students – Page 2 – Peaceful Reader

Friday Features; Kindness

This week in the library our focus was on kindness. We do have Character Counts! at our school but I really wanted to get at the idea of each of us making another person feel special. The world would be a better place if we could all make that happen.

I read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud and David Messing to each class except kindergarten (they had Eric Carle). Even the 5th graders listened and it opened up a good discussion of what each of us could do to fill someone else’s bucket. A first grade student said that the bucket is like your heart! Ah, thank you [big teacher smile] He understood the message.

With that book I read one of my all-time favorite picture books, Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell and David Catrow. The message and the illustrations come together into one outstanding tale of being true to yourself. We conversed about bucket fillers in this book (Grandma and Molly Lou) but also that Ronald Durkin learns to be less of a bully and more of a bucket filler by the end. I found this great Molly Lou video by Spoken Arts.

I also read Todd Parr’s It’s Okay to be Different and Carrie Weston’s The New Bear at School. I read Todd Parr all the time to kids but Weston’s book was a new read aloud and perfectly transmitted my kindness message. Stay tuned for more as I look forward to more kindness next week.

Do you have book favorites that share this message? Any book suggestions would be much appreciated!

I also finished off a beginning of the year order and sent it off to my secretary just because Jana at Milk and Cookies; Comfort Reading waxed poetically about getting her first school order of books for the year. I had to jump on the bandwagon!

Happy Friday!

Friday Feature; Top Ten Earth Day Books! (and a Fantastic Green Giveaway)

Image licenced by Carol Eldridge Designs

This first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 and was the idea of Senator Gaylord Nelson. He brought the concept up to President Kennedy in 1962, who agreed to tour the country to raise awareness. I find it ironic that the idea for Earth Day-a way to draw attention to the ecology of our very own planet Earth-has been around since before I was born!
Earth Day facts

Wow…and we need it now more than ever BUT just think if we had really paid attention to President Kennedy’s call for change we might have made more sweeping changes, especially in the car industry! [stepping daintily down from soap box]

I digress when we have books to talk about…

Peaceful Reader’s Top Ten Books about Earth Day/Ecology w/ mini-synopsis:

10. It’s Earth Day! by Mercer Mayer (2008): Little Critter learns about the ice cap melting and polar bears losing their habitat, which gets him motivated to change his habits and invent a climate control machine!

9. Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration by Alyssa Satin Capucilli. (2010) Biscuit and his owner attend a local Earth Day event and learn about many ways to celebrate and clean up our planet.

8. Dinosaurs Go Green!; A Guide to Protecting Our Planet by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown (1992, 2009). A lively romp through what every good dino or human should know about reducing, reusing, and recycling so we don’t become extinct…Told through easy-to-read panels and speech bubbles.

7. Fancy Nancy; Every Day is Earth Day! by Jane O’Connor (2010). After learning about Earth Day at school, Fancy Nancy brings the message home, but creates a bit of a mess when she goes over the top to teach them.

6. We are Extremely Very Good Recyclers by Lauren Child (2009). Lola discovers how much fun recycling can be with the idea that she can earn a free tree to plant and of course, she gets all her classmates to help!

5. What Planet are You From, Clarice Bean by Lauren Child (2002). When she finds out a neighborhood tree is going to be destroyed, Clarice Bean resolves to become an eco-warrior for Planet Earth.

4. The Earth Book by Todd Parr (2010). Everyday eco-advice told with his amazing artwork will teach kids to turn off the water while they brush and so much more!

3. Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg (1990). One young boy, Walter, doesn’t think one hoot about littering and generally messing up the environment until he takes a mysterious journey in his bed.

2. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (1971). Classic tale of creating a need for thneeds (a useless item for sure) and using up all kinds of valuable resources to create and distribute until our landscape is beyond polluted and drab. A must read for everyone!

1. Arthur Turns Green by Marc Brown (2011). A class project has Arthur turning green and D.W. in a panic when she thinks she might be next!

Which brings me to my Giveaway, Giveaway, Giveaway…
and since I’m very new to creating a google form-please leave me your totals and your email with your green comment. Ooops! Thank you Diva for clueing me in…

Friday Feature (a wee bit late)

Here I was going to be good about writing a post every Friday with some of my favorites from the week. I had a librarian’s district meeting today and completely forgot. I don’t even know if I want to get into how the meeting was so I am just going to focus on the books.

1. Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane de Groat-read this to first grade students; I love Gilbert- he makes mistakes-this time he goofs up by writing two mean Valentine poems to classmates. This is a great book about making choices and making amends. Kids laugh right when you read the title-you can’t go wrong with that! 5 stars

2. Louane Pig and the Mysterious Valentine by Nancy Carlson-I read this to kindergarten and first grade students and they solved the mystery! I’m happy to report that at least one child in every class figured out just who gave Louanne her BIG Valentine. But I have to admit I love all the other silly answers that the other kids give…like it was a DOG, her mom (even after it states in the book that the sender was a guy, I know, crazy), Gilbert (yes.) , oh the joy of spontaneous children. Priceless. 5 stars

3. The Valentine Express by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace– Her books-all of them-are beautiful. I love their craftiness (i’m not) and their simple yet delightful themes. Valentine’s Day is not just for romance but for showing how much we care for our friends, parents, and neighbors and this book gently shares that with easily little crafts and caring bunnies. It’s way better than Hallmark, really. 5 stars

Do you have Valentine books you love?

Kids love it but need to be reminded it is about caring about your friends and family not about the mushy stuff. Leave that to the teenagers, like my son who took it upon himself to locate and send flowers to his girlfriend-arriving on the day, a mixed bouquet. Hmmm. On that note I’m finishing my tea and heading to bed. Another busy Saturday awaits me.

**Stop back next Friday…I haveoh, so many Black History books to share.

the Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

Jan Brett is excedingly talented both as a writer and an illustrator. Many illustrators have their own hook but she goes beyond that with her side panel foreshadowing illustrations. A few monthes ago I did a small Jan Brett unit with first grade students. We read a bunch of her books and explored the freebies on her fabulous website and then we moved on and read other stuff. Forever those students will know a Jan Brett illustration when the see it as they showed me this past week when we read The Three Snow Bears, Brett’s retelling of Goldilocks and the 3 bears, set in the Artic. We were reading it because we’ve been reading books about snow, snowmen(people) and this amazing book fit with that and it was a great mini-quiz.

Students could tell within several pages that it reminded them of another story they knew…Goldilocks but as many said, she has different colored hair! Well, yes, in this one she is Inuit with dark hair and a huge snowsuit on it. Many loved the dogsled, huskies and igloos…that was new to them. When I explained to them what an igloo was, one student exclaimed “Oh, yeah-I live in one of those!” They love to assimilate, don’t they. I haven’t used any of Brett’s materials with this book before but I notice she has a whole Arctic mural you could use with a class. By the way students passed their author recognition “quiz” as I heard many comments like “Oh, look I can see what’s coming next” as they see in the end panel picture. That and they loved staring long and hard at the detailed illustrations.

Find Jan Brett’s website-here.

Have you read this one or others of Brett’s? Which are your favorites?

Happy Friday!!!

Student-led Book Clubs

I read a lovely post over at The Brain Lair, discussing book clubs she’s tried in the past, what she is working on now as well as ideas for the future. She’s a middle school librarian with great ideas. I wish she lived and worked in my district so we could partner up our students. At least I would know my book club students could graduate to her book clubs, which would keep them reading through those tough middle years.

I’ve hosted library book clubs for the last four years and started one my last year in Arkansas for a total of five years book clubbing with kids. It’s not an easy task but one that can be exceptionally rewarding. For me, it’s all about lifting students up to a higher level of reading. Everything about school becomes easier once you’ve mastered good reading.

I offer up that enjoying good literature brings you long-term happiness as a person. Really…[don’t we all agree out here in the book blogging world]…I envision the kids that participate will go on to middle and high school book clubs, library trips, college degrees coupled with a long term love of literature for almost every book club student. Not to say all the other students will be unhappy, miserable adults but I’m just saying, book clubs help. Okay, maybe it’s a lofty goal but I aim high.

I have two groups of fifth grade students, one group [5 girls] are reading The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. I love this book because it isn’t the Disney idea of princess. Students have preconcieved notions just from the title but they quickly learn there is so much more to this academy. It is a rough and tumble existence with miner’s daughter’s and my student’s can relate to and enjoy this aspect.

The second group [7 boys and girls] are reading Peter and the Starcatcher’s by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. This is a great prequel to J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan. We are watching small portions of Peter Pan while we eat just to catch some students up [many of them hadn’t seen anything other than the cartoon.]

Students are required to come to each meeting with their book and their required chapters read. Each week we have a new discussion leader, who tries hard to come with open-ended questions-it’s a struggle but they get better at it. They learn to work together, give each other the opportunity to talk and are empathetic to each other’s opinions. Do you have student book clubs at your school? What has been successful for you?

If you’ve read The Princess Academy, try the quiz from Hale’s website: beginners and advanced.
Shannon Hale’s amazing website
Peter and the Starcatcher’s website
Ridley Pearson’s website.
Dave Barry’s website
I found these discussion questions for Peter.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

My Library Guinea Pigs and their fan club, the “GP crew”

Franklin vs. Hulk Hogan

Today I had one of those fantastic moments when the planets align perfectly and rays of sunlight filter right into a child’s brain! This epiphany occured during a second grade class checkout time and I had oodles of students pawing through the “wrastling” biographies. Several students really wanted to check them out but I went through the five finger rule and they discovered they really could not read these biographies.

One of the young students then went to the paperback area and came back with a Superhero comic book. He went to check it out and my amazing volunteer asked him about being able to read this comic. He said something to her and she brought him to me out in the stacks so he could repeat what he had said. This is what he said: “Well, I can’t really read because nobody’s ever taught me. I wanna read but I just can’t! [in a almost ‘near-tears’ voice] We both smiled at him and I said “Well then you have come to the right place!” and promptly showed him the easy reader section of our library. It took about two tries before I found one that he liked but when we did he read the first page so proudly! He was so happily excited to see they were books with chapters and he could read the whole page. He left with his class, smiling, and hugging his book.

     Now I know there are two schools of thought on this and many are scratching their heads going, but why do they have to be able to read a book to check it out? By second grade they should be able to practice their reading skills, we think. I know it can be wonderful to just have a book to look through but that doesn’t work through the week and it doesn’t give them a true feeling of success that comes from actually reading the book-even if it is a Franklin book instead of a Hulk Hogan biography. The proof is in the smile.  What do you think?

     I’m glad Franklin took Hulk Hogan down and for me, the bigger question is Why do I have to even have “wrastling” books in the library? And that is a whole nother post because when I first came to this school they were a mainstay of every check out but not so much anymore-except suddenly for this one class!

Oh the places you'll go

We celebrated the great rhyming man ~~today~~ yesterday in great style. About a week ago I talked my sweet husband into performing his skit, “The Sneetches” with three high school students and 12 fifth grade students at my school. He, reluctantly (only because he has much that he juggles at his own job), agreed to take it on. Monday night I brought him home a dryer box and he cut it and painted it to make the “wondrous contraption” for adding and removing stars. If I haven’t mentioned it before I love having a dramatic husband, who can act, direct and make his own scenery. I bought 12 yellow t-shirts from a near by big box craft store-hey, they were 1/2 price-and we were in the skit-making business! They performed the skit four times and my husband did a dramatic reading of Yertle the Turtle, which is his all-time favorite because it is about government crushing the little guy. Students talked about the skit all the rest of the day so I guess it was a hit. I’ve already mentioned to my husband he might want to pencil us in for next year and tonight at dinner I hinted he might want to add to his Seuss repertoire!!

Dr. Seuss has been a favorite of mine for years. I have lovely memories of reading early readers such as One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish to my two little brothers. My son (the 14 yo) always wanted to read Seuss during that first grade period when we expected him to read to us…little did we know at the time he picked Seuss because he had them memorized!! He’s still talented like that because today he was one of the teenagers working with the younger ones. He played Sylvestre McMonkey McBean, the huckster.

I’m so glad, glad, glad for 1. having a family I can count on, 2. crossing this celebration off my list for the week, 3. and because it went really well for all involved!

Now I can move on to planning my next major school event-The Yoga Project!! Next week a certified yoga teacher will come to our school and work with 12 students to make a yoga DVD for classroom use. I have been working on this project for what seems like months (and its not exactly something you can throw together in a week-see top paragraph). I have a little anxiety-hopefully it will go well!!

I miss Dr. Seuss-not that I ever met him-but I would love to see what he would be producing today. Perhaps a look at pollution (did that –McGilligott’s Pool), environment (hhmmm, did that, The Lorax), war (did that too-The Butter Battle Book),diversity (oh, did that too, Horton Hears a Who)-Wow, okay still I’m sure he would find new ways to entertain, persuade and inform!

I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating in your own way and if you are new to Dr. Seuss I recommend almost all-there’s a wocket in my pocket-we don’t know what went wrong there-way too wonky for us!!
Click here and here for two great Seuss sites-I am now an expert at getting the gifts into the chimneys and the second site I used with 4th and 5th grade students-they had to read the whole article about Dr. Seuss and answer questions-it was good, fun and best of all, really made them think and process information! Some of them garrrrrumfed about it but they got it done (it was only 4 questions-jeez!)
Leave a comment and let me know what you did for Dr. Seuss’ birthday or what your favorite Seuss book/character is.

Happy Reading-

Final Friday

Today is the last day for us to be at our old elementary. Everyone is finishing boxing things up and we had a lovely lunch together, sharing memories and positive ways to move into our new building. I have been in the new building for a few weeks now. Just me and the construction crew!
I’ve finished moving things around, re-alphabetizing the shelves and setting up my office in an effecient manner, I hope. I’ve also been working on a project to get our 5th graders reading more chapter books and series titles. When students come back on the 4th it will be like the beginnng of library classes all over as I show them where everything is located and how the computer system works. For the first time students will have access to good, fast computers and be able to look up books using Destiny. As we go through all these changes I want to emphasize reading, naturally and am going to put forth a challenge to them. Beginning with with the fifth grade it will look something like this.

1. For each book they read that I’ve read they will receive 15 points.
2. For each book on my recommended list (see left side bar “don’t leave 5th grade w/out reading these) they will also receive 10 points.
3. For each book in a series they will receive another 10 points and if they read at least three in a series they will double their total.
4. The goal is to get to 70 points. Invitations to a library pizza party will be given out to 50 point students.

Does this sound too complicated? This is meant to encourage them to read but yet not be accelerated reader. I have a list of series titles and it has varying reading levels on it so if not a strong reader you could read Ron Roy’s Capital Mysteries or Emily Rodda’s Fairy Realm and still receive 10 points. On the other end of the spectrum they could be reading The Lightning Thief or the Erin Hunter writing team‘s new Seekers series.
Let me know what you think or how I could tweak this idea???