Elections, Presidents, Book Fair, Mother Goose, Puppets, and Halloween!

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Originally uploaded by nolteowen

It has been a busy October in the library! Last week, we read a book called Los Gatos Black on Halloween by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales. This book incorporates Spanish words throughout the text, and the illustrations are very spooky! Students in 3rd through 6th grades made puppets using only paper bags, scissors, markers, tape, and construction paper. They were so creative! On October 30th, we put on our own puppet production complete with eerie sound effects. This book's illustrations have many references to the "Day of the Dead" celebrations in Mexico. Mrs. Figueroa was also teaching about this in her Spanish classes, so students were exposed to a different culture's fall festival in both library and Spanish enrichment classes.

Also in October, Mrs. Tarleton and I team-taught about the presidents using a creative "Presidential Rap" and reader's theatre. We talked about the elections and discussed how mud-slinging and negative campaigning are similar to bullying and name calling.

The fall book fair raised $500.00 worth of books for the library and for each teacher's classroom. The students always have much fun shopping! A special word of thanks goes to St. Therese parents Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Piernas for volunteering to help. Also, high school students Jessica P. and Daniel H. earned student service hours for helping at the book fair!

I co-presented a workshop at the Whole Schools Institute Fall Retreat in Meridian on October 22nd about teaching Rhymes using book-making, drama, music, and movement. I have dressed-up as Mother Goose with "poems in my pockets" for several years now, and the Pre-K through 2nd grade classes helped me prepare for this workshop by letting me practice with them. This presentation is specifically geared towards engaging students through a variety of learning styles, and we get to have lots of fun, too!

Book character elections are coming up next Tuesday, November 4th! I can't wait to see who wins! Each class is nominating the book character who would make the best president. Speeches will be given on Tuesday morning, and the election will follow. More to follow. . .

St. Therese Featured on Sarah Campbell's Blog

On Monday, September 29th, Sarah Campbell visited St. Therese students in third through sixth grades. She has already blogged about her visit here:

http://www.sarahccampbell.com/Blog/

Mrs. Campbell is the author and illustrator of Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator published by Boyds Mill Press in 2008. I'll write more later and include more photos of the visit. It was a wonderful experience for all and sparked many interesting questions from the students.

Book Fair Safari Home Page

Our Fall Book Fair is coming up October 14th through 17th! We are going on a Book Fair Safari!

Check out the website for the book fair to preview books, create your own wish list, volunteer to help, and much, much more!

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/sainttherese

All third through 6th grade students will be given a penny for every Reading Counts point they have earned through Friday, October 10th. For example, if a student has earned 35 Reading Counts points, the student will be given 35 cents off of anything that is bought at the book fair. 35 cents is enough to get a free pencil!

First Reader's Theater Club Meeting

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Originally uploaded by nolteowen

On Thursday, September 25th, students in the St. Therese Reader's Theater Club gathered in the library for their first meeting of the year. We warmed up our brains by playing a game of "Zip" in which students pass a clap around a circle and practice teamwork and communication. Then, we warmed up our tongues with a few tongue twisters to help us practice enunciation. Not one person escaped without laughing!

The main attraction of the meeting, however, was to dive into a reader's theater script. We read a script by Judy Freeman based upon Lane Smith's John, Paul, George, and Ben. In the photo above, Brevin L. plays a young Thomas Jefferson who was known for his independence. All in attendance did an awesome job at our first attempt, and the group intends to read this script again at our next meeting and switch up parts.

In this photo, Jimmy B. volunteers to read a tongue twister.

Field Trip to the Mississippi Museum of Art

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Originally uploaded by nolteowen

On Tuesday, August 28, 2008, Ms. Bentley's 4th graders and Mrs. Holder's 3rd graders took a field trip to the Mississippi Museum of Art. During August, Mrs. Tarleton and I co-taught lessons to prepare for the field trip and the special exhibit at the museum titled "The Sight of Music." During library and music classes, we researched musical instruments, listened to recordings of different instruments, and discussed what visual representations of sound might look like.

At the museum, students, parents, and teachers participated in a scavenger hunt to locate musical instruments depicted by artwork in the exhibit. Teachers also modeled different ways of interacting with art by choosing their favorite piece in the exhibit and sharing personal thoughts and reactions. Then, parents led small groups of students around the galleries of "The Mississippi Story." Some students chose to remain in a quiet corner and sketched artwork that they liked, and some students wandered excitedly through every room. Finally, we gathered outside on the patio for our picnic lunches.

In library on Thursday, third and fourth graders reflected on the field trip and practiced letter-writing skills by writing thank you notes to the wonderful parents who accompanied us on the field trip. In addition, students wrote thank you notes to the Mississippi Museum of Art and to the generous sponsors of our trip, Trustmark National Bank and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi.

Other photos from this field trip are located in my Flickr photo collection for the St. Therese Library in the right hand column.

Second Graders Make Books

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Originally uploaded by nolteowen

On Tuesday, August 12, second grade students made books from recycled library catalog cards (you know-- those cards that we used to have to look through to find books before computers were invented). Ms. Kizer's second graders are studying China and comparing American culture to Chinese culture as part of their August social studies unit. We read a book called "Count Your Way Through China" by Jim Haskins about Chinese culture that introduced different aspects of Chinese culture with each numeral.

Olympics Book Challege!

The Olympics started today! If you are looking for more information, the official websites are:

http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/index_uk.asp

and

http://en.beijing2008.cn/

The online knitting community is sponsoring an Olympic event of starting a new project during the Olympics and trying to finish it before the Olympics conclude in 17 days. This gave me the idea to start a book today and try to finish it before the Olympics conclude on August 24th, 2008. Or, you could also keep track of how many books you read in the next few weeks. Challenge your mind like an athlete challenges his or her body! The book I'm starting was recommended to me at the poolside this summer by a fourth grader. It is a children's book titled The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise Primavera.

Happy Reading! Julie Owen