Reader's Theater in 2nd Grade: Calabash Kids

I love reader's theater. Students read an adapted folktale aloud together to hear a great story, practice speaking,  develop fluency, work collaboratively, and just plum have fun with expressive reading. Scholastic does an awesome job of explaining why reader's theater is valuable. And of course, it falls right in line with the Common Core Standards listed below.

In second grade, we performed a reader's theater of The Calabash Kids: A Tale of Tanzania by Aaron Shepard as a culmination of our unit on folktales. We had read and discussed folktales from several different continents including, The Empty Pot by Demi, The Hatseller and the Monkeys by Baba Wague Diakite, and Wiley and the Hairy Man (one of my favorites!) by Molly Bang. Each student got a booklet of The Calabash Kids story with their part highlighted. There were also several whole group parts which kept everyone engaged even after their individual lines were over. We talked about using expressive voices while reading and staying "on-script." My favorite thing about this lesson was that it leveled the playing field for all. Everyone was able to participate equally regardless of reading level. Students waited in anticipation for their part, followed along religiously, and spoke with confidence and flair when it came to their turn. We didn't record this version but are currently working on a new poetry reader's theater that we will turn into a multimedia presentation. Stay tuned!

Common Core Standards:
RL 2.2: Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
RL2.6: Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud. 
SL 2.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

Spring Poetry

To celebrate National Poetry Month, kindergarten classes created their own poems to express the arrival of spring. We talked about how poetry sometimes involves rhythm, rhyme and repetition but doesn't have to. We also discussed that poetry makes you feel something about whatever you are writing. Here are the poems we generated as a class in the three different kindergartens. We wrote them together, students illustrated,  and we practiced saying them aloud with feeling in our voices.


Spring is warm.
Spring is beautiful.
Spring is flowers.
Spring is trees.

Spring is flying birds.
Spring is flowers.
Spring is sun.
Spring is fun.






Spring is water.
Spring is flowers.
Spring is birds.
Spring is warm.

Easel.ly Infographics in 4th Grade

Students in 4th grade researched "Life as a Kid" on Culturegrams and compared it with life as a kid in the United States by filling in Venn diagrams. As a final project, students are recreating their Venn diagrams on Easel.ly, an online infographic creator. They need to include a title, two sides of the Venn diagram with headers, the middle comparison piece, at least one graphic, and a bibliography. Easel.ly infographics can then be shared electronically or printed. Stay tuned for finished products in the weeks to come.

Standards:
This project covers a slew of library Standards for the 21st Century Learner and has multiple Common Core components. Below are 2 that I specifically targeted for these lessons.
AASL Standard 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
CCSS W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

Kindergarten Kangaroo Puppet Shows

As part of our continents unit, kindergarteners explored Australia by reading fiction and nonfiction books about kangaroos and other Australian animals. They created a paper bag puppet in art and gathered facts about kangaroos in library. As a final presentation, they performed a puppet show with kangaroo facts and a song. See below for a sample. Click on the links below to see puppet shows by classroom:
Miss Martin's kangaroo puppet shows
Mrs. Ream's kangaroo puppet shows
Miss Wayland's kangaroo puppet shows

Who Would Win?

Jerry Pallotta, children's book author, is coming to our school during our Reading Week in April. In preparation for his visit, I introduced students in K-5 to some of his books. By far, the most popular set were the Who Would Win books. In this series, Jerry chooses two animals that are similarly matched, gives facts about each animal, and creates a fight scene at the end to tell who would win if the two animals met. Students in grades K-5 loved this format. As we went through different facts, students were thinking about how different body parts would give an advantage to that animal in a fight. Younger students as well as old were thinking critically - comparing, synthesizing, and drawing conclusions. At the end of the fight scenarios, students who guessed correctly cheered wildly. I love them all but my top three read-alouds were the Lion vs. Tiger, Whale vs. Giant Squid, and Scorpion vs. Tarantula. The facts in these three were straightforward, easy to compare and the fight scenarios were filled with suspense and dramatic endings. If you are ever in need of a nonfiction book for one school, one book initiatives, the Who Would Win books are surely winners. They also cover the Informational Text Common Core Standards for grades K-5. We can't wait for Jerry's visit!

Research Roundup!

What's happening in March in our library? Research! As part of our school-wide continents theme, each grade level is using books and online sources to research "around the world" subjects.

Kindergarten

We explored one animal from each continent using a fiction and nonfiction book as well as a short video clip to see how the animals look and act. Currently, we are on Australia and learned from a Discovery Education video that kangaroos can't move backwards.

Grade 1

After reading Throw Your Tooth From the Roof: Tooth Traditions from around the World, students will fill in a a Tooth Passport with information about tooth traditions from different continents.

Grade 2

We read several folktales from around the world: The Empty Pot, The Hatseller and the Monkeys, and my favorite American folktale, Wiley and the Hairy Man. Second graders will soon be performing reader's theater of The Calabash Kids and also do research on Tanzania where the story originates.

Grade 3

Third graders are using our library books and biography.com to gather information about famous people in North America for their puppet shows.

Grade 4

Fourth graders listened to the book My Librarian is a Camel and will use the online database CultureGrams to research "Life as a Kid" in different countries and compare it with life as a kid in the United States.

Grade 5

Fifth graders are exploring the book What the World Eats and online database CultureGrams to find out about food from other countries and compare it with the food they eat.