If you'd like to check out this or other Dr. Seuss books, come to the library and see what we have to offer!
Amidst all the post-Linda Sue Park visit activities we were finishing up, some classes had the opportunity to take a time-out and celebrate a legend's birthday--Dr. Seuss! Theodor Geisel was born on March 2, 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. In his illustrious career, he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984, an Academy Award, three Emmy awards, three Grammy awards, and 3 Caldecott Honors (Wow!). He wrote and illustrated 44 books. I had the opportunity to read one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books to students: Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!
If you'd like to check out this or other Dr. Seuss books, come to the library and see what we have to offer!
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On Tuesday, February 19th, Newbery Award-winning author Linda Sue Park visited WT for a day of activities, cross-campus interaction, and fun! North campus 1st through 5th graders traveled to the City campus to hear Linda Sue Park speak about her writing and the importance of reading. She also told us about the puppies who keep her company when she is writing and the traditional Korean game that children play when they turn a year old. Both North and City students worked together to complete projects centered on Linda's books. First graders created their own book of animal sounds in different languages modeled after Park's picture book Mung Mung. Second graders read another picture book called What Does Bunny See? and created their own books on what colors they noticed around WT. Third and fourth graders read the book The Firekeeper's Son and created artwork on how to signify peace in modern times. Finally, fifth graders wrote and illustrated their own Sijo poems after reading Linda Sue Park's sijo poetry in the book Tap Dancing on the Roof. A special group of fifth graders also had the opportunity to eat lunch with Linda and ask her questions about her writing. I was so excited about the author visit that I forgot to take a single picture. If you took a picture of the day, I'd love to see it! To prepare for Linda Sue Park’s author visit, the 5th graders at North read her Newbery winning novel A Single Shard, which is the story of an orphan named Tree-ear, who lives in a 12th century Korean potters’ village. Tree-ear desperately wants to become a potter, but he has to start out at the bottom as a lowly apprentice for a master potter named Min, chopping wood and doing chores. A group of us decided that we wanted to simulate the journey of an apprentice from doing hard labor to skilled work for our fifth graders, while giving them the experience of further working with clay. Sally Allan played the part of the taciturn master potter, silently throwing a pot at the wheel when the students entered the art room. When she finally noticed her new apprentices had arrived, she gruffly instructed them to grab a toothbrush and start scrubbing the art room floor. After a bit of hard work, the apprentices rotated through stations doing tasks an apprentice might encounter, like recycling clay, rolling clay, making coil bowls, and carving designs. They even had a chance to learn how to properly chop wood with outdoorsman Steve Cooper. Finally, our apprentices got a chance to try their hands at the pottery wheel, instructed by the master potter Sally. Brock Perkins and I played the role of journeymen, instructing them as they went along. Being humble apprentices, they weren’t allowed to talk, and if they did, they were given a toothbrush to continue scrubbing. Many of the bowls that the students created were glazed and donated to the Empty Bowls project. The experiment placed the 5th graders into Tree-ear’s mindset and readied them for the author visit, while also giving them experience working with clay and, of course, a little bit of hard labor! Come see the students' collaborative art work, now on display in the library! WTN enjoyed an all-school Thanksgiving Feast before break! Unfortunately, I was so busy eating turky, listening to a wonderful poem presented by the 2nd graders, and participating in a Thanksgiving sing-along that I forgot to take pictures until the very end! And this lonely piece of pie was all that was left...
The 2nd graders have been learning about community, and they got the chance to visit the Shaler North Hills Library (and I got to go with them, which was REALLY FUN...). So in library we've been talking about libraries and looking at pictures of libraries all over the world (check these out: http://twistedsifter.com/2010/08/libraries-around-the-world/). Then we designed our own libraries, to be filled with whatever we choose. Here are some that we came up with: This past Friday and Saturday I got the opportunity to attend the Mazza Weekend Conference at the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio. I got to explore the Mazza Museum of picture book illustrations and listen to authors and illustrators speak about their work and inspirations.
It's Conference Day! Which means it's a perfect day to come to the library and browse our shelves. Did you know that not only can students check out books before and after school, but parents can do? I'll just set you up with an account and then you're good to go. Come on in and see what we have! Another announcement--if you have gently used books in good condition, I will glady take them off your hands to use as prizes and rewards for outstanding students. Finally, here's a great website from Scholastic for finding books for your child to read next: http://www.scholastic.com/bookwizard/?eml=OT/e/20121019////BookWizard//checkout/MIM_SL1///&ym_MID=1443852&ym_rid=19267043. You can search for books on any level and also find "read-alikes" for your kids to read after they finish a book they really enjoy. I use it to guide my selections. The student pictured above told me she is also currently reading the BEST BOOK EVER: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan, FYI. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. This year, Applefest was held at WTN on a crisp fall day on Saturday, September 29th. There was food, there were games, there was a bucking bronco, and so many other fall-fun activities. I was helping with the "Old Tyme" Photobooth in the 3rd grade room, which yielded some great photo opportunities, including this one from one of my wonderful helpers in the booth. In the library, our fabulous Spanish teacher Alicia Sewald was hosting an international extravaganza of online interactive activities with iPads, iPods, and Chromebooks. Anyone who was interested could come in and play one of these Spanish and Mandarin games and then jot down what they learned on a sticky note. This sticky note was then placed on the wall for everyone to see. Individuals who completed this activity earned a special international prize! Here are examples of some of the posted sticky notes: It was obvious that everyone learned a lot! Thanks, Alicia, for running such a great activity in the library! In case you're interested, here's a list of some of the apps and websites that Alicia used:
- iStart Chinese by Mirai Language - iStart Spanish 2010-2011 by Mirai Language - PBS Kids/ Little Pim - MindSnacks Learn Chinese - MindSnacks Learn Spanish - 2Kinds Chinese -PBS Kids for Noah Comprende - 123TeachMe - PBS Sagua (Chinese) |
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