The Story of Ferdinand

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Focusing on my theme of "reading takes you places," we travel to Spain and my first graders and strand students read The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf with illustrations by Robert Lawson. This book was written in 1936 and is considered a classic children's book. The story is about a bull named Ferdinand that would rather sit and smell flowers under his favorite cork tree instead of fight like all the other bulls. After reading the book, we also watch the 1938 Academy Award Winning Short Cartoon by Disney entitled Ferdinand. We briefly discuss bull fights and the cultural tradition of bull fighting but our discussion focus is having the courage to be yourself. Ask your child about the story, it's a winner!

Getting Ready for 3rd Grade

What does it mean to be cool? Robbie York is starting 3rd grade and he wants it to be the best school year ever. For Robbie the best school year ever means being cool.
We begin our journey by discussing my second graders feelings about 3rd grade -- some are nervous and afraid the work will be too hard. Some are wondering if their teachers will be nice. Some students have also heard that in 3rd grade you have to take very important tests.
In our novel, How to be Cool in the Third Grade by Betsy Duffey, our main character Robbie has some definite opinions about being cool as well as some very big challenges to overcome to get there. I won't post a pic of the book cover until my next post - the students are challenged to make a picture in their own mind of what Robbie and his friends might look like.* At this age students are becoming readers and they often reject books because of the illustrations. This year we have worked very hard at making pictures in our own mind of how the characters may look. Our students will recite, "don't judge a book by it's cover," as we all do, but all too often emerging readers don't allow themselves to read books because of the cover picture. This is a great book to talk about so many different themes including self-perception, school and bullies as well as would you have selected this book if you saw the cover. We are on the 4th chapter and the students are thoroughly enjoying the story. In addition to reading, there are many different skills that we learn in library class including how to select books and not limit ourselves to specific genres and covers that look cool. This is a perfect book to do just that.
*(Note: We did the same earlier this year with Donavan's Word Jar!)

We're Collectors!

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My second graders finished their unit on collections by reading two more books about collections and gave many more collection presentations! We read Let's Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans and I shared my rock collection. Did you know rocks are the oldest thing you can collect in the world?! We used another book specifically about rocks and minerals to identify my rocks and talked about how collectors label and "curate" their collections.
We also read a picture book called The Button Box by Margarette S. Reid. I also shared my button collection and we talked about the different ways collections might start.

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During each class different students also presented their collections. I was struck by how well the students presented their collections and the incredible questions that their classmates asked about their collections. Several of our classmates collect Pokemon Cards and were very knowledgeable about all of the cards that they had and how they wanted to build their collection. Other types of collections that were presented included rocks, shells, action figures and my favorite -- books!! Having a collection helps a child learn so many different skills. Collecting builds WONDER and CURIOSITY in a child. Collecting allows you and your child to build stories, do research and learn to take care of things that are important to them.  Check out the benefits of collecting here. Happy collecting!

Mark Your Calendars!

The Lion's Den is in Production!

The yearbook has been completed and shipped to our printer! My 7th and 8th Grade Elective students worked tirelessly on 80 pages of color pictures, captions and more! Now my Yearbook Elective Students are working on the next edition of The Lion's Den. Students are shown jurying some new art work that will be on display at our May 25th Art Show. Don't miss the Show and please consider purchasing a copy of the next edition of The Lion's Den!

T is for Trash!

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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 the students as we read Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman. We follow Mr. Gilly and his two cute mice as he cleans Trashy Town. This is a favorite read aloud of mine as it involves lots of student participation. At the end of the story there is only one thing left for Mr. Gilly to clean... what could that be? You can watch Mr. Gilly clean Trashy Town here!

Some Smug Slug!

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Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan is a sensational read aloud! It's a bit of a tongue twister with all the "s" words and my students LOVE finding all the "s" shapes as we read. In the end the fact that the slug does not heed some well placed advice captivates my students.  "Why doesn't he listen?" "They told him to stop!" "He's gone?" My students also drawing their own "smug slugs." We have fancy slugs, superhero slugs and even a few slug families. A great book for reinforcing listening skills, following directions and being safe.