Online contest #9

Which second grade class has earned the Golden Shelf Elf Award the most times this school year?  The first person to submit the correct answer wins a school mascot (Carl J. Lamb)!

“Name That State” contest

Last week’s contest was a challenging one!  Students were given a blank map of the United States and asked to label the 48 contiguous states.  Small prizes were given to those who identified at least 10 states correctly.  The 12 maps that were completely and correctly labeled were entered in drawing for a choice of a USAmap/placemat or a deck of States flashcards.  The two winners are second grader James M. and sixth grader Micaela L.  Congratulations, Jimmy and Micaela!

Ms. Black recommends LION BOY trilogy

What would you do if one day you came home from school and your parents were not there?

So begin the adventures of Charlie Ashanti, the Lion Boy.

A neighbor, named Rafi, appears that evening and tells Charlie his parents have asked him (Rafi) to look after him (Charlie).  However, Charlie, being a clever boy, soon realizes that this is not the whole truth. After leaving a coded cheery message, he follows Rafi.

Besides being clever, Charlie has a special talent which most people do not. He can speak Cat.  Not to cats in English, but in the language of Cat.  Thus he is able to discover that his parents have indeed been kidnapped and where they have been taken. 

Thus begins Charlie’s adventures through England, to Paris, aboard the Orient Express and beyond!

If you enjoy adventure, animal, and mystery stories, than these books are for you.

The three books are:

• The Lion Boy (1)
• The Chase      (2)
• The Truth       (3)

You can also check out more about the books at http://www.zizoucorder.co.uk/

Jan Brett author study

Miss Kimball’s second graders are doing an author study on the author/illustrator Jan Brett.  On January 17th, they visited the library to listen to Fritz and the Beautiful Horses, the first book Jan Brett wrote and illustrated.  After hearing The First Dog, another of the author’s books, the students solved the ten animal anagrams available at Jan Brett’s website (http://www.janbrett.com).

This week Mrs. Miliano shared Berlioz the Bear with the class.  The story is about an orchestra of bear musicians so the class explored musical instrument families at the San Francisco Orchestra’s website as a follow-up activity (http://www.sfskids.org/templates/instorchframe.asp?pageid=3).  The children also put the names of several instruments in alphabetical order.

Online contest #8 has a winner!

Fifth grader Lindsey W. was the first to submit the correct answer to the question, “How many colored squares are there on a checkerboard?”  The answer is 64 squares. Congratulations, Lindsey!  She wins a set of checkers and a checkerboard.