Feel the PRIDE Vibe!

My Media Elective Class has been working on a very special project that will premiere at the May 26th Spring Arts Show - it's The PAW shop, OG's new school store. We've created two outlets for students, families, staff and partners to get Lion's Spirit Wear and School Uniforms online.

For SPIRIT WEAR CLICK HERE. Prep Sportswear offers many ways to customize your love for OG! Please note that most of these clothes are not authorize for regular school uniforms. Our authorized school uniforms can be purchased from Lands' End School Store Click Here. You will have to log in with an email to get to Orchard Gardens Official Uniform recommendations.

The Media Elective students will be available to help families and friends navigate the sites, learn how to get bundle discounts and more from our new store sites - we will even have a few things on hand to sell!!! Items of high quality and we will have samples for you to see. The PAW Shop is coming!!!

Reserve Your Yearbook!

Bulletin Board is completed.

Organizing sales strategy.

The 2015-2016 Yearbook is at the printer! Elective students are making sure that everyone that wants a Yearbook has paid their $10.00. Supplies are limited so pay your money to secure your book. 80 pages of full color will not disappoint!

Book Talks and Getting Ready for 3rd Grade

Sonilda practices her book talk.

My second graders started new units this week. In Ms. DaRosa's Class we are working together to write and videotape Book Talks. The goal of a Book Talk is to encourage more reading by having peers recommend books they have read. Creating a Book Talk is my preferred method for students to share their love of reading because their talks demonstrate understanding and excitement over a text. Book Talks are different than book reviews that are basically a critique of a book or a book reports that are more formal. Our Book Talks follow a basic format; the student introduces the book with a "hook" statement and then tell three interesting facts about the book without giving the story away and then challenges their peers to read their book. I videotape their Book Talks and it's a fun way to end the year in library. Join us for our May 26th Art Show and see some of the wonderful completed Book Talks!

In Ms. Rigueur's Class we are reading How To Be Cool in the Third Grade. As an introduction we talk about moving up to a new grade and how to be successful. The main character of the book, Robbie York, just wants to be cool and makes a list of those things he must change about his life to accomplish his goal. It's a fun read and leads to great discussions. (Note: I am not doing Book Talks with Ms. Rigueur's Class because it is the last period of the day and it is too short!)

Mercy Watson, a Princess in Disguise?

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You bet! We just love reading about Mercy in Ms. Witt's Class and in the first grade. In this edition Mercy is going trick-or-treating and dresses up as a princess. Eugenia of course thinks that "pigs should not pose as princesses!" In addition to reading Mercy Watson together, students also spend time listening to other Mercy Watson stories on the computer through TumbleBooks. I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that TumbleBooks is available to our students at home if you have an internet connection. Click here for TumbleBooks!

April Showers Bring the Yellow Umbrella!

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For Letter U, I use the book Yellow Umbrella by Dong II Shen and Jae-Soo Liu. This wordless picture book has a beautiful music CD that accompanies the story. Students watch and listen carefully as the alluring story unfolds. During our alphabet journey through picture books I use two different books where the CD is used to further develop a child's listening skills. (Re: the other is for Letter J, the Jazz Fly.) Using a CD, or listening to a story read on a computer, offers a child different ways to access and interact with a story. Originally published in South Korea, this book also introduces students to music from another country.

Mr. Gilley Rules!

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"Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town!" "Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town!" chant my students as Mr. Gilley drives all over Trashy Town emptying the trash and filling up his trash truck. He empties trash at the school, the park the pizza shop and more places around town as he fills his truck. Two cute little mice are featured on every spread and the students love to point out where they are. You'll have to ask your child how Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman ends.

A LeSSon on LiStening!

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There are So many Sensational Sides to reading Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan EdwardS! It'S a bit of a tongue twiSter to Read Aloud. StudentS get very involved page by page aS they diScover the many S Shaped items and all the S wordS. They wonder why everyone yelling at the Slug and we diScuSS that being Smug iS not a compliment. We learn how to draw a Slug and talk about how important it iS to liSten when otherS tell you to be careful. It'S worth a read with your child.

Ring! Ring!

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For letter R we read Chris Raschka's Ring! Yo? In this clever story we hear one side of a telephone conversation between two boys. The complexity of listening to one side of a conversation does not deter the students love for this book and I am always impressed at how well they listen and understand the story. I have several old phones and the students LOVE playing with them later during our "choice" time.

Recipe for Choosing A Book

My third graders and I had fun this week creating a Recipe for Choosing a Book. We created the recipe and then I modeled making the recipe. Our goal was to select next book we will read together in class! Here's a summary of the key points in our Recipes;

Step One: Go to a "library." We decided there are many different types of libraries; your own library, classroom library, school library and public libraries. The students listed many of the Boston Public Branch Libraries in their neighborhoods - here's a link for your local library. All of our students have library cards that are good for the BPL.

Step Two: Once you are in the library go to the area that has books for kids and choose a shelf and start reading the titles. DO NOT choose a book by it's cover. MAKE SURE you can read the title and that is sounds interesting to you. The title makes you curious to find out more.

Step Three: Read some of the book. That's right! You can read the back cover or the inside front cover or even part or most of the first chapter. This will give you a good idea if this is a book that you will read cover to cover!

The two books we chose to read  are...

OG Yearbook Update!

As we approach April Break, the 8th Grade Media Elective Class is working at a feverish pace to complete this year's Yearbook and meet our deadline. We will continue to take photos until the end of the school year for our end of the year slide show and other events. If you see us trying to take a picture this week PLEASE do not cover your face - we have done extensive work to make this the best Yearbook ever and know who is missing from our pages. In photo, 8th graders look at last year's Yearbook as they wait for their portraits to be taken.