A Little Pumpkin Fun

Last year when I attended the NETA conference I heard about the app "Colar Mix".  So this October I decided to give it a try.  First I read a pumpkin story to the first and second graders, then gave them a pumpkin coloring sheet that I printed off of the Colar Mix website.  Then for the last 10 minutes of class we divided into small groups and held the ipad over the pumpkin coloring sheet and opened the Colar Mix app and the pumpkins would dance and come to life.

With the Kindergartners I also planned a little pumpkin fun using the computer.  I realized that these 5 year olds really haven't had a chance to experience using a "mouse" on the computer.  It was amazing to see how many students wanted to push on the actual computer screen (like an ipad) to try to make it go.  We visited the website www.onlinepumpkincarving.com and had the students practice using the mouse to carve 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth.  It was so much fun to see their smiles after they created a pumpkin that they were proud of.

My name is Stilton, Geronimo Stilton

Every year I choose a different series to introduce to the second graders at Crete Elementary.  This year I read "The Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye" the first book in the Geronimo Stilton series.  It was a big hit.  We own more than 30 Geronimo books, and at one time the shelf was empty, they were all checked out.   Every time the 2nd graders visited the Library I would read aloud to them. One day allowing them to draw about the book, another day we created character bookmarks, and one day we visited the Geronimo Stilton website.