Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Reading Buddies

Every Monday, classes of second graders and kinders  meet up in the library and their classrooms for twenty minutes of shared reading and books.  The partnerships will stay together all year so that they will have opportunity to grow together as readers.  This week was our kickoff Monday.  I loved watching the leadership that the second graders assumed in selecting, practicing and reading books that they thought would be favorites. I loved listening to their discussion, questions and comments with the kinders.  Books can create powerful bonds!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Charlotte + Bots


Happy birthday to Charlotte's Web!  So many students talked about how much they loved this read-aloud.  After we read several different alphabet books in the library a few weeks ago, one of the first graders asked if we had a Charlotte's Web alphabet book. Now we do!  After some collaboration about the illustrations, each of the first grade classes created one, and they are cataloged and ready to check out. 

Working across disciplines is always fun, especially when our fantastic art teacher gets involved.  Were the kindergarten classes very inspired by Boy + Bot?  "Affirmative!"  Some of our creative and energetic moms loved the chance to let their minds and hands work robot magic, too!
Story time included some great discussion.  We noticed that the friends in Dan Yaccarino's Unloveable were very much like each other and that the friends in Boy + Bot were very different from each other.  All the Way to America and Every Friday led to a lot of talk about connections that the students made to their own lives, their families and routines.