Crazy February

What a winter! I haven't updated in a long time, because well, we haven't been in school for a long time! This past week we actually went to school each day, with just one late start. We still haven't technically had a full week since before winter break! It's been hectic, but I think each class has now had library at least 4 times in the past 2 months. We've been busy, as usual, so here's an update on what each class has been working on:

This week preschool read A Big Guy Took my Ball by Mo Willems. It's so funny to see their faces when the whale pops up!

AK has read a few books recently. We read Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee and I showed them the new roller coaster marble track that I found for $3 at Stuff Etc. It was a great find, as AK, K, and 3rd grade have used it so far! We also read Naked Mole Rate Gets Dressed by Mo Willems. The kids thought this book was just hilarious. They didn't quite like the photo of a naked mole rat that I showed them, though. Ha! 

  

Kindergarten finished their marble roller coasters this week. They used cardboard and tubes and tape to make a track for their marble. We talked about how gravity does the work and the tubes don't have to touch each other. They were trying to make a zig-zag out of their tubes for the marble to fall through. We had some really great ones! Here's a couple:

 

First grade finished up using circuits to make light. It is cool to experiment with the Snap Circuits and see how different colors of light are made using the prism.

First graders also learned about the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award and looked at several books that won the award. We talked about the difference between the Dr. Seuss award and the Caldecott Medal, which we talked about in kindergarten. We read I Want my Hat Back by Jon Klassen, which won the Seuss Medal, and then read the follow-up to that book, This is Not My Hat, which won the Caldecott. These books are just two of the best, I think. 

 

Second graders listened to Ricky Ricotta and His Mighty Robot by Dav Pilkey. I love the Ricky Ricotta series. Dav Pilkey is a certain kind of genius, I'm convinced. I loved getting to meet him last summer, and my appreciation for him has only grown. After reading, kids filled out a graphic organizer that retold the story. Now, they are working on drawing out a story map on large pieces of butcher paper. Next, we will program a Dash robot to go through the story map and record their voices to have the robot tell the story. 

Third graders have been working on African American research and on Rube Goldberg machines. We've had some cool looking machines so far!

Fourth graders are nearly finished with their book trailers. This project usually takes about 3 weeks, but with all of our snow days it's taken over double that! I will have a bunch of them to share next week, I'm sure! 

Early January

Happy New Year! After enjoying the holidays away from school, we've been hard at work during library lessons. I was able to meet with each grade level team and develop a plan for the month of January, and we've got a lot going on!

Preschool has been learning all about bread and they've even baked some bread in their classroom! In library, we've read Nanette's Baguette by Mo Willems and Shh...I Have a Plan by Chris Haughton.

                                                    

Kindergarten students were learning about story elements, so we read The Water Princess by Susan Verde, and then the kids spun a wheel on the smart board that asked them to answer the who, what, where, when, or why of the story. We had amazing conversations about this book! I was worried it would be over their heads, but we started out by talking about how we get drinks--from drinking fountains, faucets, or even our refrigerators. It's crazy to think that there are places in the world where there still isn't clean water. I experienced that first hand when I went to Africa, but that's a story for a different time.

Kindergartners also finished up their learning in science about forces and motion. That means it's time to build! The kids went to one station to play with marbles and put them down tracks that I created--using rubber bands, popsicle sticks, and marble works toys. Half of the kids used toilet paper tubes taped to the wall to create a track, as well. It's fun & messy & chaotic & we all love it!

First graders are working on non-fiction reading skills and learning about animals that live in cold places. In class, they're learning about penguins, so we're exploring other animals in library. Two weeks ago, I read them a book about Walruses and they made a Chatterpix video explaining one of the facts. Last week, the kids used Britannica online to listen to an article about polar bears. Then, we used the green screen to create a video!



Second graders reviewed our chapter book genres again and found loads of new books to read! I love spending class periods just simply reading. The kids rotated to their 3 favorite genres and read for 3 minutes at that table. Last week, we started working on using text evidence to answer questions in non-fiction. We read an article about Martin Luther King Jr since it was his birthday. Then the kids answered a question and highlighted the text where they found the answer.

Third grade splits their kids for science and social studies, so two classes are doing a science activity in the library and the other two are doing social studies. In science, they've been studying forces and motion. We are going to build Rube Goldberg machines during library. We started by watching videos of Rube Goldberg machines and writing down ideas of supplies. This week, one of the two classes got to play with some of the materials to create a very simple machine. The other class had to miss because we had an early out for a snow storm!

The kids in social studies have been learning about slavery and segregation. They are also doing informative writing in LA, so we decided to do a main idea/detail slide about a famous African American. The kids picked a person from the list, read or listened about them, and then filled in some key details that show why they are an important person in history.

Fourth graders began working on their book trailer videos. They had a choice of two templates to fill out and starting writing a summary of their book to use as the script for their movie. I'm excited to see how these videos turn out--this is one of my favorite projects in 4th grade!

Week of Dec 3

This week was a crazy week, friends! We didn't have school Monday because of professional learning, and then Tuesday we got a surprise snow day because of some freezing rain! Then, Wednesday and Thursday we had the 1st & 2nd grade music concert practices, so several classes didn't make it to library this week. But, we made the most of the time we did get.

Preschoolers in Mrs. Meade's class listened to Do You See a Shape? by Donna Herweck Rice. Then, they had the Ozobots follow different shape patterns and watched the lights change colors. I also showed them how to make the robots go faster and slower.

I had promised AK students last week that they could use robots, since we read Boy + Bot last week but ran out of time to play. So we got out the Code-a-pillars this week and had so much fun! I love watching kids' reactions to robots for the first time. I wish I could have gotten them all on camera, but I did catch this one! Needless to say, we had a great time!

 

Kindergarten students played with the Code-a-pillars again this week after listening to When Edgar Met Cecil by Kevin Luthardt. Next week we'll move on to Ozobots or Blue Bots.

 Two first grade classes and Mr. Schneider's second graders (they were the only 1/2 grade kids who had library) listened to Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray. Then, they either used Blue Bots to guide the robot through the story or they used Ozobots dressed up like gingerbread men and drew a story map with main events for the robot to drive through.

Third graders started with Ozobots, learning what codes were represented by  different color combinations. Next week, we'll start a puzzle where kids have to fill in missing codes to get the robot to where he goes.

Fourth grade worked on their bibliography slides during library. We cited CultureGrams, our online information resource, as well as the books they've been using during art class to make the posters that accompany their research. Our states museum is coming up soon!