International Peace and Dancing - all in one week!

It was a very interesting week in the library. The other kids had an opportunity to do some reflection and the younger kids got to let loose and DANCE!

The Kinders and 1st graders all heard Giraffes Can't Dance by Gils Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees. Then we danced to Jim Gill's List of Dances. We got to do the tall and the small and the hide and a bunch of other fun dances. We had such a good time, we did it twice in some classes. The kiddos did a great job of letting loose and having a little fun and then getting down to business when it was time for checking out books and quiet reading. Look for more dancing in the future!

The 2nd and 3rd graders read and discussed Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth. This story includes three shorter stories that teach different lessons about happiness. The kids had to do some thinking and deciphering to figure out what the author was telling us and they did an amazing job with some challenging material. Ask your child what lessons we learned from Mr. Muth's book!

In celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace, the 4th and 5th graders heard Feathers and Fools by Mem Fox. This is an amazing book with a powerful message and we read through it very slowly and discussed it all the way through. We had a lot of thoughtful conversation after the book in which we pondered questions like, "Is it possible to work for peace and prepare for war at the same time?" We also questioned what world peace would look like and if it brought it's own dangers. I'm always amazed at the depth of the kids' thoughts and I really enjoyed these discussions.

Next week we'll be talking about metafiction and the book fair which is coming up the first week in October.

Library Skills, Rattlesnakes & Floating Princesses

For the last few weeks the Kinders have been learning about shelf markers, manners and book care and they finally were able to check out books and take them home. We read What Happened to Marion's Book by Brooke Berg and talked about how we would take care of our books once we got them home. Ask your child about my "No, No, Never" bag and remind them where the best place to keep their book is (their backpack). Please find out what day your child has library and make sure their book comes to school on that day so they can get a new book each week. Kinders also heard Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library by Vicki Myron and helped me read a fun story called The Prince Won't Go to Bed by Dayle Ann Dodds. Ask your child what the Prince said over and over.

The other grades all learned some library skills this month. 1st and 2nd graders had a lesson on ways that fiction and non-fiction books differ. To illustrate this point, we read The Gum Chewing Rattler by Joe Hayes and a non-fiction book about rattlesnakes. 3rd graders had a lesson on searching for books in the library using OPAC, our cataloging system, while 4th and 5th graders got their first look at our library wiki.

Kinder through 3rd grade heard Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated by Florence Parry Heide. We had a lot of fun with this story and many of the kids shared where they would like to go if they could float (Vegas was a common answer?!). 1st -3rd graders also got to listen to Judy Schachner, the creator of Skippyjon Jones, read her latest book Lost in Spice. It was a nice break from me reading all the time and the kids seemed to enjoy the accents and the music that went along with the story.

Finally, the 4th and 5th graders practiced and performed in the second annual Library Fiction Relay race. It was noisy and busy and we had a great time with it! Results will be posted in this space soon.