Thursday, October 31, 2013

What Characters!



                                             


                                                      Today is not only Halloween at                    

CHAROLETTE'S WEB

All sorts of Characters

P. S. 274 but it's also our Character Dress Up Day!  The school was filled with all sorts of characters from children's books and traditional Halloween characters.





Teachers read stories with their favorite characters and involved students in a number of fun activities.  To end the day just right, students in Prek through grade 2 were able to parade around the school as their favorite character.

PINKALICIOUS


MAGIC SCHOOL BUS


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Too Much of a Good Thing, Poor Pinkalicious

Pinkalicious loves everything pink, especially pink cupcakes.  She loves them so much that even after her mom and dad told her not to eat anymore she still eats some more.  Guess what happens when she wakes up in the morning?  She is pink from head to toe!  Can the doctor figure out how to help her with her pinkitits? The doctor suggests Pinkalicious eat only green things.  Do you think this will cure her? First grade students made predictions about what would happen next and were surprised at the end. If you want to find out what happens read Pinkalicious by Victoria Kahn and Elizabeth Kahn.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Mapping Out the Library

Anyone who has visited the library often enough will know how to find their favorite books.  Today the fourth graders completed a quick run through of the most important sections of the library.  After being given a review tour of the library students raced to complete a map of the library.  Afterwards they discussed what books can be found in those sections or what happens there.  See if you remember where all of the sections below are located.

Picture Books
Instructional Area
Biographies
Fiction
Storytelling
Quiet Zone
Non-fiction
Circulation Desk
References


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Structure of a NonFiction Book

-->
Did you know that good readers of nonfiction can tell the difference between fiction and nonfiction? Third graders looked closely at the structure of nonfiction books and identified four very important components that can help them pinpoint specific information about their topic.  Students browsed through a set of nonfiction books placed at their table and discussed the purpose of the title page, the table of contents, the index and the glossary. Below is a description for each component that you can use to help you remember the purpose of each part. We will look further into the elements of nonfiction books as the year progresses.

The title page tells the name of a book.  It gives the name of the author and also tells the name of the publishing company.
 
The table of contents comes after the title page.  It lists the titles of the chapters or units in the book.   and the page numbers they begin on.

The index is an alphabetized list of subjects found in a book which gives the page or pages where each item is mentioned.  The index is found at the end of the book.

The glossary is a list of specific terms noted in the nonfiction books and their definitions.  The glossary is often placed in the back of the book as well.





-->

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Characters Come to Life

   This week we discussed the differences between fantasy and realism and Miss Smith's Incredible Storybook by Michael Garland had a little bit of both.
    Imagine going to school and your new teacher reads a story about pirates, princesses, dragons, wizards, and bears.   It can happen! However Miss Smith's storybook does something magical, the characters jump right out of the story and into Zack's classroom.  Don't we all wish that could happen for real?  Maybe not, if all the characters from our favorite books keep coming to life and don't want to return to their stories.  Do you think Miss Smith can handle the chaos?  Read the story and find out what happens.






Wednesday, October 2, 2013

An Organized Library Makes for a Happy Librarian

One of the best tools students can use in the library are these colorful shelf markers.  Why, you may wonder!  Everyone knows that a shelf marker helps us mark the place where the book belongs on the shelf.  When students are trying to find books to borrow they MUST use one of these.  Students must place the shelf marker on the shelf, pull out a book, browse through the book and then they can decide if they will borrow it or not.  If they choose not to take it home...not a problem! All they have to do is put it back in the spot where the shelf marker is sitting and then remove the shelf marker.  With this system the students are helping to keep the library organized.  What more can a librarian ask for?