Caution! Lost Tooth Zone!

Lose a tooth in the library....get a free book!

Something very strange happened with 6th graders today.  They entered the library this morning and their teeth started falling out.  I had 3 students in one class lose a tooth in the library in one 40 minute period.  When you lose a tooth in the library, you get a free book.  I was busy that period running to my secret book stash closet and back to the library with free books.  TOO FUNNY! 

It's Cat vs. George: MCS Book Character Election

Hallway Display

In an attempt to create another school wide event celebrating the blessing of books, I thought it might be fun to have an election in our school the same day as our nationwide election on November 2nd.  This went so much better than I ever imagined it would.  What we did in the our lessons in library spilled out into the atmosphere of our school, and I couldn't have been happier.  Here it went grade by grade:

K-2nd grade:  For two weeks in library, students had their own copies of both Cat in the Hat and Curious George goes to the hospital.  We read these through together and use my "magic bell" to signal it was time to turn the page.  The objective: to give students a well rounded perspective on both book characters so they could make an informed decision on their vote.

3rd-4th grade:  Students read through both copies of books on their own.  Came up with 3 reasons they liked each book.  Wrote these down on an evaluation sheet to help them with their decisions.  I also spent time walking through the election process with them in the book See How they run.  This went better with 4th grade than 3rd.

Vote for Cat in the Hat!

Vote for George!

4th grade:  4th graders were the foundation of this event in the school.  Their enthusiasm was amazing to watch.  They designed campaign posters in Art class (a great way to combine curriculum efforts) for either Cat or George and displayed them throughout the school.  These were great!


5th-6th grade:  Students researched both candidates on their laptops using safe search engines.  They had to highlight 6 things they learned about each candidate or the author. We spent two weeks on this.  This exercise was critical in terms of keeping older students engaged in the election.  Without this, I don't think they would have been as interested in it as they were. 


In all grades: A beloved parent helped me tremendously with this task.  We created buttons and badges for students to wear at school supporting their candidate.  K-3 grade had badges.  4-6 grade had buttons.  We distributed them a week before the election.  Any earlier and the effect would have been lost.  The badges were in bad shape by the election, even though we laminated them.  It warmed my heart to see them wearing them throughout the school. 


On the morning announcements: A week before the election, I handed our principal fun facts about the two characters.  Those were shared each morning before our school day started. 

Not sure when I will be able to revisit this idea again....but it sure was fun!!!!  Very happy with how it turned out. 

Now Recommending Posters

Now Recommending Posters complete popcorn, review, and pic of student

Students love to have their opinions validated....even when it comes to books.  If they have really enjoyed a book, I want to hear about it.  It is so energizing to see a book travel through the hands of students in a particular classroom simply because it was so highly recommended by one of them. 

I love the quote bubble coming from the student

I thought it would be fun to create some interactive posters in the library hallway to display students' recommendations.  I change these every so often so as to give other students an chance to share.  These posters were a lot of work to make....but I am happy with how they turned out.  (Think "Now Showing" Posters in movie theaters)

Book Spine Poetry Completed

Book Spine Poetry Display in Hallway

A very fun unit with our 5th and 6th grade students.  I was so proud of the creativity some of them used in making these.  I had to display a few of them in the hallway. 

One of my favorites

Memoirs of Sushi

Adding his own rendition of Sushi to the fishbowl

Oh!  How we love our sweet Sushi!

 I love my second graders!  They are so enthusiastic and fun to be around!  They make my Monday afternoons in the library so memorable.  Their coat hooks are right outside the library and they stop by every opportunity they can to say hi to me.....and of course, Sushi the Library Fish.  They love him so and he is strangely very special to them.  If only he felt a mutual affection for them as well. 

Keeping their feelings for him in mind, I ran across a new book by Devin Scillian entitled Memoirs of a Goldfish.  Illustrations by Tim Bowers are fantastic and bring personality to an otherwise typically dull pet.  This book brought to light the thoughts and feelings Sushi might have if he actually had a voice to express them.  An all around fun book but even more meaningful because of our relationship with our library fish. 

To carry the story further with second grade, I found an Ellison cut out of a fish bowl.  Students created their own memoirs of their beloved Sushi within the fish bowl.  These turned out so cute!  I loved seeing the various ways they drew him and the stuff they included in his bowl.  In the words of avid fishermen, this lesson was a "keeper."

Rescue Bunnies- Doreen Cronin

Doreen Cronin is one of my favorite Children's authors.  When my youngest was little, we loved reading Diary of a Worm together and got so excited when she added to the series with Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly.  Other favs like Click, Clack, Moo and Duck for President are now modern day classics for early elementary students.  When Doreen's new book Rescue Bunnies came out recently,  I couldn't wait to read it and share it with my students.

Rescue Bunnies must have good balancing skills

Although this is not my favorite Cronin book, I thought it went nicely with the Fire Safety Unit our Kindergartners were going through in their own classrooms.  I am not sure how much they enjoyed this book.  I didn't get the sense that it would stick in their minds long after we were together in library.  But we did try our own Rescue Bunnies activity at the end.  This went ok...but again, not my most stellar lesson with them.  Probably won't revisit this one again for next year.

PROJECT: DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM Part 3

To wrap up our DDC objective (at least for now),  I put a pile of non-fiction books on each table in the library.  The books ranged from the 000s to the 900s and some were close to one another on the shelves.  I shared with students the challenge of putting these in numerical order according to the DDC.  They thought it would be soooooo easy to put them in order.  "No problem, Mrs. Hesterman!" they confidently uttered.  In a race between the tables, I whispered (I AM in the library, of course) "Ready..set...shelve!" and away they went.  Undoubtedly, this did no go as easily as they thought it would.  As each table finished, I checked to see if they had done it correctly.  I would say "No...sorry.  You've got 3 out of order."  And they would rise to the challenge once again.

Although I don't have any pics of this, it was a lot of fun.  If I were to do it again, I would probably do it with smaller groups.  It would be easier to access if they were really getting the concept or not.