"Tell me and I forget; Teach me and I remember; Involve me and I learn."
~Benjamin Franklin
Children's Author-Illustrator Dan Yaccarino Makes a Virtual Visit to H.R. Moye
On May 11, kinder, first and second grade Moye mountain lions were treated to a virtual visit with Dan Yaccarino in our very own library! Mr. Yaccarino connected with students at Moye and Hawkins Elementary via Skype and inspired the children to dream big for their futures. Dan began his presentation with pictures from his childhood and invited the children in the audience to close their eyes and imagine themselves doing whatever activity makes them happiest. Even though I am 54, I am still a child at heart and I participated in this exercise, too. And while I envisioned myself writing and illustrating children's books, I also saw myself doing what I do everyday...working with the greatest kids on Earth, encouraging them to read and research!
We have several new copies of Mr. Yaccarino's books to include Unlovable, Every Friday, and Go, Go America that are flying off the shelving cart...they aren't even making it back to the shelves before another student checks them out. Thank you, Mr. Yaccarino, for visiting us and inspiring us to dream BIG. And thank you to my friend Martha Rico, Hawkins librarian, who worked with me on writing the EPISD Classroom Impact Grant that enabled us to have this opportunity to visit with Dan. Thank you, EPISD Fund, for financing this wonderful activity.
We have several new copies of Mr. Yaccarino's books to include Unlovable, Every Friday, and Go, Go America that are flying off the shelving cart...they aren't even making it back to the shelves before another student checks them out. Thank you, Mr. Yaccarino, for visiting us and inspiring us to dream BIG. And thank you to my friend Martha Rico, Hawkins librarian, who worked with me on writing the EPISD Classroom Impact Grant that enabled us to have this opportunity to visit with Dan. Thank you, EPISD Fund, for financing this wonderful activity.
Below, Gabby shows us the research she completed at home.At the right, Celina shares her homemade research project. |
Gabrielle Terrell and Celina Celaya have become research experts. Their classes came to the library early this month to do research on animals using nonfiction and online resources. By chance, the girls were partnered and researched elephants together. I was super excited with the enthusiasm and energy Gabby and Celina had for the research we did. They went above and beyond what I asked them to do through the animal worksheet I created to guide their research. The girls seemed to love the Pebblego.com animal database so much that they asked for the URL and login information so they could use the website at home. I was tickled pink when Gabby and Celina brought me the research papers and projects they created at home. Great work, girls!! I am so proud of YOU BOTH!
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The Mad-Dash to do Research After the Test has Begun
I think this time of year is often my favorite and yet most frustrating. I finally get to do some of the creative, research-based activities I enjoy doing with our older students...but...BUT...BUT...we have to really scramble to get every class in third, fourth and fifth grade in to do a complete research project complete with a final product.
This year, the teachers and I, did some email and/or quick face-to-face collaboration to decide what their classes would be researching and we have had a nice variety of topics. Second grade has been conducting research for a month or more now covering animals, mammals, plants, habitats, and penguins. The penguins to the left are examples of the concrete poems written by the students in 2C. Third grade has been researching animals on land and in water. Fourth grade has been researching Greek and Roman gods, careers, recycling and enigmas like Big Foot, the Bermuda Triangle and Atlantis. Fifth grade has been learning about the U.S. Presidents and various states in the country. In each instance, children have combined information taken from print and online resources to complete librarian-created worksheets and to produce a final product. I have had a great time with the kids and I think they have enjoyed their research, too. I just wish we could do more of this through out the entire school year rather than cramming it into the final month! |
TLA Presentation April 2012 | |
File Size: | 53408 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
March at Moye
Between spring break and almost a week of STAAR testing, it seemed that March was gone with a blink of the eye. I did get to see most of the kids at least for check out. The upper grade classes that came read Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey or The Mightiest Heart by Lynn Cullen, the first a humorous story, the latter a touching folktale. Then we made dog-earred foldables where we defined the literary terms 'mood' and 'tone' underneath the ears of our pups. On the back of the foldable, we identified the ways the author created the mood through his attitude toward the subject and the story he was telling. I still have to stop and think for a second before I am remember which is which, but this lesson helped me understand the difference between the two. |
While I was on spring break, I met with Lisa Lopez, the librarian at Zavala Elementary School in the El Paso ISD. She has implemented a program called The Little Free Library at her school and it is the first of its kind in the entire state of Texas! The Little Free Library (LFL) is actually more of a concept than an object; it is the idea of recycling books with one another, swapping a personal book of your own for one that formerly belonged to someone else. A kind of book exchange program.
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February 2012 ...
Upper Grades ... I Miss YOU!
With all of the hub-bub around the upcoming STAAR tests, our administrators and Elementary Division decided that schedules for students in third, fourth and fifth grades should be frozen. No more counseling lessons, science lab, computer lab and no more library until after the testing is behind us. I spoke with Mr. Juarez and Ms. Zapata, our interim principal and our AP, and they agreed that as long as the children were doing something STAAR test prep-related, the children in the upper grades could come to the library after all but many of the classes are involved in cohorts that have kept them from being able to come. While I miss seeing these older Moye mountain lions, I know they are busy preparing for the test.
The third graders that came to the library this month, had lessons on the Dewey Decimal System and the arrangement of books in the library. We began by working in groups of four to sort some small objects - erasers, buttons, beads - and identifying the logic behind their sorting. Then the children moved on to sorting books and I was thrilled to discover some future librarians in every group! Several times, children grouped items that were sports related together, regardless of whether the objects were beads or buttons, and then labeled the grouping "sports books"!! Some children collected all of the objects that were geometric shapes and called them "math books" and other students put little crowns, magic wands, slippers and little princess figures in a pile and 'cataloged' them as "fairy tales". I was super impressed with the efforts of all our third graders.
The third graders that came to the library this month, had lessons on the Dewey Decimal System and the arrangement of books in the library. We began by working in groups of four to sort some small objects - erasers, buttons, beads - and identifying the logic behind their sorting. Then the children moved on to sorting books and I was thrilled to discover some future librarians in every group! Several times, children grouped items that were sports related together, regardless of whether the objects were beads or buttons, and then labeled the grouping "sports books"!! Some children collected all of the objects that were geometric shapes and called them "math books" and other students put little crowns, magic wands, slippers and little princess figures in a pile and 'cataloged' them as "fairy tales". I was super impressed with the efforts of all our third graders.
First Graders Read The Hat by Jan Brett and Wear One, Too!
This month, Moye first graders read the book The Hat by author-illustrator Jan Brett. We made construction paper stocking caps and identified the beginning, middle and ending events of the story and the author's purpose. The children decorated their caps, added a pom-pom cotton ball on the tip, and lined up at the end of class with their caps on their heads. Great work, first grade!
On their second visit for the month, during Dr. Seuss week, these babies shared the book My Many Colored Days written by Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Seuss and published after his death. We learned a trick to remind us how to spell Dr. Seuss's name ~ Dr. SeUSs wrote books for US ~ the word US appears in the middle of his name when it is spelled correctly. And we took a look at some books written by Dr. Seuss under another pen name, Theo. LeSieg (which is Geisel backwards). The children colored paper dolls in the shape of the character in My Many Colored Days and then wrote a sentence about how the color they chose for their little character makes them feel.
On their second visit for the month, during Dr. Seuss week, these babies shared the book My Many Colored Days written by Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr. Seuss and published after his death. We learned a trick to remind us how to spell Dr. Seuss's name ~ Dr. SeUSs wrote books for US ~ the word US appears in the middle of his name when it is spelled correctly. And we took a look at some books written by Dr. Seuss under another pen name, Theo. LeSieg (which is Geisel backwards). The children colored paper dolls in the shape of the character in My Many Colored Days and then wrote a sentence about how the color they chose for their little character makes them feel.
PreKinder, Daycare and Second Grade Also Celebrate Dr. Seuss Week
First grade wasn't the only grade level to celebrate Dr. Seuss week! Our prekinder babies, daycare and second graders all came to the library for special "Cat in the Hat" (as Dr. Seuss is affectionately known at Moye) activities. The PK and daycare children made Cat in the Hat cats and drew the faces on their cats as I modeled how to draw the eyes, nose, mouth, whiskers using the document camera projecting onto our large screen. I was amazed with how well these tiny mountain lions were able to add the features to their cats following my lead.
Second graders listened to one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories, Horton Hatches an Egg, and then completed a foldable compared the two main characters in the book at the beginning of the story and at the end of the story. They even created an alternate ending or a chapter two for the book.
All of Moye enjoyed the week-long Dr. Seuss celebration with crazy hat day, crazy sock day, and other festivities.
Second graders listened to one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories, Horton Hatches an Egg, and then completed a foldable compared the two main characters in the book at the beginning of the story and at the end of the story. They even created an alternate ending or a chapter two for the book.
All of Moye enjoyed the week-long Dr. Seuss celebration with crazy hat day, crazy sock day, and other festivities.
Kindergarten Prepares to Hibernate
Kindergarten read several books about hibernation while visiting the library early in the month of February and then completed their own copy of "Black Bear Hibernates" by adding illustrations to the story. We used nonfiction books to find examples of the kinds of food bears eat before hibernating, the materials they use to build their nests, and the dens where the animals curl up for the winter. I was super impressed with all of our kinder artists!
Bluebonnet Voting BeginsMoye Mountain Lions in third, fourth and fifth grades officially began voting for their favorite Bluebonnet book from the 20 titles on the 2011-2012 Master List. I usually have a pretty good sense of which book on each year's list has earned a first place vote among my students but this year, I am stumped.
We are voting online via the Texas Bluebonnet Award website at: https://secure.txla.org/secure/TBA/tbaBookList.asp. Before going to the computers to cast their votes, the children and I are reviewing the books they read and using a genre pie to determine the author's purpose and the genre and sub-genre for each title. The students are making a genre pie with paper plate pie crusts and a genre-wheel pie filling. Under the narrative, expository and poetry slices in the pie-genre wheel they are writing the titles of the books that fall under that genre. Doing so, has helped me realize that the Bluebonnet list really does represent great books from a variety of genres and I hope it has given the students an opportunity to sample books in genres they might normal read. Stay tuned for the results of our campus voting! |
Skoob Returns to H.R. Moye!The week of February 6th, our favorite shelf elf, Skoob returned for his second annual visit to H.R. Moye. In preparation for Skoob's arrival, we read The Shelf Elf Helps Out by Jackie Mims Hopkins and learned a little about how the library is arranged. We talked about the different sections of the library and how they represent books in various genres. We compared the Angel's Triangle neighborhood where our school is located to the neighborhoods and addresses for the books in the library. And then our guest of honor arrived and what wonderful hosts our second graders were to the little guy!
He started each day with breakfast in the classroom thanks to our new program "Breakfast Room Service." He joined some of the children in saying the Pledge of Allegiance broadcast campus-wide during the morning announcements. Skoob helped the children take AR tests, use their math manipulatives and play outside at recess. On his last day at Moye, Skoob wrote tiny little Valentine's Day notes to each second grade class and made each of the children an elf-sized doughnut. As I prepared to box Skoob up for his postal flight to Oklahoma, the students in 2C cautioned me to be sure to put air holes in the box so Skoob would be able to breath on his trip! Bon voyage y vaya con Dios. |
The Joint is Jumpin' in January
The prekinder babies built snowmen in the library during the week of January 16, and we didn't even get cold doing it! After listening to the book The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming, we accessorized our chart paper snowman with the same items the animals in the book used to build theirs...one red cap, two mittens, three scarves, four prickly pinecones, five birdseed pockets, six twig eyelashes, seven maple leaves, eight orange berries, nine black buttons and ten peanut toes. Here are PKD's adorable results. Then the children moved to the library tables where they followed step-by-step oral directions and visual examples to draw their own snowmen with white chalk on blue construction paper. I think the children were surprised themselves by their own artistic abilities.
Virtual Field Trip to Center for Puppetry Arts
for the Gingerbread Man
Moye second graders read several versions of the "Gingerbread Man" folktale, comparing and contrasting the setting, characters, repeated phrases and endings of the different books. My personal favorite, The Library Gingerbread Man by Dottie Enderle, even has a happy ending for all of the characters, except perhaps the Arctic fox, who goes hungry! We completed a worksheet comparing the stories then participated in a virtual field trip to the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia. All of the second grade students (and teachers) were on their best behavior as we watched puppeteer Patty demonstrate the art of shadow puppetry. The children learned about the use of puppets in cultures around the world, enjoyed hearing about different versions of this folktale from far-away places like China and Hawaii. We saw pictures of the ingredients of gingerbread - wheat, sugar, cinnamon and ginger - growing in their plant state before being prepared in a recipe for this sweet treat. And the icing on the gingerbread man was making our own gingerbread man shadow puppets with construction paper, bendable straws and brass brads. We even at gingersnap cookies! I think a great time was had by all.
December Activities in the H.R. Moye Library
Stone Soup from sheritam on Vimeo.
November Activities in the Library
We have had a busy month and it is just the first full week of November! Upper grade students worked on decorating their AR STAR cards last week after listening to the book My Name is Yoon, about a immigrant girl from Korea learning to write her name in English. One of the fourth grade classes, 4A with Ms. Cota, listened to the book A My Name is Alice and then wrote similar poems using the alliteration with the first letter of their names. Moye kindergarteners learned how the holiday books in the library can be identified by becoming acquainted with the stickers we use on the spines of the holiday books. Like first grade this week, they drew their own versions of the stickers we use on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Easter. The children did a fabulous job with their drawing, following my direction as I demonstrated how to draw the various stickers using the document projector and the screen. They took they worksheets with them to find holiday books afterward. It was great fun for me to see the children able to find a holiday book and identify the holiday theme of the books they selected.
This has been Blue Week in the library and I have been working with our prekinder babies, the children enrolled in the Employee Daycare program, and first and second graders. The youngest Moye Mountain Lions listened to a story entitled Thank you, Thanksgiving after talking with me for a few minutes about the things we can be thankful for everyday. We looked at photographs of real turkeys from a nonfiction book and noted the colors of the turkey's feathers then made our own stuffed turkeys out of lunch sacks and a combination of construction paper and real feathers.
This has been Blue Week in the library and I have been working with our prekinder babies, the children enrolled in the Employee Daycare program, and first and second graders. The youngest Moye Mountain Lions listened to a story entitled Thank you, Thanksgiving after talking with me for a few minutes about the things we can be thankful for everyday. We looked at photographs of real turkeys from a nonfiction book and noted the colors of the turkey's feathers then made our own stuffed turkeys out of lunch sacks and a combination of construction paper and real feathers.
Cinderella Fairy Tales and Stone Soup Folktales with Second Grade
The second graders in Ms. Chavez's class, 2F.
Our second graders and I have been learning the ingredients that are found in fairy tales and folktales. Last library visit, we read two versions of Cinderella, The Rough Face Girl and Cinderella at the Ball. We completed a Venn diagram in the shape of Cinderella's slipper and compared and contrasted the two versions, then created magic wands on which we wrote the characteristics of a fairy tale. Beginning this week, the second graders started learning about the ingredients of a folktale and we are reading two versions of Stone Soup, one by that same name retold by Marcia Brown and another entitled Bone Soup by Cambria Evans. We are completing another Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two versions of this story and then planning on concocting our own batch of stone soup next week. The children and I talked a little bit about the lesson on sharing and working together we can learn from this folktale and even compared the story to the Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving with Squanto and his tribe. Stay tuned for pictures of our stone soup cooking experiences.
The students in second grade, their teachers, Ms. Manso and I prepared stone soup on the last day of school before our Thanksgiving vacation began. We likened our experience to the feast the Pilgrims and Indians shared almost 400 years ago on the first Thanksgiving. We gathered in the library with each of the five teachers manning a crock pot. I poured a little water into each pot and then the teachers added three smooth, round stones. One by one the students came up to their teacher's crock pot to add an ingredient to the soup. We added seasoning, cilantro, green and orange peppers, onions, ground beef, corn, black beans, pinto beans, stewed tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes and peppers and tomato juice. The library began filling with a spicy smell almost instantly! Ms. Sherita Martin, Moye's tech site coordinator, was a tremendous help as she documented everything with her trusty camera which gave me more freedom to hop around from pot to pot, supervising!
When all of the ingredients had been added, and the second graders had returned to class, Ms. Manso and I moved the crock pots into the back room of the library where the soup cooked all day. MMmmmm, mmmm, mmm! I grew progressively more hungry as the soup cooked.
Elijah Villa holds a homegrown vegetable he brought to add to our soup and a copy of my father's short story, "Pedro's Stone Soup". Click on the picture to hear "Pedro's Stone Soup". You can also select Resources from the top of the page and click on Podcasts from the drop-down menu to hear "Pedro's Stone Soup" and other stories read aloud.
Biography versus Autobiography: What's the Difference?
This second full week of November we are going to be talking about biographies and autobiographies and reading some of the creative biographies on the 2011-2012 Bluebonnet Master List. Third, fourth, and fifth grade mountain lions will be reading about writers Louisa May Alcott and Mark Twain and pilots James Banning and Thomas Allen, also known as the Flying Hoboes.
Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott by Yena Zeldis McDonough is a lovely biography. It provides a poignant glimpse into the life of this renowned children's author complimented by Bethanne Anderson's warm pastel illustrations. I love the inclusion of quotes by Alcott, the timeline of her life, and even a recipe for one of Louisa's favorite desserts.
The biography on Mark Twain, affectionately (yet fictionally) penned by his daughter Susy, is entitled The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. This book has almost as much personality as ole Samuel Clemens himself. Much of the factual information is provided within the larger pages of the book while anecdotes from the author's life are shared by Susy on the smaller pages of a journal she has kept. Barbara Kerley even provides a "how-to" page outlining the art of writing biographies for aspiring young authors.
Finally, I think the third graders will fall in love with Phil Bildner's The Hallelujah Flight, a touching tribute to James Banning and Thomas Allen, pioneers in American aviation. I am especially excited about sharing this special book with them. Check out this video for a teaser for the book with its charming illustrations by John Holyfield.
Louisa: The Life of Louisa May Alcott by Yena Zeldis McDonough is a lovely biography. It provides a poignant glimpse into the life of this renowned children's author complimented by Bethanne Anderson's warm pastel illustrations. I love the inclusion of quotes by Alcott, the timeline of her life, and even a recipe for one of Louisa's favorite desserts.
The biography on Mark Twain, affectionately (yet fictionally) penned by his daughter Susy, is entitled The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. This book has almost as much personality as ole Samuel Clemens himself. Much of the factual information is provided within the larger pages of the book while anecdotes from the author's life are shared by Susy on the smaller pages of a journal she has kept. Barbara Kerley even provides a "how-to" page outlining the art of writing biographies for aspiring young authors.
Finally, I think the third graders will fall in love with Phil Bildner's The Hallelujah Flight, a touching tribute to James Banning and Thomas Allen, pioneers in American aviation. I am especially excited about sharing this special book with them. Check out this video for a teaser for the book with its charming illustrations by John Holyfield.