February 17, 2017

Winnie-the-Pooh

"Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved."

-Winnie the Pooh

 

In this week's library classes we returned to our Red Clover reading program with Sally Walker's nonfiction title, Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh.   Ms. Walker dutifully tells the authentic tale of how a motherless bear found and purchased at a Canadian rail station went on to become the world's most beloved bear.  From the book, learners enjoyed discovering the origin of the "Pooh Bear" story, watched a snippet of the Disney version of Pooh, and got to color their own picture to keep.  Some classes also had the opportunity to listen to last year's Caldecott Winner Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick.  In those classes we worked on our compare/contrast critical thinking skills - as this title is fiction, but tells a similar tale about Winnie.  

As usual, it was another great week of classes!  As I've mentioned before in this blog, it is an honor to get to share my love of reading and learning with your child(ren) each week.

Interactive Website:  The Real Winnie
Video Link: Winnie the Pooh: A Day For Eeyore (Disney)

    

February 9, 2017

Honoring "Honest" Abe

"My Best Friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read."

-Abraham Lincoln

This week's library lessons were focused on the life of our sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln.  Different classes were treated to various mentor texts - some depicting Lincoln's early life, and others that explained the difficult decisions he made to keep the Union together.  In addition to the inspiring read aloud texts some learners had the opportunity to make their own "Talking Lincoln" heads (pictured below).  As usual, it was another great week of learning, sharing, and creating!

  

February 2, 2017

Groundhog Day!

            

This week in library classes we learned about and celebrated the fun tradition of Groundhog Day (February 2nd).  All learners were treated to Gail Gibbons's detailed nonfiction title, watched Nature Cat, and had time for a few enriching activities as well.  In addition, kindergarten also enjoyed Go To Sleep, Groundhog!   

My intention was for learners to walk away from this lesson with the understanding that while Groundhog Day is a fun tradition brought to the U.S. by our European ancestors, a groundhog is a lousy predictor of weather long term (2 or 6 weeks for instance).  Below are a few images of learners working on one of the activities (Make A Hundred Chart Groundhog).  It was another fun filled week of learning!