Finding good books & Halloween: Week of October 24-28

The theme this week was a continuation of how to find a good book, with some Halloween thrown in for fun.

Kindergarten:  I showed the Kindergarten classes the video for the book Pumpkin Circle by George Levenson, narrated by Danny Glover with music by George Winston.  It is a lovely book about the circle of life of a pumpkin, from seed to plant to fruit and back to seed again.  The music is lively and the video is engaging for all students.  The Kindergarten classes are going to the pumpkin patch on Monday, October 31, so this ties in with their curriculum.

1st grade:  Continuing the theme of how to find a good book, I read the 1st grade classes Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins.  Goldie Socks finds herself in the bears' house while they are out doing their jobs as libearians, and she finds books that are too big, too hard, too easy, too little, until she finds some that are just right.  The book includes the Five Finger Rule, which I teach students to help them find a good book.  Choose a book and turn to the first page, read it to yourself or out loud and every time you come to a word you don't know, put up a finger.  At the end of the page if you have zero fingers or one finger up it may be too easy, but is still a fun book to check out; two or three fingers means it is just right and you'll be challenging yourself to be a better reader; four or five fingers mean it will be difficult to understand but it might be a good book to read with someone at home.

2nd grade:  We read Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians as well, and talked about choosing AR books that were in our zone as another way to find a "just right" book.

3rd grade:  We played the Order in the Library online games again, but instead of doing it as a whole class, we went into the computer lab and students practiced alphabetizing books individually.  I challenged students to get through at least two games before we finished in the lab and went to check out books.

4th grade:  I purchased some new fractured fairytales and folktales at the end of last year and I've been waiting to share Cinderella Skeleton with a class ever since.  It is a wonderful version of the story with appropriately creepy Tim Burton-like pictures, with Robert San Souci's well-written verse sharing the story of Cinderella Skeleton and her wish to go to the Halloween Ball, where she meets her Prince Charming and loses not her shoe, but her whole foot while running away.

5th grade:  We looked at more online book-finding tools today, specifically Literature Map and Your Next Read.  These websites use data from users and other sources to connect readers to books related to the books and authors they are already reading.

6th grade:  We also looked at more online book-finding tools today, specifically Literature Map and Your Next Read.  These websites use data from users and other sources to connect readers to books related to the books and authors they are already reading.

Finding good books: Week of October 17-21

The theme this week was how to find a good book.  With the primary grades, this generally means discussing what a "good fit" or "just right" book is for them, and how to find those kinds of books.  With the intermediate grades, I introduce some tools they can use independently to find books that appeal to them.

Kindergarten: This is our first week to check out a library book!  After several classes discussing book care, how to choose a good book, and the procedures to use in the library (how to check out, where to read, where to line up, when to bring books back, etc.), we are ready!

1st grade:  We read Mo Willems books (writer of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Leonardo the Terrible Monster) and Ella the Elegant Elephant by Steven and Carmela D'Amico (local author and illustrator) as examples of what might be a "good fit" book for 1st graders.

2nd grade:  We read Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, using the document camera to look at the wonderful detail in her illustrations.

3rd grade:  The focus for 3rd grade for the next few week is how students can find books on the shelves, so we began with a whole-class shelf order game on the interactive whiteboard.  We dragged books into the correct order and discussed how books are organized in the Everybody, Fiction, and Nonfiction sections.  This will lead to actual practice finding books on the shelf.  Students can practice this at home using the same online games: Order in the Library.

4th grade:  We discussed the Global Reading Challenge during the 4th grade classes, since this is the first year they are eligible and it is new to many of them.  All 4th and 5th graders are encouraged to join one of our seven teams, read at least two of the ten books determined by the KCLS childrens librarians, and meet to discuss the books once a week during lunch recess.  For more information, visit the GRC website.

5th grade:  I showed the 5th grade classes how to use Lexile.com to search for books in genres that interest them that are at the level of the Lexile score each student earned on our Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) test earlier this fall.  Students who read books near their Lexile level are more likely to comprehend what they are reading.

6th grade:  I also showed the 5th grade classes how to use Lexile.com to search for books in genres that interest them that are at the level of the Lexile score each student earned on our Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) test earlier this fall.  Students who read books near their Lexile level are more likely to comprehend what they are reading.

Global Reading Challenge 2011-12

The King County Library System's Global Reading Challenge provides books and support for teams of 4th and 5th graders from Ridgecrest.  Ten books are chosen by the KCLS librarians to be read by the students in preparation for questions in a Battle of the Books style competition.

Fourth and fifth grade classrooms are hearing about the GRC this week. Any student in those grades is eligible to participate.  We want a variety of reading levels and interests, and the book list reflects a variety of reading levels and genres.

The requirements for students are:

• students are willing to read at least two of the ten books
• students will attend bi-weekly team meetings at lunchtime with Ms. Freeman and Mrs. Therriault in the library
• students will be prepared to work with their team to read and practice questions.

Last year we had six teams with 40 students participating.  My hope is that we will exceed that number (we can have up to 7 teams with 49 students participating).

The book list this year is fabulous, and you can see the books and read more about the GRC on the KCLS GRC webpage.

Return to blogging

After more than two years of trying out different ways to communicate with families and community members, I have returned to this blog and hope to update it at least twice a week.  I will share what we are learning and reading in library each week for each grade level and program, and also some favorite books or technology tips.