This week the students in preschool through fifth grade started learning about folktales in the library. The kindergarteners and first graders enjoyed James Marshall's version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the second, third, and fourth graders heard Angela Elwell Hunt's The Tale of Three Trees, and the fifth graders heard an African folktale called Akimba and the Magic Cow. Last but not least, the preschoolers came on Friday afternoon and we read Ed Young's Seven Blind Mice. We talked about the fact that on the cover of a folktale book we will often find the words "retold by" before the writer's name because the author wants to recognize that the story has been told by many others before him. Over the next few weeks we hope to fill up our Tree of Folktales with many colorful leaves. Students can add a leaf with the title and author of a book each time they read a new folktale. Ms. D'Aurora's class surprised me on Friday afternoon with their performance of a song about library manners. All of the students have been wonderful about being quiet, careful, and respectful while in the library!
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This week I am reading The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. This story conveys, through beautiful words and pictures, how books can change your life. The title may be familiar to you as it was originally an award-winning short film released in 2011. You can see the film version on YouTube. If you are particularly inspired you might even want to buy the app available through the iTunes store. Mark your calendars and set your DVRs for a movie version of Christopher Paul Curtis's brilliant book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963. The Hallmark Channel will be premiering its original movie version this Friday, September 20th at 7:00. Check out this link for more about the movie and the cast. I have been promoting Christopher Paul Curtis's books to the middle schoolers over the past couple of weeks because they are great historical fiction reads. For more about Curtis and his books, go to the author's website, Nobody But Curtis. During their library times today, the kindergarteners and first graders had thoughtful conversations about how to take care of their library books. We looked at some pictures and decided which of them were things that could always go with books, which ones could be used with books only if we were very careful, and which ones were never a good idea with books. One first grader pointed out that while we might think that backpacks are always a safe place for books, she once had a book get damaged in her backpack. After hearing that, we realized that it is important to think about what else is in the backpack with the books! Accidents do happen, of course, and if a library book should get damaged, just bring it back to the library and we will discuss whether it can be repaired or replaced. Happy reading! The sixth and seventh graders became more familiar with the library layout today by participating in a partner scavenger hunt. Examples of the ten items were: 1) a book by an author whose last name starts with the same letter as your own, 2) a biography, 3) a mystery, and 4) a book published before 1999. I was impressed by some of the strategies the kids had for finding the books they needed. By sharing our strategies, we made sure that everyone became aware of the layout of the space and the signs that help guide us to particular sections. After the scavenger hunt, I introduced them to some examples of historical fiction in our library. I also mentioned that if they would like a broader selection of historical fiction books to choose from, the Hennepin County Library website has three lists of historical fiction books for teen readers. You can connect to the lists through the links below:
United States History World History War Stories (check near the bottom of the book summary to see if it is fiction or non-fiction for this list) Let me know if you'd like help finding something of interest to you! Over the past few days the PK-5 Library has been busy with visits from second, third, fourth, and fifth graders. Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen, was a hit with the second and third graders and prompted a good discussion about library "deportment". The fourth and fifth graders listened to a story called Tomas and the Library Lady. We discussed the many reasons that people read and why reading was important to Tomas in particular. After a quick tour of the space, the students got right to work picking out their books. Everyone received a book mark to help them save their spot in their books without damaging the pages. Next week we will talk more about how to keep books clean and in good condition. Click on the photos below to see them full size. The afternoon preschoolers finally got their chance to check out a book from the library on Friday afternoon. We read From Head to Toe by Eric Carle and then we learned about a few important parts of a book. Ask your child to show you where the spine of the book is! Preschoolers also talked about what an author does. We discovered that Eric Carle often does both the writing and the illustrating for his books. I'll see you next Friday for more fun in the library! It has been exciting to welcome the Notre Dame students to the library this year! Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders have had a chance to spend time in the Middle School Library with their Language Arts classes for an orientation and a chance to select books. Many of them have already been back one or more times to choose new books. We are looking forward to a wonderful year of discovering new authors, genres, and books to enjoy! Today the kindergarteners and first graders had their first visits to the Lower School Library. They had fun laughing along to I Can Read with my Eyes Shut by Dr. Seuss. After the read-aloud, they each selected two books to take home. Have fun reading the books your child chose and help them remember to return them next week so they can choose two more. I look forward to seeing the second, third, fourth, and fifth graders in the next few days!
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