April 20, 2017

Out of the Woods, Red Clover Voting, and Samo!

"...Antonio never forgot the time when he watched the distance between people and animals disappear."   -Rebecca Bond

We have reached the end of our Red Clover books journey!  And, what an amazing journey it has been.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy and appreciate the variety of fiction and non-fiction, humor and life lessons contained in each of the ten titles.  

After completing Out of the Woods by Vermont-born author Rebecca Bond, learners then watched a slide show I created to review the list before voting on their favorite title.  Many expressed how difficult it was to pick just one!  A sign that this year's list was truly special.  

Some groups this week (depending on time and missed classes) also got to listen to the recent Caldecott Medal winning title, Radiant Child by Javaka Steptoe.  This book beautifully tells the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat and his rise to fame in the 1980's art scene of New York City.  This story was another reminder to us all to never abandon your dreams - and to work even harder than you think you can to accomplish them.                     

April 7, 2017

An Unexpected Friendship and Baseball

"When it comes to being glamorous, less is sometimes more, but when it comes to having friends... you can never have too many."  -Glamourpuss

We just completed our ninth Red Clover book together!  It's amazing to think that we only have one more to go before voting. 

  Glamourpuss, by Sarah Weeks, tells the story of a luxurious (and spoiled) cat whose easy life is interrupted by the arrival of a trick wielding chihuahua named Bluebelle.  This visitor/intruder throws Glamourpuss into the unexpected headspace of doubting just how special she really is.  But before all is lost, something happens that changes Glamourpuss's perspective and unites the two together.  It's a great reminder that we all have more in common than often meets the eye.  

       

                    

In addition to reading another wonderful Red Clover title, I also wanted to share my favorite "sign of spring" with the students - baseball!  And when I think of great baseball picture books I immediately think of Matt Tavares.  Matt is an amazing author/illustrator, and makes his love of story telling and baseball obvious to all lucky enough to read his books.  As usual, it was another great week here in the SATEC library!  

March 29, 2017

Focusing on Family

"Together, we make a family."

 

This week's selection of stories was intended to guide our collective focus on the concept of family - in its numerous shapes and forms.  The people you go home to every night, relatives or friends near and far, and even the family of learners that we become here at SATEC all add to our understanding of family.  The inspiration for this lesson came from our eighth Red Clover nominee for the 2016-17, Mango, Abuela, and Me.  In addition to this beautiful story, learners also heard titles like: My Wild Family, Wolfie the Bunny, and Salt in His Shoes.          

March 23, 2017

The Water Cycle

 How fortuitous to be able to support this month's Four Winds theme AND complete our seventh Red Clover book of the year!  It's hard to believe that we are winding down this incredible and inspiring Vermont reading program for the 2016-17 school year.  

 April Pulley Sayre's Raindrops Roll matches a beautiful collection of photographs with poetic text to create a unique, and well received, nonfiction story.  To enhance the experience, we listened to some rain sounds while reading the story aloud.

After watching a short clip on the three stages of the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation) we then read Miranda Paul's Water is Water to see the cycle in action over the course of a year.  By the end of the lesson we were all dripping with new knowledge on the water cycle!       

        

March 9, 2017

Jon Agee - Author, Illustrator, & Lover of Words

"Sit on a potato pan, Otis!"

This week's mentor texts:

 
   

With returning to school after a lengthy vacation, I thought it would be fun to conduct another "author study week" - and decided to focus on the very talented, creative, and hilarious children's bookmaker  Jon Agee.  Learners discovered what led Mr. Agee to pursue a career as an author/illustrator extraordinaire here; experienced his love of creating wacky, off-the-wall stories (titles above); and listened to his take on poetry, oxymorons, and palindromes as well.  

For those that would like to know more about Jon, here is an interview from 2011.  I'm very much looking forward to another great month in the library with all of SATEC's curious and excited learners!     

   

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!