What's the Big Idea?

This month's ELA Focus Skill is "Main Idea and Details".  Different grade levels practiced this skill with fiction and non-fiction texts!

Thesaurus TURKEYS!

The Library Genre-fication Project!

"Where are the scary books?"

"Where are the mystery books?"

For many years, students have run up to me asking these kinds of questions.  A lot of times kids know what type of book (genre) they want to read and would rather ask me than use the library catalog.

I always teach the importance of becoming an independent library user and I model strategies on how to match themselves with a good fit book.  Learning how to use the catalog and getting book recommendations from peers/teachers/booktrailers/websites are valuable, however, sometimes it's just not convenient in a short amount of time.  

Students find fiction books in alphabetical order by the author's last name, but after surveying the fourth grade about a possible change to "genre" shelving, the response was overwhelming.  Students understand the importance of remembering the author's name, however, I think a lot of kids don't discover many authors until they have found the genres that they enjoy.  It's impossible to highlight the hundreds of popular children's authors during their weekly library visit, and so I hope that this new organization in the library will get kids to discover new authors!  And when some authors begin to cross over into a different genre, I hope that kids will take a new direction as well!

Vote for Books!

Drop in during library hours to vote for your favorite book characters or use the online ballot. The candidates for President and Vice-President are book characters!

1. Pete the Cat & Big Nate
2. Origami Yoda & Scaredy Squirrel
3. Fly Guy and Ladybug Girl
4. Bad Kitty & Baby Mouse

Check the box next to your favorite pair and then click “Vote”
Please vote online only once. Results will be announced here after the election!

Literacy Club!

The Literacy Club is focusing on non-fiction research this year.  This guided inquiry approach allows students to select a topic based on personal interest and create a set of research questions to guide their investigation.  First, we brainstormed possible resources we could use for our research.  Then, the students created a K-W-L chart to organize their thinking. 

Second Grade Mystery Unit

This month our school's ELA Focus Skill is Story Structure.  After exploring Beth Newingham's website and resources, I decided to incorporate the mystery unit into my classroom.  The first week I read a mystery picture book, Grandpa's Teeth, by Rod Clements.  

Queen of the Falls

Queen of the Falls tells the story of Annie Edson Taylor and her death defying stunt of going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She had hoped to become rich and famous after the stunt but people could not believe that an elderly woman could have done such an act. Van Allsburg's pictures are as amazing once again!


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Research

American Idle

Driving Home the THEME!

This month's ELA Focus Skill is "Finding the Theme in a Text".  After making an anchor chart for the skill, students listened to a variety of picture books to find the theme.