Having Fun with Friendly Letters

 

When was the last time you wrote a friendly letter? Did you write one to thank someone for a holiday gift? Recently, the second and third grade classes have been practicing writing friendly letters. In library class, we added some technology to the fun!

We wrote “Storybird” friendly letters. We based it on the idea from the story, I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff. Alex wants to adopt his friend’s iguana, and writes his wishes to his mom. She responds to his pleas in a series of letters back and forth!

After we read the story, we selected illustrations on Storybird, an online writing website. http://storybird.com/ Then we wrote our own friendly letter books. We hope you will enjoy reading them!

 
Why? on Storybird

It’s a Fabulous Day! on Storybird

It’s a Kitty Story! on Storybird

What Should I Do Today Friends? on Storybird

It's Fun Kind of Summer Day! on Storybird
 

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Have you ever written a Storybird?

What was it like to write online? 

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What’s Your Dot?

 

 Today’s post is about dots. Colorful dots. Big dots. Small dots. Medium sized dots.
Seem like a crazy idea for a post?

 Well, yes, unless you have read Press Here, an interactive picture book about how a dot can change itself everytime you turn the page.

 

 And then there’s Lots of Dots, by Craig Frazier. This is a delightful picture book we just added to our library.

“In this exuberant book, acclaimed graphic designer Craig Frazier does more than simply showcase a vast variety of dots, he encourages young readers to look closely at the world around them. Through his energetic images, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Buttons are dots. Wheels are dots. Ladybugs have dots. And so do the fried eggs on your plate. Lots of Dots is lots of fun!”  Text by Chronicle Books

 

On Twitter, I learned about  the extraordinary work by the 82 year old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose “Obliteration Room” is currently on display at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia.

Yayoi started with a typical living room with the walls, ceiling and all contents painted white. Then she gave children brightly colored, adhesive dots in a variety of sizes to children to apply to whatever surface they desired!



 

These two books and the Obliteration Room gave me an idea.

Why not create our own dot book display in the library?

We could take dots and write titles of books we have read and staple them to our walls and ceiling! We will cover as much of the ceiling as possible while we are in our temporary library space.

Then when our school opens and the tractors and destruction equipment come to destroy the old building, we will see a rainbow of dots float to the ground as the ceiling collapses!

So, that’s exactly what we are doing! Our dot display is a celebration of reading!  We have already coverd the bulletin board and the wall above it, and now we are up to the ceiling!

 

Mrs. Hembree has her own mini-dot display of the titles of books she has read in 2012. She has set a goal of reading 366 books this year, and students can track her progress on the lavendar dot display. It’s on the lower portion of the display.

 

Students and staff are writing the titles of books on dots. Any book counts whether you read it, it was read to you, you listened to it on an audio-book, or read it on an e-Reader. Reading is Reading!

 

So… What’s Your Dot? Every time you read a book, stop by and fill out a dot. You can take some home, write the titles on them and bring them back! Every time you walk in the library, it will look different as our dot book display grows! Join in…..it’s fun!

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What do you think about our dot display?
What book have you already read in 2012?
Have you seen or heard about The Obliteration Room in Australia?
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New Year 2012 = New Books!


Custom Glitter Text

 

 The Bulldog Readers wish you lots of reading happiness!

What better way to launch a new year of reading than with new books? The first group of books was purchased with funds from Reading with Rover.

 Reading with Rover donated $250 to our school toward purchasing books for reading. It was their way of thanking Mrs. Daly and myself for our commitment to Reading with Rover with our dogs Jett, Silas and Reese. I spent my portion of the money on new library books!

 

 

 

I couldn’t forget our older readers, so they got a new stack of books too!

 

Who knows? Maybe one of these will become the next Newbery Award winner for 2011!

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Have you read any of these new books already?
Which one do you want to check out?
Do you have any suggestions for us to buy?
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Celebrating Thanksgiving with Books

Thanksgiving is only days away and we have been reading some of Mrs. Hembree’s favorite Thanksgiving Day holiday books in the primary classes.

 

 Tuyet is dismayed when her Vietnamese/American family wants to eat duck for Thanksgiving Day dinner. When she returns to school after the holiday, she soon realizes that many families don’t eat turkey at Thanksgiving either! Tuyet realizes matters is spending time with family and friends, not what food they eat. Nominated for the Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award for 2012.

 

 

 

 Thanksgiving Is by Gail Gibbons provides information about the origins and meaning of Thanksgiving in America, and describes many of the symbols and traditions associated with the holiday, including feasts and parades. (Follett description)

 

 

   When the turkey slides out the door and into the pond, a series of food disasters happen to the Tappleton family. They too realize that family is more important than special food on this holiday.

 

    A group of schoolchildren go on a field trip to Farmer Mack Nugget’s farm. When they realize that the fat, and friendly turkeys are about to become Thanksgiving dinner, they rescue them from the dreaded ax. Dav Pilkey’s story always generates some Thanksgiving laughs.

 

 

Check out these original Thanksgiving stories!

The fourth grade students have also been in the Thanksgiving spirit! Ms. Holder, Ms. Lawson and Mrs. Raffel’s classes each wrote a class turkey story, some with original illustrations. I think you will enjoy the creativity of these funny turkey day stories!

 

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What is your favorite Thanksgiving story?

Have you every written a Thanksgiving Day story or poem?

What does your family like to do on holidays?

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Our Leaf Man Connections

 

Photo from: http://www.essentiallearningproducts.com/media/elp/content/articles/lois_signing.jpg

Author Lois Ehlert at a book signing.

In kindergarten we have been doing an author study about Lois Ehlert. She writes wonderful stories that I love to read in the fall. After we read the books, we talk about the book-to-book connections we can make between the two books. Kindergarteners are great at making book links! They can tell you that both in both books, Lois Ehlert uses a cut-out technique. They can also tell you that she uses a collage technique in her illustrations.

This time after we read the stories, the kindergarteners got to do something really special in art class with Mrs. Lustgarten!   They made library to art connections by making their own leaf men! 

They also learned a new words like called  “frottage”!

Frottage is when you take a piece of paper and a crayon and rub over a textured plate.

Here are their awesome kindergarten Leaf Men!

 

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Have you ever read a Lois Ehlert book?

What do you think about our kindergarten leaf art?

Have you ever used the collage or frottage technique in art?

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Blazing Books are Here

 

 

Thanks to a generous grant from the Lake Washington Schools Foundation, our library has

 118 new, blazing hot books!

The non-fiction Blazing Books Grant shelf

 If you are a younger reader, you are going to love, love, love these books! Every new non-fiction book had to pass Mrs. Hembree strict wow criteria questions.

Is it a fun book to read?

Is it an exciting book to read?

Is it action packed?

Here are the new car books to select from. No boring books in this group!

 To go along with our math focus at school, some of the new books are math related.

“Crunch, crunch! The farm’s horse loves munching apples.

Can you predict which color of apple the horse will eat next?

The horse has six red apples and two green apples.

Is it more or less likely she will pick a green apple?”

So, what do you think the answer is? Find out inside the book Pigs, Cows, and Probability!

I know a lot our students love joke books, so I added more to our collection! Here’s a sample from the Jokes about Bugs:

“What did the bug say after it hit the window?

If I had the guts, I would do it again.

I also bought a new series called Easy Magic Tricks. These books teach you how to perform magic tricks with playing cards, coins, straws, balloons, and more! There are plenty of ideas here to challenge our budding magicians!

Not all of the books are fact or non-fiction books. We also have some new everybody picture books for our younger readers. They are housed on a special shelf too!

 

 It seems like there are never enough Star Wars books in our library, so look at the new ones we’ve added!

This group of books includes early chapter books that are both fun to read and a little bit longer than the usual picture book. These are perfect for our readers who are ready to read chapter books.

Ten more Backpack Buddies have been added to our expanding Backpack Buddy collection. Inside each backpack is a book, a matching puppet, a journal and instructions on what to do.  They are a super fun way to practice reading at home! 

If you check out one of these books from our Bulldog Library, I hope you will let me know what you think about them! You can leave a comment on the blog or you can tell me in person! I am even hoping some people what to give me a review on film with our new Flip cameras! Imagine that….YOU can be a Bulldog Reader Star!

Our LWSF grant is also featured on the Lake Washington Schools Foundation Spotlight page! You can read the full article here.

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What do you think about our new books?
Which ones do you want to check out?
Leave us a comment and let us know!
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Celebrate Picture Book Month!

Picture Book Month officially began yesterday, November 1st! 

Picture Book Month is according to their website, “an international initiative to designate November as Picture Book Month, encouraging everyone to celebrate literacy with picture books. Founder, Dianne de Las Casas (author & storyteller) storyconnection.net, and Co-Founders, Katie Davis (author/illustrator) katiedavis.com, Elizabeth O. Dulemba (author/illustrator) www.dulemba.com, Tara Lazar (author) taralazar.wordpress.com, and Wendy Martin (author/illustrator) wendymartinillustration.com, are putting together their worldwide connections to make this happen.”

Why designate a month to picture books?

You may be wondering why devote 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.

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”. A number of authors, librarians and leaders in the literature community came on board and spread the word. Every day in November, there will be a new post from a picture book champion explaining why he/she thinks picture books are important. You can visit the website from the link here.

Let’s celebrate the beauty of picture books!

Everyday in November, we will read a picture book in the Bulldog Library! We love picture books already, and this is just an extra incentive to remember and share why we love them.

 

 

To launch the month, yesterday I read Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types by Sharon Werner. This book is an illustrated alphabet book for early readers that composes images of animals using only the first letter of its name.

 I am using this text with our first graders as they learn how the Everybody section of our library is set up in ABC order by the author’s last name.

 

 

The kindergarten students will celebrate our fall colors with the picture books by Lois Ehlert! Every fall we do an author study of Lois Ehlert and how she uses cut-outs in her books! In addition, Mrs. Lustgarten, our art leader has planned an art project so go with our fall leaf picture book unit!

 

 

 

 I hope all of our readers will pledge to read a picture book a day for the month of November and beyond! I know I will be enjoying immersing myself in the books that transformed my reading experience from when I was a very young child. I hope you will join me!

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What is your favorite picture book?

Will you join the pledge to read a picture book a day in November?

Leave us a comment and let us know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Speaking of Halloween

Halloween is less than two weeks away and in the Bulldog Library we are ready! There are two baskets full of Halloween books for check out, plus a couple new ones I just added to the collection!

Here are the new books I’ve added to our Halloween collection.

 

 

Now, just because something is new, it doesn’t mean it is better! I have three favorite Halloween books that have been around for a very long time. In fact one of them is now out of print, but it doesn’t keep me from reading it to my students.

In kindergarten, I like to read Hoodwinked by Arthur Howard. This is the story of a young witch who wants to find a new scary, creepy pet like all her relatives have. However, when something scratches at her door one night, she learns that maybe there are other choices!

 

 

 

My all-time favorite Halloween story is not a scary story at all! It’s actually one that will make you laugh out loud! Bring on Dav Pilkey, master of all books funny!

  The book is told in three chapters, starring Dragon. Poor Dragon is not the sharpest tool in the shed and is having a hard time finding a pumpkin that’s as big as a house! When he only finds six little pumpkins, he’s very disappointed. However, things work out for Dragon in a very funny way! Look for Dragon’s Halloween in our library!

 

 

 

The book that is sadly out of print has the same title as one of the new books in our collection! I bought my book in 1996 a very long time ago! It stays in my special Halloween collection because I want to keep it to read to my classes each year!

 For both stories, you need to know the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” to help you along! It’s a fun story to sing loud and crazy on Halloween! I’m sure the new version is just as great, I just don’t have as much experience with it!

 On the fifth night of Halloween,

my goblin gave to me:

Five pounds of worms,

four cackling witches,

three jack-o’-lanterns,

two hairy toads,

and a spooky owl

in a gnarled tree.”

I hope you find a great Halloween book to read at home! We have a big collection to choose from. 

 In the meantime, I am working on my Halloween costume. No, Halloween is not just for kids! Adults like Halloween too – especially me! Each year I choose a book character for my costume.  A few years ago I was …..

 Another time I chose….

 So which character will it be this year? I was torn between two choices! There are two very popular book series in our library this fall. I went to Destiny Quest, a kid friendly version of our library catalog, to get some information.

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Do you know who I will dress up as yet? 
Take a guess and leave us a comment!  
What book character would you choose?
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State Reports with No Pencils Allowed!

 

Can you guess my state?

That is the question of the month for the 3rd and 4th graders.

To get practice doing research with books and databases, the students are each learning about one of the 50 US states.

We started the unit by reading the book, The Little Man in the Map:with Clues to Remember all 50 States by E. Andrew Martonyi.

This book was written in rhymed verses to help people learn about how to identify each state on the map by its placement and shape.

man in map

The book begins by identifying the Little Man in the Map. If you look at the map, at almost the centerpoint you will see the Man in the Map. The man’s hat is in red (Minnesota), underneath is his face (Iowa), his blue shirt is Missouri, his red pants are Arkansas and his boots are brown (Louisiana).

After we read the book, everyone had to label all 50 states on a blank map! It’s kind of hard to remember the spelling of all 50 states, so we used the World Almanac for Kids as a reference tool.

mapc

Then during the next class, the students had to take notes using state books and Junior Achievement Resource Guides,

statesc

and the database Culture Grams: States Edition.

culture grams

Everyone had to take notes about their state,

 but the 3rd graders couldn’t use pencils!

The 3rd class classes are part of a district Netbook pilot,

 so they could bring their Netbooks to class and use them for the assignment!

 No pencils allowed!

Students use netbooks to find information in Curlture Grams and take notes in Word.

Students use netbooks to find information in Culture Grams and take notes in Word.

After all the notes were taken, then it was time to write! 

For the 4th graders (no netbooks) it was pencil and paper time, and for the 3rd graders, it was Netbook time again.

However, this assignment was no ordinary state report. Inspired by the biography reports by the students in Mrs. Yollis’s class, our students had to write their state report like they were that state. You can read about the biography reports here.

These were the assignment rules:

All reports are to be done in the form of a comment.

Facts are to come from the research you have done from the books and CultureGrams.

You have to write like you are that state!

You have to use your own words. No plagarizing or copying someone else’s words!

Include some unique facts about your state.

Here is an example by Mrs. Hembree.

Greetings from the Evergreen state! I am located in the upper far west corner of the US. I border Canada to the north, Idaho to the east, Oregon to the south, and the Pacific Ocean on my west coast.

I became the 42nd state in 1889. I am the only state named after a US president. Olympia is my capital, and Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Tacoma and Spokane are some of the other big cities in my state.  More than a million visitors each year come to see the Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 World’s Fair.  In 1980, the volcano Mount St. Helens erupted sending volcanic dust for hundreds of miles.

I am known as the Evergreen state because there are so many evergreen and fir trees on the west side of the state. There is even a temperate rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula!  On the east side of the Cascade Mountains, the landscape is very dry. You can see rolling wheatfields and dry grasslands for miles and miles. We also grow apples on this side of the state.

Technology and aerospace are big industries in my state, as well as lumber and farming. Starbucks, Boeing, Amazon and Microsoft are a few of the big and famous companies that call my state home.

 I hope you can visit me in the summer!

Washington

(Mrs. Hembree)

Students, now it’s your turn!

Friends, family and visitors, feel free to join our comment conversation!

 We would love to hear from you!

Many, many thanks to Mrs. Yollis for the inspiration for this blogging assignment!

 

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A Very Special Day

Do you ever have those days that you know you will remember for a very long time?

I do, and today was one of them.

After listening to the story Big Al by Andrew Clements,

big al

I asked them, “What do you think this story is really about?”

If you have not read Big Al, it’s a story about a very nice fish, who has no friends because he is extremely scary looking.

Here is sample of what the first graders had to say:

“Do  not pick your friends by what they look like, but by their character.”  ~Haley

“Everyone has a certain place in the world, and that’s yourself.” ~Nicholas

“Everyone’s perfect, except the bad guys.” ~Kayden

“Don’t judge someone by how they look.” ~Joel

“You should never judge the person for what they look like.” ~Bella

“If you’re younger, that doesn’t mean you can’t be friends.” ~Sasha

“…it just matters if they’re nice to you.” ~Milica

I think those are amazingly wise comments for first graders!

However, that’s the first part of what made this day so terrific!

Here’s the other part….. Mrs. Hovis was selected by the radio station, STAR 101.5 as their

Teacher of the Week!

  

Mrs. Hovis with Julia who sent in the nomination to STAR 101.5

Mrs. Hovis with Julia who sent in the nomination to STAR 101.5

 

 Mrs. Hovis has taught at our school for over 40 years! Today, she was recognized for being the incredible teacher that she is in front of her class, colleagues and family! KOMO New Channel 4 was on hand to film as Mrs. Hovis received her check, a plaque and a key that puts her in a drawing for a new car.  Each student also received a goodie bag filled with gifts, including a cool t-shirt.

Check out our video of this fabulous event!

 

 

Tell us what you think about our special day!

Do you have a comment you could add to our first grade sayings?

Why would you nominate your teacher as the “Teacher of the Week?”

Leave us a comment and let us know!

 

 

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