracy. The 2 judges then check for accuracy and any books that are in the wrong spot they put back on the table. It is amazing how well the students can do this.
Ater congratulating them on the knowledge of the Media center, I put in a real BIG plug for shelf markers and how important it is for them to use them properly to help keep our books straight in the Media Center. Just putting a book three books from the right place could put it in a whole different subject. I use 599.77 foxes and 599.78 Bears as an example.
This took about 10 to 12 min giving the about 8 minutes to check out.

After they left I just put the books back on the table mixed up a little and had the demostration ready for the 5th graders.

Terra Linda

2009-10-14T10:24:00.001-06:00

If you want a really fun Halloween book for the older grades this is the book for you!!

Title: The Scary States of America

Author: Michael Teitelbaum

Ages: 4-6

Aliens, ghosts, and monsters haunt the pages of this eerie trip around the Scary States of America.

With Jason Specter, the nation's unofficial collector of all things paranormal, as your guide, meet the girl in Illinois who can start fires with her mind, the Skunt Ape, of Florida, which knocks victims flat with its stench, and the Mischievous Shadow People of Arkansas. You may find yourself checking over your shoulder for the dangerous Jersey Devil or the extraterrestrials who visit Washington State and take human organs as souveniers. You might even feel sorry for the wailing ghost of a teenage girl trapped forever in an Oregon lighthouse. Some of these visitors from other worlds don't mean to hurt anyone...and some of them do.

Riverton Elementary

2009-09-22T13:20:00.003-06:00

The Very Lonely Firefly

by Eric Carle

The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle is a great read-a-loud for preschool, K-1, and ID units. We talk about hope and not giving up. We also talk about Eric Carle's artwork and how he uses tissue paper to create beautiful art. While reading the story students are able to fill in words each time the firefly finds a different light. The students love making the sounds the dog, cat, and owl make and even the angry sounds a cat and dog make. Our book has tiny lights on the last page that the children are very excited to see and the lights help them to imagine what a real firefly might look like at night. I'm sure you will have fun reading this story and your younger students will enjoy listening to it and helping you read it.

Kris

HAYDEN PEAK

2009-09-21T09:29:00.001-06:00

We have reorganized & improved our Beginning Reader section. So -- we are spotlighting them this week for K - 4 and are reading BR books: "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy & "Silly Stories to Tickle Your Funny Bone"

HAYDEN PEAK

2009-09-10T08:30:00.002-06:00

He Came with the Couch by D. Slonim will make you laugh & the kids. We came upon this book by accident & it never fails to gets the students to laugh. YOu never know what you get at a yard sale!!!

The Dog Who Cried Wolf by K. Kasza

A story that teaches to be happy with the lives that we live.

Can you believe it almost time to put out Halloween Books???? Why don't we post our favorite read-aloud Halloween books - - - before Halloween?

Foothills Elementary

2009-09-08T12:18:00.001-06:00

We twisted the Orientation and read the book "Manners with a Library Book" by Amanda Doering Tourville. We displayed books that were damaged with numbers attached to them from 1-6. 1=torn pages, 2=chewed book, 3=food spilled book, 4=water damaged book, etc. As we read the story, we asked the kids to tell us (with their fingers) which book was the opposite of the good manners in the story. This worked well with the older classes which have heard the story about Marion's book for years. The younger kids heard the story about Marion's book and we talked about the displayed damaged books as well.

We are currently doing curriculum lessons and reading a story to those who have already completed their curriculum lessons such as Kindergarten. We are looking forward to October because we will be reading fun holiday books.

Butterfield Canyon Elementary

2009-09-08T09:08:00.001-06:00

Title: The Wonderful Thing About Hiccups

Author: Cece Meng

Topic: Book care

Grade: 1st - 6th

I saw that Oakcrest blogged about this book as well...I knew it was awesome! I thought this was a great book for the first of the year to teach the kids how to treat books. It is a fun way for the kids to learn.

You have to be sure that you read the last page "Library Book Rules to Remember", that just has the kids rolling, and still gets the point across.

It's great to find a book that works for most all grade levels.

Enjoy!

Becky

Riverton Elementary

2009-08-28T12:52:00.002-06:00

What Happened to Marion's Book?

I read "What Happened to Marion's Book" to the students during their first weeks of school. We have a tiny Marion stuffed animal that I used and we talked a little about hedgehogs. I showed a picture at the back of the book of the real Marion hedgehog and told how she got her name. As the younger students listened to the story they thought about if Marion did the right thing with each problem and gave the thumbs up or thumbs down sign. After the story we talked about book care and then each student was given a book mark from the work book that came along with the book.

Kris

Oakcrest

2009-08-27T08:47:00.000-06:00

This year has gotten to a good start. We have set a goal to teach all of the curriculum lessons this year. Good luck to all of you as well with accomplishing this same task. The first book we have read this year was;

The Wonderful Thing About Hiccups by Cece Meng

This was a fun book to read to the kids and they all loved it. In the book it talks about different things that happen to a boy and his sister since they found a Hippo in a tree. It also helps remind the kids of some things they shouldn't do with their books which is a good reminder for the students.

HAYDEN PEAK

2009-08-14T08:43:00.003-06:00

The Shark Who Was Afraid of Everything by Brian James

During Shark Week on Discovery Channel we also celebrate Sharks. We pull all of our shark books for our display & read material about them also. The Shark Who Was Afraid of Everything is a fun selection. It rhymes, is short, & has a good theme. We also read a nonfiction - Guess Who Bites, but no picture available.

We are ready for the new school year in the media center. We started the 1st week with curriculum.

Have a Good Year

Trial post

2009-08-13T13:40:00.001-06:00

This is how I feel after lugging boxes to the car and into Silver Crest in 100-degree weather!

Draper Elementary

2009-06-05T10:41:00.003-06:00

Title: Animal Fact/Animal Fable

Author: Seymour Simon

Grade: All

Comments: This book was really fun. The students enjoyed it a lot. The book gives you information on different animals, and we had the students decide if the information was fact or fable.

Title: It's a Spoon Not a Shovel

Author: Carolyn and Mark Buehner

Grade: All

Comments: The students enjoy this book a lot. The book talks about manners. You have to decide the correct answer, and if your answer is correct the letter will be hidden in the picture.

Sunrise

2009-06-04T11:53:00.002-06:00

Title: A wolf who cried boy

Author: Bob Hartman

Topic: What happens when you lie

Grades: All

Comments: This Story is the opposite of A boy who cried wolf. It is a really cute story and the kids love it.

Sprucewood

2009-05-29T12:52:00.002-06:00

Title: "Tadpole Rex"

Author: Curt Cyrus

Topic: Tadpoles, Frogs, Dinosaurs

Grades: 1-3

Comments: This was a story about a tiny tadpole who grows into a frog, and though he is small, he thinks that he is just as powerful as a huge tyrannosaurus rex. We discussed the fact that frogs actually lived about 100 million years before these particular dinosaurs evolved. The kids really loved the story.

Title: "My Incredible Brother Stanley"

Author: Fred Spencer

Topic: Siblings, Life Experiences

Grades: 5-6

Comments: We shared some of the fun, unpredictable and crazy adventures of brothers growing up in their neighborhood. Stanley was like a real-life "Tom Sawyer" who enjoyed life and helped everyone around him experience those same adventures that he did.

Oak Hollow Elementary

2009-05-29T12:38:00.007-06:00

Recommended Read-a-louds(for single book)

Title/Author: K-2 Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis

Pair & Share Topic: Hawaii used for grades 3-6

Encyclopedia Britannica Discover America Hawaii (vol. 11)

America the Beautiful Hawaii

Shark Attack! Bethany Hamilton’s Story of Survival

Attack On Pearl Harbor by Shelley Tanaka

The USS Arizona by Stein

Tsunami Monster Waves

Pearl Harbor is Burning by Kudlinski

Nancy Drew’s Mystery on Maui

A is for Aloha by Goldsberry

We talked about this, our 50^th state and what it is known for. We asked students what they think of when they hear of “Hawaii”. Many think of surfing, beaches, pineapple & coconuts. We use the globe to show where the 8 Hawaiian Islands are located and explain about their volcanic origin. We mention the Polynesian culture and we talk about the Hawaiian language that some native Hawaiians still speak today (even though English is the official language). It has just 12 letters and every Hawaiian word ends in a vowel. The History of this state includes the attack on Pearl Harbor and because we have several books on this we show them and talk about this event during WWII. We finish up with the Alphabet book on this state called “A is for Aloha”. We let the students raise their hands and choose a letter then we read that page from this book. It is a fun interactive way to end the book talk.

End-of-Year Slide Show

2009-05-28T10:49:00.000-06:00

26 May09

View more OpenOffice presentations from infotiva.

Sunrise

2009-05-01T10:03:00.002-06:00

Title: A Sock is a pocket for your toes
Author: Elizabeth Scanlon
Topic: Pockets
Grades: K-2

Comments: Since April is National Poem month we read these two books. After reading this one we talked about other pockets. The kids really got into it and came up with some really good answers.

Title: Monster Goose
Author: Judy Sierra
Topic: Poems with a twist
Grades: 3-6

Comments: These poems are Mother Goose rhymns with different words. They are great to read and have the kids quess which Mother Goose rhymn it goes to. We had the kids come up and read them to the class and they really liked that.

Pair and Share Topic:

Grades: All Grades
Titles/Authors used: Skippyjon Jones and Mummy trouble/Judith Schachner

Comments: We had a series of Skippy Jon Jones books on display and had them listen to Mummy trouble or The big bones and talked about things that are similar in her books and her style of writing.

Sprucewood

2009-04-30T13:08:00.003-06:00

Title: "Little by Little"

Author: Amber Stewart & Layn Marlow

Topic: Courage, Practice

Grade: 1-4

Comments: This is a story about Otto the otter who can do many things well, but he can't swim. With the help of his sister, he gains the courage to try....and little by little he accomplishes a big thing. He learns to swim!

Title: "Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings"

Author: Douglas Florian

Topic: Space, Planets

Grades: All

Comments: This was one of our Beehive books for this year that we had not shared yet. The kids loved the cut-outs and the illustrations were marvelous. They really enjoyed it.

Oak Hollow Elementary

2009-04-30T10:50:00.011-06:00

Pair & Share Topic: Earth Day - grades 3 - 6

Earth Day - Hooray! By Murphy

The Great Kapok Tree by Cherry

Earth Explained by Taylor

Earth Day by Marx

Hoot by Hiaasan

We pulled general information off the internet. Earth Day has been celebrated officially – world wide since 1970. Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin founded this celebration following a trip to Santa Barbara ,CA to where an oil spill had recently occurred destroying miles of coastline & habitat for birds, fish and marine creatures. He was so outraged by what he saw in California that he went back to Washington and passed a bill designating April 22^nd as a national day to celebrate Earth. More importantly - to inspire awareness & appreciation for our planet’s environment. 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day. Over time each year the awareness has grown to include more than 500 million people in over 175 countries!

Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths, and nationalities.

We ask the students what kinds of activities take place on Earth Day?

Recycling, turning off lights, carpooling, bicycling instead of driving cars, and planting trees are some of the responses we hear.

If there is time we “skim read” Dr. Seuss’s book The Lorax as an example of how the movement inspired this author to write about what happens when people take more than they return to the environment. He published this story in 1970 the same year that Earth Day celebrations began!

With older classes (grade 4 – 6) we talk about the terms:

“Sustainable” where we harvest or collect no more of a material or species than can be replaced to maintain a healthy balance in the environment. Examples are seen in the fishing industry where small fish must be thrown back to carry on the species and also in the Paper industry where trees are planted to replace those that are cut down.

“Ecology” which is the study of the relationships between living things and their environment.

Altara

2009-04-30T09:40:00.002-06:00

Title: Not Quite So Easy Origami

Author: Mary Meinking

Topic: Origami

Grade: 2nd - 6th

Comments: We introduced our four new origami books to the students.

1. Easy Origami

2. Not Quite So Easy Origami

3. Sort of Difficult Origami

4. Difficult Origami

We passed out a green piece of paper to each student and demonstrated how to fold a jumping frog and/or a bookmark. Each student had fun learning about the different kids of folds you make in origami, such as valley folds, mountain folds, reverse folds, etc... We talked about where you would find books about origami in a library. We also talked about other kinds of books you would find in the 700's section such as drawing books, painting books, books on sports, dancing, etc... We loved it as much as the kids and became quite good at folding frogs and bookmarks by the time the week was over.

Title: My Little Sister Ate One Hare

Author: Bill Grossman

Topic: Fun Read-Aloud

Grade: K - 3rd

Comments: In this adorable book, the little sister eats one horrible thing after another and after each thing she eats, you think she is going to throw up. At the end of each page it says, "But, She didn't", meaning she didn't throw it up. It was fun to have the kids repeat this phrase with you each time. Finally, she eats some peas which are not bad to eat and she loses everything she has eaten. The kids loved it especially the gross things she ate.

District Instructional Media Online Booking

2009-04-28T11:54:00.005-06:00

To view a video of instructions for seaching the district Instructional Media catalog and booking materials to be sent to your school, click the following link:

Video

Sunrise Elementary

2009-04-08T07:53:00.002-06:00

Title: Baby Brains

Author: Simmon James

Topic: Smartest Baby in the World

Grades: all grades

Comments: Beehive Nominee Book

Title: Tudley Didn't know

Author: John Hamelson

Topic: Tudley wanted to be like other animals

Grades: grades 1-6

Comments: Beehive Nominee Books. This month we read some of the Beehive Book nominees and voted on them afterwards. These are two of the books we read

March Reading Madness!!

2009-03-31T14:19:00.003-06:00

Granite Elementary

March

We really pushed Beehive Book Award Nominees this month before we turn in the voting at the first of April.

I went to our voting tallies and chose the books with the least votes and book talked them. With the picture books I read and had them vote as a class. It was fun to see the "hidden treasure" books they hadn't even noticed.

Sprucewood Elementary

2009-03-31T13:45:00.004-06:00

Title: llama llama mad at mama

Author: Anna Dewdney

Topic: A llama has to go shopping with his mama. He doesn't like to shop and even throws a fit at the store. He learns mama doesn't like shopping either, but together they can get it done.

Grades: All

Comments: This is a great story. The kids could relate to the llama's feelings and many had never thought about it from the mama's point of view. They enjoyed it. It is a rhyming book. The illustrations are wonderful.

Pair and Share Topic:

Grades: All

Titles/Authors used: Seuss-isms and I Am Not Going to Get Up Today by Dr. Seuss

Comments: These books we shared in honor of Dr. Seuss' Birthday. The kids especially loved to hear the "Wise and Witty Prescriptions for Living from the Good Doctor."

Altara March Read-Alouds

2009-03-31T10:02:00.004-06:00

Title: Dangerous Book for Boys & Daring book for Girls

Author: Iggulden & Peskowitz

Topic: Fun things to do

Grade: 4-6^th

Comments: There is a little bit of everything in these books. Tying knots, secret codes, how to write a ghost story, what books every boy or girl should read. There are probably hundreds of ideas of things to do. We went through about 20-25 things that were in these books. When we finished sharing these two books with the older students, there where 10 boys and 10 girls on hold for them. They loved them and found them very interesting.

Title: The Dark, Dark, Night

Author: Christina Butler

Topic: Being afraid

Grade: K-3^rd

Comments: Frog has woken up from hibernating. He says “hello” to all of his friends and by the time he gets ready to go home to his pond, it is dark. As he stretches out to leap into his pond he sees a large and scary monster coming out of the reeds. He runs back to his friends and one by one they go with him to see this scary monster. With each additional friend that comes with him the monster is getting bigger. In the end they discover that it is just their shadows that look like a scary monster.-----After we read this book we talked to the students about things that seemed scary until we knew what they really were, and then we were not frightened by them anymore.

National Bubblegum Week

2009-03-16T12:12:00.005-06:00

Here is what we are doing this week at Draper Elementary for National Bubble Gum Week. We had it oked by the Principal. When the students come they get a (small) piece of bubble gum. The student will unwrap the gum and sit down and chew on the gum while we tell them about bubble gum (What's that in your mouth? ) and read Bubble-Gum Bubble-Gum by Lisa Wheeler. Then we have a bubble gum blowing contest to see who can blow the biggest bubble in the class. Then the students spit out the gum before using the Media. The students just love it!!

Sunrise Ele.

2009-03-11T13:48:00.002-06:00

Title: The Cow That Laid an Egg
Author: Andy Cutbill
Grade: K-3
Comments: Younger kids loved this book!

Draper Elementary

2009-03-04T14:24:00.004-07:00

Title :The Best Book To Read

Author: Debbie Bertram

Topic:

Grades: All

Comments: Very good book. Class takes a field trip to the county library and the librarian helps the class find books. The books that the students choose are the best books for them to read.

Title :Our Principal Promised to Kiss a Pig

Author: Kallie Dakos

Topic:

Grades: all

Comments: It was a very funny book. The Principal promise to kiss a pig but when the day comes she can't do it

February Blog

2009-03-04T11:39:00.006-07:00

Destiny Quest grades 3-6

What fun to travel through Destiny Quest. Finding books by genre, finding a book by how many pages are in it...you have to have at least 150 pages!, the older kids are learning how to find their own Lexile number and they loved searching books in this area. The biggest challenge is to go look for books after you have "surfed" Destiny Quest!

Pair and Share: Black History Month/Beehive Book Nominees K-6
Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson(information)
Coming on Home Soon (Picture)
Rules (fiction)
Mother Goose: Numbers on the Loose (poetry)

I read Coming On Home Soon to all of the classes after we had talked about the other three books. I always let the classes vote and then gave them a Valentine book mark treat! Destiny Quest grades 3-6

FEB 2009, Altara

2009-03-02T13:34:00.003-07:00

Title: The Sandman

Author: Ralph Fletcher

Topic: How the Sandman came to be

Grade: K - 3

Comments: This story tells of a tiny man named Tor who grinds down a dragon's scale and finds that the dust from the scale makes you sleepy. He proceeds to sprinkle the magic dust in children's eyes to help them fall asleep at night. The kids love the colorful pictures in this book as well as the story.

Title: My Incredible Brother Stanley

Author: Fred Spencer

Topic: Adventures in growing up with Stanley

Grade: 4th - 6th

Comments: There are 6 brothers in this family, with Stanley being one of the youngest. Stanley is a natural clown and a free spirit. He loves to get the younger brothers together to play tricks on the older brothers. This book is full of childhood adventures that actually took place. The author would know this since Stanley is his real brother.

Sprucewood

2009-02-27T12:38:00.001-07:00

Title: Waking Beauty

Author: Leah Wilcox

Topic: Fractured Fairytales

Grade: All

Comments: We talked about the story of "Sleeping Beauty" and then read this "fractured" version. It tells about a Prince Charming who is very dense, and tries all kinds of silly ways to wake up the Sleeping Beauty before he actually listens to the fairies and finds out how he is really supposed to wake her up. The kids loved this version.

Title: Ruthie Bon Bair, Do Not Go To Bed With

Wringing Wet Hair!

Author: Susan Lubner

Topic: Hair Care, Silly Stories

Grade: All

Comments: This is a silly story about what happens when a little girl ignores her mother's warnings about going to bed with wet hair. The kids thought it was cute, though very fictitious.

Willow Springs

2009-02-27T08:56:00.002-07:00

Title:Never Take a Shark to the Dentist

Author: Judi Barrett

Grades: K-3

Comments: Enjoyable book about things you should never do with certain animals.

Title: The Twin Princes

Author: Tedd Arnold

Grades: 4-6

Comments: Sometimes it can be difficult to find a story for the older grades. This story has two chickens as the princes. Their father, the king, must decide which of them will become king when he no longer is able. He decides that a race will determine who becomes his successor, but the twist is that whichever princes' horse comes in last is the winner. The book gives a clue and ask the students if they can solve the riddle. After discussing what they think, the books then tell the solution and the end of the story.

Granite Elementary

2009-02-06T11:08:00.001-07:00

Title:        Christopher Counting
Author:    Valeri Gorbachev
Topic:      Counting
Grade:      K-3

Comments:

Lovely book on the joy of counting! Great way to tell the students they use math everyday without realizing it.. We counted pictures, shelf markers, cerain colors of clothing...... Christopher Rabbit counts everything, pencils,carrots in his soup and the ending is touching.

Willow Springs

2009-02-02T09:03:00.002-07:00

Title: "Snowboard Twist"
Author: Jean C. George
Topics: snowboarding, avalanches
Grades: 3-6
Comments: We talked about the Teton mtn. range where this book takes place; let a few students share skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing experiences; talked about avalanches and avalanche safety.

Title: The Cow That Laid An Egg
Author: Andy Cutbill
Topic: Fun story about animals

Grades: K-2
Comments: A cute story about animals with an underlying theme that not everyone has the same talent or is good at the same thing. With help from friends we can all feel good about ourselves.

Draper

2009-01-30T10:52:00.003-07:00

Title: Snowlfake Bently

Grade: all

Comments: The students enjoyed learning about William Bently and how he took pictures of snowflakes.

Title: The Dark, Dark Night

Author: M. Christina Butler

Grade: all

Comments: Students enjoyed this story alot. It is funny that the animals think there is a monester in the pond and don't realize it is there shadows.

Sunrise Elementary

2009-01-30T10:25:00.002-07:00

Title: "The Hat" and "The Mitten" and "Honey, Honey...Lion"

Author: Jan Brett

Topic: Stories of Animals

Grade: All Grades

Comments:

We did an Author study on Jan Brett who is also a wonderful illustrator. Each one of her books has a story behind it about a place she traveled or life stories. For instance "The Hat" is about a Hedge hog who gets stuck in a mitten and she actually had a Hedge hot named Buffy who they lost for a few hours and found him stuck inside a slipper sock. Her pictures are wonderful and she includes side pictures in each of her books that forshadow what is coming up on the next page or gives little clues to what is happening in the story. the kids really had fun with them and enjoy them. So if you looking for an Author Study she is a great one to do.

Sprucewood

2009-01-28T14:26:00.001-07:00

Title: "Who Was Albert Einstein?"

Author: Jess Brallier

Topic: Biography

Grade: 4-6

Comments: We shared some information from Wikipedia about Albert Einstein with the kids. Then we read parts of the book by Jess Brallier. The kids enjoyed the part where he didn't talk till he was 3 or 4 years old. Albert said it was because up until then, everything had been fine! They also thought it was neat that he donated his brain to science when he passed away.

Title: "Wackiest White House Pets"

Author: Gibbs Davis

Topic: U. S. Presidents

Grade: All

Comments: This was a fun book about the Presidents of the United States and their personal pets. The kids especially enjoyed hearing about the unusual ones such as the elephants, alligator, and grizzly bears.

Altara

2009-01-28T12:23:00.002-07:00

Title: The Beatles
Author: Mike Venezia
Topic: Musical Group "The Beatles"
Grade: 4th-6th

Comments: We read some parts out of this book to explain how they grew up, how the Beatles came together, and how they became so famous. We then played 8 of their songs, the first 30 seconds, in chronological order, to show how they had changed over the years. It was fun to see the kids eyes light up when they realized that they had heard the songs before and liked them. Many of the students broke out in song when we played "Yellow Submarine".

Title: Visitor for Bear
Author: Bonny Becker
Topic: Mouse tries to visit
Grade: K-3rd

Comments: Mouse tries to visit bear, but the bear wants no visitors. The mouse is persistent and shows up in different parts of bears house. The bear finally gives up trying to get rid of the mouse and lets him stay. The bear soon finds himself having a good time with the mouse. We talked to the students about trying new things, that they didn't think that they would like at first. But after trying, they realized that they enjoyed a lot of things that they didn't think that they would.

Park Lane

2009-01-28T09:57:00.001-07:00

Title: Bad Dog Marley

Author: John Grogan

Topic: Dogs, pets, family

Grades: All

Comments: Adorable book about a dog that is always getting in trouble, but saves the day in the end. Cute pictures. With the movie Marley and Me out, a good lead in is to tell the kids that most movies are a good book first. As in this case, the author of Marley and Me is the same author as Bad Dog Marley.

Granite ES

2008-12-29T09:42:00.002-07:00

Title:      Bats at the Library
Author:    Brian Lies
Topic:      What a great place the library is, for bats too!
Grade:      All

Comments:
What a fun book this was to read to the students! It's wonderful text is in poetry form and the illustrations are just as rich!
Bats are a little bored one evening and news flash...someone has left a library window open! The older bats tell the younger bats what wonderful treasures the books hold for them. The bats have a fabulous time in the library, young and old! It is humorous and endearing what the bats encounter this fine evening.
We also, borrowed a real bat (mounted of course and in glass) from a teacher, had tons of Zoo books and other non-fiction/fiction books on bats to share. What a wonderful show and tell it was to pique their curiosity on these wonderful mammals. Bats are fascinating!

Title:    The Twelve Days of Christmas
Author: Jan Brett
Topic:   Christmas
Grade:   All

Comments:

This was one of our classic holiday books we shared. We chose this version because of the beautiful illustrations from Jan Brett. We shared the history of the lyrics with the students and their meaning. We also could share the current price of these items in today's economy! It was also a fun song to sing and set the mood for the holidays. We decided that homemade presents for gift giving was the most prudent and memorable way to share the holidays!

Sprucewood

2008-12-23T09:52:00.002-07:00

Title: The Mitten

Author: Jan Brett

Topic: Folklore, Mittens

Grade: 1-5

Comments: First we shared with the students that Dec. 1st was Jan Brett's Birthday. We then told them a little about Jan Brett and her life. The story is a Ukrainian folktale about Nicki, a boy who loses his white mitten. Several animals sleep snugly in his lost mitten until the bear sneezes and all of the animals are blown out. The mitten is carried through the air and Nicki sees it and is able to retrieve it before arriving home. The kids really enjoyed the story. We talked about her artwork and how unique it is.

Title: Snowmen At Night

Author: Caralyn Buehner

Topic: Snowmen

Grade: All

Comments: This is a fun story about a child's imagination about what snowmen do at night - such as drinking hot cocoa, having snowball fights, sledding and racing. The pictures feature fat, happy snowpeople that are having a fun time in the snow. The kids thought it was pretty cool.

Willow Springs

2008-12-23T08:35:00.003-07:00

Title: Dear Santa: the letters of James B. Dobbins
Author: Bill Harley
Topic: Christmas; the books' format was letters written to Santa by a boy
named James Dobbins. He tells Santa all the things he wants and all the naughty things
he has done.
Grades: 3-6th
Comments: A cute book that the older grades can get the humor. Some explanation
needed for 3rd to get humor.

Title: Santa's Secrets Revealed
Author: James Solheim
Topic: Christmas; After Stevie tells a reporter he doesn't believe in Santa, Santa himself pays him a visit, takes him to the North Pole to show him his operation, and proves that he
uses magic as well as science.
Grades: 3-6
Comments: Really cute book with good illustrations--lots of humorous moments and appealing to our high-tech generation of young students!!

Altara

2008-12-19T10:45:00.001-07:00

Title: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Author: Dr. Seuss

Topic: Christmas

Grade: All

Comments: Each year at Altara, we have the tradition of reading the book, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". We dress one of the students up as the Grinch with the green hair, the santy claus suit and the santy claus hat. He/she proceeds to read the part of the Grinch each time the Grinch has dialogue in the book. The kids love it and look forward to reading it each year.

Title: The Polar Express

Author: Chris Van Allsburg

Topic: Christmas

Grade: 2nd - 6th

Comments: We begin by asking if their is anyone who has not read the book or seen the movie of "The Polar Express". We then tell them that we have a special treat for them that has something to do with the book. We see if they can guess what it is. More often than not they come up with the silver bell which is the first gift of Christmas in this story. We pass out a little hershey's chocolate bell to each one of them and let them eat it while we listen to the book on CD.

Sunrise Elementary

2008-12-19T08:49:00.001-07:00

Recommended Read-a-loud or Book-talk books:

Title: Grumpy Santa

Author: Gregg Spiridellis

Topic: Christmas & Santa

Grades: 1^st- 6th

Comments: We asked the children how many of them leave out milk and cookies for Santa because in the story that is what makes Santa Ungrumpified at the end of the story. The kids thought it was funny

Title: Olive the other Reindeer

Author: Vivian Walsh

Topic: A dog thinking he is a reindeer because his name is Olive just like the song, "All of the other reindeer"

Grades: All grades

Comments: The kids really think this is a funny story

Sunrise Elementary

2008-12-04T11:22:00.001-07:00

Title: Cranberry Thanksgiving

Author: Wende Devlin

Topic: Sharing with others, not judging

Grades: all

Comment: We actually had the VHS to show the students and it was like a book on tape, it followed the book exactly. They also talk about Grandma's famous cranberry bread and the book has the recipe printed so we printed it off and those that wanted one could take it. It has a really good message for the kids.

Title: One is a Feast

Author: Judy Cox

Topic: Having eyes to big for your stomach

Grades: all

Comments: A mouse tries to take one of everything he see's on the Thanksgiving table back to his hidy hole and it turns disasterous.

Draper

2008-12-02T10:41:00.003-07:00

Title: The Very First Thanksgiving

Author: Rhonda Gowler Greene

Topic: First Thanksgiving

Grades: all

Comments: read the story and discussed the first Thanksgiving. That the Indians helped the Pilgrims grow crops and that they were friends. They enjoyed the book

National Children's Book Week: We had posters of eight illustrators and one book by the illustrator that matched the poster. We had the students vote on the illustrator that they liked best. We gave the teachers a book mark and some candy.

Park Lane

2008-12-01T11:21:00.002-07:00

Title: The Boy Who Wouldn't Share

Author: Mike Reiss

Topic: Selfishness

Grade: All

Comments: David Catrow is one of my favorite illustrators and the pictures in this book are so cute. The story is a good one about sharing.

Title: Duck for President

Author: Doreen Cronin

Topic: Voting

Grade: All

Comments: Book talk - presented picture books and non-fiction books about voting. Also displayed other books by Doreen Cronin such as Click Clack Moo, etc. This is a fun book about Duck running against Farmer Brown, then for governor, then for President. Fun humor even for adults.

Oak Hollow

2008-11-26T13:38:00.002-07:00

Recommended Read-a-louds: K – 2^nd grade

Title: Max's Dragon by Kate Banks

Pair & Share Topic: 3^rd – 6^th grades

Wolves

Underline one: K-2 3-6 All Grades

Wild Tracks by Arnosky

When the Wolves returned by D.H. Patent

The Wolves are Back by J.C.George

Wolf Brother by Paver

Julie of the Wolves by J.C.George

We introduced the new wolf books added to our collection this year in this talk. We told of the impact the wolves had on our N.American ecology when they were all but eliminated in the 20's & 30's as they were thought to be a menace to everyone. The effect of their absence was profound and changed populations of plants and animals so much that the government stepped in in 1995 to "correct" their mistake with the re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park. We highlighted the neat book "Wild Tracks" with life-sized tracks of all different animals including wolves and also showed some fiction books about wolves.

Granite Elementary

2008-11-26T11:56:00.002-07:00

Title: Hooray for Reading Day!

Author: Margery Cuyler

Topic: Scared of reading to an audience

Grade: 1-3

Comments:

Fabulous for readers that are a little timid to read out loud in class. Students raised their hands after the story to share their fears on reading. The lesson is- it's okay to make mistakes and that reading takes practice, practice and more practice!

Altara

2008-11-26T10:52:00.002-07:00

Title: Voting and Elections

Author: Dennis Fradin

Topic: Presidential Elections

Grade: 4-6

Title: The Presidency

Author: Patricia Ryon Quiri

Topic: How can a person become the President of the

United States?

Grade: 4-6

Comments: We asked the students how much they knew about the elections. What criteria does a person need to meet to be able to run for President of the United States? How do they determine how many electoral votes each state may have? Does the candidate who receives the most popular vote win the election? We would find the answers to these questions and read some more interesting facts about the president, the elections and the government. Since it was election week, we decided to have our own kind of election in our media center. We had each student vote for their favorite book that was in our library. We tallied the votes for each grade and then did a book chat on those books the following weeks. It was interesting to see which books were the most popular at this time. The students enjoyed this and it also gave us some ideas on what books to review with them. Some examples of the winners: Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney and Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park.

Also for the younger grades' election theme we read:

Title: Duck for President

Author: Doreen Cronin

Topic: Elections

Grade: K-3

Sprucewood Elementary

2008-11-26T09:19:00.002-07:00

"If I Built A Car"

Author: Chris Van Dusen

Topic: Imagination, Building, Rhyming Book, Beehive Book

Grades: ALL

Comments: In this book, a boy imagines how a car would look, if he built it. His car would have a snack bar, a robot to drive if you were tired, and a swimming pool. His car could float like a boat, go under water like a submarine, or fly like a rocket.

The kids love the idea of the extra's that he would put in his car, especially the swimming pool.

Title: "Run Turkey Run"

Author: Diane Mayr

Topic: Thanksgiving

Grades: 1-3

Comments: Turkey tries to hide from the farmer to avoid being the main course for Thanksgiving dinner. He finds success hiding as a tree in the forest. The farmer and his family must eat grilled cheese sandwiches for Thanksgiving. However, Christmas dinner is just around the corner. Can turkey continue to hide? The kids giggled at the places turkey tries to hide and loved the surprise ending.

Pair and Share Topic:

Grades: All

Titles/Authors used: "Voting and Elections" by Dennis Fradin, "My Teacher for President" by Kay Winters, and "Selma to Montgomery" by Picturing America.

Comments: We talked about voting and shared the history of voting with the students. The Greeks were among the first known voters. They voted by raising their hand or by selecting a black or white pebble to demonstrate their choice. We showed the (Picturing America) picture of the "Selma to Montgomery" march. We talked about the history of voting in the United States and how some people "battled – with words and sometimes even with weapons- to gain the legal right to vote." We talked about the responsibilities that came with the opportunity to vote. We also talked about qualifications needed to fill elected offices. We then ended by reading the book "My Teacher for President."

Have a wonderful holiday!

2008-11-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Willow Springs Elementary

2008-11-19T08:57:00.002-07:00

Title: Spiders' Secrets, Spiders, Spiders-Biggest! Littlest!, Wolf Spiders, Spiders

Author:Richard Platt,Seymour Simon, Sandra Markle, Julie Murray, Nic Bishop( authors are in

same order as books)

Topic:Spiders

Grade:3-6

Comments: One of our Halloween decorations was a large spider on a web. We decided to use this as a springboard to read about spiders. We showed the spider and from looking at it decided on features about spiders- eight legs and two body parts. We used all of the above books to read sections to cover many aspects pertaining to spiders. The students were very engaged and wanted to share information and experiences they had about/with spiders.

Title: Whose Nose Is This?

Author: Wayne Lynch

Grades: K-3

Comments: This is a great book that teaches facts about different animals in a fun way. The children loved guessing which animal the nose belonged to. They always seem to enjoy stories and books about animals of any sort, and this kept them engaged and excited about the different animals.

Sunrise Elementary

2008-11-05T14:52:00.001-07:00

Sunrise Elementary

Recommended Read-a-loud or Book-talk books:

Title: We're off to see the witches house

Author: Richard Krieb

Topic: Halloween

Grades: all grades

Comments: This was a really fun book to read to the children. It is similar to "we're going on a lion hunt", and so after each line we had the children repeat it back to us and some classes even kept the beat on there legs. It is a fun story and the kids enjoyed participating.

Title: BOO!

Author: Robert Munsch

Topic: Halloween

Grades: 2-6

Comments: The kids really thought this book was funny and it has a good twist to the end.

Willow Springs

2008-11-05T09:18:00.004-07:00

Title: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat

Author: Lucille Colandro

Topic: Halloween

Grade: 1 and 2

Comments: We read this book and then talked about the book There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly which they were all familiar with. We make comparisons as to how these two books were alike and different. We also reinforced that this was making a text to text connection.

Title: Halloween Night

Author: Marjorie Murray

Topic: Halloween

Grades: 1 and 2

Comments: A rhyming story about a group of animals, witches and goblins who prepare such a frightening Halloween party that their expected trick or treaters all run away. We talked about the text to text connection this book has to "The Night Before Christmas".