Our school did an amazing job participating in the Bookman's Reading Challenge. While we did not win, we should still be incredibly proud of the effort of our students. Over a 3 month period they read 23,382 books! That is an average of 39 books per child!
Our top readers in each grade were:
Kinder - Matt from Mrs. Bermudez
1st - Valeria from Mrs. Llamas
2nd - Marco from Mrs. Kurlander
3rd - Tammy from Mrs. Kurlander
4th - Kaylani from Mr. Moore
5th - Fedra from Mrs. Smith
The top classes in each grade were:
Kinder - Bermudez
1st - Martinez
2nd - Kasen
2/3 - Kurlander
3rd - Brousseau
4th - Wick
5th - Smith
The top classes schoolwide were:
1. Bermudez
2. Smith
3. Kurlander
4. Powers
5. Martinez
Congratulations to everyone who participated! We hope you enjoyed your prizes and privileges and we are looking forward to our party later this year.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
National Library Week and Poetry Month
Last week in the library we celebrated National Library Week. Some of the classes heard The Library by Sarah Stewart and we discussed how fortunate we are to have libraries in our schools and public libraries where we can check out books without needing money. I encourage all parents to take the kids over to Nanini, or any other public library, to get a library card and borrow books. They have great storytimes and other free activities to keep our kids engaged and reading over the summer and all year long.
We also began our celebration of National Poetry Month in April. Different classes are hearing different poems including Hungry Mungry from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein and Casey at the Bat adapted and illustrated by Christopher Bing. We also read a rhyming book called If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. This book tied together poetry, imagination and creativity. We spent some time discussing what our cars would have or do if we were able to create our very own car. Ask your child what they would build if they could.
The older kids were also challenged to bring in a poem to share with their class. We had a few kids bring in poems this week and will continue next week. There is a bulletin board in the library where we are posting original poems the children have written so feel free to come in and see the work of our talented kids!
We also began our celebration of National Poetry Month in April. Different classes are hearing different poems including Hungry Mungry from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein and Casey at the Bat adapted and illustrated by Christopher Bing. We also read a rhyming book called If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. This book tied together poetry, imagination and creativity. We spent some time discussing what our cars would have or do if we were able to create our very own car. Ask your child what they would build if they could.
The older kids were also challenged to bring in a poem to share with their class. We had a few kids bring in poems this week and will continue next week. There is a bulletin board in the library where we are posting original poems the children have written so feel free to come in and see the work of our talented kids!
Imagination and Creativity
We've been celebrating imagination and creativity for the last two weeks in the library. I've read a variety of books about imagination to the classes depending on their grade level including Not a Box by Antoinette Portis, The Red Chalk by Iris van der Heide, Orson Blasts Off by Raul Colon and Roxaboxen by Alice MacLerran. We talked about how you can never be bored if you have an imagination and how we can easily do without fancy toys and the newest video games if we learn to create our own worlds in which to play.
The following week we moved on to creativity and read many books including The Dot and Ish by Peter Reynolds, How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird by Jacques Prevert and I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. We talked about the creative process and how there is no "right" process for drawing a picture or writing a poem. We also recognized how the hardest part of being creative is often the first step. The blank page can be frightening and we talked about how to make it less scary. Ask your children what the first step in the creative process is.
Grades 3-5 also got a lesson on using OPAC, which is our cataloging system. It was a first lesson for some and a refresher for others. We will cover this lesson each year so that the kids can go off to Junior High with the ability to be self sufficient in the library.
Have a great week!
The following week we moved on to creativity and read many books including The Dot and Ish by Peter Reynolds, How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird by Jacques Prevert and I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. We talked about the creative process and how there is no "right" process for drawing a picture or writing a poem. We also recognized how the hardest part of being creative is often the first step. The blank page can be frightening and we talked about how to make it less scary. Ask your children what the first step in the creative process is.
Grades 3-5 also got a lesson on using OPAC, which is our cataloging system. It was a first lesson for some and a refresher for others. We will cover this lesson each year so that the kids can go off to Junior High with the ability to be self sufficient in the library.
Have a great week!
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