Freebies, Doodads and Helpful Hints

from Library Sparks April 2014

1.  April is Math Awareness Month, so here is a list of books to share with your kids:
     Actual Size, by Steve Jenkins, Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
     The Grapes of Math, by Greg Tang, Scholastic Press, 2001.
     How Much is a Million?, by David A. Schwartz.  HarperCollins, 2004.
     Marvelous Math, A Book of Poems, by Lee Bennett Hopkins.  Simon & Schuster, Books
     for Children, 2001

2.  Word Clouds for Kids:  "A word cloud is a graphical representation of word frequency," states ABCya.com, at www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm.  This fun site has a free word cloud generator that is easy to use.  Students can change the color, layout, and font of their word clouds and then save or print them out.


3.  Book Series Match -  What are your student's favorite series?  Print the Book Series Match sheet at www.librarysparks.com.  Distribute one to each pair of students in your group.  Have them work together to match the characters to their series.

4.  April is Poetry Month Bulletin Board -  Create a word cloud-style bulletin board to celebrate Poetry Month.  Cover the board with any color paper, and write poetry forms, words related to poetry, or names of poets in different sizes and in different directions.  For a different effect, cover the board with black paper and use fluorescent-colored chalk or letters.

5.  Origami Yoda Activities - if you have fans of the Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger, the following websites will be of interest for planning activities or for paper-folding directions.

Origami Yoda.  http://origamiyoda.com/.  Includes paper-foling direction.  Students can submit paper fold; adults can sign up for Angleberger's newsletter.

The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett:  An Origami Yoda Activity Kit.  www.abramsbooks.com/origamiyoda/jabbaactivityguide.pdf  

The Secret of the Fortune Wookiee:  An Origami Yoda Activity Kit.  www.abramsbooks.com/origamiyoda/Wookiee_Activity_Kit.pdf

TEN Great "LIBRARY" Books that Introduce the Library to Students

Here are some of my favorite books about the library:

1.

2.

3.   Very cute!!!

4.

5. 

6. 

7. 

8.    This is a series about a library mouse.

9. 

10.    The kids will love this one.

Story Time at Ready-Set-Grow Preschool and Child Care

My husband and I have owned a wonderful child care center for almost 10 years in Bountiful, Utah.  I've spent many, many hours there teaching preschool at the beginning when we first owned it, and this summer I am taking a couple of hours a week to do story time, music and an art project.  I thought some of you preschool/Pre-K would benefit from what I have been up to.  So here goes:

At the beginning of the summer we just oriented the kids to the summer "way of doing things".

June 17th was Transportation Week:  Here is what I did.

Stories:  "Freight Train" by Donald Crew, "The Wheels on the Bus" by Raffi and "Trucks" by Donald Crew

Songs:  "Down by the Station Early in the Morning", "The Wheels on the Bus", (we moved the chairs so the kids felt like they were sitting on a bus), "Hurry, Hurry Drive the Fire Truck".  (Just google any of these titles and I'm sure a you tube video will pop up to teach you how to sing them."  I played the guitar on some of then and gave a triangle, the instrument, to a student for the ding, ding, ding, ding, ding part of the last song.  Next time I'll give one to all the kids.  We used a spoon to hit the triangle with.

The lyrics to the first song go like this:
Down by the station early in the morning
See the little pufferbellies all in a row.
See the station master turn the little handle.
Puff, puff, toot, toot, off we go.

AIR, LAND, OR SEA:  Then I gave a different vehicle to each child and drew on a while board 3 simple lines to divide the air, land and sea from each other.  Each child came up and named their vehicle and put it in the correct place.

Art:  Last of all we made trains using squares, rectangles and triangles cut from construction paper.  We used cotton for the clouds, straight pretzel sticks for the "Logs" each car was hauling and uncooked "wagon wheel" pasta for the wheels.  They turned out darling.

June 24th:  Today, the theme was "On the Farm"

Stories:  "Pigs" by Robert Munsch; "Ruby in Her Own Time" by Jonathan Emmett; and "To Market, To Market" by Anne Miranda






 I chose 2 to read and then we sang these songs:
Songs:  "Old McDonald" and "Down by Grandpa's Farm".
I changed the words to Down by Grandpa's Farm to say:

Down by grandpa's farm there is a big fat pig, (repeat)
The pig, he spells his name like this: P-I-G  (repeat)
Oh, we're on our way, we're on our way, on our way to grandpa's farm. 
We're on our way, we're on our way, on our way to Grandpa's farm. 
(We practiced spelling the words and I had this paper up.)

 

The kids were able to read it, sing it and follow my modeling.  This is a great literacy activity.  As you can see, we also graphed everyone's favorite farm animal, which is a great math visual.  The kids could clearly see which animal won the highest number of votes. 

 

Craft Activity:  We make clothes pin horses using a body of a horse, without the legs, copied onto cardstock.  The legs are the clothes pins, which make the horse stand up.  Go to busybeekidscrafts.com to get a copy of the horse. 

 

The kids colored the horses, cut them out, added the legs and yarn for the mane and tail.  They turned out really cute and the kids loved them.  Sorry, no finished copy to show you.

My School Library - Getting Ready for the Year

I have been waiting all year to do a bulletin board on the Titanic and NOW I DID IT?  WHAT DO YOU THINK!  I'm actually not done.  The real problem is that I have a whole bunch more stuff to put up..... hmmmmm, what to do?  Create a second board????  Maybe or do a 3 fold mat board below! :)

You may already know that the Titanic hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on the night of April 14, 1912 and sunk just over two-and-a-half hours later, but do you know the following ten facts about theTitanic?

1. Canceled Lifeboat Drill
   Originally, a lifeboat drill was scheduled to take place on board the Titanic on April 14, 1912 - the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. However, for an unknown reason, Captain Smith canceled the drill. Many believe that had the drill taken place, more lives could have been saved.
2. Only Seconds
   From the time the lookouts sounded the alert, the officers on the bridge had only 37 seconds to react before the Titanic hit the iceberg. In that time, First Officer Murdoch ordered "hard a-starboard" (which turned the ship to port -- left). He also ordered the engine room to put the engines in reverse. The Titanic did bank left, but it wasn't quite enough.
3. The Titanic's Newspaper
   The Titanic seemed to have everything on board, including its own newspaper. The Atlantic Daily Bulletin was printed every day on board the Titanic. The newspaper included news, advertisements, stock prices, horse-racing results, society gossip, and the day's menu.
4. Lifeboats Not Full
   Not only were there not enough lifeboats to save everyone on board, most of the lifeboats that were launched off the Titanic were not filled to capacity. For instance, the first lifeboat to launch, Lifeboat 7 from the starboard side) only carried 24 people, despite having a capacity of 65 (two additional people later transferred to Lifeboat 7 from Lifeboat 5). However, it was Lifeboat 1 that carried the fewest people - only seven crew and five passengers (a total of 12 people) despite having a capacity for 40.
5. Only Two Bathtubs
   Although most passengers had to share bathrooms (only the two promenade suites in first class had private bathrooms), third class had it rough with only two bathtubs for more than 700 passengers.
6. Another Boat Was Closer for Rescue
   When the Titanic began sending out distress signals, the Californian, rather than theCarpathia, was the closest ship; yet the Californian did not respond until it was much too late to help. At 12:45 a.m. on April 15, 1912, crew members on the Californian saw mysterious lights in the sky (the distress flares sent up from the Titanic) and woke up their captain to tell him about it. Unfortunately, the captain issued no orders. Since the ship's wireless operator had already gone to bed, the Californianwas unaware of any distress signals from the Titanicuntil the morning, but by then the Carpathia had already picked up all the survivors. Many people believe that if the Californian had responded to theTitanic's pleas for help, many more lives could have been saved.
7. Two Dogs Rescued
   With the order for women and children first into the lifeboats, plus the knowledge that there were not enough lifeboats for everyone on board the Titanic to be saved, it is a bit surprising that two dogs made it into the lifeboats. Of the nine dogs on board the Titanic, the two that were rescued were a Pomeranian and a Pekinese.
8. The Fourth Funnel
   In what is now an iconic image, the side view of the Titanic clearly shows four cream and black funnels. While three of these released the steam from the boilers, the fourth was just for show. The designers thought the ship would look more impressive with four funnels rather than three.
9. A Royal Mail Ship
   The R.M.S. Titanic was a Royal Mail Ship, a designation which meant the Titanic was officially responsible for delivering mail for the British postal service. On board the Titanicwas a Sea Post Office with five mail clerks (two British and three American). These mail clerks were responsible for the 3,423 sacks of mail (seven million individual pieces of mail) on board the Titanic. Interestingly, although no mail has yet been recovered from the wreck of the Titanic, if it were, the U.S. Postal Service would still try to deliver it (the USPS because most of the mail was being sent to the U.S.).
10. Corpses Recovered
    On April 17, 1912, the day before survivors of the Titanic disaster reached New York, theMackay-Bennett was sent off from Halifax, Nova Scotia to search for bodies. On board theMackay-Bennett were embalming supplies, 40 embalmers, tons of ice, and 100 coffins. Although the Mackay-Bennett found 306 bodies, 116 of these were too badly damaged to take all the way back to shore. Attempts were made to identify each body found. Additional ships were also sent out to look for bodies. In all, 328 bodies were found, but 119 of these were badly damaged and thus were buried at sea.

Clifford and the Gang

Pooh Bear and Friends from the Hundred Acre Wood

Kindergarten Bins, for the first semester, or until after Christmas.  I don't let the Kindergarteners check out books until they have learned to alphabetize better.  They use themed bins and then move to alphabetized bins, by authors last name and can read them while at the library.  We practice lots of ABC's... til Christmas.

A closer look.  

Our rules.  

               Shelf sticks, with student numbers and teachers.  These are their "library cards" and are used to mark the shelf where they are looking at a book.  Just scan the stick when they are ready to check out a book and scan the book and you are done!

More to come!

WEDNESDAY'S Weekly Library Lessons - NATIONAL CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK IS NEXT WEEK! May 7-13

On Wednesdays, I'll post my weekly LIBRARY theme, lessons and extensions, (for the upcoming week).  Leave comments, suggestions, questions, ideas...etc. for expanding on the theme.  I usually divide my grades in half and teach the K-2nd graders one lesson, of course differentiated according to their age, and a different one to the 3rd-6th graders, but not always, as you'll see in the following lesson.  Here's next weeks lesson in a rather simplified format.

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DATE:  May 7-13
THEME: IT NATIONAL CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK THIS WEEK! YEAH!

Go to http://www.bookweekonline.com/  Look at the books that have been nominated for an award.  Introduce as many of these books as possible to your students when they come to the library or let them "peruse" the books.

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!!   Have your students vote for their favorite books for their grade range, (it's divided up that way), authors and illustrators.  (The Children's Choice Book Awards is the only national book awards program where the winning titles are selected by children and teens of all ages.)  Voting is open now until May 3, 2012, which is tomorrow, but don't tell the kids that. Print out the list of nominees and let them vote. Put out as many other books by the same authors and illustrators as possible. Then next week, compare their votes and winners with the actual winners, that will  be voted upon tomorrow.  See if they voted the same as the winners.  Talk about why they may be different!

Go to http://www.bookweekonline.com/for-teachers for tons of ideas to celebrate Children's Book Week, such as having a book poster contest, creating your own mini book, doing Children's Book Week puzzles, hosting a Children's Book Week party, organizing a visit from a local author, doing book talks, READ-A-THONS and get free book marks.  They are adorable!!! :)

Share the Joy Of Reading

Hold a book exchange day.

Donate books to a local family shelter or children's hospital, or take a trip so students can read to patients in a hospital or residents in a nursing home.

Raise money to help a library, school, or day care center in your area to buy books. This is an excellent way to strengthen your town through community involvement.

A Little Something I Learned From Barnes and Noble

I went to Barnes and Noble in St. George, Utah and read a stack of picture books that I had been wanting to read!  It was so much fun and I was able to get a feel for some of the new picture books out there!  I snapped some pics of this particular B&N because it was soooo awesome, like a children's enchanted forest, full of books and toys!  If I was a kid, I'd just want to go there and sit and stare at all the displays!  Here are a couple of the pics I took... Maybe everyone else has a B&N like this nearby, but I don't, so I was impressed. 

I want my library to look like this!!!  :) Ha, Ha!  The thing I immediately noticed is how many books are displayed face out and I have decided that I am going to find ways to display more books this way. 

In the book "The Read A-loud Handbook",  by Jim Trelease, he says this.  "Few grocery customers know that food companies pay nine billion dollars for shelf space, accounting for one-half of stores' annual profits.  In other words, they rent shelp space.  Paying that kind of money, the manufacturer makes sure its product is displayed on the shelf to its best advantage -- that is, face-out.  This visibility is so connected to sales, the low paying companies receive the worst seats in the house, the top and bottom shelves.  The reason companies want each product face-out is simple:  It's the cover that most often influences our choices -- the picture of the cookie, cereal, or magazine.  ...Since 60% of the people going into a bookstore or library don't have a particular book (or author or publisher) in mind, it's the cover that will move the book, not the spine.  The majority of public and school libraries are clueless when it comes to these principles.  Many don't have a single book shelved cover-out.  When researchers observed a kindergarten classroom library for one week, 90% of the books that children chose had been shelved with the covers facing out." 

So where do you get the room to do this?  Install rain gutters on the walls, below whiteboards or anywhere you can and shelf some of your books this way,  face-out.  Weed, weed, weed..... books that aren't being read, to give you more shelf space.  Create displays on tables or on tops of bookshelves.  Get creative!  Here are some pics of what I'm talking about!



All of the teachers at my school have one long rain gutter attached right under their large white boards.  They can display tons of books that way.

Here are some of the books I read at Barns and Noble and loved. 

 

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and ill. by Jon Klassen - I love, love, loved this adorable book.  Maybe because I loved the soft illustrations so much, but it really took me in!  The book starts out all in black and white.  This little girl finds a box of colored yarn and knits herself a sweater.  Before long she has knitted and knitted and knitted and everyone and everything is wearing or is covered in yarn.  Her little town goes from  drabby to colorful (and fun)!  Everyone and everything looks better, brighter and happier!  The yarn never runs out, until one day, a rich and greedy  "Duke", (I think?), steals it from her.  Then and only then, the yarn runs out.  The greedy duke pitches the box into the sea,  where it floats right back into her hands again.  Once again it never ends.  There are so many connections to make with this simple story, from spreading joy, to giving versus taking, to being greedy and on and on!  It's just delightful!!  Ages 3+

Little Mouse's Big Secret by Eric Battut is about a tiny mouse with a BIG secret.  At the beginning of the book, he drops a seed behind his back to hide it from the world and continues to tell animal after animal that he has a BIG secret.  Behind his back, his seed sprouts and begins to grow and grow and grow and his secret is known to all the animals except him!  He is the one that ends up being surprised!  A sweet story!  Ages 3+

I hadn't read this yet and it was as adorable as all the reviews have claimed.  It's the Caldecott winner this year.  It really is a book about loss and dealing with it!  The puppy adores his new plastic red ball.  He sits with it, sleeps with it, plays with it...  When he takes it to the dog park, a bigger dog plays with it and POPS it.  It has to be thrown away.  The puppy comes home and has to deal with the loss!  The next day, he goes to the dog park with his owner and the owner of the bigger dog gives him a new ball, a blue one.  He falls in love with it in seconds.  It's a simple story with NO WORDS, which makes it perfect for young, young children!  



Books & Lesson Plans: Remembering the Titanic

This weekend marks the 100 year anniversary of the sailing and then subsequent sinking of the Titanic.  This British ship sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after hitting an iceburg during her maiden voyage from Southhampton, England to New York City.   When the Titanic went down, it caused the deaths of 1,514 people in one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history. She was the largest ship afloat at the time of her voyage. There were 2,224 passengers on board.  These included some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as over a thousand emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, Scandenavia and elsewhere.  They were seeking a new life in North America. The ship was designed to be the best in comfort and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries, high-class restaurants and stunning cabins.  Though she had "advanced" safety features such as watertight compartments and doors, she lacked enough lifeboats for all of those aboard. Due to outdated safety regulations, she carried only enough lifeboats for a third of her total passenger and crew capacity - 1,178 people.  It is reported that only 706 people survived.  Sadly, many of the lifeboats were not filled to capacity. 

What a perfect opportunity we have as parents, teachers and librarians this year to remember and teach about the acts of heroism that occurred that horrific night!  The examples are numerous, from the musicians who played hymns as the ship sank lower and lower, to crew members who gave their lives to save others.

Here's a great website for teachers or librarians that's jam packed full of lesson plans all about the Titanic!  http://www.theteachersguide.com/Titanic.html

Here are just a few of my favorite books on the subject which document this event with both touching photos and honesty:

The Titanic:  Lost and Found (Step-Into-Reading, Step 4) by July Donnelly





Inside the Titanic (A Giant Cutaway Book)  by Hugh    Brewster, Ill. by Ken Marschall

National Geographic Readers: Titanic by Melissa Stewart
(I love the text features and the vibrant colored pictures that will surely draw in young children.)

  

Tonight on the Titanic (Magic Tree House, No. 17) by   Mary Pope Osborne  She also wrote  Magic Tree House Research Guide:  Titanic, which she calls "a nonfiction companion" to this book.  I bought it and love it, with it's real photos, sketches, "Fact Files" and snippetts of biographies.

Titanic, Book One (of a Series of 3) by Gordon Korman

This is a historical fiction series which tells the story of four children's experiences that fateful night!

882 1/2 Amazing Answers to Your Questions About the Titanic by Laurie Coulter and Hugh Brewster (Jan 1, 2012)
This is a great reference book, full of almost anything you would ever want to know about the Titanic! 

The Titanic:  An Interactive History Adventure (You Choose Books) by Bob Temple.  In this book, the reader can choose life or death for the ending!

Titanic Sinks!:  Experience the Titanic's Doomed Voyage in this Unique Presentation of Fact and Fiction by Barry Denenberg

 

Bookin" It at 50!

This blog is basically for selfish reasons.  It's for me and anyone else who loves books, reading, kids, teaching and libraries!  I don't expect alot of people will read this, but I will, because it will be full of great books, reviews, my wish list and more.  It will be a great place to copy others' reviews on books as well.  I also want a place that I can continue to read "book blogs" I follow!  If anyone learns anything useful from this blog, then I'm thrilled!  Welcome!  If not, it's a great "sanctuary" for me!  It's a place to come, relax and enjoy reading and writing!