Making a Snowman

Winter is almost here and class K-4 had a great time talking about some of their favorite things to do when it snows.  They talked about having snowball fights, making snow angels and building snowmen.  I read All you Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle and then the students showed me they know how to follow directions.  They were able to complete a "Making a Snowman" worksheet in which they had to listen to my directions as I requested that they draw different items on 3 different snowmen.   All of their snowmen pictures were hung up on the bulletin board so everyone could see how well they can follow directions.  Afterward, they had the chance to use the Smartboard to create a virtual snowman at the Build a Snowman website. Click Here and give it a try.

Holiday Celebrations

Class 1-3 has been learning about different cultures and the traditions they follow when they celebrate specific holidays.  Ms. Isaacs has taught her class about Christmas and Hannukah and today they learned about Kwanzaa in the library. They listened to a uniquely written book called Celebrate Kwanzaa with Boots and her Kittens by Alma Flor Ada.  In this story there is an African American family all set to celebrate Kwanzaa when they realize their cat is missing. Throughout this fictional story we are taught about the 7 principles of Kwanzaa in an entertaining way.  At the very end of the book there is an informative section about Kwanzaa as well.  After reading the story the students compared the different holidays. 

Online Posters

Animal Characteristics as described by Class 4-2 on Glogster.EDU

Anansi Completed Projects

Class 3-1 have finally completed their work on Anansi the Spider.  They all did a great job working in groups to complete their projects and today we had the opportunity to watch the 3-1 Anansi Theatre Group perform their own remake of Anansi and the Seven Yam Hills by Elizabeth Lane. As you will see in the video, their version is called Anansi and the Six Potatoes and Anansi is up to his old mean tricks.



Class 3-1 is full of students who are anxious to learn everyday.  This ELL class spend a couple of weeks in the library listening to Anansi stories and sharing what they learned about Anansi tales.  This particular group performed their own remake of an Anansi tale in which Anansi tricks all the animals...until he meets Ms. Nancy the goose.

Anansi the Spider Has Arrived in the Library

Google image

Class 3-1 has begun their African unit and have decided to focus their studies on the West African folktales of Anansi the Spider.  After learning some basic facts about Africa, Ms. Sosa and I read some of the more popular retold stories about this little trickster.  In each of the stories they learned that Anansi was a lazy, mean, and greedy character.  Students listened to:
Anansi and the Magic Stick by Eric Kimmel
Ananse and the Lizard by Pat Cummings
Ananse's Feast by Tololwa M. Mollel

They are currently working on group projects that include acrostic poems, 3D Anansi, Anansi and African animals, as well as remake performance of Anansi and the 5 Yams Plant with a class 3-1 twist.  Be on the lookout for some of the final projects soon, in the meantime check out the work in progress below:

Top Books

For the past 2 months students have visited the library in search of their favorite books of interest.  Here is a list of the top ten books that have circulated this school year so far.  Is your favorite book on the list? 

1. Goosebumps: My Friends Call Me Monster	Stine, R. L.
2. Diary of a Wimpy kid : The Last Straw	Kinney, Jeff.
3. Goosebumps: Phantom of the Auditorium	Stine, R. L.
4. Franny K. Stein: Attack of the 50-ft. Cupid	Benton, Jim.
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid : Greg Heffley's Journal	Kinney, Jeff.
6. Diary of a Wimpy Kid : Rodrick Rules	Kinney, Jeff.
7. The Baby-sitter's Club. [2], The Truth About Stacey : A Graphic Novel	Telgemeier, Raina.
8. Diario de Greg : Días de Perros	Kinney, Jeff.
9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days	Kinney, Jeff.
10.Dragon Ball Z. Vol. 18	Toriyama, Akira

Google Image

Have you seen the Leaf Man and all the leaf characters blowing in the wind? Lois Ehlert creations using all types of leaves makes The Leaf Man very appealing to our students.  Today Kindergarten students listened to the story and found a bunch of characters made with real leaves in the pages of the book.  As they went on a journey for miles with the Leaf Man, they found cows, turtles, fish and even turkeys.  Each student colored leaves and then shared their own thinking about where the wind would blow their own leaves this Fall season.

Have You Met Dewey?

Class 5-2 and 5-3 have learned how the non-fiction section of the library is organized.  They now know that Melvile Dewey created the Dewey Decimal System many years ago in order to organize non-fiction books by a subject's category.   All non-fiction books are separated into 10 different categories, making it easier for students to locate non-fiction books for their research projects.  However, they should not forget how important the call number of books can be as well.  After using the OPAC to search for specific books in our library students can now pinpoint the category and reduce the amount of time spent searching the shelves.

If you come to the library just look for the signs that will help you identify each of the categories listed below:

000-099     General Works
100-199     Philosophy and Psycology
200-299     Regilion and Mythology
300-399     Social Sciences 
400-499     Languages
500-599     Natural Science
600-699     Applied Science
700-799     Arts and Recreation
800-899     Literature
900-999     Geography and History