Week of October 31

We kicked off a fun week with a Halloween celebration! It's always fun to dress up in costume & to see all the kids dressed up. This year, we dressed up as library/media superheroes!

Mrs. Netolicky and I found some of our fellow Power Rangers during the parade!

Our preschoolers read a cute book called Can You Make a Scary Face? by Jan Thomas. It's a cute book where kids have to do the chicken dance and then make a scary face at the end. It's so funny to watch them!

AK students listened to the story The Troublemaker by Lauren Castillo. Only a few predicted that the raccoon would turn out to be the troublemaker!

Kindergarteners continued with our study of Lauren Castillo books. This week we read Twenty Yawns by Jane Smiley, illustrated by Lauren Castillo. I love, love the pictures in this book! (It's also on our Mock Caledcott list for this year!!) This book came at a great time--for one thing, it was pajama day on Thursday, and also, the kindies have been learning about numbers 1-20! We counted up the yawns at the very end. Kids also got to hold one of our stuffed animals at the end, which was a big deal for them!

First graders got to listen to one of my favorite stories, Huck Runs Amuck by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. We also looked at the illustrations in a non-fiction book called Goats by Kathryn Clay. The kids told me all the things they knew about goats before we read about Huck.                                         

                                       

Second grade students kicked off our Mock Caldecott unit. They had learned about the Caldecott last year, so we reviewed what the award is. We also talked about how "mock" means pretend or fake, and how we're going to pretend to be the Caldecott committee and pick this year's winner. The kids looked at past winners and honor winners and used some of the vocabulary they've been learning in art to find examples of quality illustrations. They shared examples with the class.

Kids found examples of these things in Caldecott books.

Third graders started a fun new little project this week. They all love to read joke books, and one of their standards right now is about speaking and listening. So, this week students picked 2-3 of their favorite jokes from a selection of books. Next week, we're going to record students reading the jokes. This will allow them a chance to practice pacing, expression, and fluency.

A group of Mrs. Collett's students enjoyed reading jokes outside.

Fourth graders also started a new project. They will be researching a state, to go along with their work on regions in social studies. Each student selected a state, and they used CultureGrams and the Google Read & Write tool to take notes in a Google Doc. I love hearing how excited they all get when they're learning about new places. 

Mrs. Novotny's students hard at work!

We also had success with our 2nd grade Wonder League Club! Each of our 8 teams accomplished mission 1! We have such a great group of smart, talented students!

One student drew this for me--Dash + the code to turn his lights a different color!