Learning is fun!
Posted in first grade, picture book lesson, reading skills, and robots
Today in the Jackson Library, first graders used the Beebot robot to sequence story events in Britta Teckentrup’s book, Bee. During the story, I would pause when the bee landed somewhere and the kids had to program the bee to travel to that picture on the grid. I like how they helped each other problem solve when it didn’t go where they wanted. Great timing to honor Hour of Code this week!
video made with Boomerang
Posted in apps, first grade, holiday, and picture book lesson
Monster trucks, no literally, monsters driving trucks, invaded the library last week! We read Joy Keller’s fun book, Monster Trucks, and matched the specific monster with its truck: the ogre was in charge of the wrecking ball, the werewolf used the digging machine to dig up prehistoric bones, and the yeti ran the snowplow. The kids love this book! At the tables, they controlled their own trucks to build a house of their choosing with Sago Mini Trucks and Diggers. During check out, we watched Jon Scieszka’s Smash! Crash!
Posted in apps, first grade, holiday, picture book lesson, and reading skills
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 Shuffle dance at the end!
words studied: scolds, seeping, relish, foul, clutch, quake, peer
Posted in apps, and first grade
Last week in the Jackson Elementary Library, first graders enjoyed a big-screen version of the Reynolds/Santat book, DUDE! First we read it through once, looking closely at the pictures. The second time we read it, the kids held up index cards with words around it:
Yay! Hey… Oh no! Ha! Guys…? Hello! What?
When they saw the picture that went with each ‘DUDE!’ they had to interpret the ‘DUDE!’ as one of the index card phrases. So when the animals saw the steep cliff rocks ahead when they were surfing, the kids would hold up ‘Oh no!’ as the translation for ‘DUDE!’ When two different answers emerged, we had a great discussion as to why both answers might be right. The kids LOVED this book! At the tables during check out, we had fun with Sago Ocean.
Posted in first grade, picture book lesson, and technology
First graders enjoyed the fun read aloud, Oh No! in the Jackson Library. We predicted which animal was making the BA-BOOM! noise when it walked and then predicted what the animals would say when the tiger wanted help out of the hole. At the tables, the kids rotated on tablets to learn more about animals on the savannah with the app, Savanna Adventures.
Posted in apps, bilingual, first grade, kindergarten, and spelling
Bilingual kindergarteners and first graders had fun taking turns playing spelling games with Osmo last week. Did you know Osmo WORDS has a Spanish word bank? They had fun testing it out last week in the Jackson Library! I found out about this excellent resource from the Jenine Dowdy, the Sigler Librarian on Twitter. Follow her at @SiglerLC!
Posted in first grade, and picture book lesson
First graders laughed out loud last week when we read Ame Dyckman’s You DON’T Want a Unicorn! They categorized what is good and bad about owning a unicorn for a pet. At the computer station, we played ABCYa Molly unicorn games and watched the Bronco Stories read aloud on YouTube during check out. This book is going to be a classic favorite! Check out Ame’s website below. We can’t wait for her new book in April about Dandy the Lion!
You DON’T Want a Unicorn!
Coming in April!
Posted in first grade, kindergarten, and picture book lesson
Kindergarteners and first graders sure did have fun this week in the Jackson Library counting the monkeys! We read this hilarious book by Mac Barnett and then the kids designed their own monkey counting page like the ones that DIDN’T appear in the story! At the computer station, they played a monkey numerical order game and checked out books. Fun!
Make a page for a counting book
Bananas Song on Safeshare TV
Posted in first grade, kindergarten, and picture book lesson
Kindergarteners and first graders had fun in the Jackson Library last week with Pete the Cat! After reading Pete the Cat: Rockin’ in My School Shoes, the kids pretended Pete was at Jackson Elementary and thought of something he might love at school. They created their own book page! Then they explored Starfall at the computer station.
