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.