Library Lessons
Celebrating Picture Books
Nov 15th
Why designate a month to picture books?
Don’t we all love picture books already? The answer is simple. With the birth of eBooks, iPads, Kindles, Nooks and other online reading devices, many feel traditional printed picture books may be on the way out.
This is the 2nd annual celebration of Picture Book Month. Founder Dianne de Las Casa decided it was time to celebrate picture books in their printed format so she created an initiative to designate November as “Picture Book Month”.
Every day in November, there has been a new post from a picture book author explaining why he/she thinks picture books are important. You can visit the website from the link here.
We always celebrate picture books in our library. However, we have also added some art to the mix in our lessons. Here are the highlights of our week.
What says Thanksgiving Day more than turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie?
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!
For more than eighty-years, children young and old, have been delighted by the bobbing and swaying gigantic balloons that float down the streets of New York City in the parade.
Melissa Sweet tells the true story of Tony Sarg, the puppeteer who was the inventor of the Macy’s parade balloons. After we read this book, some of the classes also made Balloons Over Broadway mini-boxes and finger puppets. You can get this activity and more at the Houghton-Mifflin website here.
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and say thank you. While this book is not a traditional Thankgiving Day book talking about the Mayflower and pilgrims, it is a book about the importance of thanking friends for all the things they do for each of us.
In first grade, we used the Splat the Cat Activity Kit and added a fall leaf. Students wrote what they are thankful for during this holiday season.
If you want to read a funny chapter book to entertain you during the Thanksgiving holiday week, pick up a copy of Junie B., First Grader: Turkeys We Have Loved and Eaten (and Other Thankful Stuff). Find out how cranberry sauce in a can, exploding biscuits and rainbow sprinkles relate to Thankgiving and first graders. I guarantee this book will have you laughing in minutes!
The last book I want to include this week is Hello, Hello by Matthew Cordell. I think every family needs to add this book to their collection. In fact, Matthew has a blogpost listing 26 reasons why every family needs to read this book. You can read that post here.
It’s a story of what we really need to remember as we move forward into a very connected, very digital age.
Using simple text, charming watercolor illustrations, and animals in unusual places (flying fish and whales in the sky?), Cordell tells the story of Lydia, who helps her family remember that there is a time and place for electronics.
For a few minutes in the upcoming days, I hope you will set your gadget aside, and go outside to jump in those leaves and have some silly, crazy, outside fun!
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What is your favorite balloon in the Macy’s Day parade?
What friend would you by thankful for this month?
What gadget could you give up for a day?
Rockin’ with Pete the Cat
Sep 26th
Are you rocking in your school shoes?
Are you singing in your school shoes?
Are you dancing in your school shoes?
In kindergarten and first grade WE ARE and it’s lots of fun!
Eric Litwin is the author of the Pete the Cat books. He and artist James Dean have created Pete, a blue, happy, “you can’t get me down” cat. He knows how to learn! He knows how to have fun! And…he knows how to sing! We watched a live reading of Pete the Cat and got our groove on!
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We also did some fun Pete the Cat activities while learning about colors, guided drawing and counting.
We watched and listened to Miss Shy do her re-telling of Pete in this fun video!
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Pete has a new book that just came out on September 25th! I can’t wait to read it! To learn more about Pete’s books visit his website.
This summer, my husband and I took Pete the Cat on our trip to Oregon and California. He helped me read maps along the way because in many places there was no internet or cell phone service! We got to read maps the old-fashioned way!
Here is a little video of our trip with Pete. Enjoy!
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What stuffed animal would you take on a trip with you?
Have you ever used a state or country map to guide you?
What should Pete do next?
Zoo Animal Mysteries
Jun 6th
Do you like mystery stories?
Do you love animals?
If you do, then the Zoo Animal Mystery stories are just for you!
Each of the title in the Zoo Animal Mysteries series focuses on one animal. Through a series of clues, you have to guess what animal is featured in the book. The trick is to solve the mystery before the animal is revealed at the end. You can read more about the zoo animal mystery series on the Capstone Press website.
Our 2nd and 3rd grade classes used those fun books as the structure for their own Zoo Animal Mystery stories.
First we researched facts and took notes. Then we wrote out our sentences for the story. We typed the stories on powerpoint and added Creative Commons photos to illustrate the pages. The projects from Mrs. Kassel-Day, Ms. Valenta and Mrs. Staples class are featured in this post.
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What animal was your favorite to learn about?
If you could make a zoo animal mystery, what would you choose?
A Time to Celebrate
Jun 3rd
This is a blog post about celebrations!
Celebration #1! We are completing our 2nd year of the Bulldog Readers Blog. We have had over 30,000 visitors in the past two years. It’s been a wonderful experience meeting and conversing with people all over the world. These conversations and the things I have learned from my blogging friends have led me down paths I never thought possible. This has led to celebration number 2!
Last Friday I received the notification from Microsoft that my Partners in Learning US Forum application was accepted! I will be attending the US Forum at the end of July to showcase our 4th grade book trailer project. You can read about our project in our Taste of Hollywood post. I first learned about making movies from our blogging friend, Mr. Avery. He is a master at movie making and urged me to give it a try! After making a few book trailer movies, I knew that our students could do this too! At the forum I will have a chance to meet other educators and learn about their projects while also showcasing ours. More professional development is included in the three days so I can start next year with a new set of ideas! This leads to celebration #3!
People often ask me where I get my ideas, and more often than not, I tell them from people I meet on Twitter! Last spring I ventured into the Twitter world because I was curious. I had heard that you can get lots of information and ideas from fellow educators. I wanted to see for myself. Sure enough, they were correct. After watching a webinar from ISTE11 (International Society of Technology Educators) last June, I decided I didn’t want to watch from home anymore, I wanted to go and experience everything this gigantic convention has to offer first hand. So, on the last two days of school, I will be in San Diego absorbing everything I can. I also will have the chance to meet some amazing people who have helped me like Mrs. Yollis in California and Mrs. Morris from Australia!
I will also meet a fellow librarian Miss Tiffany Whitehead, also known as The Mighty Little Librarian in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her idea of making a year in review for her blog has led me to celebration #4! After reading her Year in Review, I decided that would be a fun project to share with our readers. Many hours later, here it is! I hope you enjoy our celebrations and have many to celebrate yourselves!
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What has been the best part of your year?
What are you celebrating?
What do you hope to learn this summer or winter?
Kid Lit Movies
May 18th
Have you ever been to the movies and watched the previews for upcoming attractions? If you are like me, you have seen lots and lots of them!
Those previews for movies got me thinking. What if we took that same idea and applied it to books? We could have previews for awesome books in the library! And…..what if instead of me making them like the one I made for The One and Only Ivan, the STUDENTS made them? How awesome would that be? That’s how our book trailer project got started!
After watching the ‘Ivan” trailer, some 4th grade students asked if they could make one too. A new technology and literacy project was born!
To start, we watched some other book trailers in our 4th grade library classes to get ideas from the website Booktrailersforall.com Then we watched some book trailers that I made. The One and Only Ivan trailer is the one that Katherine Applegate saw and asked to come to our school and meet us! You can see them here on my book trailer page on our blog.
Then next step was to form cooperative groups. Each group could choose it’s own members and then they had to pick a book for their project.
Once a book was selected, it was time for the storyboard plan. Here students were required to figure out what parts of the plot was important to include, how that could be transformed into a visual, and what text needed to be included to get previewers interested in the book.
The purpose of a book trailer is very different than the purpose of a book report. In the typical book report, you write about what happened in the book. In a book trailer, you are selling the book, to make other people want to check it out and read it! The tricky part is to share some goodies, without giving away too much of the book!
Once the storyboards were complete, groups moved to the computer were they used MS One Note to record their storyboard notes and begin importing creative commons photos for their trailers.
One huge advantage of using OneNote its the linked note component, that allows you to import photos and keep the link to the original source. This is especially helpful when it’s time to write the credits slide. Flickr also allows you to save photos with the original link in galleries, but Flickr is not available for student use at our school.
Photo by Steren Giannini Used w/CC permission
Finding Creative Commons photos was hard work! You have to think of the words to search for, and if those words don’t bring up the images you are looking for, you have to try again with other term or synonym. The students discovered that a lot of Creative Commons images are available via Community Clips on the Microsoft online site. That made it a lot easier for some groups. Once all the photos were found, it was time to load them into MS Live MovieMaker!
After a 10 minute “how-to” demo, students were on their own as they imported photos, added words, transitions and animations to create visual interest in their books.
The next to last step was finding the perfect music for the trailer. Some students experimented with creating music using Songsmith. Ultimately all teams decided to use royalty free music. I had already created a Digital Kit of royalty free music from Kevin MacLeod at Incompetech.com He shares his music for free for others to use as long as you give him credit. The resource is AMAZING! The students had fun listening to different songs and figuring out which music would give the correct mood to the trailer.
Once the Credits slide was completed, the book trailers were complete and ready to be rendered into a movie! Each was uploaded to our SchoolTube account and our blog where others can view them. I also created QR codes linking the book trailer to the book and placed them on the covers of our library books and on a special bulletin board! Each student received their own QR code on an index card to take home and share or hang on their refrigerator doors for everyone to see!
The biggest question is, “Do book trailers work as good advertisements?” The answer is “YES!” Our books are being checked out and read at home! I couldn’t ask for anything better! Try it sometime! Book trailers are a lot of fun to create! Who knows…maybe someday one of our students will be the next Hollywood movie director!
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Have you ever made a book trailer?
What book would you choose?
A Flipbook of Photo Poems
May 8th
Poetry Month may be over,but enjoying poetry is something everyone can do all year long. Sometimes, all you need is a really great photograph! Make sure the photo you choose is one either you took yourself, or is a Creative Commons photo. Insert it onto a Powerpoint slide, add some text and you are a poet! Super easy!
We hope you will enjoy this mini FlipSnack book of poems from Mrs. Adair’s students.This link will take you to the full class version.
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What kind of photo would you choose for a poem?
What would you write about?
Poems
Apr 30th
Our students have been celebrating National Poetry Month by writing some of their own poems. I hope you enjoy their efforts!
Kindergarten – We played with nursery rhymes and twisted a few with new verses.
Jack and Jill went up the hill
Riding on a truck.
They ate some lunch
With a chicken and a duck!
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Hickory, hickory dib.
a cat ran up a bib.
He scratched my back
and never came back!
Hickory, Dickory dib!
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First Grade – We wrote list and triangle poems based on descriptions of common object.
Tiara Crown
It’s hard
Sparkly
Meant for your hair
Sharp
It’s for girls!
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Dolphins
Dolphins jump
high in the air
from the warm ocean water.
By Mrs. Hovis’s class
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Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs fight
dangerously and fiercely
in grasslands near volcanoes.
by Mrs. Daly’s class
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King cobra
The kind cobra sliters
loudly hissing
with sharp venomous fangs.
by Mrs. Olsen’s class
2nd grade – They wrote acrostic style poems – poems that describe something both vertically and horizontally.
DOGS
Does like water
Often playful
Good
Sometimes funny
by Danny
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CATS
Clearly cute
Also play games
That drinks milk
Seems cute
by Sarah
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3rd grade – The 3rd graders have been working on Photo poems. These will be published in a separate blog post.
4th and 5th – They read poems in class and on Poem in Your Pocket Day.
6th grade – These students used Instant Poetry maker to help them create their poems.
I Remember
I remember I remember going to the beach
I remember I remember my face burning
I remember I remember the cold water touching my feet
And sitting by the water
I remember my dog rolling around in the grass
I remember I remember the smooth orange sand going through my feet
I remember eating ice cream that was melting in the sizzling sun
Even when I fell of my chair
I remember leaving the beach and I was so sad.
But my favorite memory’s yet to come
by Ana
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What If
What if I was rich?
I might buy all the cars in the would
What if I own my own state?
I could buy my own monkey named Oscar
What if all my friends lived with me?
I would have my own skate park in my backyard
Can somebody get me some nachos?
By Dakota
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I Remember
I remember when school was easy
I remember math without letters
I remember getting A’s on every test
And I especially remember finishing my homework early,
so that I can play outside
I remember the sun and the blue skies
I remember when the water was clear
I remember less polution
even no war and no hate
I remember making this poem
But my favorite memory’s yet to come
by Matias
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She is….
She is a muddy soccer ball in a grassy field.
She is quiet but loud.
She is crying while she laughs.
She is a littlest pet shop talking.
She is Glen Coco.
She is ostrich.
She is sparkly shoes.
She is playing spy on her dog.
She is ninja.
She is my best friend.
by Rowan
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Forget It!
Forget it
you must be kidding
I can’t think of anything
I don’t like poetry
this is hard
my head hurts
this is taking too long
this is really boring
I hate writing
this is stupid
Time’s up? Uh oh!
All I have is a dumb list of excuses.
You like it? Really? No kidding.
Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?
by Mason
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What if?
What if I barfed?
I might be sick.
What if there was a zombie apocalypse?
I could survive.
What if a bomb hit the school?
I would die.
What if poems became true?
by Tom
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Excuses
Forget it
You must be kidding
I can’t think
I’m hungry
I’m tired
I’m bored
How am I supposed to know how to write a poem?
I’m busy
Why do I have to write a poem?
I’m asleep
Time’s up? Uh oh!
All I have is a dumb list of excuses.
You like it? Really? No kidding.
Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?
by Taylor
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I Remember
I remember when I went to Lake Chelan
I remember going swimming
I remember going wakeboarding
And falling on my face
I remember eating ice-cream
And the brain freeze it gave me
I remember the hot sun
Even the sun burn it gave me
I remember having a great time
But my favorite memory’s yet to come
by Kalle
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Forget it!
Forget it
You must be kidding
i don’t know how to rhymn
all i think is “BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH”
the words are confusing
makes my brain explodes nuclear bomb
gives me a giant knife in the face
I hate anything that involves “HAVE TO”
poem makes me want to choke somebody
I can’t understand what poem means, WHAT DOES IT MEANS?!!
Time’s up? Uh oh!
All I have is a dumb list of excuses.
You like it? Really? No kidding.
Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?
by Thuan
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My Shadow
My shadow wears
a red polka dot dress,
purple heels,
and a blow in her hair
and she knows’
the order of things
her hair is like
a pig tail, curly.
My shadow is like a rainbos,
happen then…
gone. Just ina second….GONE!
happy and shy and hidden. No one will ever really know me.
by
Cassy
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Mask
I am a mask
I am purple and blue and green as a cave
I stare through hollow eyes
I’ve seen joy and sadness
I can be worn to tell stories
I can be worn to dance
I am a mask.
by Max
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Paperbag Poetry in First Grade
Apr 10th
April is National Poetry Month!
In first grade we are learning about poetry by playing the paper bag game. I don’t tell the students what we are going to be studying for the next few library lessons. Instead I introduce poetry with a game – The Bulldog Paperbag Game!
When I was in Canada in February, I stayed at the Bulldog Hotel.
Of course, the Bulldog Readers Librarian would stay at the Bulldog Hotel, right?
It was actually a coincidence, but when I got this bag for something I purchased, I knew it would come in handy at some point! Our poetry game was the perfect use for my bag.
The object of the game is to become observers, by using their senses, but not their sight! Their observations would become a poem.
Then I selected four objects I had in the library and had them ready to place in the bag.
After I blindfolded a volunteer, I had the student reach inside the bag and describe what they felt.
As each student described what they felt, I wrote their words on a piece of chart paper. Then we took the blindfold off and the students had the chance to guess what was inside the bag. The name of the item became the title of the poem.
Marker
Plastic
Oval
Pretty hard
Has bumps
Stamp
Shiny
Bottom part
Shaped like a square
Hard
Teddy Bear
Fluffy
Arm
Nose
Eyes
Ears
Foot
Head
Scissors
Plastic
Not Squishy
Stuck together
Two holes
Skinny
After writing four of these descriptions, I asked the students what we were writing. We had several guesses, until someone said, “A Poem!” That was followed by, “No, that’s not a poem. Poems have to rhyme!”
It was the perfect transition to the idea that poems can be written about anything or in any style, rhyming or not! Stay tuned for next week’s lesson on writing group poems about an object.
The idea for this lesson came from the book, Joyful Ways to Teach Young Children to Write Poetry by Jodi Weisbart.
Who’s That Artist?
Mar 30th
Our 5th grade students have been learning about the research process in library through our Famous Artist biography Project.
In their art class with Mrs. Lustgarten, they learned about a variety of artists. Then in library, they chose an artist as the focus for their research. We got the idea for this project from Mr. Avery in Massachusetts. You can see some of his student videos here.
Students used books and websites to find out out the answers to these questions:
When and where was the artist born?
What interesting event happened during the artist’s childhood?
Did the person ever get married or have children?
Where did the artist live for most of his or her life?
What kind of art is the person known best for?
What other interesting story happened during the artist’s adult life?
What painting did the researcher like the most?
Some students used the information they found to create Wordles. www.wordle.net is a program that uses text to produce a “word cloud”. You can make some words more prominent in size, alter the font and color of the wordle. These can either be saved or shared with friends. Here is an example of a few Wordles the students made:
While the 6th graders made interview videos acting like the artist, the 5th graders wrote biographies in the form of a comment to this post. Their assignment was to leave a comment as if they were their artist, including facts they learned from their research.
This idea is adapted from a biography project that Mrs. Yollis did with her class last year. You can read what her students wrote on this biography bonanza post.
Our blogging buddies and friends are welcome to leave a comment as a famous artist as well! The object is to share some interesting facts, have a comment that is lively and interesting to read, use your own words, and write the comment in the voice of the artist!
Hurray for Dr. Seuss!
Mar 2nd
It’s been a busy week at school celebrating Read Across America Week and Dr. Seuss’s birthday!
Davo the Tasmanian Devil visited here from Tasmania, Australia. We went to Seattle for the weekend with Andrew and had fun seeing the highlights there. Then during the week, he visited some classes and helped with their library lessons. You can read more about Mr. Davo’s travels on his blog here.
On Friday, we had a visit from Cat in the Hat. It was read and white day and all throughout the school, students and staff dressed up in Cat in the Hat colors! Friday’s lunch was green eggs and ham and 234 people ordered hot lunch! There must be a lot of people who like green eggs and ham!
We had lots of free books go home to winners of our daily Dr.Seuss trivia questions. Overall, it was a spectacular week of reading! Check out our video with the week’s highlights!
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What did you do for Dr. Seuss’s birthday?
Do you have a favorite Dr. Seuss book?
Will you be going to see The Lorax?
