Week of November 2, 2009

The M.E.S. Scholastic Book Fair is on November 11 & 12! Students in grades 1-4 will make their book fair wish lists this week. Don't forget to ask for it at the main table in the hallway when you come for conferences.

Our kindergarten students will be introduced to author and illustrator Mercer Mayer. As time permits we will read There's a Nightmare in My Closet, There's an Alligator Under My Bed, and There's Something in My Attic.  The children will then have an opportunity to check out a Mercer Mayer book from the library.  Please help your child remember to return their borrowed book.  Mrs. Mayer and Mrs. Bell's class come to the library on Monday and Mrs. Blanck's students come on Friday.

In grades 1 - 4 this week, each class will hear a "book talk" given by one of their classmates. This will be a Book Fair book that a student has read and they will give their review to the class.  We will also take a few minutes to fill out Wish Lists.  Special thanks to our fourth grade students who will be helping our first grade students make their Wish Lists.  

Parents:  

Be assured that we stress that these are "Wish Lists" as opposed to "I'm Going to Get Lists!"

 

Week of October 26, 2009

October is fire prevention month and the kindergartners have met some firemen, seen the fire trucks and gone through the smokehouse.  We're still going to read one more book on fire safety called Crawl Low Under Smoke by Lucia Raatma.  But it is Halloween week so we'll have some fun too reading one of my favorites,  The Little Old Lady WhoWas Not Afraid of

Anything, written by Linda Williams.  We'll learn how pumpkins grow by reading Pumpkin Pumpkin by author and illustrator Jeanne Titherington and then one more dash of non-fiction when we read Jack-o-Lanterns by Lola Schaefer.

Things are going to be a little batty in first grade! We'll first read Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats by Ann Earle.  We'll learn how bats use echolocation to hunt, their hibernation patterns, and how they play a vital part in our environment. Then on to the fun stuff when we read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! by Lucille Colandro...always a hit with the kids!

In a second grader's mind, nothing is better than beginning to read chapter books! 

This week they'll meet Minnie and Moo (more cows!) by Denys Cazet.  I'll read a couple chapters of Minnie and Moo:  The Night of the Living Bed, Minnie and Moo Meet Frankenswine  and Minnie an Moo and the Haunted Sweater - just enough to get them hooked!  We'll also meet author and illustrator Dav Pilkey when we read The Hallo-Wiener and Dragon's Halloween.

In January and February our third graders will do a report on a biography of their choice. Up until that time we will read quite a few biographies in class. This week we'll learn about the life of author James Stevenson as we read his autobiography When I Was Nine.  And then, in the spirit of Halloween, we will read Mr. Stevenson's thriller What's Under My Bed.

Fourth graders are still hitting that atlas hard!  This week we will be answering questions about the U.S.A. map and also a few on some of the other countries in the world. These are great exercises to learn how to properly use the Table of Contents and Index sections of reference books.  We'll wrap things up with some fun poetry by Daisy Wallace in Ghost Poems.

Week of October 19, 2009

• In kindergarten this week we read two non-fiction books entitled Scarecrows by authors Lola Schaefer and Calvin Harris.  We also read a story called The Shy Scarecrow by Mary Packard.  There are no kindergartners that have a scarecrow at their house...and neither does Mrs. Welt.

• First grade read one of my favorites Humbug Witch by Lorna Balian. We also featured author Cynthia Rylant by reading chapter 2 of Henry and Mudge Under the Yellow Moon and Moonlight the Halloween Cat.  Cynthia Rylant is also the author of the Poppleton, Mr. Putter and Tabby and High-Rise Private Eyes series. Older readers will enjoy her Newberry Medal winning Missing May.

• The second grade classes are taking their field trip to U.D.F. Step 1 in making ice cream is the cow!  This week in library we read Cow written by Malachy Doyle with beautiful illustrations by Angelo Rinaldi.  It tells of a day in the life of a dairy cow. Our lesson then took a fun turn with The Cow Who Clucked by Denise Fleming and a video of the Caldecott Honor book Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin.

• For the Love of Autumn was thoroughly enjoyed by the third grade this week.  This was their first introduction to author and illustrator Patricia Polacco.  We will be reading Patricia Polacco's biography and reading many more of her books in the springtime. Many stories that she shares with us are written from her childhood memories.  Her books and illustrations have become favorites with me.

• Wow! The fourth graders have really impressed me with their map skills. We began our work with the Children's World Atlas in September during our study of 9/11 by locating New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. This week they had some really tough questions that they had to answer. No sweat!! Ask your child to tell you about the Antarctic Treaty, or what is the smallest country in Europe, or maybe locate the Great Barrier Reef.  If they can't tell you, just give them an atlas and they will be able to look it up for you!