Snowmen all Month

This month at Sprucewood we decided to read as many snowmen books that we could to our classes.  We loved, All You Need for a Snowman, by Alice Shertle,  had fun looking for hidden pictures in, Snowmen at Christmas, by Carolyn Buehner a local author, and enjoyed the interesting medium of the illustrations in Snowball, by Lois Ehlert.  As part of our snowman celebration we have added a Makerspace to our Media Center.  The first week of December when the students came to the library we directed them to our station and let them have some hands on learning time.  After the students had checked out his/her books and were reading at their tables we invited the quiet readers, by fours, to come to the Makerspace and add snowflakes to a snowman. We had just read, All You Need for a Snowman, so the students knew exactly what was needed. 

We spent the next week adding more snowflakes to our snowman body and he began to take shape.  Our snowmen were a bit slimmer and trimmer than most but the students had a wonderful time.  After the snowman body was complete we added a head, a scarf, a Merry Christmas Greeting from the Media Center and of course we couldn’t forget the carrot nose.  Each Snowman was then filled with a Christmas treat and returned to each classroom for the students to enjoy. 

 We are hoping to use our Makerspace for several more hands on learning experiences in the coming months.  Just thinking of the science experiments, nature wonders or introduction to architecture or music is getting us very excited. We hope your holidays are filled with

lots of good reading time.

 Janette and Karen   

Bella Vista Goes to Extremes!

 Bella Vista goes to extremes to encourage students to read a variety of books.  Mrs. Wing's fourth grade class just completed their team projects on extreme weather. Their posters are now hanging up in the library media center with a variety of extreme weather books for students to check out. Teachers were notified via email about this new display in the library and the students are made aware during class visits.

Edgemont Honors Nelson Mandela

When our Follett book order arrived just a few weeks ago we were especially impressed with one of the books we had ordered, Nelson Mandela, by Kadir Nelson.  The book is filled with gorgeous paintings and a powerful telling of his life story.  We put the book in our back room and planned on sharing it with classes later in the year.  But, when we heard of Nelson Mandela's death last week we thought it would be appropriate to share the book now.  We read it only to the 4th and 5th grade classes and were amazed at how many of the students had never heard of Nelson Mandela.  It provided a great teaching opportunity and the discussion following the book was very active.  There were many questions asked and every student was eagerly involved. 

Before reading the book we showed them where to find South Africa on a globe and showed pictures of the beautiful country.

 

Then we talked about some of the words that might not be familiar to them that they would hear during the book.  This created silent and interested listeners with every reading.

We finally shared this beautiful book and then answered the many questions they had.  It was a successful learning experience for our Edgemont students!

Oakdale Elementary

Caught You Reading!

Butler Elementary celebrates Holidays Around the World

This month Butler Elementary is celebrating "Holidays Around the World". We had an amazing World Night last night sponsored by the PTA. It was well attended despite the crazy storm.

In the library we hosted the Gingerbread House Contest and had over 80 entries. Amazing. Here are a few of the entries.

Merry Christmas from Butler Elementary!

Native American Habitats

 One of our Fifth grade classes made displays for their study of Native American Habitats.  They were excited to bring them to the library to exhibit.  Along side their exhibits we placed non-fiction, fiction and story books that highlight their particular tribe.  We found these books that are usually an "invisible" part of our collection became immediately popular as the visual brought them to the shelf and then the corresponding books were near by.

Wumbers at Midvalley

It's a book! It's a game! It's words created with numbers! We read the book Wumbers by Amy Krouse Rosenthal to our 3-5th grade classes. We made our own wumbers statement for the library and then had the students create their own. We displayed them on the wall in our library for everyone to enjoy. Our students came up with some pretty gr8 ones!

Balloons Over Broadway: Book Talk with Media Enhancements

In commemoration of the Thanksgiving holiday, Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet was read to the Bella Vista students and two special media enhancements were shown!

Balloons Over Broadway is a true story about Tony Sarg (not to be confused with Tony Stark, aka, Iron Man). Tony Sarg was a superhero in his own line of work making puppets, marionettes and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade's giant balloons!

In the Author's Note, I learned that Tony taught Bill Baird how to make marionettes. Bill made the marionettes for the "The Lonely Goatherd" in the movie, The Sound of Music. During the Book Talk students watched one minute of "The Lonely Goatherd" from the Sound of Music to see how marionettes work. ( MEDIA ENHANCEMENT: On a laptop, Google: the lonely goatherd, then scroll down to The Lonely Goatherd-Rodgers and Hammerstein: videos).

Bill Baird then taught Jim Henson how to make puppets. Jim Henson created the muppets on Sesame Street and those in the Muppet movies, such as Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.  Tony Sarg's ingenious talent has delighted people for over 70 years through his own work and mentoring others.

In conclusion, students were shown photos of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons from 1927 to present day. (MEDIA ENHANCEMENT: Google: photos of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons, click Macy's Thanksgiving Day Iconic balloons 1927 to Today).

Balloons Over Broadway is a Beehive Nominee for 2013-14.

Edgemont says Thank You!

To kick off the month of November we wanted to encourage the students at Edgemont to remember to say "thank you" a little more often.  We talked about the importance of saying thank you for even the small things that others do for us. 

Then we read the students this book:

 

 

After the story we talked about all the different ways to say thank you throughout the world.  The students loved the "thank you" wall!

 

 

 

 

 

We felt it was a success when almost every student made sure to tell us thank you after checking out their books!



SHELF TALKERS -OAKDALE ELEMENTARY

QW

We have found a great way to bring attention to books that  get unnoticed.
These are "shelf talkers". A way to showcase great stories that are sometimes lonely on our shelves!

OAKDALE ELEMENTARY

What are you thankful for? Our students can tell us by writing it down on a leaf  and add to our display of Thanksgiving !

Author Visits

Sprucewood Elementary

We love meeting our favorite authors in-person and hearing about the new books they have written.  During the month of September, Brandon Mull came to our school and introduced his newest book “Spirit Animals”.   Brandon puts on a great assembly for students.  He talks about imagination, creativity, and writing. It is an interactive assembly.  He selects students to help out with creating an impromptu story.  He also has a question and answer period for students to ask him questions. 

In October, We had an assembly for our fourth and fifth grade students on the Michael Vey Series written by Richard Paul Evans. Doug Osmond, (yes, from the Osmonds Second Generation) came and conducted the assembly.  Doug promoted literacy by having students participate in a game based on their knowledge from popular books.  The game had actual electronic buzzers for students to buzz in, if they knew the answer.  Just like a real game show.   The students loved the assembly and teachers commented on the values that where discussed during the assembly.  Doug did a great job!

Another one of our favorite authors is Frank Cole.  Frank has written the "Hashbrown Winters" series and the "Guardians of the Hidden Scepter" trilogy.  He is wonderful to schedule author visits.  He is a great role model and encourages kids to start reading and writing.  He too puts together an interactive assembly that students love.  

Our students love to have authors visit our school and it is a great motivator to get students reading!

        Draper Elementary

                Media





In October the genre was Sherlock's Mysteries.
                                                                                    

A few of the Mystery books in the media

What makes a Mystery?

 The Series for October was
Field Trip Mysteries By Steve Brezenoff
Things to do along with this series.
1. Invisible Ink Recipe
2. Footprints
3. Sneaky Disguises
4. Make fingerprint database

      We started our lesson on Being buddies

 

 

not bullies!!

This book went along  Betty Lou Blue by Nancy Crocker

Had the students sign that they would be a buddy

              







We read the Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein to the Kindergarten & 1st grade:

Students made they our chicken

     






The students had fun making and blowing them with the story.