This Week in the Library: January 3-6

Welcome back!  It's 2017 and we are back to learning.  There was no school on Monday due to the New Years holiday. If you have library on Monday, your books will be due on Monday, January 9. Here's what we did in library classes this week:

Kindergarten (except Widener): We listened to "Job Wanted" by Teresa Bateman.  Dog helps the farmer realize that the farm really needs a dog.  Vocabulary: plodded, discouraged, barnyard, commotion, foofaraw.

Grade 1-3 (except Hirst): We listened to "Mother Bruce" by Ryan Higgins.  This was a fun story and we saw how Bruce's character changed during the story.  Vocabulary: goslings, ingredients, grump, migration.

Grade 4-6 (except Chase): We learned about the best book program.  BEST BOOK INFO

Professional: Helped with the chromebook exchange.  By the end of the week we were 1 to 1 with chromebooks in grades 3-6 and 2 to 1 in grade 2.  Attended our staff meeting.

This Week In The Library: December 12 - 16

Winter break is here!  Enjoy your time off.  Here's what we did in library this week:

Primary Classes (except: Rempel, Pawling): We heard "Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas" by Lynne Cox, illustrated by Brian Floca.  The story is one of our Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award nominees.  It is true story about an Elephant Seal who lived in Christchurch, New Zealand's Avon River.  Vocabulary: New Zealand, nostrils, swerved, flippers.

Rempel/Pawling: Class was abbreviated to book selection/checkout only due to the science assembly.

Grade 4: Learned more about the types of books in each of the hundreds in the classified section.

Grade 5 & 6: Completed computational thinking lessons and worked on coding on the code.org website.

Professional: Completed inventory of the library to prepare for the districts new fine/billing system.  Prepared for the Chromebook exchange, that will occur over winter break. Hosted the annual staff breakfast in the library.  Had my post-evaluation conversation with our assistant principal. Met with my collaborative library group on Wednesday evening at Hilltop Elem.  We looked at perception differences between boys and girls regarding technology at our school.  Volunteered to become a candidate for AASL Board of Directors.

This Week In The Library: December 5 - 9

Wow, a snow day this week!  If your class was supposed to be on Friday, your books will be due on Friday, December 16 (remember- you can always come into the library to return/check out books anytime before your library day). December is a busy time in the library.  Here's what we accomplished in classes this week:

Primary Classes (except Friday classes): We heard "There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight" by Penny Klosterman.  We compared this telling with other "There Was an Old..." stories.  This was one of our Children's Choice Books. Vocabulary: steed, squire, bloat.
AUTHOR READS THIS STORY (YouTube video)

Grade 4 (except Mindt): We continued to learn about the hundreds sections in the Dewey Decimal Classification System.

Grade 5/6: We worked on computational thinking and how it relates to computer coding.  We also worked on coding through code.org.

Professional: Worked on inventory of the entire library.  Had my teacher evaluation observation. Attended the Puget Sound Council Children's Book Review Group meeting at Shoreline Center on Saturday Dec. 3.

This Week In The Library: November 28 - December 2

The days are getting shorter, but there's still a lot of activity in the Sherwood library.  Here's what classes did this week!

Kindergarten/2nd/3rd & Mr. Stillwaugh's Class: We heard "Mummy Cat" by Marcus Ewert.  This was on of our Washington Children's Choice books.  2nd & 3rd grade got to try their hand at Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing.  LINK FOR HIEROGLYPHIC WEBSITE, HANDOUTS.  Kindergartners drew mummy cats and pharaoh treasure.  Vocabulary: pyramid, pharaoh, serene, century.  <Video of conversation w/ author & illustrator>

Grade 1: We listened to "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" by Simms Taback.  We created a chart of the important elements in the story: main character, events, ending.  Next week we'll compare/contrast with a similar book from our Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award Poster.

Grade 4: We learned a little bit more about Melvil Dewey's system for classifying books.

Grade 5 (Alderson): We completed our opening lesson on Computational Thinking and how it is related to computer coding. Vocabulary: algorithm, abstraction, decompose, and pattern matching.

Grade 6 & 5 (Wildenhaus): We played "The Game With No Rules," finishing our lesson on Computational Thinking for coding. VIDEO  We learned about algorithms and finding the patterns in the game.  Vocabulary: algorithm, abstraction, decompose, and pattern matching.

Professional: Gathered books on astronomy for the Intensive Support class.  Attended the district library meeting at Beverly Elementary on Tuesday.  Our main topic was preparation for the new fine system "In Touch" that the district plans to roll out in January.  Met with the principal and district technology folks about the upcoming implementation of Chromebooks in January.  Helped various teachers with tech troubleshooting.  Prepared and cataloged many books that we obtained from the book fair for the library.  Completed some of the final book fair tasks.  Met with the assistant principal about her upcoming teacher evaluation observation in the library next week.

This Week in the Library: November 21-22

The book fair is over and it's very short week with only 2 school days.  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  See you next week.  Here's what we did in the library on Monday & Tuesday.  Note: if your library day was Wed.-Fri. you books will be due next week.

Kindergarten (Widener): We read "If You Ever Bring an Alligator to School, Don't!" by Elise Parsley.  This is one of our Washington Children's Choice nominees.

Grade 1 (Hirst): We read "Mother Bruce" by Ryan Higgins. This was another one of our children's choice nominees.  VIDEO READING (YouTube)

Grade 5/6 (except Alderson): We started our first unplugged coding lesson.  We explored computaional thinking.  VIDEO Vocabulary: abstraction, algorithm, decompose, pattern match.

Professional: Completed book fair tasks, attended the Edmonds SD Technology Advisory Committee meeting Monday evening.

This Week In The Library: November 14 - 18

This was Scholastic Book Fair Week in the library.

Each class had the opportunity to browse the fair and learned about one of the topics: sales tax, estimating tax, authors/illustrators, and more.  Kindergarten classes heard "Mother Bruce" by Ryan Higgins.  We had a great time.  Thanks to all of the parent volunteers who helped make the book fair a success.  All proceeds went to purchase books for the library (it is our only funding for materials).

Book Fair is Here!

The Scholastic Book Fair is here at Sherwood this week.  The family letter with all of the information is available here:  FAMILY LETTER

This Week In The Library: November 7-10

The Book Fair is coming and this week we are getting ready!  Since there was no school on Friday, book due dates for those students who have library on Friday will be December 2.

All Classes (except Friday Classes): We watched the Book Fair Author/Illustrator video.  The video highlighted some of the books that will be at the fair and some of those authors shared their writing process and inspiration.  There was one video for K-3 and a different one for 4-6

Professional: Attended the staff leadership meeting on Thursday.  Cataloged some donated books and our monthly magazines.  Videotaped some of the performances at the Veteran's Day assembly. Helped with some technology troubleshooting around the building. Set up the book fair with the help of some awesome parent volunteers.

The Book Fair is Coming to Sherwood!

Mark your calendar!!!  The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to Sherwood November 14-18.  We will be open 2 evenings (until 7pm) Wed. 11/16 and Thursday 11/17.   This is a great opportunity for students to build their home book collection, get holiday gifts, and support our library.  Prarents/Adults if you'd like to help set up the book fair we could use more volunteers.  Set up is Thursday, 11/10 from 1-4...more hands make it go faster.  Thanks in advance.

This Week in the Library: October 31 - November 4

Wow!  November is here, fall is in the air (sort of).  Here's what happened in Sherwood's library this week.

Kindergarten / Grade 1: Heard "A Perfectly Messed-up Story" by Patrick McDonnell.  We talked about book care and how we can keep our books safe.  Vocabulary: stain, inspire, skipped,

Grade 2 (Gregerson): We heard "Mabela the Clever" retold by Margaret Read MacDonald.  This was a folktale from Africa.

Grade 2 (Holt): We watched the book fair author video.  The book fair is coming Nov. 14-18.  Due to Veteran's Day, Book Fair, and Thanksgiving books checked out will be due Dec. 2.  Remember, you can check in, check out, and renew books before school & at recesses (except during the book fair).

Grade 2 (Rempel): We began reading our Washington Children's Choice Picture Book nominees for 2017.  We learned about this Washington state award and heard "I'm Trying to Love Spiders" by Bethany Barton.  Students listened for facts about spiders and how spiders can be helpful to people.  Vocabulary: millions, billions, venomous, arachnid.

Grade 3 (Pawling, Keating): Heard "A Perfectly Messed-up Story" by Patrick McDonnell.  We talked about book care and how we can keep our books safe.  Vocabulary: stain, inspire, skipped,

Grade 3 (Liker): We watched the book fair author video.  The book fair is coming Nov. 14-18.  Due to Veteran's Day, Book Fair, and Thanksgiving books checked out will be due Dec. 2.  Remember, you can check in, check out, and renew books before school & at recesses (except during the book fair).

Grade 4 (Gibson, Hopper): We began to learn about the Dewey Decimal System used to organize the books in the Classified (non-fiction) section of the library.  We learned about the man who created the system and why learning a little about the system can help when using organization systems.

Grade 4 (Mindt): We watched the book fair author video.  The book fair is coming Nov. 14-18.  Due to Veteran's Day, Book Fair, and Thanksgiving books checked out will be due Dec. 2.  Remember, you can check in, check out, and renew books before school & at recesses (except during the book fair).

Grade 5: We read an article about author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg.

Grade 6: We continued working on resources lists of website for their upcoming study on Ancient Egypt.

Professional: Attended our bimonthly staff meeting.  The focus of this meeting was technology. I also attended a district website meeting. They shared some ideas for an updated website for the district and the schools.  I cataloged over a dozen donated books for the library.  I began reading "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary Schmidt (Newbery and Printz Honor Book for 2005).  I also submitted our 6 teams for the 3rd Grade Sno-Isle Reading Challenge.

This Week in the Library: October 24-28

It's Conference Week.  Even though we had half days, all classes attended library this week.  Here's what we did during class:

Primary Classes (K-3, except Morehouse): We began reading our Washington Children's Choice Picture Book nominees for 2017.  We learned about this Washington state award and heard "I'm Trying to Love Spiders" by Bethany Barton.  Students listened for facts about spiders and how spiders can be helpful to people.  Vocabulary: millions, billions, venomous, arachnid.

Grade 4: We finished our review of bibliographic information.

Grade 5: We finished our library rule reminder posters.  The posters are hanging up in the library!

Grade 6: We brainstormed key words for Ancient Egypt and began to create resource lists on the library catalog for an upcoming social studies unit.

Professional: Met with my librarian collaborative group.  We are working on goals regarding coding and computer science.  Our building tech leadership team met with Ms. Kessler to review what we learned at last week's training and set a course for the immediate future. Attended the building leadership team meeting.

Conference Week Schedule

This is conference week.  All classes will be coming to the library, but for some the day will be different.  Here's when the classes will come:

Monday
Gibson*
Hanson*
Widener
Wildenhaus*

Tuesday
Keating*
Chase*
Gordon*
Hirst*

Wednesday
Gregerson
Cook
Morehouse **
Alderson

Thursday
Rempel
Pawling
Hopper
Bonnell

Friday
Holt
Liker
Mindt
Stillwaugh

* means a day different from their regular library day
** will miss library due to an assembly.

This Week in the Library: October 17-21

What a busy week at Sherwood and in the library.  Since there was no school on Friday, classes that were normally scheduled for Friday will have their books due on Oct. 28. Here's what happened during classes:

Kindergarten: This was our 2nd book selection & check out day.  We heard "Bertie was a Watch Dog" by Rick Walton.  Vocabulary: robber, sofa.

Grade 1 (except Stillwaugh): We reviewed what we learned about the everybody (E) section.  We heard "I Want to Be an Astronaut" by Byron Barton.  Vocabulary: gravity, crew, satellite.

Grade 2 (Gregerson):  We heard "A Perfectly Messed-up Story" by Patrick McDonnell.  We talked about book care and how we can keep our books safe.

Grade 2 (Rempel):  We heard "Mabela the Clever" retold by Margaret Read MacDonald.  This was a folktale from Africa.

Grade 3 (except Liker): We continued to work on our book care bookmarks.

Grade 4 (except Mindt): We continued to work on our review of bibliographic information.

Grade 5: We continued to work on our library rule reminder posters.

Grade 6: We finished work on our library skills checklist.  Mr. Sonnen conferenced with students who completed their checklist.

Professional: Attended the Washington Library Association - School Library Division state conference at Highline College.  I helped with two presentation (digital citizenship and WCCPBA).  I went to some great sessions, heard wonderful speakers, and shared with colleagues from across the state of Washington.  I attended the building tech leadership training at the Edmonds ESC on Wednesday along with 3 Sherwood teachers.  I also attended a collaborative meeting with other Edmonds SD librarians during the inservice day at Maplewood Coop School.

This Week in the Library: October 10-14

It was another busy week in Sherwood's library!  Here's what we did during classtime:

Kindergarten: We checked out books for the first time!  After we heard "Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley, we learned how to use our shelfmarkers, find great books, and check them out.  Students did a great job for their first time!

Grade 1: We began learning about how books are arranged in the Everybody (E) section.  They are in alphabetical order.  We heard a book from the E-A section, "Miss Nelson is Missing" by Harry Allard.  Vocabulary: rapped, spitballs, swarm, discouraged.

Grade 2 (except Gregerson):  We read "A Perfectly Messed-up Story" by Patrick McDonnell.  We talked about book care and how we can keep our books safe.

Grade 3 (except Keating): We began creating book care bookmarks using the tips that we brainstormed last week (lists are a part of last week's library post).

Grade 4 (except Gibson): We began a review of finding bibliographic information in a book.  Students looked for: title, author, publisher, place of publication, and copyright date.

Grade 5: We worked on our library rule reminder posters.

Grade 6: We continued to work on our library skills checklist.  Students who were finished conferenced with Mr. Sonnen.  We discussed their work.

Professional: Completed a lot of library work: cataloging magazines, prepared new books for cataloging, and shelving books.  Worked with our new library helpers, training them on various tasks.

This Week in the Library: October 3-7

It's Walk-a-Thon Week at Sherwood.  Library Helpers begin helping this week.  Check your helper letter for the day and recess you're schedule to help!  Here's what happened during library classes:

Kindergarten: We heard "Chester's Way" by Kevin Henkes.  Student created shelf markers and we reviewed a letter going home to families about book selection / check out which will begin for kindergarten next week!  LETTER HOME

Grade 1 (except Stillwaugh): We read "Manners With a Library Book" by Amanda Tourville.  We discussed how we can keep library books safe and why that is important.  Mr. Stillwaugh's class did not have library due to the Walk-a-Thon.  Books for this class will be due next week.

Grade 2: We read "Manners in the Library" by Carrie Finn,  We discussed how we can show manners in the library.

Grade 3: We brainstormed lists of things we can do to keep books in good condition.  Here are the class lists:  Keating   Liker   Pawling

Grade 4: We talked about ways to find a good book.  Students came up with ideas, then I shared a dozen with them.  I also shared books that match that particular idea.


 Here are a few ideas:

-Book Cover/Title
-Author Friend
-First line/paragraph/page
-Ask a Friend
-Award winner

Grade 5: Groups brainstormed how to follow the Sherwood Rules in the library (Be Kind, Be Safe, Be a Learner).  Next week groups will make posters to remind others of the library rules.

Grade 6: We started a library skills checklist.  Students will demonstrate how to check out, return, renew and hold books.  They will also be able to create a resource list on the library catalog and place books / web sites on their list.  We will continue this next week.

Professional: Completed the computer redistribution at Sherwood.  We are 1:1 in grades 5 & 6 and 2:1 in all other grades.  Began to train new library helpers.  Helped Mrs. Shumway get CCC (Community Connection Council) elections started.  Prepared out of date books for discard.  Attended the staff meeting on Wednesday morning.

This Week in the Library: Sept. 26-30

We're back in the library is week after a great week of square dancing.  Here's what we did in library classes.

Kindergarten: We heard "Stella Louella's Runaway Book" by Lisa Campbell Ernst.  We practiced responding to a story by saying "I liked the part when...." or "My favorite part was when...."  Most students had the opportunity to share!

Grade 1 & 2: We talked about rules in the library.  Students got to choose the right way to do things from an interactive powerpoint presentation.

Grade 3: We practiced coming into the library and starting with book selection.  We heard "Animals Should Definitely Not Borrow Library Books" and the topic of book care was introduced.

Grade 4:  We reviewed library procedures and rules.

Grade 5 & 6: We set up the class Google Classroom.  Students logged in to their Chromebooks and they added themselves to the library class.

Professional: Attended my beginning of the year evaluation conference.  Sherwood hosted the Edmonds SD Librarians meeting on Tuesday.  The main topics were strategic plan, lesson ideas, budget and technology updates, and evaluation.  It was great to see everyone at Sherwood!  I also participated in Sherwood's staff inservice on Friday afternoon.

This Week in the Library: September 19-23

This was Square Dancing Week at Sherwood.  All library, music, and P.E. classes will be in the gym for square dancing.  All books will be due next week.

Library Helper Apps are due this week, Thursday, September 22.

Library Helper Applications are Out, Due 9/22

Library Helper Applications are available in the library.  They are due Thursday, Sept. 22.  If you have any questions, see Mr. Sonnen.

LIBRARY HELPER JOB DESCRIPTION

LIBRARY HELPER APPLICATION

This Week in the Library: Sept, 12 - 16

Our first full week on school.  Since square dancing is on the horizon (next week), we focused on creating shelf markers (1-6 gr).

Kindergarten: Met Mr. Sonnen, the librarian.  Each student shared their name and their favorite foods.  We learned about the expectations when listening to a story. We heard "Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes.  We talked about how making fun of someone's name can hurt their feelings.  We also learned about the procedures for fire drill and earthquake drill in the library.

Grade 1-6: We decorated shelf markers.  Shelf makers help us in the library because they...
1) Help checkout go faster...we scan the barcode on the marker instead of typing the name and this saves time.
2) Marks the spot where the student removed a book, so after they preview it, then can put it back in the correct spot if they don't want that book.
3) Keeps the shelves in order.  This is helpful because if you use the search computers and the books are not in order you will have a difficult time finding the books you want!

Then we had book selection time and silent reading.

Professional: Attended a collaborative team meeting with the other specialists (we reviewed plans for square dancing week and created 1/2 day specialist schedule) and the building leadership team meeting (we discussed math assessments).  I attended the first meeting of the Puget Sound Council for the Review of Children's Books at the Shoreline Center on Saturday (9/10).  I heard some great reviews and picked up books to review for the group.  I participated in a Webinar: "Makerspace Projects for School, Public, and Academic Libraries." I organized the best book program and created library passes for recesses. I reviewed the agreement for the upcoming Scholastic Book Fair. I also updated my library brochure for curriculum night and began to work on redistribution of classroom laptops to reflect this year's enrollment.

This Week in the Library: Sept. 7-9

Welcome back to Sherwood!  Not all classes came to the library this week since Wednesday was the first day of school.  You can find out your class library day and time on the "About Sherwood's Library" page (see link above).  Here is what we did in the classes that did come:

 Grade 1: We met Mr. Sonnen, the librarian, and heard "The Librarian from the Black Lagoon" by Mike Thaler.  We discussed what we will do in the library this year and reviewed procedures for fire, earthquake, and lockdown.  Vocabulary: laminated, laminate, laminator, decontamination, overdue.

Grade 2: We met Mr. Sonnen, the librarian, and heard "The Library Dragon" by Carmen Deedy.  We discussed what we will do in the library this year and reviewed procedures for fire, earthquake, and lockdown.  Vocabulary: incinerated, incensed, linoleum, singed.

Grade 3: We met Mr. Sonnen, the librarian, and selected books for checkout.  We discussed what we will do in the library this year and reviewed procedures for fire, earthquake, and lockdown.

Grade 4 & 5 (Alderson): We met Mr. Sonnen, the librarian, and selected books for checkout.  We completed a short library interest survey and reviewed procedures for fire, earthquake, and lockdown.

Professional: The fall is a busy time getting the library organized.  I processed many new books and magazines, created seating charts, and updated table folders.  I attended the staff in-service training on Tuesday, completed the required district HR video classes, and helped various staff members with materials.  I helped staff with technology and connected with a new librarian I will be mentoring this year.  I began reading "Responsive Classroom for Music, Art, PE, and Other Specialists."  It was a short, but busy week!

Welcome to 2016-2017

It's a new school year and we're excited to see everyone.

This Week in the Library: June 20 - 22

Well, the 2015-2016 school year has come to a close.  It was a great year.  We had a total of over 20,600 books checked out!  The only classes this week were Monday and Tuesday morning.  Have a great summer!

Kindergarten (Morehouse/Widener AM): We created our alphabet books.  They looked great.  The books will be bound and saved for sharing in 6 years when they are sixth graders!

Grade 1 (Gordon): We heard 3 stories, "The Cheese" by Margie Palatini, "How to Teach a Slug to Read" by Susan Pearson, and "Z Goes Home" by Jon Agee.

Grade 1 (Bonnell): We only had time for 1 story: "The Cheese" by Margie Palatini,

Grade 2 (Gregerson): We heard 3 stories, "The Cheese" by Margie Palatini, "How to Teach a Slug to Read" by Susan Pearson, and "Z Goes Home" by Jon Agee.

Grade 3 (Keating): We served as illustrators today.  We illustrated the stories that students in other 3rd grade classes wrote last week.

Professional: Assembled the photo slide show for the end-of-year celebration assembly. Attended a meeting with the other specialists and the principal looking at options for next year's schedule. Shelved all of the last minute books that were returned by students and teachers.  Send out final notices for books still out.  Prepared items for the district warehouse.  Completed the tech inventory, created trouble tickets for equipment that had problems.  Cleaned and cleaned!

This Week in the Library: June 13 - 17

Wow, our last full week of the school year.  It was a busy one.  Wednesday afternoon was when Edith Farrar from the Edmonds Public Library (Sno-Isle Library system) came to visit K-3 classes.  There were no classes held on Friday due to Field Day (Hanson, Wildenhaus, Gibson, Liker).

Kindergarten (Morehouse): Heard "Matthew ABC" by Peter Catalanotto and "ABC, I Like Me" by Nancy Carlson.

Kindergarten (Widener): We heard several alphabet books, "Alphabet Mystery" by Audrey Wood, " Alphabet City" by Stephen Johnson, "Animal Antics" by Anita Lobel.  Then students chose what they would draw for their letter in our class alphabet book.

Grade 1 (Gordon/Bonnell): We heard "Insects are My Life" by Megan McDonald and "Scaredy Squirrel" by Melanie Watt.  We also watched the parody video "All About Them Books" which reminds students to return their late books!

Grade 2 (Gregerson): Heard "A Killer Whale's World" by Caroline Arnold. After hearing the story, students recalled one piece of information from the book and wrote the fact down and created an illustration to go with it.

Grade 3 (Keating): Students wrote a simple 4 part story.  The stories will be illustrated by other students, so these authors made sure they had strong details to help the illustrator.

Grade 3 (Pawling): We created illustrations to go with stories created by a different class.

Grade 4 (Mindt): We had our picture book battle of the books.  We used the online quiz tool Kahoot to have our contest.

Grade 5 (Alderson): We had our picture book battle of the books.  We used the online quiz tool Kahoot to have our contest.

Grade 6 (Combined Group, Bogert): We had our picture book battle of the books.  We used the online quiz tool Kahoot to have our contest.

Professional: I continued collecting and organizing testing materials to archive and send to the district, attended the Wednesday morning staff meeting, printed award certificates for best book students, hosted our best book celebration for students who read 15 or more books this year, printed and completed overdue notices/bills for students who have library materials not turned in.  Helped with Field Day (manned the Bouncy House).

Libary Bills Sent Home

Bills for lost library books were given to teachers this morning and should be coming home today.  Remember you can always check your library account by clicking the login button on the top right of the catalog page and enter your district username and password.

Remember to return the books or pay the amount on the bill (cash or checks to Edmonds School District).  We can not make change, so please pay the exact amount.

Thanks!

This Week in the Library: June 6 - 10

All library books were due on Monday, June 6.  Books have been streaming in all week. Bills for lost books should be sent home early next week (Mon/Tue).  Here's what we did during library classes:

Kindergarten (Cook/Widener): Heard "Matthew ABC" by Peter Catalanotto and "ABC, I Like Me" by Nancy Carlson.  We they chose words to go with the letters for our upcoming class alphabet book.

Kindergarten (Morehouse): Heard "Old Black Fly" by Jim Aylesworth and "A is for Musk Ox" by Erin Cabatingan.  We they chose words to go with the letters for our upcoming class alphabet book.

Grade 1: We heard "Chameleons are Cool" by Martin Jenkins.  Students then recalled one piece of information from the text and wrote a sentence about it.  Then they illustrated their sentence.

Grade 2 (Goodsky/Gregerson): Heard "One Tiny Turtle" by Nicola Davies. After hearing the story, students recalled one piece of information from the book and wrote the fact down and created an illustration to go with it.

Grade 2 (Rempel): Heard "A Killer Whale's World" by Caroline Arnold. After hearing the story, students recalled one piece of information from the book and wrote the fact down and created an illustration to go with it.

Grade 3 (Keating): Heard "Hooway for Wodney Wat" and "Princess Penelope's Parrott" both by Helen Lester.

Grade 3 (Pawling): Heard "Princess Penelope's Parrott" by Helen Lester.  Students then wrote a simple 4 part story.  The stories will be illustrated by other students, so these authors made sure they had strong details to help the illustrator.

Grade 3 (Liker): Students wrote a simple 4 part story.  The stories will be illustrated by other students, so these authors made sure they had strong details to help the illustrator.

Intermediate Classes (Except Bogert): continued reading picture books for our upcoming battle of the picture books.  Students worked in their table groups, reading for details including setting, character, plot, and more!  Mr. Bogert's class was away on a field trip during their classtime.

Friday Classes:  Friday classes got to watch a short video reminding them to return their late library books!  VIDEO LINK

Professional: Checked in an shelved a lot of library books!  All books were due Monday, June 6.  I also processed a order of 37 books that arrived during the week and continued to process donated books from Puget Sound Council Book Review Group.  I watched a TED talk about libraries by Mark Ray from the Vancouver School District.

Finished up coding and paperwork from the SBA state testing.  I chaperoned the field trip for the CC Council members, Safety Patrol, and Conflict Managers on Friday midday.

I attended Teri Calsyn's retirement celebration on Wednesday evening.  Teri has served as Sherwood's technology coach for the past few years.  She works with classroom teachers on using technology and tech tools in classrooms.  We will miss her.

Best Book Quiz for 2016-17 Now Live

Are you reading one of the 2017 best books over the summer?  If so, stop by the website and take the online quiz to have the book recorded!  The link is now live.

List of the books, bookmarks, and links to author information for the 2017 book will be coming over the summer.  Check out the Best Book page on this site!

First Graders win Mr. Sonnen's Boxtops!

Congratulations to Mrs. Hirst's first grade class.  They won all of Mr. Sonnen's boxtops because they are the class that has the least number of overdue books!  Way to go!

Library Books Are Due

The end of the year is fast approaching.  All library materials are due Today.  Please return items as soon as possible.

Places to Check

Bedroom Closets
Your desk (school & home)
Book Shelves (school & home)
Under car seats
Back packs
Under Beds
Under Couches

This Week in the Library: May 31 - June 3

Wow!  Is it June already?  Boy this year is flying by fast.  There was no school on Monday due to Memorial Day.  If your class was on Monday your books are due June 6 (which, by the way, is when all library books are due).  Here's what we did in library classes this week.

Kindergarten (Widener AM/PM): Began exploring alphabet books.  We read "Old Black Fly" by Jim Aylesworth, and "A is For Musk Ox" by Erin Cabatingan.

Kindergarten (Cook): Began exploring alphabet books.  "A is For Musk Ox" by Erin Cabatingan.

Grade 1 (Hirst): Heard "Star of the Sea" by Janet Halfmann.  After hearing the story, students recalled one piece of information from the book and wrote the fact down and created an illustration to go with it.

Grade 2 (Goodsky): Heard "Astronaut Handbook" by Megan McCarthy.  After hearing the story, students recalled one piece of information from the book and wrote the fact down and created an illustration to go with it.

Grade 2 (Rempel): Heard "One Tiny Turtle" by Nicola Davies. After hearing the story, students recalled one piece of information from the book and wrote the fact down and created an illustration to go with it.

Grade 3 (Keating): We heard "Precious and the Boo Hag" by Patricia McKissack.  Precious keeps her wits about her as the Boo Hag comes to her house!

Grade 3 (Pawling/Liker): We heard "Hooway for Wodney Wat" by Helen Lester.  A great book about finding your voice and facing a bully.

Intermediate Classes (Grades 4-6): Began/continued reading picture books for our upcoming battle of the picture books.  Students worked in their table groups, reading for details including setting, character, plot, and more!

Professional: Reviews many books for Puget Sound Council Review Group.  Attended their Saturday meeting and presented 5 reviews to the group.  Attended the building leadership meeting Friday morning.  Worked with the music and PE specialist on developing options for next year's master schedule.  Continued arranging make-up tests for students taking the state SBA tests.  Laminated many book covers for new books.  Ordered some books from next year's best book and children's choice lists.

This Week in the Library: May 23 - 27

Just a reminder that all library books will be due Monday, June 6.  Students will be limited to 2 books (1 book for K) next week.  Here's what we did in classes this week:

Kindergarten: We read Judy Sierra's counting book, Counting Crocodiles.  A clever monkey figures out how to get bananas by counting crocs as she hops across the sea on their backs.  After we heard the story we created our own Counting Crocodile books (except Mrs. Cook's class, due to an assembly we only had time to read the story).  Students had to come up with action words for 1, 2, and 3 crocodiles and draw matching pictures.

Grade 1 (Bonnell/Gordon): Heard "Star of the Sea" by Janet Halfmann.  After hearing the story, students recalled one piece of information from the book and wrote the fact down and created an illustration to go with it.

Grade 1 (Hirst): No class due to an assembly.

Grade 2 (Gregerson/Rempel): Heard "Astronaut Handbook" by Megan McCarthy.  After hearing the story, students recalled one piece of information from the book and wrote the fact down and created an illustration to go with it.

Grade 2 (Goodsky):  We only had time for book selection & check out due to an assembly.

Grade 3 (Keating): Had book selection & check out time.  Then students read their books.

Grade 3 (Liker): We heard "Precious and the Boo Hag" by Patricia McKissack.  Precious keeps her wits about her as the Boo Hag comes to her house!

Grade 3 (Pawling):  Heard "Ivan the Terrier" by Peter Catalanotto.  Ivan disrupts the telling of various fairy tales.  This was a different take on the fractured fairy tale.

Grade 4: Fourth graders took the post assessment for our digital citizenship unit.  Every student improved from their pre-assessment score.  The unit covered creating strong passwords, dealing with spam, being a digital citizen, citing sources, and understanding how images can be manipulated for advertising.  Great job learning!

Grade 5 (Alderson):   We took the post assessment for the Picture Perfect set of lessons.  In these lessons we looked at how advertising manipulates images.

Grade 5 (Wildenhaus):  Began reading picture books for our upcoming battle of the picture books.  Students worked in their table groups, reading for details including setting, character, plot, and more!

Grade 6 (Hanson): Finished working with train schedules.  This was our last work with transportation schedules.

Grade 6 (Bogert & Combined Group): Began reading picture books for our upcoming battle of the picture books.  Students worked in their table groups, reading for details including setting, character, plot, and more!

Professional:   Worked on processing more donated books.  Accepted a few bags of books donated from families.  Books not needed for the library collection we distributed to classrooms.  Finished the major part of state testing.  This week we were working on Math (Gr. 3-6) and Science (Gr. 5).  Attended the building leadership meeting on Friday morning.

This Week in the Library: May 16-20

This week testing gets into full swing.  3rd, 4th, and 6th grade began testing.  This resulted in some library schedule changes.  Here's what we did this week!

Kindergarten: We heard "Ugly Pie" by Lisa Wheeler.  We looked at the foreshadowing in the illustrations and we also noted that this book has end matter (a recipe for ugly pie!)

Grade 1 & 2: We created "safety stars" based on last week's reading of "Officer Buckle and Gloria" by Peggy Rathmann.  Students wrote a safety tip and drew a picture on their star before cutting it our.  Each tip was assigned a number. The stars will be posted in the library the next couple weeks!

Grade 3 (Keating / Liker): We heard "Ugly Pie" by Lisa Wheeler.  We looked at the foreshadowing in the illustrations and we also noted that this book has end matter (a recipe for ugly pie!)

Grade 3 (Pawling): We heard "Precious and the Boo Hag" by Patricia McKissack.  Precious keeps her wits about her as the Boo Hag comes to her house!

Grade 4 & 5: We continued our digital citizenship unit, Picture Perfect.  In groups we looked at 2 examples of photo shopped magazine covers and discussed why companies want perfect photos and how that might make people feel.

Grade 6: We continued our work on reading transportation schedules, looking at the train schedules.

Professional: Continued serving as building test coordinator for state testing: troubleshooting, arranging for make-ups, rearranging specialist times, getting information to teachers.  Attended the district librarian meeting Tuesday evening at Seaview Elementary.  We talked about summer reading, best books, and more!  I completed the state library survey.  Submitted student thank you letters to Donor's Choose for our Snap Circuit grant. Attended our regular staff meeting.  I also took our two teams to the district battle of the books at Brier Elementary (one team won 3rd place!).

Four Bookineirs Place 3rd at District Competition

Sherwood has a great morning at the Edmonds SD Battle of the Best Books.  The event was held in the Brier Elementary Gym.  Our two teams did great, with the Four Bookiniers (an all 4-grader team) taking 3rd out of 38 teams.

District Battle @ Brier Elem.

Book Squirrels

3rd Place - The Four Bookineirs

Here are the final scores:

Team Name	RD-1	RD-2	RD-3	RD-4	T-B	TOTAL
HW - Loki's Wolves	10	9	9	9	5	42	1st Place
BR - Mega Super Awesome Reading	9	9	10	9	4	41	2nd Place
SW - Four Bookineirs	9	9	9	7		34	3rd Place
CL - R to the 4th Power	9	9	8	7		33
LD - Roaring Lions	9	7	10	7		33
MD - Poptarts	9	8	8	8		33
BR - Green Mean Reading Machines	8	8	8	8		32
CW - Omega Hummingbirds	9	8	9	6		32
SP - Red Dragons (Gr 5)	9	9	8	6		32
WG - Reading Hippo Warriors	8	9	9	6		32
CV - The VIPs	8	9	7	7		31
HW - The Book Bombz	7	9	8	7		31
LW - Spongebobs	9	7	7	8		31
MT - Midnight Crew	8	8	9	6		31
ED - One for the Orcas	8	9	8	5		30
SV - Seaview Kelpies	9	7	8	6		30
BV - Sneaky Readers	9	9	7	4		29
LW - Superstar Readers	9	7	8	5		29
SP - Blue Dragons (Gr 6)	8	7	6	8		29
WG - Short Stuff	7	8	8	6		29
SW - Book Squirrels	8	9	7	4		28
HT - Escape from Mr. Garrard's Library	6	8	6	7		27
HT - Fun Book Investigators	7	8	8	4		27
MD - Gold Fluffy Unicorns	8	8	8	3		27
ML - 14 fibs of X wing pilot	7	8	7	5		27
BV - Psyched Bananas	8	6	5	7		26
CL - District Destiny	6	6	7	7		26
LD - Lightning Lions	6	7	8	5		26
SV - High Fiving Cows to the 12th power	7	7	7	5		26
CV - The Golden Readers	6	6	9	4		25
CW - Potato Gladiators	7	5	7	6		25
ED - The Thing about Us	6	8	5	6		25
ML - red.	8	8	7	2		25
MT - Topatio Squad	6	4	5	6		21
OH - Nerdy Worms	5	6	5	3		19
OH - Unique Unicorns	7	5	3	3		18
CP - Mind Readers	4	3	4	4		15
CP - Fabulous Four	1	2	2	0		5