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

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.

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

Structure of a NonFiction Book

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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.

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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.

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?

Coffee with the Principal in the Library

One of the rules in the library is that we all must "be kind" to each other.  The library is here for everyone to use and today we welcomed the parents.  They were greeted by our bright display of Autumn and Halloween books and a warm cup of coffee.  The principal, Mrs. Ollivierra, held her first "Coffee with the Principal" session of the year in the library and will continue to host a session the last Monday of every month.  All parents were invited to attend the session this morning in order to meet the principal and share any questions or concerns they may have about our school.  The parents also listened to a presentation by a representative from the Brooklyn Children's Museum.  Any parent that has missed this wonderful opportunity to discuss their child's school and be infromed about some amazing community activities should really try and visit the library next time.  The library is also open for Parent Access every Monday from 2:00-2:45pm.

There's a Lion in the Library

Not really? However you will see one in Michelle Knudsen's storybook Library Lion.  This week the third graders used the 5Ws and an H to create questions they had about the story.   They wondered about the characters, the setting, and the plot.  Here are some of the questions they had.

Who would let a lion into a library?
What made the lion love books so much?
Where did the lion come from?
When is the lion going to come back to the library?
Why did the lion have to leave?
How did Miss Merriweather know Mr. McBee was running in the hallway?

After a discussion about all their questions there were many students who wanted to borrow the book.  After checking the OPAC we found 3 more copies available for circulation.  If your interested in checking it out during your next visit just search the OPAC

Databases for Our Library

     There is nothing better then getting free resources for the library.  This week I learned about a couple of databases being offered to all students, parents and staff thanks to the New York Online Virtual Electronic Library (NOVELNY). The best way to access them is through the school library and we can now find the link on our own OPAC .  Just look at the links for eLibrary, Grolier Online and Kids Infobits under the database category once you are in our OPAC.

     In case you did not know a database is a tool that has collected and organized information from a variety of printed magazines, encyclopedias and journals.   Instead of going to Google to research information for a class project you can conduct a search at one of the kid friendly databases and find better results. You can even access it from home but you will need the username and passwords from your friendly librarian Ms. LaLuz.  Just drop by the library during open access and I will show you how to log in.

Mr. Wiggle's Is At It Again!

Mr. Wiggle's the book worm is helping our kindergarten and first grade students understand how to take care of the books they will borrow from the library.  We made a list of all the things that make Mr. Wiggles cry and everyone promised they would never do anything that will make Ms. LaLuz cry.  Students promised to use a bookmark, to keep food away from the books, and to keep crayons and markers away.  Most of all they promised they will return the books back to the library in "Good" condition.  That would definitely make me happy.

Thank you Mr. Wiggles

Falling Into the Swing of Things

Welcome back to another school year.  I hope you all had a great summer full of adventures.  After our hiatus the past school year I learned more about the new Common Core standards, extended the library collection and set up our new ipads.  Be prepared for another exciting year in the library.

The library will open next week for our Library Orientation sessions so be prepared to review some very important library rules and procedures. Although the Smartboard and tables will be in a new positions the books can still be found in their designated area. Remember every book has a special address so they can be easily found when you need them. Below is a list of words from our word wall. Can you recall what they mean? See you all within the next couple of weeks.

Word Wall
circulation shelves            circulation desk              sections                     call number
references                         biographies                    spine spine labels       non-fiction   
picture books                    shelf markers