NEW FEBRUARY FRIENDS

 "Away in a meadow all covered with snow,
The little old groudhog looks for his shadow.
The clouds in the sky determine our fate, 
If winter will leave us all early or late."
                                                                  Don Halley

Guess who I met when I went to the FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference)??? If you can name my friend you will win a prize....just stop by the media center and tell me the name of my friend. Good luck!

Students in grade 2 wanted to know why the platypus is special since they are studying Australia. Well, they looked at an Aboriginal folktale from the Yorta-Yorta people and found out. They read aloud the play in a Reader's Theater performance...and now they know why Aboriginal Australians rarely hunt or kill a Platypus.....want to know? Just ask a second grader....

Space and the planets are the hot topic in grade 1 and students were discussing all the facts they learned from the  Brain Pop and WeirdButTrue apps on the i-pad. They also listened to the story/song of Halley 's comet in the story entitled Halley Cam e to Jackson by Mary Carpenter. They will also be looking at the moon to find out what phase it is in for the next few weeks. Being spaced out is great!

"Gung hay fat choy" was the chant of K in the media center as they learned about Chinese New Year. Did you know it lasts for 15 days?  Just ask any K student what some of the traditions, colors, and customs are. They will tell you all about it...since they read Chinese New Year by Lola M. Schaefer. They also talked about the hearts in nature pictures they saw in the periodical entitled Ranger Rick. Lots of laughter and smiles were going on as they heard Diane de Groat's valentine story entitled Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink. Students collaborated with partners to decide how the main character of this story made poor choices as well as possible actions he could do to make up for these choices. Everyone learned a lesson about nice and nasty poems.

In Jr. K. students listened to Franklin's Valentines by Paulette Bourgeois or The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond. In both stories showing how much our friends mean to us was the main theme as well as appreciating our friends everyday.

      
















How Spider Saved Valentine's Day by Robert Kraus was the book read to the Alpha students. Once again Spider uses his creativity and imagination to solve the problem in the story. It had a happy and a surprise ending for sure. 

Third graders will be working on biographies and learning about famous people as well as how to find these books in the library. They will be working with partners and playing "Guess Who's Knocking at my Door."



Volunteers, volunteers, volunteers.....we have seen so many wonderful volunteers since school started in the new year. Thanks to the hard work and very flexible schedule of  Andi Mullins. I am very thankful for the new "Feruary look" in the library thanks to all the wonderful other volunteers who decorated and pulled the new author books. You are all so appreciated and loved by the children and especially by the librarian

      

A NEW YEAR FILLED WITH NEW BOOKS

         THE GREATEST ADVENTURE

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead.
Today and tomorrow are yet to be said.
The chances, the changes are all yours to make.
The mold of your life is in your hands to break.
        (from THE HOBBIT, by J.R.R. Tolkien)

Students in grade 1 took off to the moon by doing a reader's theater of the book Man On The Moon by Anastasia Suen.

There were costumes, props, and a director to help the performance take place. History was repeated and students learned about the word lost from the transmission when Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon. No one knows why. What we were supposed to hear was: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."


In grade 2 students are studying Australia and they read Over in Australia-Amazing Animals Down Under by Marianne Berkes. Students learned the names of a baby crocodile, wallaby, gray koala, platypus, rainbow lorikeet, wombat, sugar glider, brolga, long-eared bilby, and emu. Just ask them who incubates the emu chick and who looks after them 6 months after they are born. They also found the hidden animals which included the frilled neck lizard, the dingoes, kookaburra, echidna, cockatoos, tiger quoll, black swan, barking gecko, woma python, and ringtail possums. Did you know that Australia is unique in that around 80 percent of its animals are endemic, or native to the country. Australia also has the greatest number of reptiles of any country-917 species. Marsupials aren't the only unusual mammals of Australia. There are also mammals that lay eggs! These are called monotremes. Two such animals that live in Australia are the platypus and echidna. The students are certainly excited about learning these facts and many more as they virtually travel on this continent.

Third graders are learning about biographies. After reading the collective biography entitled My Brothers' Flying Machine-Wilbur, Orville, and Me by Jane Yolen students did a reader's theater. It all started one day when Wilbur and Orville's father brought home a small flying toy, the brothers played with until it broke. That toy was the beginning of a remarkable collaboration that would culminate in the successful flight at Kitty Hawk.
 



In Alpha students read the book entitled I'm the Best by Lucy Cousins and they all talked about what they are good at. We were not quite sure the dog in the book learned his lesson when we read the last page.

Let's Do Nothing by Tony Fucile was the book read by Jr. K students. They met Frankie and Sal, two boys who've done it all. They've played every board game. They've read every comic book and painted a zillion pictures. What's left to do? Just when it seems they will collapse from boredom, Sal gets a brilliant idea. What about doing nothing? But is it possible-can two boys do ten whole seconds of nothing? Hold your breath and get ready for this laugh-out-loud romp created by feature film animator and debut picture-book artist Tony Fucile.
 



Volunteers, volunteers, volunteers.....we have seen so many wonderful volunteers since school started in the new year. Thanks to the hard work and very flexible schedule of  Andi Mullins. I am very thankful for the new "Feruary look" in the library thanks to all the wonderful other volunteers who decorated and pulled the new author books. You are all so appreciated and loved by the children and especially by the librarians.