Makerspace Round 2!

We had another BUSY Makerspace today! 4th graders signed in, so there were 31 during the first recess and I didn't even keep count during the second recess for 5th/6th graders. We had more duct tape projects...

 Knex building..

 Painting (which got a bit messy and I may rethink this!)...

 Crafts....

 And even some quilting!

Next week we will be having our costume parade at that time so we won't be open but November looks like some fun! We plan to do a little more structured duct tape projects with pens and pencils if students are interested. They seem to enjoy the freedom of choice so far!

Kindergarten is Going on a Book Hunt!

Kindergarteners listened to the story We are Going on a Book Hunt (from demco.com) and did some actions!

 

It involves passing by books that are too easy, too hard, and finding a JUST RIGHT book for us. In Kindergarten sometimes that means finding something we really like to read and having someone to read it to us, or we can "read" the pictures of the story. Click below to see one of our Kinder classes doing the Book Hunt actions!

Do you know what next week is?!

BOOK FAIR!

Next week our school will be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair! The cases were delivered today and will be set up by our fabulous PTO volunteers tomorrow. Feel free to shop online from October 1-20. 

Shop Now!

Our First Makerspace

Our first Makerspace meeting was a success! A Makerspace is a place where students can create and follow their interests. Some include technical things such as coding and circuits and more. Others can involve tools and building. Ours is more of a craft and creation Makerspace. I have some acquired and donated items, such as knex, legos, playdoh, beads, pipe cleaners, duct tape, paint samples, yarn, and more for students to create with. We have 2 rules in our Makerspace: Use only what you need and Clean up. We had a successful first Makerspace meeting on Friday with many attendees during their afternoon recess.

Choosing materials: 

                                     
Painting and duct tape projects:

 Knex and building:

 Jewelry creation:

 Making weights with building materials and playdoh:

 Making bracelets with beads and pipe cleaners:

Unfortunately the Makerspace will be closed for the next 2 Fridays as we have book fair set up and tear down, but we will resume on October 23. Students in grades 4-6 are welcome to come at their afternoon recess and be creative!

Do we know Dewey?

This week we are learning ALL THINGS DEWEY!

Second graders have been sorting books into the Dewey Decimal categories. 3rd graders are listening to What Marion Taught Willis and taking picture notes on the different categories (this is a 2 week activity). Photo from bn.com

4th graders are doing a carousel activity where they look at books from each category and writing words to describe what you can learn about each. Finally, 5th and 6th graders are doing an online quiz using Socrative to find books in the library and watched the DEWEY DECIMAL RAP!

Welcome Back!

It's been a great start to the 2015-16 school year! So far, I have seen 3/5 of the school during library time. It's wonderful that routines have already been established for most students, and I am focusing on being classes being STARS in the library!

S= sit quietly to enjoy your books

T= turn your books in on time

A= always do your best

R= respect each other and the library

S= show safety by walking

My Friday classes traced their hands to show "reaching for the stars" and decorated them so I could get to know them as readers. 

This week, grades 4-6 have been completing a scavenger hunt through the library. It took a little time to set up, but I created a survey using Socrative with questions about specific books they find in the library. I attached large shapes to 12 books and each question says "what shape is on the book...?" and teams of 3 have to find the book and choose the correct answer. They are doing awesome and getting reacquainted with the library! 

 

A Fun End of the Year Game

I know this is late, but at the end of the year I created a really fun Go Fish game based on books. I cut and taped mini book covers on an actual set of Go Fish cards (purchased at the Dollar Tree in a set of 3 with Crazy 8 and Memory Match). Then the students would ask each other "Do you have... Wimpy Kid? Dinosaur books?" and other fun titles.

Then they came up with a summer reading goal that I displayed as "Swim Away With a Summer Reading Goal". My 2nd graders had a lot of fun thinking of different ways they would read this summer! Some were planning to read for a certain amount of minutes per day or week, some had a number of books as a goal, and others wanted to find just right books.