Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Best book since Wonder?

 Wonder                                    Fish in a Tree
I am currently reading a book I would put in the same amazing category as Wonder, about a girl who has a learning disability but has been labeled a "slow reader" or "slow" but no one has really supported her. When her teacher goes on maternity leave, a sub comes in who wants to help and understand her. The book Fish in a Tree by Linda Mullaly Hunt leaves a lasting impression on readers to try to walk a mile in someone's shoes.  (images from bn.com)

"If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking that it's stupid"

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

6th Grade Genre Challenge

In 6th grade, we are working on inferences. Students seem to have a pretty good handle on what they mean so I put them to the test. One week, each student chose a genre of books to research. They took notes on what they meant, examples of the books, what they entail, and any other important details. Then the following week I gave them the Genre Challenge! They were to design a t-shirt (team Poetry/Fantasy/Etc) to represent their genre but they may not use their genre word(s) anywhere on the shirt. Students had to give clues/inferences that others would be able to guess. In addition, they were each assigned a number (no names) so they could judge a shirt from another class. This week, they were assigned 4 shirts to guess and had to explain the clues/inferences that led them to their guess.



They did a great job!

Happy Birthday Rolling Hills!

It's the 15 year anniversary of our school being built so we are celebrating many different ways. The art show had a celebration theme, and the library is decorated with clay cupcakes.
I made a bulletin board display (it's hard to read in this picture) that shows all the books written/published in 2000, the same year Rolling Hills was built. Believe it or not, this was a REALLY hard thing to do! I had to Google image search and then cross check on Destiny or a website on the publication date. Some titles include Because of Winn Dixie, When Sophie Gets Angry, Olivia, Year Down Yonder, Franklin Forgets, Bud Not Buddy, Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire, Stargirl and lots more!
 Finally, my second graders wrote and illustrated books they like to celebrate/books they like. I used those pennants to line the front doors of the library. 
In addition, we have a big 15 year celebration assembly planned for May 15th at 2:30 as part of our school's Step Up initiative.