The frigid weather meant many indoor recesses for our students this week. Instead of having Mrs. Forgiel's and Mrs. Pepper's classes sit for a story on Friday afternoon, I thought it might be a good idea to get them moving around by playing a library variation of Musical Chairs.
This is a fun way to introduce first grade students to our Blastoff! Readers, a series of beginning to read nonfiction books published by
Bellweather Media.
After reading one of the books to students and pointing out some of the nonfiction text features (table of contents, bold print, glossary, photos), we had students line up around the chairs and started the music. When the music stopped, they had to pick up the book and sit down and start reading.
There were enough books and chairs to go around the first time. When the music started up again, we started taking books and chairs away. If the student couldn't find a chair with a book, they had to squish in with someone else and do some "buddy" reading.
We finished up by asking students to tell one fact that they learned from a book they read. We showed them where to find these books in the library, and sent them back to class with a box of books to enjoy reading next week. You can always tell they had fun when they ask if we can do it again!
I am so pleased that this year's winner of the Great Stone Face Award (which Maple Street students also chose as their favorite) is a book called Wonder by R. J. Palacio. This is a not-to-be missed book about a boy with a severe facial deformity, who decides that he no longer wants to be home schooled. He wants to attend fifth grade and just be treated like a normal kid. But this proves difficult because most people just can't seem to get past the way he looks. What makes this book really special is that it is told through the voices of many different characters, giving us a chance to see different perspectives of how Auggie's challenges affect his life and those around him. I highly recommend this book for students and adults. Click here to read a book excerpt or watch some book trailers.
A while ago, second grade students came in to the library for a lesson on biographies. We talked about what biographies were, and then I read a biography to them about Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. We talked about which information in the book was most important, very important, and nice to know. Determining importance is a critical skill for research. I wrote notes on sticky note paper, and students helped me to decide in which category the notes belonged. Then they chose a biography book about a person they wanted to learn about for a classroom biography project.
The height of the year in the world of children's literature is the announcement of the annual winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Award. Yesterday, the American Library Association announced this year's winners of these and other prestigious book awards. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate won the 2013 Newbery Medal for "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children." The book has also been nominated for New Hampshire's Great Stone Face Award.
