Last week in the Jackson Library, first graders had fun with a new spooky story, Fright School, by Janet Lawler. There are excellent vocabulary words in the story, so I created an interactive poster with words and corresponding pictures. We used context and the fun illustrations to determine the meanings of the words. During check out, we had fun with Amanda Noll’s I Need My Monster interactive storybook app and no spooky library lesson would be complete without doing The Monster Shuffledance at the end!
words studied:scolds, seeping, relish, foul, clutch, quake, peer
Last week in the Jackson Library, fifth graders played a Jeopardy-like game called Factile.
I created questions in categories based on the book, Halloween Motel, on a Jeopardy-style board. Then I purchased the Premium version of Factile to 1) print out my questions and answers and to 2) be able to play in Buzzer mode. If you use the free version, you can still play but you have to have the teams take turns or determine yourself who raised their hand first. In buzzer mode, the computer tells me who buzzed in first by putting a yellow thumbs up on that team’s avatar.
First, you open your saved game in Factile and then click ‘Buzzer Mode’. Then it generates a code like Kahoot. Give one iPad to each team captain and have them type in the code. Then you start the game and choose a category and question amount. The computer will tell you who buzzed first and then you either click the check mark to issue their points or the red x to deduct points. The kids loved it!
TEK 2d: I can identify the meaning of common idioms in the story. 11b: I can identify details that contribute to the theme and can draw conclusions about the ending.
Fourth graders came to the library to write fun, spooky poems full of imagery. After reading Caswell and Shea’s Boo! Haikubook, the kids created their own spooky-themed poems. They had to choose a topic and then had to describe it well enough so someone could guess the topic. I made a fun interactive bulletin board of these so the kids in the school could guess the topics. What great writers we have at Jackson!
Grade 4
LT: 16 G: Writing/Literary Texts: I can compose poems that convey sensory details using the conventions of poetry (genre characteristics and craft).
When they finished writing, they had a choice to share their work on FlipGrid or to create a spooky augmented reality pumpkin on Quivervision. Did you know you can now upload your creation to the Quivervision gallery online? Awesome!
Kindergarteners are welcoming October this week with the picture book, Plumply Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo. Kids sequenced events in the story culminating with a prize-winning pumpkin in the end. At the tables, we played pumpkin weighing and carving games on the Starfall Pumpkin app. During check out, we watched the story in animated form and sang along about October with Jack Hartmann.
