This Week in the Library: December 15 - 19

Here come the holidays!  This last week before Winter Break was a busy one in the Sherwood library. Here's what we did:

Primary (except Bonnell & Gregerson): Heard another book from our Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award nominee list.  We heard "Toys in Space" by Mini Grey.  Special vocabulary words in the story included: alien, beamed, and parachuted.  We talked about how we organize our toys.

4th Grade: Continued their practice on putting Dewey number in order.

5th Grade: Worked on finding sources.  They were given famous quotes and had to figure out who said it.  They also had to find two sources that would confirm this information.  The groups did a great job working together on the computers to find the information!

6th Grade: Began working on personal timelines.  We used rulers and set them up and began adding events from their lives onto the timelines.  We will continue this work in January.

Professional: Attended the school's Budget Committee meeting on Monday.  Wrote many book reviews for Puget Sound Council (we'll get to keep most of the books for our collection). Conducted a survey to teachers about the equipment needs they have with their classroom laptops (power strips, cords, etc.).  Cataloged the remaining best books we purchased at the book fair so they would be available to students to read over vacation.

This Week in the Library: December 8-12

Another full week! Here's what happened in the library.

Primary Classes (K-3):  We listened to "Carnivores" by Aaron Reynolds. (illustrator Dan Santat)  This is one of the Washington Chiildren's Choice Nominees.  We talked about the differences between carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores.  Vocabulary words discussed were: carnivore, vicious, vegetarian, and disguise.

We also wrapped up last week's story by watching a few minutes of a silent movie "The Bank" (1915). (this link is from You Tube and blacked at school). Here's another one "The Immigrant" (1917) (Teacher Tube).

4th Grade: We worked on organizing book cards by Dewey number in table groups.  This week we worked on numbers to the tenths place.

5th Grade:  We finished looking at bibliographies and source notes in biographies.

6th Grade:  We began working on reading time lines.

Professional:  Cataloged this month's magazines, some of the books we have gotten from Puget Sound Council, and started to process books we earned at our Fall Book Fair!

I also attended the District Tech Leader Training on Wednesday with Mrs. Goodsky and Mr. Wildenhaus.  I completed the 2 to 1 laptop distribution in the building.

I attened a meeting with folks from the district Technology Dept. regarding Wireless Access Points (WAPs) at Sherwood.  I did a walk through the building with them to identify locations for future WAPs to enhance the wireless signals at Sherwood.

In addition I checked out snow books to 2nd grade and worked with some small groups of 1st graders on logging into their district accounts and using laptops.

This Week in the Library: December 1-5

Finally, a full week!

Primary Classes (K-3):  We heard "That is Not a Good Idea" by Mo Willems another one of our WCCPBA books.  The book is written in the style of a silent movie.  We talked about how the author surprised us with the ending.  Vocabulary words taught for the story were: stroll, ingredient, boil, and key.  The word key in the book was used as "main" or "major" instead of the kind used to unlock something.

4th Grade: We began ordering Dewey Decimal book cards by number in small groups.  We used whole numbers and broke ties with the letters.  We will add complexity each week.

5th Grade: We worked on discovering bibliographies and source notes in biographies.  Students learned that source notes tell the reader where the information came from.

6th Grade: We looked for facts and opinions in biographies.  Students had to support their finds with either the word that made it an opinion or some possible resources that could prove a fact.  Work was recorded on a google form.

Professional: Worked on our building's redistribution of laptop computers.  All classes should soon be 2 students per 1 computer.  I also worked on processing and cataloging books received from Puget Sound Council.  Observers from the district came and visited the library on Wednesday.  Held a WCCPBA Preview session for primary teachers on Tuesday morning.  Teacher's learned about this year's nominees and some of the activities that can go with the books.  We watched the WCCPBA video.

Book Fair Wrap up

We had a great book fair. Many kids were able to purchase some great books for their home libraries.  As a result of our Scholastic Book Fair we received about $1700 is cash and $850 in Scholastic Books (85 books).  This was almost the same total as last year's book fair.  The money will be spent to add books to our collection for best books, children's choice nominees, and books that will support curriculum.

2 of our poster winners!

The book fair also had 10 students selected as poster winners.  Due to donation from the community ($300) we were able to get books to students in need.

The change donation box competition results were:  UW-$64.00, WSU- $15.68, Small WA colleges: $7.39.  All donation went to the purchase of new library books for Sherwood!

THANK YOU to all of our volunteers and the the PSO for handing the money and organizing the volunteers.