Friday, April 28, 2017

This Week in the Library: April 24 - 28

This week, we saw our 2 teams compete in the district battle of the books (see other post).  Some class times were changed so I could take the teams to the competition.  Here's what we did in library classes this week:

Kindergarten: We heard another farm book, "Zinnia and Dot" by Lisa Campbell Ernst.

Grade 1: We alphabetized the words found in last week's story, "On Market Street." We talked about ways to figure out which letter comes next if you forget.  Students also had the choice of work on alphabet dot-to-dot pictures after check out to reinforce the alphabet.

Grade 2: We talked about the classified section (aka non-fiction).  We talked about how the numbers are classes, how not all of the books in this section are true, and how to use the 5-finger check to see if a book is right.

Grade 3 (Pawling):  We did our post-assessment on coding/algorithms.

Grade 3 (Keating):  We did our lesson on algorithms using paper airplane construction to go through the process of organizing steps in an order to successfully construct a plane.

Grade 3 (Liker):  We completed our paper airplane algorithm lesson and then we took the coding/algorithm post assessment.

Grade 4: We completed a Dewey decimal call number sort in small groups.  Students had to order the cards down to the thousandths place.  Sometime they had to use the letters to "break the tie."

Grade 5 (Wildenhaus): We read new articles online using Newsela.

Grade 5 (Alderson): We created slides on Google Slides using a photograph from Britannica Online (also using their citation) and created a statement of fact, opinion, or false fact.  We also talked a little bit about slide backgrounds and how they can help or hurt a slide presentation.

Grade 6: Continued to work on reading transportation schedules.  We are almost finished with the bus schedules.

Professional: I created the electronic score sheet for the district battle of the books.  I cataloged a few new books for the library, accepted donations of books from families (most will head to classroom libraries),

Monday, April 24, 2017

Washington Children's Choice Winner Announced


The 2017 WCCPBA winner is “Mummy Cat” with 18,479 votes.  It received 14.95% of the votes.
2nd place was: A Perfectly Messed-Up Story with 15,837 votes
3rd place:  Finding Winnie with 13,100 votes
4th place:  What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night with 12,697 votes.


Statewide 123,621 students voted this year.

Friday, April 21, 2017

This Week in the Library: April 17-21

Another busy week in the library.  We had our school-level Battle of the Best Books competition on Tuesday (see best book post).  Here's what we did in classes this week!

Kindergarten: We read "Midnight Farm" by Reeve Lindbergh.  The book is a counting book and a rhyming book were a young child explores the farm at night with mom.  Before reading, we created a list of animals that one might see on a farm.

Grade 1: We read "On Market Street," a Caldecott honor book, by Anita Lobel.  We are beginning a unit on alphabetical order.  Next week we will use the words in this book to alphabetize!

Grade 2 & Grade 3 (Keating): We heard "The Beckoning Cat," a Japanese folktale that explains why many Asian businesses have a cat statue welcoming customers.

Grade 3 (Pawling/Liker): We learned about algorithms using steps to make a paper airplane.  This was an unplugged lesson from code.org.

Grade 4: We continued to work with the library shelver game to gain more experience in putting Dewey decimal call numbers in order.

Grade 5 (Wildenhaus): We extended last weeks lesson.  Students created google slides with a photograph (from Britannica Online), a citation for the photo, and a statement (either a fact, false fact, or opinion).

Grade 5 (Alderson): We read online news articles found on Newsela.

Grade 6: We began our reading transportation schedules using a Metro Bus schedule assignment.  We will finish it tomorrow.

Professional: Attended an all day district training on computer science with Mr. Gibson on Wednesday.  We learned about lessons that will be a part of the district's new computer science curriculum.  Attended the building Leadership meeting Thursday morning. Our topics were parent engagement and summer learning.  Had my pre-observation conference, observation, and post-observation conference with Mrs. Shook.  Conducted the building level battle of the books.  Worked with our tech support person to get older laptops ready for use in first grade.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

2016 Teams Repeat, Head to District Competition

We held our building Battle of the Best Books on Tuesday at lunch & lunch recess. Four teams competed this year representing all grades and classes.  Our top 2 teams were the same as last year! The Four Bookiniers and the Book Squirrels won.

These 2 teams will represent Sherwood at the Edmonds School District competition to be held Friday, April 28 at Lynndale Elementary School.  Team captains received permission slips and letters to go home.

Good luck teams!

Friday, April 14, 2017

Sherwood 2017 WCCPBA Voting Results

The Primary Classes at Sherwood voted for the 2017 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award.  We look forward to seeing the final state results!  Here are our results:

School Wide (top 5)

1. A Perfectly Messed-up Story by Patrick McDonnell (45 votes)
2. Finding Winnie by Lindsay Mattick (38 votes)
3. Mummy Cat by Marcus Ewert (32 votes)
4. Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox (31 votes)
5. Hoot Owl: Master of Disguise by Sean Taylor (20 votes)

Grade/Class Top Votes

Kindergarten: A Perfectly Messed-up Story
   Cook: Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas
   Morehouse: A Perfectly Messed-up Story
   Widener: (ties) Hoot Owl, Mummy Cat, There Was an Old Dragon

1st Grade: Finding Winnie
   Bonnell: (ties) Finding Winnie, I Don’t Want to be a Frog, Who Wants a Hug
   Gordon: What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night
   Hirst: Mummy Cat
   Stillwaugh: A Perfectly Messed-up Story

2nd Grade:  Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas
   Gregerson: Finding Winnie
   Holt: Finding Winnie
   Rempel: Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas

3rd Grade:  Finding Winnie
   Keating: A Perfectly Messed-up Story
   Liker: (tie) Finding Winnie, Hoot Owl
   Pawling: Nerdy Birdy


This Week in the Library: April 10 - 14

We're back from Spring Break!  This is a busy time at the library.  Here's what we did during classes:

Kindergarten / Grade 1: We read "Horace and Morris, but Mostly Dolores" by James Howe.  This story was about 3 friends who had to make decision when they joined exclusive clubs.  Classes had some good discussions. Vocabulary: decision, muenster, clubhouse.


Grade 2 / Grade 3: We watched the Washington Children's Choice video to remind ourselves of the wonderful books we have heard over the past 5 months.  After the video we voted for our favorites (school results will be a future post).

Grade 4: We used an online game to work on putting books in order using the Dewey Decimal Classification system.  Game Link

Grade 5: We used Encyclopedia Britannica Online to find images and learned how to use the website to cite the images.

Grade 6: Completed the reading Washington State Ferry Schedule assignment.

Professional: Attended a district librarian meeting at Seaview Elementary on Tuesday evening.  Conducted the SBA Proctor Training session at the Sherwood Staff meeting on Wednesday.