Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Fairy Tales And Nursery Rhymes In The Library

This Week...

Kindergarten classes worked on nursery rhymes. A letter went home explaining our assignment for the next 2 weeks. We will be learning 16 new rhymes. Mrs. Christner, our music teacher and I collaborated to bring together these rhymes. I introduce them to the students and Mrs. Christner includes some of them into their spring music program.


I often have parents ask me why I teach classic nursery rhymes? My simplest answer is that they are fun. Nursery rhymes introduce  young listeners to story structure in its most basic form. There's an orientation- Peter Pumpkin Eater has a wife. There's a problem- He's  having trouble keeping her - and, there's a resolution- He puts her in a pumpkin shell and there he keeps her very well.


Nursery rhymes also introduce children to a cast of characters who are likely to reappear throughout their school lives. Nursery rhymes also greatly enrich young children's developing vocabularies.


Please make sure to practice the rhyme your child selected to recite to the class.


1st grade classes continued to work on fairy tales. We read and discussed several fairy tales we read Rumplestiltskin by Jonathon Langley and Hansel and Gretal by Cynthia Rylant.  We also, continued to discuss, retell and compare Jack and the Beanstalk by Stephen Kellogg. We made a check list to confirm that it met with our fairy tale criteria (what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale). It's a great time to share your favorite fairy tale with your child.





Book It Forward

 We have been plugging along with our book it forward program. We have booked forward over 125 book thus far. We have another week to go, I am hoping to double it. If you are just tuning in you can see the video depicting The Kid President who has established this program and who we are trying to help reach his goal of 10,000 books forwarded.

 


It really has been exciting for the kiddos. I'm really impressed at how some of our kiddos are coming out of their comfort zone and walking up to another student/students and giving them a book. It really is something to see. I love it. Please continue to book it forward, we will continue until Friday, January30th.

 Creating a Book Club.... 

I am working on putting together an after school book club for K-1 kiddos (this may not come to pass till next year). I am struggling a bit in planning and designing. I am working with several other librarians who actively have afterschool book clubs but none of them are strictly primary level. Please message me if you have feed back about this project, I would love to hear from you. tshamhart@abileneschools.org

 

 Book Reviews and Book Club Party

 This past weekend we had our book club and shared and reviewed our first book choice.

 

I was excited to read this book because I really enjoyed Before I Fall which I read over a year ago.

 

 The Rooms by Lauren Oliver: This book lured me in slowly, weaving its spiderwebs around me until I realized I was completely caught up. There's this lovely balance of delicacy and subtlety and harshness and for all of its ghostly elegance a certain humanity in Oliver's writing style, which meant that even the least likable characters felt closely studied and authentic. The true mastery of her writing, though, is how the story's deeper implications slyly creep up on you and then consume you. I love that through the many narrative threads, there's also this layer of the book-within-the-book woven through out and insisting on its own place and power within the characters', and reader's, minds. I wouldn't call this book "tragic" or even "sad," and yet it does painstakingly examine loneliness of many different kinds, and had me in tears throughout parts of the second half. For a ghost story it was so much more. We as a group will highly recommend it.

 

 We also had our version of a new years book party, setting off our 1st meeting of 2015. Here are some photos of the awesome book club party.


 

 

 Our hostess Janet had our next selection which she won from  Reading Group Choices (check it out). We also had a book swap bag and book mark waiting for us. It was a wonderful time with good friends, good books and good food. What a wonderful way to celebrate 2015.


During our party/ meeting and introduction of our newest book... Landline by Rainbow Rowell we decided to have our February meeting be  All My Favorite Things Party. I can't wait to share all our favorite things right here. Each of us compiles a basket or bag of some of our favorite things. We made a $50 limit. Each item will get a number and each of us will pull a number and that is the basket/bag we receive. A great way to share and introduce some of our favorite things and to try some new items out. Looking forward to it.

 

Superbowl

 This weekend we will be enjoying the Super Bowl with all  the controversy (which thus far has overshadowed much of the anticipation), the commercials ( I love them), the snacks (which I will try to not over indulge) and wonderful company. Each year we have a super bowl party because my hubby is football crazy. None the less it is always a good time with lots of fun.  I am cheering on the Seahawks again this year.

Happy Reading!

Mrs. Shamhart

Friday, January 9, 2015

Another Sneak Peek At Our Week.


#BookItForward

 

I  sent a note home with kiddos this week about booking it forward( see video).    I have had several papers returned and we have already booked forward over 75 books in just a few days. I can't imagine how many books we will book forward by the end of the month.

 I absolutely love that the kids are interacting and sharing their love of books with each other. It is AWESOME to watch.  Remember you too can book it forward!


 







One of my Kindergarten kiddos, that I booked forward a book to this week. He is on a roll reading the Biscuit books. I thought he might put this collection of Biscuit stories to good use.

Way To Go Cooper!










Longhorn Leaders

This week we had a Character Education Day with the help of our Longhorn Leaders from Abilene Middle School. What a great group of kids. We discussed character traits like caring, citizenship, respect, responsibility, trustworthiness and fairness. 

In the library we shared about caring. We used 2 books Horton Hatches the Egg By Dr. Seuss and A Sick Day For Amos Mcghee By Phillip Stead

 


 

 Kindergarten Library Lesson

This week in the library Kindergarten worked on letter writing. We shared the book Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin. We discussed the parts of the letter like the greeting, body and closing. We went around the room to hear what our letters might sound like. I can't wait to see how they all turn out. Very nice job Kindergarten.


1st Grade Library Lesson

This week in the library we started our Fairy Tale Unit. This is such a fun unit to share with my 1st grade friends. We started with Jack and the Beanstalk by Steven Kellogg. Shared our anchor chart on what is the criteria for a Fairy Tale.

It's Been Frozen Here in Abilene 

I have been playing around with the "Frozen" theme in our library this week.

It's been fun and our K-1 kiddos have been loving it, too.



 Books, Books and Books....

 I am involved in several book clubs one that I meet with each month here locally, in Salina, Ks. and 2 online book groups with blogging friends. I kind of love it.

In my local book group with 11 of my besties, I am currently reading the book Rooms by Lauren Oliver 
My other book group Peanut Blossom Book Club for Recovering Readers (love the title and how it opens the door to those that don't read or haven't read in a while.) we just finished a book, I had previously read called Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. Look back I gave a review on this book.
Our next book is...The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry I am loving this book! I will review both of these titles and keep you in the loop of our next novel with my other group as soon as I find out.

Influenster

 This is a group I am part of where I review products and share my opinions.

I just received the new Reese's Spreads: YUMMO!



My grandson, Carter and I made these yummy peanut butter cookies. He said "These are the best peanut butter cookies"! I love baking with him. Please you have to try this yummy spread. We also had it after preschool on apple slices he also loved that.

Happy Reading,

Mrs. Shamhart