Week of April 4

Well, it's been a month since I last wrote an update on what's going on in the library. It has been a busy, hectic month with lots of disruptions on the schedule, so it feels like we've been out of rhythm! Time to find it again for the last 35 days of school. I can't believe that that is all that's left! This week was also a bit hectic, with spring pictures, an assembly, and me being gone two days at a conference and district meetings. Hopefully next week we'll really get some learning accomplished!

Here's a few things we've done in the last couple of weeks:

Kindergarteners learned all about the US symbols in class. During library time, we read some books about the symbols, then used ChatterPix to record about our favorite symbol. Here are a few of them from each class (some of them didn't save correctly, unfortunately, and Mrs. Hoeger's class' don't have names--we were learning as we went!).












This past week the kindergarteners listened to some poems, and tried to find rhyming words in the poems. We'll work on that again next week!

First graders have been working on problem and solution. We've read Mr. Tiger Goes Wild and Weasels. We talk about how sometimes there can be more than one problem in a book, like in Mr. Tiger but sometimes books have one problem, like in Weasels. Both of these books were hits!

Second graders also look at some poetry, but instead of looking for rhymes, we looked for alliterations--repeated sounds. We read a poem called Sea Snakes and then tried to write some alliterations using our own names. The next week, we edited the alliterations and took a selfie with our tongues out (because alliterations make great tongue twisters), then wrote the alliteration on our picture. Here are a few examples. Click here to see them all!

The 3rd graders got to spend some time looking through stacks of new books this week! There's always time for that! It was a great way to wind down each day, since they are the last class of the day. 

The 4th graders have been working so hard on their book trailer videos. Finally, we are (mostly) done. A few people still need to share them to me or fix some technical difficulties, but here are links to see the ones who are finished. I am so proud of how these turned out! They are awesome!

Created with Padlet

Created with Padlet

Created with Padlet

Created with Padlet

We've got a lot of fun & learning left to pack into out 35 remaining days. I can't wait!

Seuss Celebration

Our first week in March was a little busy, so we decided to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday a bit early on February 29. We did the same activities as last year, since each grade level had a certain book & snack. Celebrating is so much fun!

4th grade made marshmallow truffula trees after listening to The Lorax. They dipped the marshmallows in gel frosting then in sprinkles!

Preschoolers enjoyed blue yogurt & gummy fish after listening to One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. 

First graders enjoyed trying green eggs and ham after reading that book! I think more tried them out this year than last.

We always make time for photo booth fun!

Kindergarteners made hats out of cookies & red gummy rings after reading The Cat in the Hat.

2nd graders also enjoyed giant marshmallows. We read Yertle the Turtle (my favorite Seuss book) and used edible markers to draw turtles on the marshmallows. Then each table tried to stack their "turtles" which is always entertaining.

The AK students read Hop on Pop and ate popcorn with candy goodies. And the 3rd graders read Bartholomew & the Oobleck and ate green yogurt, but somehow out of 300 pictures I can't find a picture! 

I absolutely love taking a day to just have fun and celebrate books! Check out the full photo album here.

Author Jill Esbaum

On February 24th we were lucky to welcome author Jill Esbaum to our school! We spent most of February preparing for her visit by reading lots of her books and decorating the library. It was so fun to finally meet her! Jill is an Iowan author, which makes it even more exciting. She has around 25 books published and has more on the way. It was fun to hear how she gets to work writing National Geographic books, which is a dream job of mine! It's always fun to learn about someone else's profession.

Here are some snapshots from the day:

A group of 4th graders were selected by their peers to have lunch with Ms. Esbaum. 

Jill showed some pictures of her life to our 3rd & 4th grade students.

Mrs. Mehmen and one of her friends are enjoying listening to Jill read one of her new books.

Here are the Kindergarteners after Jill read her new book that isn't even out yet!

We really loved having Ms. Esbaum come speak and are looking forward to hearing from more authors in the future! A special thanks to our amazing PTO for all of their support!

Jill Esbaum Prep

It was another fun week preparing for our upcoming author visit! Jill Esbaum will joining us on Wednesday to meet with our K-4 students. We're all getting VERY excited!

Kindergarteners read I Am Cow, Hear Me Moo and voted on which Jill Esbaum book has been their favorite so far. Here are the results:

First graders listened to Elwood Bigfoot, which inspired many debates and arguments about whether or not Bigfoot is real...that's a complicated conversation for some 6-7 year olds! I'm interested to see if it comes up in our conversations with Ms. Esbaum!

Second graders listened to I Am Cow, Hear Me Moo, and a couple of the classes had time left to read Tom's Tweet.

Third and fourth graders rotated through 8 Jill Esbaum stations. Five of them had her Angry Birds books there that had a QR code on the inside, linked to a Padlet question about the book. Here's what the Padlet looked like for the Angry Birds Playground: Q & A Book:

Created with Padlet

There were other stations that had her picture books, non-fiction books, and her biography from her website. The kids really enjoyed getting to read some of these books and take some time to look at them. Here's a few pictures of the fun:

Week of February 8

We had a lot of fun this week preparing for our visiting author, Jill Esbaum!

Kindergarteners listened to the story of Stanza, a dog who loves to write poetry. Then we used the Promethean board to vote on which of Jill's books has been our favorite so far. Students moved their name to show their vote. We'll do the same thing next week, then print out the results & hang it up for Jill to see.

First graders read I Am Cow, Hear Me Moo!. It is a funny story about a brave, fearless cow...fearless, so she says, anyway. After reading, students wrote about what it means to be brave. I love talking about bravery and hearing what kids have to say about what it means to be brave.

I just love reading these and seeing what kids define as bravery. One of them, not pictured, said that bravery is hugging a zombie. Hopefully none of us ever run into that type of bravery! 

Second graders read Elwood Bigfoot: Wanted Birdie Friends. Our amazing art teacher, Mr. Plagman, created us an Elwood to put on the wall, and some student helpers made a tree. Then the 2nd graders made little birdies to sit on the branches. Hopefully Ms. Esbaum loves the display!

Third graders kept taking notes on their famous African American. Hopefully now they are ready to start creating a slideshow during computer lab. This week we will be talking about Jill Esbaum and reading one of her books and exploring her website.

Fourth graders also kept working on their current book trailer project. We installed WeVideo and started inserting images in the correct order. Next week we'll talk about Ms. Esbaum, and after that we'll be ready to record their voiceover on the trailers & be ready to finish them up!