This is the last week for AR testing. AR testing ends on Friday, May 11th. All library books should be returned at the end of the day on Friday, May 11th. This week kindergarten students will review various parts of the book and enjoy listening to How I Spent my Summer Vacation written and illustrated by Mark Teague. First grade students will listen to the book The Ocean Alphabet Book written by Jerry Pallotta. This will tie in with reading they’re doing in their classrooms. Second through Fifth grade students will have free reading time to work on reaching their AR goal for the nine weeks and also to work on reaching the school wide beach day goal.
Posted in Uncategorized May 7, 2012
All classes will have an opportunity to shop at the spring book fair during their library visit this week. The book fair will also be open each day after school from 2:45-3:30. Our school gets to keep 25% of the sales from the book fair in order to purchase new books for the library. Please come out and support our book fair. We have lots of shelves to fill in the new Blossomwood library!
Posted in Uncategorized April 30, 2012
This week students will watch the book fair preview video in preparation for our upcoming Scholastic book fair. The book fair will be here April 30th – May 4th. Students will be allowed to shop at the book fair during their library visit next week. The book fair will also be open each day after school from 2:45-3:30. You may view our book fair website in order to see some of the titles that will be available at the fair. http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/blossomwood
Posted in Library Class Activities Tagged: Scholastic Book Fair April 23, 2012
This week we’ll focus on reading and learning about animals in honor of Earth Day coming up on April 22nd. Kindergarten students will enjoy listening to the book Actual Size written by Steve Jenkins. We will review fiction vs. nonfiction. First and second grade students will focus on endangered animals. We will read the book Gone Wild: an endangered animal alphabet written by David McLimans. We will review parts of the book, fiction vs. nonfiction, and text features of nonfiction books. Third through fifth grade students will have free reading time to work on reaching their AR goals and beach day goal.
Posted in Library Class Activities Tagged: Earth Day, Endangered Animals, Nonfiction April 16, 2012
April is national poetry month! In celebration, all grade levels will focus on poetry this week. Kindergarten, first, and second grade students will discuss what a poem is and enjoy listening to some poems written by Douglas Florian. Kindergarten and first grade students will listen to the book Bow wow meow meow. Kindergarten students will write simple addition sentences using the animals in the poems. First grade students will answer questions using a simple chart and graph containing information about the animals in the poems. Second grade students will listen to poems from the book Lizards, frogs, and polliwogs. This book will tie in with their unit of study on animals and their upcoming zoo field trip. We will discuss characteristics of reptiles and amphibians before reading. Third and fourth grade students will learn about Shel Silverstein and his contributions to children’s poetry. We will discuss genre characteristics of poetry vs. fiction. We will read selected poems from his book A Light in the Attic. Most fifth grade classes will miss their library class this week due to testing. Any visiting classes will have free reading time.
Posted in Library Class Activities Tagged: Douglas Florian, Poetry, Shel Silverstein April 9, 2012
Kindergarten through second grade students will review text features and how they can help us when reading informational texts. We will also review what a biography is and enjoy learning about Beatrix Potter from a book written by Jayne Woodhouse. We will then watch a video of The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny. Third through fifth grade students will have free reading and/or research time.
Posted in Library Class Activities Tagged: Beatrix Potter, Biographies, Informational Text, Peter Rabbit, Text Features April 2, 2012
This week kindergarten students will focus on recalling information and creating a picture of a scene from the book read alound. We will read the book Poppleton in Spring written by Cynthis Rylant and illustrated by Mark Teague. First grade students will explore the elements of a mystery. We will read and discuss the book Nate the Great written by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and will fill out a Mystery cube detailing the various elements of the story on www.readwritethink.org. Second grade students will practice using an online and print dictionary to locate the meaning and correct spelling of various words. Third grade students will review various reference sources and will use them to answer questions about ecosystems and the human body. Fourth grade students will review various text features like the table of contents, index, and glossary and how they can be used to locate information. We’ll read the book Body Warriors written by Lisa Trumbauer and tie into their unit of study on cells. Fifth grade students will review various reference sources and will use them to locate information and answer various questions relating to their unit of study on space.
Posted in Library Class Activities Tagged: Cells, Dictionaries, Mysteries, Reference Sources, Spring March 18, 2012
This week our book selections will be geared around St. Patrick’s Day. Kindergarten students will listen to the book Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato written by Tomie DePaola. We will use the Britannica Online Encyclopedia to learn some basic information about the country of Ireland and will look at a map of the country. First grade students will listen to the book The Leprechauns’ Gold written by Pamela Duncan Edwards. We will also utilize the World Atlas feature in the Britannica Online Encyclopedia to compare a political map of Ireland with a physical map. Second grade students will listen to the book Tim O’Toole and the Wee Folk written by Gerald McDermott. We will focus on the elements of a fairy tale that can be found within the story. Third through fifth grade students will review various reference sources and will determine which source should be used to answer a variety of questions. The students will then use the appropriate source to actually locate the answers to those questions.
Posted in Library Class Activities Tagged: Leprechauns, Reference Sources, St. Patrick's Day March 11, 2012
This week students in kindergarten through second grade will continue to explore the work of Dr. Seuss. We will read And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. This was the first book Dr. Seuss had published. We will focus on active listening skills, recalling information, and identifying elements such as the title page and main character. Third through fifth grade students will have free reading time to work on achieving their AR goal for the third nine weeks.
Posted in Uncategorized March 5, 2012
This week we will focus on celebrating the life and work of Dr. Seuss. All classess will access and read some biographical information about Dr. Seuss from the SIRS Discoverer database in the Alabama Virtual Library. Kindergarten students will enjoy listening to the story Horton Hatches the Egg. We will review title, author, illustrator, characters, and setting. First grade students will listen to the book Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. We’ll discuss parasites and hosts and learn more about them from a Britannica Online Encyclopedia article. Second grade students will listen to the book The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. We’ll focus on making and checking predictions as well as summarizing the actions of the characters. Third grade students will listen to the book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew. We’ll focus on the main idea and how the message applies to their own lives. Fourth and fifth grade students will conduct research on the life of Dr. Seuss. The focus will be on using effective search terms and locating reliable sources of information.
Posted in Library Class Activities Tagged: Alabama Virtual Library, Dr. Seuss, hosts, parasites, SIRS Discoverer February 26, 2012
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