Coming Soon! Scholastic Book Fair!

There are few things my students and I can completely relate to, except our mutual love of books.  Such an expansive difference in our ages....me being old....them being young.  But I can completely remember the joy and excitement of a Scholastic Book Fair circa 1977.  And apparently not much as changed.

Want to watch your students get excited about books?  Have a Scholastic Book Fair!!  Next week, our elementary students will have the opportunity to peruse lots and lots of wonderful books in hopes of finding just the right ones to purchase for their reading adventures to begin!  I prepared them for the book fair last week during their library time.  With each class, I felt like a Scholastic rep endorsing this book and that book.  Their enthusiasm and anticipation was contagious! 

What are they most excited about?  The Ugly Truth- Book #5 in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.  The book does not come out until November, but we are offering a pre-sale for our students.  I am so curious to see how many copies we sell....because I LOVE MY JOB!! 

Teaching Netiquette

It's a given.  Everybody knows your first year of teaching a new subject is bound to be filled with peaks and valleys, sprinkled with experimentation here and there.  One aspect of my job that is particularly challenging for me is a new addition to our elementary library objectives this year.  We are incorporating computer skills and technology with our 5th and 6th graders during their library time.  While I love my mac, I don't feel like I am a computer expert.  So, I am stretching myself here.  That's a good thing. 

Who knew learning internet vocab could be so much fun? 

This week, I created an internet game that did not require using the computer.  Strange some might say.  But I actually thought students might learn and have more educational fun together if we went this route instead.  Here's how it worked:

Hmmm....should we match this one?

I found some internet vocabulary words that pertained to safety on the internet.  I printed them off on cardstock and had students partner together to match the vocabulary words with their definitions.  It produced some valuable conversations as we walked through the meaning of each of the words I gave them.  

These guys worked to match 100% correct

You don't always know what will work.  There will be moments of tweaking and changing.  That's perfectly alright....because I LOVE MY JOB!

THE KING'S CHRISTMAS LIST by Eldon Johnson

When I was growing up, we would always read the same book on Christmas Eve as a family Christmas tradition.  It wasn't the kind of book where you would laugh at the pictures and the storyline.  It was a serious book- one with meaning, message, and purpose.  You would never be tempted to pick it up again throughout the year...even just to look at the pictures.  You were completely content with the fact that it was packed away with the Christmas ornaments, waiting to be read again the next year.  Yet, it was part of your Christmas Eve traditions and you wouldn't feel right without it being present.  Some books are simply part of traditions only.  The King's Christmas List by Eldon Johnson is that kind of book. 

While reading, I could imagine a little girl identifying closely with the main character, Emma.  While the message was right on, I think younger elementary students would find it hard to stay engaged with the book due to heavy text.  The illustrations are not ultimately kid-friendly.  In other words, I don't think kids will be drawn to the pictures.  However, the main message of giving is communicated well and cannot be overstated.  With this season of "Gimmee, Gimmee, Gimmee,"  I think Johnson explains nicely why this attitude is not God's best for our lives.  It is possible that adults might get more out of this book than a child would. 

CHALK by Bill Thomson

Today, I shared Chalk by Bill Thomson with our kindergartners.  I cannot say I read it, because it is completely a picture book without words.  But, oh!  How they were gripped by this story without words!  I loved watching their reactions with each page that I turned.  They were so into it....their expressions frozen with wonder.  

And the sun came to life!

The premise of Chalk is this: 3 friends walk to a park and find a gift bag attached to the mouth of a dinosaur on a spring.  Looking in the bag, they find sidewalk chalk.  Every thing they draw with the chalk comes to life.  Obviously, the pictures completely make the book....very detailed and amazingly illustrated. 

Love this one!

I only have 30 minutes with my kindergartners.  Time is precious.  But I wanted to allow them the opportunity to create their own masterpieces on the sidewalk.  I hoped their imaginations would carry them as they recalled the pictures in the book.  They were so enthusiastic about this activity.  The only problem....not enough chalk in the colors they wanted.  "Mrs. Hesterman...I want green.  I want yellow.  I want pink."  Sorry, kiddies.  You get what you get.  :)

Not sure I would want this centipede to come to life!

As students lined up to make their chalk creations, I got a "verbal" hug from a sweet kindergartner.  She looked up at me with her cute little baby teeth smile and said, "Mrs. Hesterman, you are so fun!  I wish you were my mom."  I LOVE MY JOB!

The last of Dahl

Lunch room display

To help create "hype" for Roald Dahl outside of the library and to maximize the opportunity for students to learn more about the author, I created a few wall displays in the hallway and in the lunch room.  In all honesty, I was surprised that there were some students who never noticed it in the lunch room.  Sometimes the presence of food just overtakes all other senses. :)  But I think I will still use the space again...especially when I do something school wide.  I am brainstorming what my next venture will be regarding school wide literacy.  At this point, I am stumped...but I just may have an idea brewing. 

Teacher Picks

Alice the Fairy by David Shannon

This summer, I sent an email out to our teachers asking them to choose three of their favorite Children's books for a display I was putting together in the library.  Narrowing their lists to just 3 was a torturous task and a lot to ask, but I didn't have much display room.  As their lists collected in my inbox, I smiled at their book selections...some familiar, some not.  Their personalities were reflected in their favorites and it has been fun to watch students enjoying the display as it changes from teacher to teacher.

How taken they are by this book!

One of our wonderful first grade teachers was showcased in my first display in the library.  Today, I shared her favorite Alice the Fairy by David Shannon with her sweet students.  Each student had their own copy of the book.  (I am so blessed to live with an absolutely amazing public library system.  I can reserve up to 50 books as an educator, so it was very easy to gather enough copies for all students.)  Having this book tangibly in their hands carried the lesson to places I wasn't able to predict initially.  We were able to go over all the "body" parts of the book...even so far as discussing the publisher and the copyright date.  I was so impressed with our students!  They did such a fantastic job.  Watching them enjoy the book in unison was a delight. 

Following the words with their fingers

This lesson was so valuable, I will be sure to do it again.  Thinking of which book I would like to do next and with what grade.  In closing, I'll share this cute story:  Today, when asking students to identify the "jacket" of the book, several raised their hands and said, "It's the coat!! It's the coat!! "  I LOVE MY JOB!!

Facing my fears

Dirty Beasts- A collection of poems by Roald Dahl

After reading the poem "The Scorpion" by Roald Dahl to MCS Second Graders:

2nd Grade Student: "Mrs. Hesterman, could I bring in my scorpion tomorrow to show you?"
Mrs. Hesterman: "Oh no!!!! I can't stand bugs. They are creepy and crawly."
2nd Grade Student: "Mrs. Hesterman, it's time for you to face your fears."

...So true, my little friend. So true! :)

 I love my job!

It was simply Dahl-ing

Wonka! Wonka!

I have been so excited for this day to come!!!   This was my first venture with a school wide literature event and I am so grateful for how the day turned out.  Today, our two week focus on Roald Dahl in both library and art came to a culmination with celebrating his birthday during lunch.  Over 200 students were given a mini chocolate bar (think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).  Three of the bars had a "golden ticket" hiding inside.  Whoever received the "golden ticket" in their candy bar, won their very own copy of a Roald Dahl book.  How I enjoyed watching them actively involved in literature!!  Chocolate is such a great incentive!!

Art....Dahl style

On the art side of things, our older students created their own Willy Wonka candy bar wrappers in art class.  Absolutely amazing!!!  Some of them were traditional in their designs.  Others went wild with oompa-lumpas!!  Their incredible imaginations would have delighted Mr. Dahl if he were still alive today.

A Golden Ticket Winner

To carry the celebration even further, I read the secret missing chapter from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to students today in the library.  Publishers of the book omitted this chapter from the original text.  In the recently published The Missing Golden Ticket and other splendiforous secrets  by Roald Dahl, you can find the missing chapter and oodles of trivia regarding the author.  It has been a great resource in planning my lessons for all age groups.

The day has been chocolate-y wonderful, but it has been long.  I am tired and I haven't written well.  My apologies. But I wanted to put my limited thoughts together on the day while they were still here.  I simply love my job!!

Sushi in my dreams

Houdini Was......

Last night, I had a horrible dream that the inside of Sushi's bowl was so murky and filthy, I could barely find his sweet shimmery turquoise body floating in the thick cloud of "white yuck" in the water.  I "fished" him out of the water with my hand and tried to resuscitate him through the process of begging and pleading with him, "Please live.  Please live.  What will I tell my students, Sushi?"  To no avail, he passed away in my hand.  Maybe I should have put him back in the yuck. 

Today, my daughter and I visited a Scholastic Book Fair at the local library.  I wanted to see it up and running as we will be having our own at school the last week of September.  Such wonderful treats at the book fair!!  I did stumble upon one of the sweetest books I have seen to date entitled Houdini Was --written and illustrated by Second Grade students from Richland, Virginia.  The story is students' personal account of their class pet hamster "Houdini" and how she impacted their lives each day in their second grade classroom.  Obviously, because of the use of the past tense form of "to be" in the title, it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that Houdini dies during the school year. (LOVE the names Houdini AND Einstein in the same sentence!!)  But the words students chose and the pictures they drew give life to a creature that most of us just simply take for granted and find somewhat unlovable.

Putting the book away on the mobile bookshelf, I paused for a second and thought about Sushi and my dream last night.  I don't know if our kids could handle writing a book together entitled Sushi Was.  For some strange reason, our younger students really love him.  But instead, I thought it might be a lot of fun to have our second graders write and illustrate Sushi is.  I will have to tuck that idea away for future use.  Oh!!  The places you can go with your students in the library!!!  I love my job!!

Never a Dahl Moment

There are tons of Dahl-ing things happening right now in the library this week in commemoration of Roald Dahl's birthday.  In each of my classes, I have been teaching a "Roald Dahl 101" lesson, just to let students know the background on one of their favorite authors.  The response so far has been pretty interesting, especially in the upper elementary grades.  They are flabbergasted by the amount of sadness that surrounded Roald's life, both in his early years and married life.  They adored the story of 8 year old Roald placing the dead rat in the jar of Gobstoppers in a candy store.  If only they could be so bold! :)  Many have been surprised, while listing his "books made to movies,"  that he indeed was the author of The Fantastic Mr. Fox.  So fun to watch their enlightenment before my very eyes!

Students have been told there will be a birthday celebration during lunch next week.  I, of course, couldn't divulge all the details of the party. I can't even do it here.  It is completely top secret.  But there is a tasty treat of an activity that we will participate in together as an entire school.  I just can't wait to share it with you next week. 

To bide our time until next week and to continue students' discovery of Dahl, we are participating in the Roald Dahl-athon, a reading challenge sponsored by Penguin Publishers.  If students read 3 Dahl books before the end of December, Penguin will send them three Dahl-ing prizes.  Students are all over this!  http://www.roalddahl.com/Default.aspx?referrer=dahlathon&region=US

The younger grades have been more challenging to introduce Roald Dahl because he doesn't seem to have anything available in picture books or early readers.  I read the beginning of The Enormous Crocodile to them today.  They seemed to enjoy it, even though there were few pictures in the story.  It let their imaginations soar. 

Stretching Roald Dahl into more subjects than just library, I have collaborated with our art teacher and she has created some ultra fun art lessons for our students as well.  Our older students have designed their own candy bar wrappers (think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and they have done such a nice job with these!  We will be choosing 3 "wrappers" as winners as part of our birthday celebration next week. 

Stay tuned for the revealing of our birthday celebration next Tuesday!!

FOUND!! The Secret Magnifying Glass!!

Jackson Jones By Jenn Kelly

While in the lunchroom tallying all of the votes for the newly named "Sushi Walter Library Fish," a sweet humble 5th grade boy approached me carefully with a small laminated paper magnifying glass in his hand.

"Mrs. Hesterman, I found this in the book I checked out in the library last week. I was reading my book on the bus, turned the page, and there it was."

"Oh my goodness!! How exciting!!" I exclaimed. "You know what this means, David? You get a free book."

His big brown eyes looked wide at me. "Really?" he asked.

"Yes, David." I said with a big library smile. "Really."

His winning book? Jackson Jones: A Tale of a boy, an elf, and a very stinky fish By Jenn Kelly

I surely hope he likes it.

The Secret Magnifying Glasses are hidden through the library in all genres of books. The kids obviously have no idea which books have them, but when they find them, I get especially excited. Most of them are hiding in non-fiction right now, as to promote students to have a little more interest in those books.

Wonder who will find the next one?

He works for food

Sushi Walter Library Fish is SOOOO amazing!! His desire to "work for food" is an inspiration, really. I shared with my 1st grade young ones today that Sushi was trying to take his afternoon nap and I needed them to be quiet as they entered the library. How cute they were as they tip-toed in!!! I didn't imagine their respect for Sushi's nap time would last very long, but they were carefully quiet the entire library period so as not to "wake" him up!!!! Precious!!!! :) I LOVE MY JOB!!

First Grade Follies

Student: "Mrs. Hesterman, my tooth just fell out."
Mrs. Hesterman: "Well, you know what happens when you lose a tooth in the library? You get a free book!"
Student: Smiles with what teeth he has left.
Very diligently, other students start wiggling their teeth in hopes that one of theirs might fall out and they could get a free book as well. CLASSIC!!! I love my job!!