Lego Animal Alphabet in Kindergarten

Kindergarten students are finishing up a mini unit on alphabet books in library class. We read The Beetle Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta,  Dr. Seuss' ABC, and Alphabet City by Stephen Johnson. During the first class, students were assigned an animal that began with a letter of the alphabet. They colored a picture of it and also drew the animal in rectangles as a blue print for their Lego version. We had one practice day of building their animals. The second session, I snapped a picture of their final product. It was interesting to see how some students could easily recreate their animals with Legos and others had a hard time getting started. Sharing examples as we went along was helpful for some students who had trouble at first. Seeing their friends ideas made a light bulb go off in their heads and they got right to work. Thanks to our Occupational Therapist, Heidi Correiro, for helping me in the first class. It's terrifying to dump Legos out on tables for 26 five and six-year-olds for the first time.  I imagined absolute chaos but with Heidi's help and awesome students, it all worked out. Below are Lego Animal Alphabet slideshows for Mrs. Ream's, Miss Wayland's, Miss Martin's, and Miss Johnson's classes.

Lego Animal Alphabet Slideshow  - Mrs. Ream's Class



Lego Animal Alphabet Slideshow - Miss Martin's Class


Lego Animal Alphabet Slideshow - Miss Wayland's Class




Lego Animal Alphabet Slideshow - Miss Johnson's Class

Top Tens for 2014: Fiction Picture Books

It's that time again for the end of year stats generation and reflection. I love running reports on the different types of books that students have checked out over the past year from our school library. Usually there is a direct correlation to lessons I have had in library or that teachers have had in class. Sometimes the books that make it to the top ten are totally random. For picture book fiction, there are no surprises. In kindergarten, I do a Mo Willems unit to introduce or continue the idea that books and reading are fun. Last year, I also separated our early readers from the rest of the picture book collection to encourage emerging readers to make choices they could actually read. Seven out of the top ten books fall into the early reader category. And five out of those seven are by Mo Willems.  The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco is a picture book for older readers. Because it is on the RI Children's Book Award list, it is widely read this year. And Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds probably made the list because I read it as part of our Caldecott book award unit in second grade last year. The take away from this top ten....the Mo Willems and early reader section lessons are a success, but I need to push more non-early readers too so students get exposed to amazing literature from a wider variety of authors, reading levels, and themes.

1. In a dark, dark room, and other scary stories Schwartz, Alvin, 1927-

2. Bink & Gollie DiCamillo, Kate.

3. Green eggs and ham Seuss, Dr.

4. Happy Pig Day! Willems, Mo.

5. I am going! Willems, Mo.

6. Pigs make me sneeze! Willems, Mo.

7. That is not a good idea! Willems, Mo.

8. The blessing cup Polacco, Patricia.

9. Creepy carrots! Reynolds, Aaron, 1970-

10. A big guy took my ball! Willems, Mo.

Fables, Captain Underpants, and the Common Core

Me: Who can give us an example of a lesson or a moral?
2nd Grader: Always buy preshrunk underwear.

Here is the backdrop for this conversation. Second graders are studying fables in library. We learned that fables are short, have animal characters, and have a lesson or moral. We read several examples of fables from around the world and now they are beginning to create their own fable in groups. The first step was that students had to come up with a lesson or a moral in their group. I asked students as a class to give an example of a lesson and one student answered, "Always buy preshrunk underwear." I thought, "Wow, this kid is a genius!" That night at dinner, I was telling my family the story and my son informed me that the student didn't think it up on his own, it was from Captain Underpants. I admit, I was a little deflated thinking that the kid wasn't going to be the next great philosopher like I thought. But...as I started to think more about it, this was still a good thing. While Captain Underpants isn't considered exactly exceptional literature with it's constant poopy and underwear talk, the student did actually read the book. He did understand the story he read. He was able to think critically and compare a story he read with traditional literature. And in terms of standards, he actually met the Grade 2 Common Core Standard RL.2.2. "Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral."  I might even go so far as to say that he is exploring the Grade 4 Common Core Standard RL.4.9 "Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics and patterns of events in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures." The moral of this story is, if you don't let kids explore the books they want to read, they'll never read on their own.  And if they never read on their own, they'll never be able to connect it to all the great stuff they are learning in school and at home. The other moral of the story, school libraries are awesome places that have fun books to read that also support the Common Core Standards.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight in Kindergarten

Kindergarteners are working on our annual puppet performance to be shown at the Art Show in May. Students will be making a lion puppet in art. In library, we are reading fiction and nonfiction books about lions and other animals. We are in the process of learning the words to The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens for our puppet performance. While the art puppets are being made, we created stick puppets to practice our moves. Below is a list of books we are reading as well as a video of the Tokens performing the song live. Students will see the video below at the end of the project. I think they will get a kick out of what the real performers look like especially after they become so familiar with the song.

Honey, Honey, Lion! by Jan Brett	Lions by Derek Zobel
Dandelion by Don Freeman	Ten Apples Up On Top by Theo LeSieg
Honey Badgers by Margo Gates	How to Hide a Lion by Helen Stephens

Escape difficult situations with your library book!

Reenactment

As we finish up our first quarter in the Francis library, I've been reading tons of library book journal responses. Below is my absolute favorite.

 

Help! Has reading your book helped you in any way? Why or why not?

Yes because my Mom’s annoying friends’ kids came over and they make a huge mess and I kept picking up every mess they made. Then I just had it. I took my book, locked myself in the bathroom and read in peace and quiet.

Q1 Library Journal in Review

When third-fifth graders enter library class, they spend five minutes writing in their weekly journal. Each week they respond to a different question about the library book they read the week before. As quarter one comes to a close, I am currently in a journal reading marathon. Overall, I am very impressed with students' thoughtful responses to their library books. It is also fun to see what students are actually reading. The rule is, if you didn't get a chance to read your library book, respond to something else you have read either at home or at school. See below for this quarter's questions and a sampling of journal responses.

Favorite Nonfiction Topic
What is your favorite nonfiction topic to read about? Why is it your favorite topic?
Animals are my favorite topic because I live with pets and where I live, outside, it’s like animal kingdom. Outside we have birds, fish, frogs, bunnies, woodchucks, squirrels, and skunks. Plus I love animals!

Why should I read this book?
Give 2 reasons why I should or should not read your library book?
You should read Doll Bones because it is descriptive and adds some scary things into the adventure. You should also read it because it is a RI Children’s Book Award.

Author Visit
Pretend the author of your book is visiting the school. Think of a question(s) you would ask him or her about the book.

My book is How to Speak Dog: A Guide to Decoding Dog Language by Aline Alexander Newman & Gary Weitzman,

• How did you know dog languages?
• How did you think of this on your own?
• Do you have a trained dog to help you?
• Do you like the book you wrote?

Picture & Caption
Draw a picture of the most exciting part of your book. Write a caption under the picture.

Title
Think of a new title for your book. Why do you think this is a good title?
The new title for my book is the “The Quest for Pi.” I chose this because in Navigating Early there is a story behind the number Pi and it is a main focus of the story.