It's Awards Season in the Library!

As you can see from the library chalk wall, it's awards season in the library!  We're anxiously awaiting the announcement of this year's Newbery Award winner, Caldecott Award winner, and Bluebonnet Award winner!  In the mean time, we've been making taking a good look at some past Caldecott winners.

To start off our Cladecott exploration, we've been looking very closely at the artwork in Saint George and the Dragon.  After looking at an image closely and listing all of the details we can see, we then share what we think is happening in the picture based on the details we notice.  After practicing this See and Think exercise as a class, students have then been looking at images from other past Caldecott winners and writing down what they notice and think about each image.

Paul, counting animals in Noah's Ark

Jason is thinking about what the man on the high wire might be up to in The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.

Jade notices lots of cars and buildings in The Little House.

Samantha is making inferences about why an explorer is sitting atop a dollhouse in Jumanji.

Annie peruses Rapunzel.

Mason wonders what it would be like to have Rabbit (from My Friend Rabbit) as a friend!

Layton and Seth take a closer look at some Caldecott winners.

Gabriella and Louise share the details they notice in their Caldecott winners.

This Week in the Library...

This week we're participating in some holiday-themed centers.  Here are some of our fabulous students taking part in the activities!

Milo and Alejandro listening to Maynard Moose Tales on the iPad at the listening center.

Endia and Page making light bulbs for our "Books Light Up Our Lives" bulletin board.  After they trace a light bulb onto colored paper and cut it out, students write the title and author of a favorite book.  Each bulb is then placed on the bulletin board!

Aizik coloring a tree ornament.  Students chose a favorite quote from a holiday story or song and wrote it on their ornaments before cutting them out and decorating them.

Alexa, Rileigh, and Craig coloring Gingerbread Glyphs to represent their reading preferences.  (For example, color the gingerbread man's hat red if you prefer fiction books, green if you prefer nonfiction.)

Alizay, Kelly, and Kodi writing some of their favorite holiday traditions on our chalk wall.

Mason, Moksh, Colton, and Blain discuss an interesting book.

This Week in the Library...

This week we're reading about some of the history surrounding our Thanksgiving Day traditions.

Third and fourth grades are listening to Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet, which tells the story of Tony Sarg, the creator of the larger-than-life balloons that have come to represent the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Here's a glimpse into the book:

You can download a fun activity guide to accompany the book by clicking here.

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Fifth grade is reading Laurie Halse Anderson's Thank You, Sarah, which explains how Sarah Hale, in superhero fashion, made sure that Thanksgiving was a nationally celebrated holiday.  You can learn more about Sarah Hale by clicking here.

You can learn more about author Laurie Halse Anderson in the video below:

Enjoy next week's holiday!