This Week in the Library February 22-26

Wow, February has gone by quickly.  I was out sick on Friday and there was no substitute available.  If you were to have library on Friday....your books will be due next week.  Here's what we did in library this week:

In primary classes (K-2) we tested books suggested for the 2017 Washington Children's Choice Award list. Students gave input and we also covered topics ranging from character, plot, main idea, and more.

Kindergarten (Cook): We read "Hoot Owl: Master of Disguise" by Sean Taylor. Vocabulary word: disguise

Kindergarten (Morehouse): We read "Kali's Story" by Jennifer Keats Curtis.  Vocabulary words: revved, villagers, den

Kindergarten (Widener AM): We read "Ninja" by Arree Chung and "The Night World" by Mordicai Gerstein.

Kindergarten (Widener PM): We read "Nerdy Bird" by Aaron Reynolds

Grade 1 (Bonnell): We read "Interstellar Cinderella" by Deborah Underwood. Vocabulary words: socket wrench, nebulae, mechanic.

Grade 1 (Gordon): We read "The New Small Person" by Lauren Child. Vocabulary words: precious, adorable, copy.

Grade 1 (Hirst): We read "Fright Club" by Ethan Long.

Grade 2 (Goodsky): We read "Here Comes the Tooth Fairy Cat" by Deborah Underwood.

Grade 2 (Gregerson): We read "The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie" by Chris Van Allsburg.  Vocabulary words: exhaled, exhausted.

Grade 2 (Rempel): We read "I Fly: The Buzz About Flies and How Awesome They Are" by Bridget Heos.

Grade 3 (Pawling/Keating): We began working on our "Best Book I Ever Read" posters.  Using a planning sheet to consider parts of our poster and creating a draft sketch.

Grade 3 (Liker): No class due to district substitute unavailability.  Books will be due next week (March 4).

Grade 4 (Gibson): No class due to district substitute unavailability.  Books will be due next week (March 4).

Grade 4 (Mindt):  We completed our digital citizenship pledge.  We came up with a motto for our pledge poster "Be Chill" and then we took a short assessment on the lesson.

Grade 5 (Alderson): We reviewed our work on fact and opinion.  We looked at several statements as a class, determined if they were facts or opinions, and then brainstormed what kinds of resources we could use to prove/disprove the facts.

Grade 5 (Wildenhaus):  No class due to district substitute unavailability.  Mr. Wildenhaus did bring the students to the library to exchange books.  Books will be due next week (March 4).

Grade 6 (Bogert, Combined Group): Completed our comparing catalogs project.

Grade 6 (Hanson):  No class due to district substitute unavailability.  Books will be due next week (March 4).

Professional: Attended district librarian meeting at Oak Heights Elem. Tuesday evening focus on library data and technology.  Attended building staff meeting on Wednesday morning focusing on questioning.  Reviewed books for PSC. Cataloged donated books from PSC. Read books for 2017 WCCPBA list.  Received my 10 year membership pin from AASL.

This Week in the Library: February 17-19

A very short week, but many things happened in the library.  Our Snap Circuits arrived from our Donor's Choose grant.  We will begin using them during MakerSpace time next week.  If you did not have library this week, your books are due next week. Here's what we did in classes:

Kindergarten (Cook only): We listened to "I Don't Like Snakes" by Nicola Davies.  Students learned a lot about snakes from this book.  Vocabulary words: slither, slimy, poison.

Grade 1 (Hirst only): We heard "Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast" by Josh Funk.  The two breakfast food battled their way through the refrigerator to get the last drop of syrup!  Vocabulary words: linguine, reemerged. LINK:  Author's Activity Packet for this Book.

Grade 2 (Goodsky): We heard our last Washington Children's Choice (WCCPBA) book, "Lifesize Ocean" by Anita Ganeri.  We learned a lot about sea creatures.  Special attention was placed on the table of contents and how we can use this tool to find information.  Vocabulary words: contents, camouflage, venomous, ferocious.  LINK: National Geographic World Oceans Day

Grade 2 (Rempel):  We listened to "Grandma in Blue with Red Hat" by Scott Menchin.  The boy creates his own art exhibition using art work depicting his grandmother.  Vocabulary words: curator, exhibition.

Grade 3 (Pawling): We were introduced to the "Best Book I Ever Read" poster contest sponsored by the Edmonds Arts Commission for Children's Book Week.  We began to think of a book that we could use to create a poster.

Grade 3 (Liker): We heard our last Washington Children's Choice (WCCPBA) book, "This is a Moose" by Richard Morris. This was a hilarious book where animals are creating a movie about a moose.  Vocabulary words: take, cut, director, glossary.

Grade 4: We began learning what it takes to become a digital citizen.  We brainstormed online and offline communities we belong to and why we need expectations.

Grade 5: We continued our work on determining fact and opinion.  Groups worked to decide if a statement was a fact or and opinion.  If it was a fact, they brainstormed potential resources that could prove/disprove it.  If it was an opinion, they worked to find the word that could be argued.

Grade 6: We continued to work on our comparing library catalogs project.  Although there were 15 pre-selected catalogs, some students went to other catalogs (colleges they were interested in) to complete a part of their chart.

Professional: I received our Donor's Choose materials and prepared next week's MakerSpace launch, checked in the school's Scholastic News issues, helped with various technology issues, read more books for the upcoming state WCCPBA meeting, reviewed books for Puget Sound Council, cataloged new book (donated from PSC), and more.  I continued reading "Undaunted Courage" and finished reading "It Happened in Washington" by James Crutchfield.  I also met with the principal to finalize and submit our SBA testing schedule to the district.

Word Day is Coming

Sherwood's 6th Annual Word Day is coming next week!  Friday, February 26 is the date to come dressed as your favorite word.  The idea for this dress up day comes from Debra Frasier's book "Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster."  Spirit Days at Sherwood are coordinated by the Sherwood CCC.  More information:  Word Day Flyer

This Week in the Library: February 8 - 12

President's weekend is coming up.  Remember if you have library on Monday or Tuesday, your books will be due the following week.  Due to the half-day schedule, Friday classes did not come to the library (their books will be due next week, 2/19).  Here's what we did in the other classes:

In many primary classes we are trying out potential books for the 2017 WCCPBA nominee list.  I'm reading them and so are some of the primary teachers.

Kindergarten (Cook): We read "The Bear Ate Your Sandwich" by Julia Sarcone-Roach. We talked about how to find the title and author on the covers of books.

Kindergarten (Morehouse): We read ""Friendshapes" by Amy Rosenthal and "Dad's First Day" by Mike Wohnoutka. We talked about how to find the title and author on the covers of books.

Kindergarten (Widener-AM): We read "I Yam A Donkey, " a fun book about using proper English by Cece Bell. We talked about how to find the title and author on the covers of books.

 Kindergarten (Widener-PM): We read "Elephants Can't Jump" by Jeanne Willis. We talked about how to find the title and author on the covers of books.

1st Grade (Bonnell): We read "Dilly Dally Daisy" by Mark Fearing.

1st Grade (Gordon): We read Audrey Wood's "The Full Moon at the Napping House." We noticed that this was a cumulative tale, where each page added onto the previous page.

1st Grade (Hirst): We read "In Mary's Garden" by Tina and Carson Kugler.

2nd Grade (Goodsky): We read "The Bear Ate Your Sandwich" by Julia Sarcone-Roach.

2nd Grade (Gregerson): We began our discussion about magazine and our magazine section.  We learned about title, topic, and audience.  We also learned how they are organized in our library.

2nd Grade (Rempel): We read "Evermore Dragon" by Barbara Joose.

3nd Grade (Keating): We read "Drum Dream Girl" by Margarita Engle.  This book was a poem based on the life of Millo Castro Zaldarriaga who broke Cuba's traditional ban against female drummers in the 1930s.  Vocabulary: Bongo, Conga, Timbales <Book Trailer - YouTube>

3rd Grade (Pawling): We read "Friendshape" by Amy Roselthal and "I Don't Want to be a Frog" by Dev Petty.  <Frog Finger Puppets> <jumping frog origami>

4th Grade (Mindt): We read "Leo the Ghost" by Mac Barnett

5th Grade (Alderson): We continued our unit on fact and opinion.  Groups had to determine if statements were facts or opinions and then justify their reasoning by listing sources that could prove/disprove the fact or find the word that could be argued in an opinion.  We will share out next week.

6th Grade (Combined Group, Bogert):  We began/continued a project on comparing library catalogs.  Students will search for common books in school, public, and university libraries.  We will be gaining experiences with different user interfaces and will be comparing the catalogs and call numbers.

Professional:  Reviewed more books for Puget Sound Council. All of these titles will be added to our collection.  Continued reading "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American" by Stephen Ambrose. Began reading the suggested titles for the 2017 WCCPBA list and began reading them (there are over 145 suggested titles).  Attended the district Building Test Coordinator training to learn about this year's Smarter Balanced Assessment.  Met with our principal and other to begin planning for the administration of the test in May.  Sorted out the delay in the Donor's Choose grant equipment (it should arrive next week!).   Added the dates for the Battle of the Best Books to the school calendar (see previous post).  Attended staff training on Friday afternoon regarding the new writing program.


Other Information:

Don't forget! The Edmonds Public Library, part of the Sno-Isle Libraries system, is offering homework help on Wednesdays from 4-5pm.  Stop by for FREE homework assistance for students in grades K-8.  A teen homework volunteer will be waiting to help you in the teen section of the library.

HOMEWORK HELP FLYER

Battle of the Best Books Dates Set

The dates have been set for the Battle of the Best Books.

Sherwood School Battle @ Sherwood Library
     Thursday, May 12 (12:15 - 1:15 - intermediate lunch/recess)
     <Teams of up to 4 students, grades 4,5,6>

Edmonds District Battle @ Brier Elementary Gym
     Friday, May 20 (9:30am)
     <Top 2 teams from the Sherwood Battle will participate>

This Week in the Library: February 1-5

Wow! It's February already.  This year is flying by.  Here's what went on in your library:

Primary Classes (Morehouse, Gordon, Bonnell, Gregerson, Goodsky): We read "The Secret Lives of Squirrels" by Nancy Rose from our Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award nominee poster.  This photo story tells about Mr. Peanuts as he prepares his home for a visit from Cousin Squirrel.  We looked at the end matter in the book where we found information about wildlife photography and a Question and Answer section with the author that describes how she created the scenes and enticed the squirrels to visit. If there was time we watched a couple of short videos showing squirrels figuring out obstacle courses (link below). Vocabulary words: chattering, penmanship, vacuums, scrumptious.

 Squirrel Video, Secret Lives Slide Show (YouTube may not be available at school)

Primary Classes (Widener AM, Liker, Pawling): This week the WCCPBA book we read was "At the Old Haunted House" by Helen Ketteman, illustrated by Nate Wragg.  It is based on "Over in the Meadow" (link is to song version on YouTube and may be blocked within the school).  We discovered it is a counting book and a rhyming book.  Vocabulary words: draft, spells, vault, bayed, and haunt.

Primary Classes (Keating):  We heard "Emmanuel's Dream" by Laurie Ann Thompson about a boy from Ghana who was born with only one leg.  It was truly an amazing story.  Vocabulary words: Ghana, plantain.

Primary Classes (Rempel): We created a poster about the Magazine section.  We learned that magazines were periodicals, have a specific audience, and a certain topic.  We will explore more about magazines next week.

Intermediate (6th Combined, Mindt, Gibson): We completed the Best Book Program book talks.

5th Grade: We began our unit on fact and opinion.  We learned that a fact can be proven (or disproved) while an opinion can be argued.

6th Grade (Bogert, Hanson):  We began a project on comparing library catalogs.  Students will search for common books in school, public, and university libraries.  We will be gaining experiences with different user interfaces and will be comparing the catalogs and call numbers.

Professional:  Reviewed more books for Puget Sound Council. All of these titles will be added to our collection.  Read the 2016 Newbery Honor book "Roller Girl" by Victoria Jamieson.  Highly recommended!  I also began reading "Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American" by Stephen Ambrose. 4th grade is beginning to study the Lewis & Clark Expedition and Mrs. Hirst recommended this book to me.  I also gathered all of our Lewis & Clark material for the 4th grade.  I distributed reading challenge t-shirts to the 3rd grade, pulled and delivered biographies to Mrs. Goodsky's class, and helped with group yearbook pictures.  I watched a Ted Talk on linking a positive brains to performance.  I also worked on obtaining suggested titles for the 2017 WCCPBA list and began reading them (there are over 130 suggested titles).