Eric Carle Author Study

Our Second Graders recently read an Eric Carle story (The Tiny Seed) during their reading time in class. When they came to the library, I read them Walter the Baker - my favorite Eric Carle book. We talked about how Eric Carle does his illustrations with collage. The teachers went above and beyond and helped their students create beautiful bulletin boards using the collage techniques. Here are some pictures of the hallway decorations and some of the creators!

New Story Rug!

We are so excited to have a new rug in our library for kids to sit upon when they listen to stories in the library. It has rows of stars on which little kids sit and so far, it is a hit! Check out this class enjoying the new rug...

 

Weekly Weed: Modern Olympic Superstars

Since we recently finished up the Summer Olympics in London, I thought I'd showcase this book of Modern Olympic Superstars! This book has a copyright date of 1979. Boy, is that modern! The cover photo is of Nelli Kim, a Russian gymnast who earned the second "10" in the 1976 Olympics. That was the same year Nadia Comaneci received the first "10" score in an Olympics. The only other person I had heard of that is listed in this book was Bruce Jenner. Now, he is more famous for his connections with the Kardashian family than for his Olympic gold medal in the decathalon. The last checkout date for this book was in 1987. I hope someone might find this book useful as I will be giving it away!

Weekly Weed: Poems for the Children's Hour

Did you know that The Star has 3 verses? Here it is:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

In the dark-blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtain peep,
For you never shut your eye
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

~Jane Taylor

This poor, old book, titled Poems for the Children's Hour has a copyright date of 1957! As far as I can tell, the book hasn't been checked out in years. It is too torn up on the outside to be decorative, so does anyone have any ideas on how to use it? The pages might make an interesting wallpaper...

Weekly Weed: Flying to the Moon

It has been a while since I featured a weeded book here on my blog. It has just been such a busy summer for me. However, I am working in the library the next two weeks, so will be catching up on my "weekly weed" posts.

Flying To the Moon and Other Strange Places is a memoir written by Michael Collins, one of the astronauts on the Apollo 11 crew. He was the pilot of the Columbia space craft which dropped off and picked up the Eagle (the first manned space craft which landed on the Moon). The book, sadly, hasn't been checked out since 1989. It was actually a pretty easy and fun read! There are some black and white photographs of Mr. Collins, some airplanes, and of the first flight to the moon. The best photograph is one of the back side of the moon covering the Earth! The book has a copyright date from 1975. Luckily, our library's space and planets section has grown recently with new purchases.

Curious George Goes to DC & Virginia

Finally! Curious George and I have returned from our trip to Washington, DC and Virginia. We visited 3 cities in Virginia: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown. I think my favorite place to visit in the DC area was Mount Vernon, the home of our first president George Washington. It was a pretty long trip to get there by using the metro and public bus systems. The trip was completely worth the effort. Washington's home has been restored to when he lived there, including the outbuildings and gardens. The weather in DC was hot and humid and there were around 200,000 Girl Scouts visiting and celebrating the 100th anniversary of their organization. I enjoyed being a Girl Scout for 9 years!

Virginia is a beautiful state. Colonial Williamsburg is a fun and educational place to visit. I was lucky to receive a fellowship to attend their Teacher Institute last week. I was there with 27 other educators from Oklahoma and we were able to experience the founding of our country through different perspectives of the people who lived there during the late 1700s. We teachers came home with a renewed sense of citizenship and tons of resource materials to share with our faculty and staff. What an honor to represent our state!

Here is a little video I made showing some of the things Curious George did while we were on this trip. I hope you enjoy it!

Curious George's First Trip

Here's a video I created about CG's trip to Branson, Missouri! We had so much fun shopping, eating, kayaking, taking in some shows, and generally, just RELAXING! My best friend went with us, so she took many of the pictures. I think my favorite part was the kayaking and seeing the Dixie Stampede show, although the miniature golf was tons of fun, too! I hope you enjoy the video. Please leave some comments!

Weekly Weed Number Two

Okay, so it has been more than a week since my last "weed," but I've been busy closing down the library, doing inventory, and saying goodbye to students. Here is the next weed I have taken from my collection to share with you:

This book's copyright is 1979 - written one year after my first visit to Washington, DC. My parents took me as a graduation gift when I finished high school in 1978. Mom and I visited as much of the Smithsonian museums as possible while my dad was in meetings.

The book gives information about most of the Smithsonian Institute buildings that are located on the mall between the Washington Monument and the Capitol building. The pictures are pencil sketches with a mustard-yellow coloring accent (yuck). The book is a little beat up and the last time it was checked out was 1985! It does have good information, just a little outdated. Maybe I can convince someone that they want to read about the places that Curious George and I will visit in a couple of weeks!

Happy summer reading everybody!

Saying Goodbye... sniff, sniff

Here's a little video I created for the teachers and staff at my school:

Weekly Weed Number One

I think I'm going to try to keep up with a new weekly post on my web called the "Weekly Weed." This is my first year in my library, and in a brand new library building. My assistant told me that when they moved into this new building that they weeded the collection and brought what they had left over. I am a diligent and determined "weeder" of library books; in other words, RUTHLESS! If the book is old, worn out, out of date, or otherwise inappropriate for our developing collection, it is not needed in the library. I learned in librarian school ~smirk~ that if your shelves are full of unused books, no one will know that you need new books! Fortunately, for our students and faculty, the administration is pro-library and has given us funds to purchase many new books this year. We've also had some donated by retiring teachers, family members, and other faculty members. I am always on the prowl for new books to show our students and teachers.

Our students are heavy AR users, so if a book isn't AR, they practically won't even look at it. Sad, but true. I've weeded the fiction, everybody, and finally, nonfiction sections of the library. I found so many interesting books during these weeds that I decided to feature some of them. Unfortunately, I decided this AFTER I had already distributed most of the fiction and everybody books. Here is a picture of my nonfiction weeds:

Here is my first Weekly Weed:

Crackerjack Halfback, by Matt Christopher, has a copyright date of 1962. Catcher with a Glass Arm, by Matt Christopher, has a copyright date of 1964. Both books were last checked out in 2005. Both have AR tests! Both books have sewn bindings, and both had their spines taped at some time. I'm amazed at the shape they are in. Unfortunately, the way they look is why students aren't checking them out. They look too "old fashioned and old," according to my boys.

I hope you enjoy my weeds as much as I am! Check in next week for the next highlighted book from our former collection!

Curious George Goes to Washington...DC That Is!

The students have spoken and Curious George is the winner of a grand tour of Washington DC and Colonial Williamsburg! CG and I will be spending four nights and three days exploring our nation's capital city. Then we will travel by train to Colonial Williamsburg so I can attend the Teacher Institute.

I will be posting pictures and updates via Twitter (@librarykittie), Facebook, and this blog. I hope you will consider following this blog, my Twitter feed, or me, on Facebook so you can keep up with our travels! I've booked a wonderful little Bed & Breakfast in a neighborhood row house in Washington that is close to a Metro (subway/train) station for our stay in the capital. Then, we will be staying right in the Colonial Williamsburg village for a week of great learning.

Reading to Grandma

Mrs. Tinney's mother visited us in the library for several months this spring. She enjoyed listening to many students read stories to her while she was here.

Third Grade Researchers

A couple of third grade classes have been doing some research for their science fair projects. The library played host to Mrs Knight's class while they used iPads and other library resources to do some research for their projects. We are always happy to have students working in the library!

COE Spring 2012 Book Fair

We are in full swing here at COE Library! Kids are donating to One For Books, choosing wonderful books for their summer reading, and generally enjoying everything there is to see at the book fair!

Students and teachers are enjoying the Luau theme and voting for which book character will accompany Ms. Sloggett on her trip to Colonial Williamsburg and Washington DC this summer. All the change donated by voting will be given to One For Books so that the library can purchase even more great books for our students to check out from the library.

Poetry Month at COE

The students at COE had a really fun time writing and reading poetry during the month of April. Lots of classes wrote diamante poems for their teachers. Many students created mini "stapleless" books full of poems that they collected and were ready with them in their pockets to read.

Poem In Your Pocket Day was a huge success! The library gave out around 100 prizes including bookmarks, books, treasure box items, and gift certificates to the Spring Book Fair as rewards for having and reading a poem from your pocket. Even some teachers won some cool prizes!

Here is Ms. Sloggett listening to a Pre-K student read his poem. Way to go, Jackson!

Proud of You!

We are so happy and proud when kids increase their reading levels and get to choose books that they have been wanting to read for a long time. Here's a good example!

Who will be my vacation partner?

I am very lucky to be attending the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute this summer. While I'm in the vicinity, I plan to stay a few extra days to visit Washington, D.C. I will be taking a children's book character stuffed animal with me to help document the trip for my students. This week and next week, students will get the opportunity to vote for their favorite by putting their change in a bucket. All money will be donated to our One For Books campaign running through our Scholastic Book Fair  to purchase new books for our school library. The characters students will be voting on are:

If you'd like to vote online, please comment on this blog entry to let me know which character should go on my trip this summer!

American Girl Seamstresses

Our American Girl club met today to learn how to do some simple sewing. Only two of the dozen or so students who came had ever sewn on a button or done any sewing at all. It was a learning experience to be sure!

I taught them how to sew a button onto a piece of felt, tie knots at the end of thread, and how to do a simple running stitch. Luckily, Mrs. Tinney was there to help us all out!

The kids were so happy with their results and wanted to know if they could take needles and thread and extra fabric home to make another pillow or sachet.

We discussed the American Girls in the books they have read that had to sew their own clothes. They all agreed that it was so much easier to buy clothes at the store rather than to make them!

We can't wait until next month to have our American Girl Tea Party!

National DEAR Day

We had an awesome DEAR Day here at Central Oak! In the library, students were encouraged to read silently while they were waiting for testing opportunities, listened to Ms. Sloggett read stories, and even got to lay on the floor and read their new books. Here are some fun pictures of our kids!

Babymouse books are some favorites!

Ahhhh, how comfortable you look!

Pete Lovers Unite!

I'm sharing Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes with my second and third graders this week, and they are LOVING IT!

We watch the video so we "catch" the tune, then I read the book to the kids and we all sing the chorus. They leave the library singing and driving their teachers crazy with the Pete song! I can't wait to share it with the rest of the 2nd and 3rd graders this week!