Reading Ctr

https://medium.com/@hccb/shel-silverstein-poems-to-relive-again-and-again-4e8ebd54b128

Good morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Last week we focused a bit on writing different types of simple poems. This week I want you to read and enjoy some poetry! Today we will focus on some poems by famous children’s poet Shel Silverstein. Shel Silverstein has written many books of poetry including Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and The Giving Tree. 

Please read a few of his well-known, shorter poems in the link above. Look for fun words and rhymes!

https://youtu.be/JKGXEE-sZVs

Enjoy the above  story by Shel Silverstein! I love the song with it!

Last month in the Reading Center we enjoyed learning about American Tall Tales such as Pecos Bill, John Henry, Paul Bunyan and Davy Crockett.  We discussed the use of hyperbole, similes and metaphors in these stories. It was a fun month of learning about these classics.  We were all entertained by the hilarious exaggerations in all of these stories.

This month we will celebrate the life of Dr. Seuss by reading many of his stories and participating in fun activities.  We will read books such as McElligot’s Pool, The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, Bartholomew and the Oobleck and If I Ran A Zoo.  Younger students will enjoy And To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street, The Cat in the Hat and several others.  We will learn about Dr. Seuss’s life and will integrate art, math and science into this month’s lessons!

Please continue to encourage your child to read and talk to them about their selections.  Also, encourage your child to check books out from the Reading Center and return them in a timely manner.

January was a good month in the Reading Center!  We talked a lot about the differences between the fiction and nonfiction sections of the library and ended the month with the Book Fair! The students were great shoppers and very respectful to our parent volunteers.

In the month of February, grades 3-5 will be learning about Tall Tales. Some titles were will enjoy will be Pecos Bill, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyon and John Henry. We will discuss features of a Tall Tale and identify the use of hyperbole, similes, and metaphors in these stories.  Tall Tales are always a favorite topic for the students!

Additionally, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, grades K-2 will be listening to stories that support the idea of empathy.  There are some wonderful books that include empathy as a theme including A Sick Day With Amos McGee, Zen Ties and and Chrysanthemum. We will do fun activities that reinforce this idea as well.

Please continue to remind your child to return their library book weekly. I want them to always have the chance to pick out a new book! Thank you!

Happy New Year!  I hope that you had a wonderful Holiday Season with your kids! We are getting settled back into a routine in the Reading Center at school.  We have a lot of topics I want to cover in the remaining months of school.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This month in the Reading Center we will do our best to fit in several great Christmas Stories in a short amount of time!  There are so many wonderful stories to choose from this time of year and I’m looking forward to sharing them with the students.

Our fifth graders will focus on author Patricia Polacco.  She is an amazing author, whose books are filled with wonderful messages such as love of faith, family and multicultural appreciation.  We will read two of her books entitled Christmas Tapestry and An Orange for Frankie. Our students in grades 1-4 will be learning about Jan Brett and enjoying her stories such as The Wild Christmas Reindeer and Christmas Trolls.  We will discuss the characters in these stories and Jan Brett’s love of animals and art! Kindergarten and PreK classes will listen to stories like A Christmas Wish For Corduroy, Clifford’s Christmas and Franklin’s Nutcracker.  I want to focus on famous story books characters with these students.

Please continue to talk to your children about what they are reading.  They will enjoy telling you all about it!  Also, please remind your children to return books to the library in a timely manner. Have a wonderful December!

Happy November!  We ended the month of October with some great Halloween stories.  PreK-2nd grades listened to Halloween picture books and grades 3-5 had fun listening to Scary Stories.

As we move into November I am excited to share some Native American legends and stories with the students.  It is a great genre to discuss as we get closer to Thanksgiving. There are so many books we can learn from, but specifically we will be reading , The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, The Rough-Face Girl, The Raven and The Coyote. We will discuss basic features of these stories including setting and characters.  We will also learn the significance of the Native Americans in the world around us, past and present.

As always, please encourage your child to read and return their Reading Center books in a timely manner. Thank you!!

In the month of October, we will be exploring two genres that I think the students will enjoy!  The first two part of the month we will discuss and read books from the Adventure genre.  Older students will listen to stories from the Choose Your Own Adventure series and younger students hear the stories Amos and Boris and Louise:  The Adventures of a Chicken.  We will discuss common characteristics of adventure selections.  The last part of October we will looking into the mystery genre. We will learn important vocabulary words associated with this genre and enjoy titles such as Detective LaRue, Grandpa’s Teeth and Encyclopedia Brown.  Younger students will hear Nate the Great as well as The Mystery of the Flying Pumpkin.  At the end of the month I plan to read some fun Halloween stories and have our annual classes of “Scary stories with Mrs. Price.”

As always please talk to your children about what books they are taking an interest in.  Also, ask if they have any books that need to be returned to the Reading Center.  Your interest in what they are reading and how they are using the school library will encourage them to keep finding selections they enjoy!

Thank you and Happy Halloween!!

The first few weeks in the Reading Center have been very smooth and enjoyable!  We read a few books about having a growth mindset and talked about how we can put it to good use.  For the remainder of the month and school year, we will strive to display this way of thinking in all that we do, students and teachers alike!

We have shifted our stories and lessons the the Adventure genre!  This is a wonderful and fun genre to explore for all readers, especially hesitant readers.  We will learn about the settings of these stories and how the setting affects the excitement level of the books we read.  We will also focus on the protagonist in each story and how they contribute to the outcome of the story. The Adventure genre is also a great time to review the three points of view, first person, second person and third person.  We’ll explore stories that are told in each of these ways.  I am excited to share the Choose Your Own Adventure series with grades 3-5.  I’m also looking forward to sharing Amos and Boris by William Steig and Louise: The Adventures of a Chicken by Kate Dicamillo with my students. These titles will be examined by grades K-2. It should be an adventure filled couple of weeks!

As always, please talk to your children about what they are reading!  Also, help them remember that it is their responsibility to return and take good care of their Reading Center books.

Have a happy September!

Welcome back to school!  I hope your families had a fun, restful summer break!!  In the Reading Center this month we will be reading How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague.  We will do some fun activities associated with this book. It will be a nice ice-breaker for the beginning of the year.

Throughout the school, students and teachers are working on having a growth mindset. There are several good titles that reinforce this theme. We will enjoy a few including I Can’t Do That YET by Esther Pai Cordova, Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan and The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken. Each of these titles provide inspiring themes and reinforce the idea that possibilities are endless and mistakes are okay. I hope this way of thinking stays with your child for the entire school year and years to come!

Each week, students will have the opportunity to  check books out of the library.  When they bring their books back they have the opportunity to check out a new one.  When a student does not bring their book back, they have to wait to check another book out until the book is returned. I tell students at the beginning of the year that their book should live in their backpacks.  The backpack is the home for the book while it is checked out.  Therefore, whenever the child gets the book out of the backpack to read, it should be returned to the backpack as soon as they are finished.  That way the book will always be there on Reading Center day! Also, please ensure that the book is taken care of at home.  It’s a good idea to keep library books away from siblings and pets. This ensures that you can enjoy the book at home with your child.  I’m looking forward to a great year in the Reading Center!

Best wishes to all families for a wonderful 2019-2020 school year.

March in the Reading Center was a busy time.  Students enjoyed listening to stories that were told through the use of letter writing. Students were also given the opportunity to write some letters themselves.

In April, we will be focusing on books that feature the season of spring.  The first story we will read will be a book entitled The Gardener by Sarah Stewart.  It is a book that is written in the form of letter writing and takes place during the time of The Great Depression. The week before Easter Break we will read a story called The Other Side of Easter. It is a book with fascinating illustrations using ambigrams.  It’s focus is the biblical message of Easter. I hope the students enjoy these stories as we head into the spring season.

As always, please talk to your children about what they are reading and about books that they have checked out from the school library.  In the coming weeks I’ll send out notices for overdue books.  Have a wonderful Spring!