Statewide Ladybug Award Winner Announced

Apparently the rest of the preschool through grade three students in New Hampshire agreed with our students at Harold Martin.  Pete the Cat:  I Love My White Shoes written by Eric Litwin was chosen as the winner for the 2012 Ladybug Picture Book Award.  The video below is a live telling by the author.

Over 22, 000 students across the state took part in the voting.  The voting results are available from The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library.

Back to Blogging

I took a hiatus from blogging during the months of November and December while I was working on some technical issues with the blog.  To mirror the district's website, I had been using an older version of WordPress.  I spent a lot of time trying to make it work, but in the end, I found that the older version was limiting some of the things I wanted to do.  I have switched back to Blogger, and hope this will make posting easier and the blog more pleasing to the eye.  Look for more posts after vacation.  

HMS Chooses Favorite Ladybug Book

Harold Martin students anxiously awaited the results of the voting, as Mrs. Alibrandi and Mrs. Bohlman visited classes to pick up Ladybug Award ballots, and to drop off ladybug cookies. 

The results....Calvin Can't Fly came in third, 

Three Hens and a Peacock was the second place winner, 

and in first place was Pete the Cat.

We'd like to give special thanks to:

• The PTA for their generous donation for extra copies of the books
• Bill Carozza for reading/singing Pete the Cat at lunch time
• Bonnie Harlow and Pat Raymond for making special ladybug cupcakes for those lunches
• Carl Wood and Ed Girzone for set up/clean up and extra patience that day
• Our ladybug cookie decorators:  Ed Girzone, Liz Cannon and Bella, and Lori Aubertin
• Dot Blanchard and Betsy Wilder for reminding people to wear red the day of the voting
• Lois Scammon for holding down the fort while Michele and I made our Ladybug visits

Good News! HMS Students have BrainPop Jr.!

Our school was awarded a free 12 month subscription to BrainPop Jr. for school and home through the New Hampshire Digital Resources Consortium.

"BrainPOP Jr. provides educational movies for K-3 learners and addresses a wide range of grade-appropriate topics. Each animated topic has a movie, leveled quizzes, games, activities, and lesson ideas that develop critical thinking and inquiry skills. All content is read aloud so young students can browse the site on their own.

Because BrainPOP Jr. is delivered entirely online, there’s nothing to install or download. You can use BrainPOP resources with PCs, Macs, projectors, and interactive whiteboards. Getting started is easy by using the step-by-step Getting Started Guide."  The subscription does require a password, which will be sent home soon in Bill Carozza's newsletter or you can email me at nalibrandi@hopkintonschools.org (please include your child's name in the email).

The Library Doors

We had lots of fun reading The Library Doors by Toni Buzzeo, and singing the song with our principal, Bill Carozza. You can sing along with Mr. Carozza and Mrs. Forgiel's first grade class by clicking on this link: The Library Doors

(THE BACK) STORY
 A few weeks ago, I pulled a book The Library Doors by Toni Buzzeo off a shelf to use with first grade classes. It is a wonderful introduction to the library, set to the familiar tune of the "Wheels on the Bus." I looked for a CD in the back of the book, and finding none, made a mental note to see if Bill Carozza, our principal, would come in to sing it with the first graders ( I wasn't sure if students would recognize the tune if I sang it).

 SONG
 About a week later, I was reading a librarians' listserv, and noticed a request from another librarian wondering if there was a recording available for this same book. A few moments later there was a response from the book's author wondering if anyone would be willing to make a recording of the song (she apparently can't carry a tune either). It seemed serendipitous, so I emailed Bill to see if he would be interested. If you know Bill, you know he loves kids, loves to sing, and loves technology, so I was pretty sure the answer would be yes. We met with the first grade class to record the song in our school's Digital Media Studio. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to immediately play the song back for the students so they could hear it. Thanks to Toni Buzzeo for writing such a fun book, and for permission to post the song.

It's Ladybug Time!

Mrs. Alibrandi introduces this year's Ladybug Award Books

One of the literary highlights at HMS is participating in the Ladybug Award program. New Hampshire students in preschool-grade three listen to the ten nominated books, and then vote for their favorite book in November. We will announce the winning book for our school, and then will send our votes off to the State library, where they will count the votes from across the state. The winner will be announced in January, and the author and illustrator will receive a special award.

Mrs. Alibrandi and Mrs. Bohlman visited classes to introduce this year's books, and to read one of the books on the list, The Perfect Square by Michael Hall. Mrs. Bohlman found some fancy origami paper, and students in some of the classes were challenged to think what they could make out of a perfect square. What did Mrs. Alibrandi and Mrs. Bohlman make out of theirs? Ladybugs, of course!

Student points out what he sees in the perfect square

Students created pictures from their "perfect squares."

September Whirlwind

September is a whirlwind of classes in the library because we introduce or remind all students about the rules and procedures for using the library, encourage them to explore various areas, and offer techniques for book selection.

Kindergarten students have learned how to select books using the "Special K" box or using "shelf keys" to keep the library shelves in order. To learn about book care they heard a story about "Mr. Wiggle" and saw examples of books that have been mistreated. They've been given a plastic book bag to carry their book home, and were encouraged to find a spot at home to keep their library book out of the reach of pets, and younger brothers and sisters who may not know yet how to treat a book.

Students use shelf keys when they select books to keep the shelves in order

First grade students listened to I Took My Frog to the Library and then were challenged to place the animals mentioned in the story in the library places named in the book. This introduces the students to new vocabulary and different areas of the library.

To learn about book care, they heard a story called The Shelf Elf and then looked at posters and saw examples of damaged books that illustrated the book care rules mentioned in the story.

Second grade students listened to a story called I. Q. Goes to the Library, which reviews sections of the library as well as book care rules. They were shown objects related to book care and had to determine whether the object belonged in the "Yes, Yes Always" box or the "No, No Never" box.

In addition, second grade students listened to the story, Goldilocks and the Three Libearians, and learned how to select a "Just Right Book" (also know as a "Good Fit" book). They should be able to tell you about the Five Finger Rule.

Student uses the 5 finger rule when selecting books
(hold up a finger for every word on a page you don't know, if you get to 5 the book is too difficult).

We have also talked about the Features of Nonfiction, and then had a scavenger hunt to find the various features in a nonfiction book and label them with post-it notes. Some classes have also begun researching Backyard Animals, and are learning to take notes.

Second grade students use sticky notes to label nonfiction text features in their books.

Third grade students have completed a Fiction Book Hunt, a Nonfiction Book Hunt, and have had a lesson on using the Library Catalog to find books. This gives third graders practice finding books in the "Everybody," "I Can Read," "Fiction," and "Nonfiction" sections when given a set of call numbers. This is a great way to get students browsing in sections they might not usually peruse, and we can also check for a student's understanding of alphabetical order.

Third graders use call numbers to hunt for books.

We are finding that students in third and fourth grade can use some more practice with alphabetical order.

Fourth grade and sixth grade students have come in to use the Accelerated Reader program, which tests their comprehension of books they've read. The fourth grade students have had a refresher lesson on using the library catalog to find books by participating in our Accelerated Reader Book Hunt. A couple of fourth grade classes have also started research on Ocean Animals. The sixth grade classes have come in to hear about a book selection technique called CAN IT BE FOR ME? Each letter in that question stands for something to think about when considering which book to read. They also had a lesson on using the EBSCO database (one of many databases available through the NH State Library). They will be using the database for a science assignment with Mr. Miner.

Fourth Graders listen to the story, Help Me, Mr. Mutt before learning how to take an Accelerated Reader  quiz.

 There's lots more ahead for the month of October .... stay tuned!