Draper Elementary Media Center

In March we did space experiments that went along with theme for the year. We used the book
A True Book Space Experiments by Salvatore Tocci. The first experiment was hitting the target. The students sat on a spinning chair and tried to hit a small bucket with a paper ball. The second experiment was testing reaction time. The students used a yard stick and tried to catch it before it hit the floor. If you could grab the yard stick at six inches you would be a good astronaut.


The third experiment measuring body changes. Students measure there calf with a string and then they lay on the floor with there legs on the wall and stay that way for three minutes and then they remeasure there calf to see if there calf was the same size.

The students had alot of fun with the experiments.

100th Anniversary of the sinking of the RMS TITANIC

April 15, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. We want the children at Bell View to remember the 1500 people who died on the Titanic so many years ago. We have set up a display of our Titanic books and used pictures cut from the most recent National Geographic magazine for visuals. We will be reading the book T is for Titanic by Debbie and Michael Shoulders to the children throughout the week.

This is an important piece of history that we feel should never be forgotten.

Bell View Elementary

Dr. Seuss Event Butler Elementary

Serious Seuss Silliness

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday this month (and the new movie The Lorax), we had a Dr. Seuss celebration after school. We read a book, had birthday cake, and played games such as Hop on Pop balloon relay and Happy Birthday to You Cake Walk. We also had a funny Cat in the Hat photo booth and a You Can Read rhyming and art station. It was great fun.

During the school days we've spent time talking about Dr. Seuss' writing style and the life lessons he teaches us through his wacky words and illustrations. The Lorax (though hard to read to many classes in a day!) has really been a favorite with the new movie. There are lots of great "color your own" bookmarks, word finds, games, and other free printables on-line.

We are LUCKY to Have Favorite Books to Read at Bella Vista

Sometimes the best way to find a good book to read is finding out what peers enjoy reading. Adults ask their friends, so do teens, and children too! Mrs Allison and Mrs Wilson just want to help make it a little easier to find out what peers are reading. Class lists of students favorite books are posted on the windows of the library. Maybe students will get lucky and find a book or two or MORE on the lists that they want to read!

How the favorite books lists were compiled:

First, we used two holidays, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, which makes it more fun for everyone involved. We collected the students favorite book titles the week of Valentine's Day with a large Valentine box in the library with hearts decorated on it with the saying, "Bella Vista Students Love to Read Books!" Each student wrote down his/her favorite book and put it in the Valentine's box. Since then, Mrs Allison and Mrs Wilson have compiled lists of the favorite books in order of classes and put them on the front windows of the library with the saying,"We are LUCKY to have favorite books to read!" Shamrocks are taped up on the windows and green paper is placed behind the class lists of books to add a festive touch. It is fun to use two holidays to create a new way to help students gain more interest in reading. The students favorite books class lists are also in a Book Lists binder in the library with Teachers Favorites, Newberys, Caldecott lists, etc. for students to access as well.

Graphic Novels, The Trend

The Most Requested Book at Bella Vista Elementary!

A Graphic Novel is a story depicted in comic strip form. Graphic novels are very popular with elementary school ages children, especially 3rd through 6th graders.

One day a 5th grader was checking a book in to the LMC. I hadn't read the book yet so I asked her about it. She enjoyed reading the book so much she spent her entire recess explaining the storyline to me. She has read the book numerous times. Come to find out, other students are "obsessed" with this book as well.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier is a graphic novel based on a true story that happened to the author when she was a girl. She had an accident that caused one of her front teeth to fall out. The other front tooth went up inside her gum. She went through visit after visit to the dentist, endodontist and orthodontist. In the mean time, she was also experiencing the growing pains and social struggles common to students in middle school and high school.

This book was introduced in Bella Vista's LMC the week in January that we had only 2 1/2 days of school. By the end of this short week, 15 students had requested this book! Almost daily, we have at least one or two more students request this book. We have purchased several more copies to keep up with demand. We have also suggested our teachers purchase copies for their classrooms. We are thrilled to have a book that captures the interest of so many students.

Draper Elementary Media Center

In February we did the Power Point on Biography and talk about scientist to go a long with it.

Were Early Computers Really the Size of a School Bus? And other questions about Invention. By Kops , Deborah.  To go along with the theme for the year. The students really enjoy seeing if they know the answer.

For Kindergarten we did a lot of fun books and activates.

(1)    If you give a mouse a cookie by Numeroff, Laura Joffe. Then ask the students what they would do if we gave them a cookie and gave them one.

(2)    Diary of a spider by Cronin, Doreen. Then talked about the days of the weeks and gave them a diary for a week.

(3)    Rainbow Fish by Pfister, Marcus. Talk about friendship and gave them a coloring picture. You can find a lot of coloring pages for rainbow fish on line.

Draper Elementary Media Center

The first week of January we read the book Meanwhile..by Jules Feiffer. This book the students really enjoyed because they did not know what was going to happen next.



The second week we laughed so hard when we read the Chickens to the Rescue by John Himmelman.


The Third week we read the book Art and Max by David Wiesner. The students had fun helping with the story.




The fourth week we celebrated Chinese New Year. We talked about what makes a Chinese Dragon and that the dragon has special meaning . It stands for strength and luck and each year the parade ends with a dragon. The dragon is made from the claws of a hawk, legs of a tiger, horns of a deer, ears of a ox, whiskers of a catfish, body of a snake, mouth of a camel, eyes of a rabbit,scales of a carp and that's what makes a Chinese dragon.



We also did the story of the Chinese Zodiac. Each student made a dragon puppet.

On the fifth week we are doing science experiments with motion.