Much of this month was spent catching up with classes I'd not had a chance to see for the past few months, so there were lots of scavenger hunts and some fiction vs. nonfiction discussions. With the big, shiny, new changes happening*** to the library program, we'll be able to see many more classes on a more consistent basis starting in the fall.
***Our changes are that the superintendent has added 1.5 new library positions to the schools! We'll be hiring one full-time librarian, and a "shared" librarian that will work partly at the Stevens and partly in one of the schools. Hooray for more library media specialists!
Grades K-2
In many classes, we continued to talk about Fairy Tales this month, exploring both traditional, and fractured, versions of our favorites. In one second grade class, we talked about how the "original" versions of our favorites like Snow White were unexpectedly different - there's no "true love's kiss", the prince drops Snow White's coffin and the apple pops out!
...the kids also really enjoyed the fact that I gave 6 of the 7 dwarfs a grizzly, Cockney accent (and the 7th a high, squeaky voice).
In some classes we also were able to talk about our favorite Fairy Tale characters along with a reading of my favorite book from my own childhood, The Jolly Postman; Or, Other People's Letters. The kids got a kick out of the fact that the letters are INSIDE the book!
| This is tough to find in libraries, since it has so many added parts that can get lost, but a few libraries in the MVLC have it available. |
We then wrote letters to our favorite characters (the younger grades used a template), and the characters wrote back! Writing our letters gave us some good practice on what a letter looks like, what to capitalize, what words you use in a letter, etc.
We also used stories from our library to talk about the parts of a story (beginning, middle, end). We'd read a story (any story works!), and then afterwards we'd talk about the "parts" - what was the beginning? Where did the middle start? What happened at the end? Using the SmartBoards, we'd write out each of the three parts, then swirl them around and mix them up - did the story still make sense? Why or why not?
Grades 3-5
The older grades used a bit of technology this month, either for the first time (as in the case of 3rd Grade and using Google Slides) or as a culmination of activities. 4th and 5th grade classes were introduced to Typing Club, a wonderful bit of free technology on the web that teaches proper typing methods for kids. It works wonderfully with our students's Google accounts, but you can sign in without one and still go through all the typing levels!
We also started talking about Summer Reading (more info on that next month!) and ways to find good books to read over the summer. The big takeaway for them was that the best group of people to recommend good books is their friends!
Finally, we tasted a bit of a new genre: Short Stories! I read a few selections from Cynthia Rylant's Every Living Thing, and we talked about what you can expect when you pick up a collection of short stories - each story will have different characters, a different plot, and most of the time you can read the whole story in one sitting.
Finally, we tasted a bit of a new genre: Short Stories! I read a few selections from Cynthia Rylant's Every Living Thing, and we talked about what you can expect when you pick up a collection of short stories - each story will have different characters, a different plot, and most of the time you can read the whole story in one sitting.
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| Find it in the Steven's Library's story story collection in the Children's Room! |
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