Spelling-bees are flying into the library AGAIN!

 Classes have voted the tally is in, the Spelling-bees are flying back into the library the first two weeks in June! Grade 3-8 seem to be missing them. (Ha-ha). Next year I plan on having the students use the I-pads for a few spelling-games and sentence structure. I will enjoy watching their faces as they race against the game to win.

Kindergarten's enjoyed this book and author is visiting our school this Wednesday!

I read-aloud the book called "Chicken, Pig, and Cow On The Move" by Ruth Ohi. The children enjoyed the illustrations of miniature farm animals and found it interesting that even when they found a home that was spacious, they still wanted to be close to each other. The barn was built with popsicle sticks and their new home was a doll house. The kindergarten class certainly had connections with the doll house since some of the children had one at home. The children did not seem surprised when all of the animals squished together in the bathtub of the doll house. These miniature animals did not like the change in their accommodation.

Ruth Ohi, Canadian children's author will be visiting our school and presenting to JK-4. I hope everyone enjoys her presentation. Students will have an opportunity to do some drawings with the help of Ruth and they can ask questions at the end of her presentation.

Whale's song

My read-aloud today is a favorite of mine that I shared with the Grade 3 class. The title of the book  "The Whale's Song" by Dyan Sheldon and illustrated by Gary Blythe. I think we all wish we were fortunate enough to hear our grandmother tell us a story. The little girl in the story is named Lilly and she is at her grandmother's house near the sea. She shares a special moment with her grandmother when she suggests that Lilly leaves a special present for the whales like she did when she was young. Lilly leaves a beautiful flower in the water and waits for the whales. Her grandmother says that if the whales like the present they will give her something special in return, the whales will call her name! Lilly listens in the night to try to hear the whales sing. She hears sounds from the sea and runs down to the pier and to enjoy a special moment in time. She hears the whales call her name, "Lilly, Lilly, Lilly." Quietly, she stood and listened to the beauty of these words and felt blessed to have shared the same experience as her grandmother.

Fossils

The Grade 2/3 classes visited the library today and I shared a non-fiction book with them. The book is called "Rocks & Fossils" by Margaret Hynes. This book provides a thorough look at earth science with photographs of many rocks, fossils, erosion and weather. We talked about caves, and ancient drawings and fossils. I shared a very special treasure of mine that was found in Costa Rica - a fossilized shell! I gave the students an opportunity to hold a fossil and hoped that this would help encourage them to build their interests in natural science. Some of the students thought that they might want to be geologists when they grown up so that they can be experts on rocks. It was no surprise that all of the rocks, mineral and fossils books flew off the shelves by interested students wanting to learn more about them at home.

To be thanked!

At the end of the day, a parent came into the library and introduced herself to me. She thanked me for providing a knitting club for the children at the school. She was happy to report that her own children were knitting at home in the evening now instead of playing video games. She also thanked me for having spelling-bee's in the library. As a matter of fact, her daughter had won the spelling-bee and she said that in the morning, they were practicing words together!

Nests & Eggs

I shared a book with the Grade 1 class called " Bird" by David Burnie and it is from the Eyewitness Books series. Today, I did not use this non-fiction book as a read-aloud, instead I showed the students all the interesting photographs. First, I showed them pictures of bird nests. It was fun to see all the shapes, sizes and materials that different birds use to make their homes.  Next, I showed them the eggs, which are just as diverse as the nests! They are different sizes, shapes, colours and patterns. The children were interested in this topic and were very engaged in the discussion. I shared a story about a robin that built a nest at my home, and gave them advice on what to do (or not do) if they saw a nest with eggs inside. Once you unlock a child's interest they have many questions and are excited to share their own stories.

Proud Moment!

It was a proud moment for me in the library this afternoon. As mentioned in a previous blog posting, I had planned to have spelling-bees for two weeks in the library. The Grade 8 class came for their library time, and promptly sat down, excited to begin. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring the prizes for the spelling-bee, so I was going to postpone until the next week. Their teacher mentioned that they were looking forward to having the spelling-bee game, so I gave them the option to play without prizes. To my surprise, they wanted to go ahead and play the game, and even their teacher joined in! In fact, we had two games and they are all looking forward to the games next week. I'm blessed to have such a wonderful group of kids. Wow! I couldn't ask for students to be more engaged than this.

Bentley & Egg

My read aloud with the Grade 2 class was a favorite of mine during this time of year. The book is called "Bentley & Egg" by William Joyce. I will finish reading the book next week, and I left the students wondering what will happen next. The story is about a boy, a musical frog and duck that lays a single egg. The duck needs to leave her egg to go and see her sister's ducklings. She asks her good friend Bentley the frog to care for her egg. He is not enthusiastic about the job, but as time passes he paints the egg and begins to sing to it and truly care for it. Surprisingly, a boy finds the decorated egg, thinking it is an Easter Egg, and takes it home. Bentley is fearful for the egg and goes searching for where the boy and the egg that he loves has gone. To be continued next week....

Sand sculpture comes alive

My read-aloud with the Kindergartens today was called "Foghorn" by Mary Elizabeth Hanson and beautifully illustrated by Paul Orlando. The possibility of having a sand sculpture come alive unlocks the imagination of the children. Foghorn is a sand sculpture of a cat that a little girl named Elizabeth created one day at the beach. She had taken such loving care in creating the sculpture that once she was done and left, the cat missed her. He came to life to follow her home. Elizabeth has a very difficult time trying to convince her parents that this sand sculpture cat is at their home and in their yard. When the rain comes, her sand cat wants to return to the beach. She is reluctant to let him go but she understands. Once she lets him go, to her surprise she finds a real cat that looks very familiar with the same colour fur and telltale scarf that was on Foghorn.

Imagination grows with book reading and writing. The children were thrilled about the possibility of their own sand sculptures coming to life.

Under the sea

I spoke to the Grade 8 students about life in the Arctic by sharing both a book and a video-clip with them.  The book was called "Very Last Very First Time" by Jan Andrews and is about a little girl who goes under the sea ice to collect mussels. I'm fortunate to have a smart-board in the library so I was able to share a remarkable video-clip to show the students how brave Inuits do this in real life. WOW!

"The Inuit of Arctic Canada take huge risks to gather mussels in winter. During extreme low tides, they climb beneath the shifting sea ice, but have less than an hour before the water returns." BBC News-- Inuit's risky mussel harvest under the sea 

Sometimes we find that a book is not a folktale but rather a historical harvest that has been passed down from generation to generation. The students had many queries and thoughts to share after learning about this and seeing the how the event unfolds.

I was April Fooled

During my morning knitting club on Tuesday, April 1, I was fooled by a Grade 2 student. When I looked behind my chair I was surprised to see a snake. EEK! I was thankful that this little snake looked like a toy and was bright blue. We all laughed and I explained to the students that if the surprise was a real snake sitting behind me on the chair, I'd be out the door and running down the hall. It was all in good fun and the little girls were happy they shocked Mrs. L. I will rest easy now for this year, but I'll be watching very closely next year.

Let the Spelling-bees Begin

The Grade 7 class had their first spelling-bee in the library last week. I chose many words from a list of words appropriate for their grade level. The students were anxious but they enjoyed the change of atmosphere that the library provided.

Before beginning, I always explain a couple of simple rules and tips:

• Say the word out loud
• Pretend you are writing on a piece of paper if it will help you
• The game is for fun!

My last rule is most important. I have this game to build the vocabulary of the students and help them become more confident with their spelling. I ask the students to all be considerate of everyone spelling, and to make sure there are no negative comments or assistance.

The students have a lot of fun taking part, and two lucky students get to go home with a prize, if they are the last ones standing.