Last week we finished off our 4th Grade Spring Book Buying Club by looking over all the books they purchased and then creating ads for them to share with everyone at school! The students enjoyed being the first to look through the new books.
After looking at them, I pulled out the ipads and they worked in pairs to create a flyer of a few books they would recommend to other students. We used the app PicCollage for this and then uploaded them to a Padlet that could be shared.
After two groups this year, I will definitely do this again! The students really enjoyed the process of adding new books to our library collection.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Trying New Things
I am trying something new in the library this week that I'm hoping will help to engage the students through the end of school. My kindergarten through second grade students visit the library weekly for 30 minutes for a lesson and book check out. Our usual procedure is for them to sit at the tables and read the books they check out, but as we are nearing the end of the year everyone is very antsy!
I have considered adding centers for them to do after they check out to help keep them engaged (and for those students who can't check out because they forgot their book), but I just hadn't started it up. So I decided that the end of school was a great time to experiment and work out the kinks! If it doesn't work well then letting it go at the end of the year isn't a big deal. However, after a few days trial, I'm thinking this is a great thing so far!
I set up 7 centers to start with: Independent Reading, Listening, Bookmark making, Ipad word work, Ipad retelling, Creation station with Legos, and a Rhyming game station. I'm switching out the Ipad retelling that I was doing with Puppet Pals to an Eric Carle board game today because there have been issues with that center. The favorite center so far has been the creation station where they get to make a duck and read duck books (I read a duck story before introducing the centers). If you haven't seen Cari Young's website or book on centers, it is very helpful!!
Some classes have done better than others, and there is always the student that doesn't want to do anything but the center that is already full, but overall this seems to be working well!
I have considered adding centers for them to do after they check out to help keep them engaged (and for those students who can't check out because they forgot their book), but I just hadn't started it up. So I decided that the end of school was a great time to experiment and work out the kinks! If it doesn't work well then letting it go at the end of the year isn't a big deal. However, after a few days trial, I'm thinking this is a great thing so far!
I set up 7 centers to start with: Independent Reading, Listening, Bookmark making, Ipad word work, Ipad retelling, Creation station with Legos, and a Rhyming game station. I'm switching out the Ipad retelling that I was doing with Puppet Pals to an Eric Carle board game today because there have been issues with that center. The favorite center so far has been the creation station where they get to make a duck and read duck books (I read a duck story before introducing the centers). If you haven't seen Cari Young's website or book on centers, it is very helpful!!
Some classes have done better than others, and there is always the student that doesn't want to do anything but the center that is already full, but overall this seems to be working well!
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Spring Book Fair
It is time for our spring book fair! The trees and flowers are blooming, and the excitement is contagious at Bethel! I love running book fair. There is something about seeing the students get so excited about new books that just makes me grin! I also love the conversations I get to have with teachers as they preview the new books and the chance it gives me to recommend titles.
Book fair was delivered today and this is what the second grade class that was in the library did when they saw the truck drive in! Students are excited about books at Bethel Elementary!!
Book fair was delivered today and this is what the second grade class that was in the library did when they saw the truck drive in! Students are excited about books at Bethel Elementary!!
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