Let the trading begin! Students in first grade created trading cards of their favorite book characters and exchanged them with their classmates. First, we read Cece Belle's Bee-Wigged and generated descriptions for the two main characters, Jerry Bee and Wiglet. Students then made a practice trading card with three bullet points about either Jerry or Wiglet and drew an illustration. The following week, after discussing examples of popular book characters, students picked their favorite and made their official character trading card in pencil. I photocopied the cards and students traded them with each other during class. As students approached potential trading partners, they had to identify their character, describe three things about them, and show the illustration on their card. During trading, the class was abuzz with literary character chatter. Students had a blast giving and receiving cards. At the end of class, students colored in their newly acquired cards. This was a fun way to hit Common Core ELA standards on character details and speaking and listening skills as well as AASL standards on sharing work and personal literary growth. It also inspired students to check out new books based on their friends' trading card descriptions. I will definitely do this again next year. See below for photos of student trading in action. You can download a PDF version of the trading cards template here.
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Inspired by the Providence Film Festival...Next week begins the 2016 Providence Children's Film Festival (PCFF). In light of this and inspired by a PCFF Film Jury Night I attended that was sponsored by Media Smart Libraries, I decided to introduce our first graders to the world of independent film. I chose four short films that were shown during previous PCFF years that I thought would appeal to first graders and that were short enough to show during library class time. Before watching the shorts, we talked about the difference between the films they usually watch and these short independent films. I billed the day as the First Grade Francis Film Festival and had students choose their favorite film and write a short sentence about it. They also drew a picture of their favorite part. At the end of class, I announced the winner based on student votes. Our lineup was: What Fun a Book Can Be (2 min) Play With Your Food (1 min) Love Bugs (3 min) Rainy Day Ducks (3 min) After adding up the favorites, Love Bugs received the most votes in all three classes. Play With Your Food came in a close second. Only one of the 60 students had attended a film festival before. And most students were only familiar with independent films because they had watched Sesame Street which is where two of the films in our lineup eventually landed. Students enjoyed the films and were excited to talk about them. Many students wanted an encore showing. It was a fun and engaging lesson for all. I will definitely do more Francis Film Festivals with other grade levels in the future. Here are some examples of student work. See below for the full lesson plan or view the pdf version. Second graders finished up a unit this week on Hansel & Gretel. The goal was to get students to compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (Common Core Standard - RL2.9). Students also shared their opinions on their favorite version and gave reasons to support their answer. Our final activity was a Hansel & Gretel reader's theater where students rewrote a fractured fairy tale version of the story. We read the following books in class: Hansel & Gretel by Cynthia Rylant Hansel & Gretel by James Marshall Hansel & Gretel by Rika Lesser Hansel & Gretel in Fairy Tale Comics by Gilbert Hernandez The Gilbert Hernandez comic version of Hansel & Gretel was by far the favorite. Students preferred the comic-style illustrations to all of the others. They also liked that the stepmother did not die at the end but had to do whatever Hansel & Gretel told her too as punishment. Their second favorite was the Rika Lesser version illustrated by Paul Zelinsky. They liked this for the "old-fashioned" illustrations. Some students had extra time and were able to make reader's theater hats to go along with the performance (see below). I purchased a new handy dandy iPhone mic and recorded our reader's theater versions. I was surprised that you could actually hear the students as past recordings without the mic were terrible. See our fractured Hansel & Gretel titles and listen to one of our versions below. Hansel & Gretel Fractured Titles: Hansel and Gretel in Space by Mrs. Silveira's class Hansel and Gretel in the City by Mrs. Macnie's class Hansel and Gretel at the Beach by Mrs. Paiva's class Hansel and Gretel in the Jungle by Miss Rendine's class Hansel & Gretel in SpaceAfter attending a Media Smart Libraries workshop entitled, Start a Conversation on Digital Voice in Your Library, I was inspired to teach the concept of mashups to fourth graders as part of our Mac Barnett author study. Originally, I had planned to end the unit reading “Battle Bunny” a mashup combining an innocent Golden Book style story of a bunny whose birthday was forgotten. Alex, the book’s owner rewrites and draws on top of the sickly sweet original, Birthday Bunny, jazzing it up with an evil villain and hero story. Students would then create their own version of Birthday Bunny. We still did that piece, but I spent an additional class explaining the concept of mashups. I defined what a mashup is and gave popular examples in music, art, books, and apps that students in 4th grade could relate to. Students really enjoyed seeing/hearing the mashup examples and the next week when I asked students to recall the definition of a mashup, most hands shot up and were exactly on point with their answers. I also think viewing other types of mashups inspired students to be more creative when they were making their own mashup version of Birthday Bunny. Below are the mashups I showed to students as well a teacher resource for teaching copyright and fair use to that grade level. Music
Art 1. Mona Lisa Original https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa#/media/File:Mona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg Lego Mashup http://buzzlime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Marco_Pece_Lego_Mona_Lisa.jpg 2. Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh Original https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Starry_Night#/media/File:Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg The Great Wave by Hukusai Original https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa#/media/File:Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa2.jpg Starry Night & Great Wave Mashup https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/8b/20/1a/8b201a1db4620ff2fc399731eef3ea27.jpg Books
Apps
Common Sense Media Resource
Fifth graders voted for their Coretta Scott King Book Award winners this week. Our nominees were preselected by me and were all either former Coretta Scott King Book Award winners or nominees. I chose books that could be read aloud in class and had a variety of different settings, writing styles and illustrations. Students voted based on modified criteria from the actual awards. Because the theme for our annual art show is "Illustrations" this year, we also focused on illustrations as part of our discussion. After each read aloud, students checked off criteria and wrote notes about why they wanted to keep or drop the book using this Coretta Scott King Book Award Activity Sheet. Below are the books we read and the winners. Little Melba and Her Big Trombone By Kathryn Russell-Brown, Ill. By Frank Morrison Winner! - Mrs. Thacker's class Student comment - "I think we should keep it because she never game up no matter what other people said." I, Too, Am America By Langston Hughes, Ill. By Bryan Collier Student comment - "I think we should keep this book because I like that he showed the past and brings it to the present." Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom By Shane Evans Student comment - "I think this book is good on understanding what the Underground Railroad was like." The Faithful Friend By Robert San Souci, Ill. By Brian Pinkney Student comment - "I want to keep this book because the friend and the boy were there for each other." Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan By Mary Williams, Ill. By R. Gregory Christie Winner! - Miss Roger's and Mrs. Crocker's class 2nd place - Mrs. Thacker's class Student comment - "I think we should keep it because they helped one another to stay alive." Goin’ Someplace Special By Patricia McKissack, Ill. By Jerry Pinkney 2nd place - Miss Roger's and Mrs. Crocker's class Student comment - "I want to keep this book because it promotes appreciation of living peacefully together because she finds friends on the bus and at the church and in the library."
Tuesday was our last Lego Movie Maker after school program session. Students used Legos and the Lego Movie Maker iPad app to create movies in stop motion animation style. The program had four 1-hour sessions. We started each session watching quick tutorials on Lego Movie Maker and stop motion animation in general that I gathered in a YouTube playlist. After the first week, we also viewed the last week's movies as a group so students could get ideas from each other's work. My original plan was to divide the program into 4 parts, showing tutorials on each and then using the time to work on that specific task:
Week 1 Discuss what your scene will be. Practice animation with base plate and figure…make it move. Week 2 Build a set/Make final decision on scene. Start to animate. Week 3 Finish animation. Week 4 Add music and sound effects. However, once students had their hands on the iPads and Legos, they were so excited that they went wild creating whole scenes in the first week. This ended up working well as we watched their movies each week and were able to tweak them as they went along. The most common tips were:
Next time, I would spend more time teaching sound and music. Although students figured this out no problem, most groups ran out of time and couldn't add narration or as many sound effects as they had originally intended. Overall, though, the students exceeded my expectations on what I thought they could accomplish in 4 hours and seemed to have a fun time building, shooting, editing, and problem solving with their Lego creations. See an example of their work below. To view all movies, visit our Lego Movie Maker 2015 Playlist on our YouTube channel. After the first month of reviewing how to use our library including finding fiction and nonfiction books, using the catalog to search for books, and call number identification, most classes are heading into units on illustrators to prepare for this year's art show. The theme this year is "Illustrators" and will include lots of awesome art projects with Mrs. Singleton. This is what we are working on in library:
2nd Grade Second graders are learning about fables and their three main characteristics - short, animals, teach a lesson. We read the Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney and also watched a video version to compare and contrast. This week we read The Boy Who Cried Wolf and the Baboon's Umbrella and completed an assessment to gauge students' understanding of the fable's characteristics. Students at this age are full of ideas for what they think the author's lesson is. I've been telling them that there is really no right or wrong answer to this, but that sometimes the author's intended lesson is different from their own. 3rd Grade Students in 3rd grade began using the online catalog for the first time. We are learning how to do an online search, participate in the MyQuest book club, and write a book review on Destiny. In a few months, we will begin our illustrator study which will include illustrators and biography picture books. 4th Grade Fourth graders are doing a Mac Barnett author study. Although Mac Barnett is not an illustrator, he partners with many famous illustrators. We are comparing and contrasting the illustrators' styles and trying to put our finger on Mac Barnett's writing style. Next week, students will get text from a Mac Barnett book and illustrate it. We will compare how students' drawings differ from each other. More of this to come in a future blog post! 5th Grade Fifth graders are beginning a unit on Coretta Scott King Award Illustrators. I chose six past honor/winner Coretta Scott Award books that we will read in class. Students have to evaluate the books based on the actual criteria used to grant the award. There are several categories of winners, but we will be focusing on the illustration category. Our first books was Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Kathryn Russel-Brown. Students voted to keep that one on our list for the final round. More of this to come in a future blog post!
They have to write whether they would like to read the book or not and why. (They can add more detail if they have time). They also need to rate the book with a 5-star system. The first week was very successful. All classes had at least ten students who wanted to check out the book. It’s a great way to showcase new books as well as books that connect to the curriculum. For example, 4th graders are reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech in the classroom. I book talked Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle explaining that it is written in verse like Love That Dog, and of course has a dog theme. I also read the first paragraph which has a powerful hook about the main character’s mother being arrested for dog fighting. Hands shot up immediately when I asked if anybody wanted to check it out. See below for book talks I have done so far and examples of responses to Mountain Dog.
The first week of school in library is all about creating a culture of kindness. I pick a read aloud for each grade level so we
can explore different ways to help each other in library. In fourth and fifth grade, we are reading Laurie Keller’s Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners which discusses the Golden Rule in a funny, playful way. While it’s geared towards a younger crowd, students will appreciate the humor used about a traditional list of manners.
In third grade, the book is much more serious. Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson is about a girl, Chloe, and her friends who are mean to a new student, Maya. Maya never ends up connecting with anyone and eventually leaves. Chloe comes to realize her mistake but the ending is not so typical for a children’s book and is a powerful tool for student discussion.
Second graders will read The Day the Babies Crawled Away by Peggy Rathmann. I love the illustrations in this book because they remind me of a late summer evening with the pink and purple twighlight colors and silhouette drawings. The child in the book not only goes out of his way to help the babies get home, but he also uses problem solving to safely get them out of dangerous situations.
If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson is the first grade book. It explores both being selfish and kind and the power of working together to sow and reap friendships. And as usual Kadir Nelson's illustrations are breathtaking.
And finally, Kindergarten is reading Dinosaur vs. the Library by Bob Shea. The dinosaur isn’t really kind in this book but he does have a rollicking good time roaring which I think will be a fun book to start off the year. In the spirit of kindness, I will show the Sesame Street Will.i.am “What I Am” video (below) which is inspirational and has words such as thoughtful, helpful, and friendly to talk about with the little ones.
We held a Mock Sibert Award in fourth grade for the end of the year. The Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal is awarded annually to the author/illustrator of the most distinguished informational book (aka nonfiction). I thought it would be fun to read the actual winner for this year along with some of the honors and one non-Sibert contender and see how the results compared. First, we read Neighborhood Sharks by Katherine Roy. Students loved this book. Both classes voted to keep it on the finalist list. Next we read Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh. Classes were split on this book. One class overwhelmingly voted to keep it in the finals because they felt the subject matter was so important. The other class felt that even though it was important, it was too long for most kids to enjoy. The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant, the real Sibert winner for this year was next. Both classes voted to drop it. I had one student who really wanted to keep it because she thought it was interesting, but other than that, it was unanimous to remove it from our finalist list. Finally, we read Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals by Michael Hearst. This was my wild card. I picked a nonfiction book that had an interesting cover and that was not a narrative. It was not a winner or honor book for the actual Sibert Award for any year. Surprisingly, both classes chose this not only as a finalist but as the winner. Students liked how the book featured unusual animals. They liked the author's humor. They also liked illustrations and the shortish descriptions for each animal. I can see how Unusual Creatures is appealing in that it can be read from cover to cover or as a browsing book. Personally, I loved all four books. I would have a tough time deciding between any of these. |
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