Run Run As Fast As You Can

The Kindergarten classes in Crete always spend a few days reading and comparing the many version of the classic tale "The Gingerbread Man".  Some chase the Gingerbread man around the school, and others create milk carton Gingerbread Houses. So to add to their fun I like to read Jan Brett's book "Gingerbread Friends" and "The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School" by Laura Murray.

       

 

Our Kindergarten students were able to decorate their own Gingerbread cookie on the computer using the webstie www.sprintsweets.com.  Eat it up, then create again.  We also enjoyed using the ipods to listen to the song/app "The Gingerbread Man"

Author David Biedrzycki Visits Crete Elementary

Our Elementary was so lucky to team up with the Crete Public Library to bring the children's author and illustrator, David Biedrzycki to our school on Wednesday, November 5th.  He spent the day in our Library giving 5 presenations, (one to each grade level K-4) and sharing his knowledge of what it takes to be an author.  David shared his new book "Breaking News, Bear Alert" with the students.  Since he uses the computer to digitally create his pictures, he was able to insert a picture of me in one of the pictures.  It was fun to see the children's expressions when they saw me sitting in the diner on one of the pages.   David was gracious and was willing to eat with a group of 4th graders, who entered and won a writing contest at our school.  Thanks to the Crete Elementary Student Council and the Friend of the Library groups for sponsoring David's visit.

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. 

David Shannon Author Study

My first grade students are now working on our David Shannon Author Study.  We are learning about David's life and the books he has written and illustrated.

Today we read the book "The Bad Case of Stripes" and the students traced and cut out an arm/hand that they colored full of stripes.  They actually came out quite cute.  I asked them how they were going to get rid of their stripes, hoping they would say "Eat Lima beans",  (which is what Camilla did in the story to get rid of her stripes) yet received many other different answers.  I am thinking about bringing in Lima beans to taste, because many of the students had never tasted them.

I am looking forward to reading "Alice the Fairy",  "Duck on a Bike", "Good Boy, Fergus" and "Too Many Toys".  I also just ordered "Jangles" and hope it will be here soon to share with the first graders.
We are also planning to watch the interview of David from Reading Rockets, that tells about how he got his ideas.  Here is the link to that interview:  David Shannon Interview  So far the boys and girls are enjoying his books and want to check them out!!

No, David! Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible

Our school rules are to: BE SAFE, BE RESPECTFUL, BE RESPONSIBLE.

So my board to display those this year is David from David Shannon's book titled "No, David".

With my first grade library students we read a few books with David in them and talked about being responsible and using our manners at school and in the library.  We created these adorable "David's" with a library rule underneath them.  Classes worked as teams to create a "David", some students did the face, others the shirt, etc and we put them all together to make this project.  They are displayed in and around the library to remind others of what we expect in the library.

School is in Full Swing

It has only taken me a month, but I have finally settled down to spend a minute to share what is happening at the Crete Elementary Library.  One of my goals for the year is to spend more time "talking" with students about the books they are reading, and to share what I am reading too.  So I have a giant Lorax on my wall:

After the students tell me about their book, I am taking a picture of them with their Lorax moustache and their book (to hopefully encourage others to want to read it too!) and am posting it on the wall. 

 I look forward to sharing lots of titles of great books with students this year, and hope to see more photos on my wall soon!














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