Mrs. McCall’s class continued to learn about transportation this week. Their library visit began with a review of different methods of transportation. The students were given riddles and they had to match them to the drawings of a car, a bus, a train, an airplane, helicopter, a rowboat, a sailboat, and a bicycle. Next the children listened to an informational book about different types of boats. It was followed by the story My Blue Boat by Chris L. Demarest. Then they pretended to row boats as they sang, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” The lesson ended with an activity. Using milk cartons, straws, paper, and play dough, the children made sailboats that really float!
Rewarding responsible behavior
This week Miss Miliano’s first graders completed another puzzle poster. They earned each of the 100 pieces by returning a library book. Each child received a balloon and a bookmark as a thank-you for his/her responsible library behavior.
Chickadee Award news
The 2011-2012 Chickadee Award voting has taken place and the results have been announced. This year a record-breaking 18,037 students (grades K-4) from across the state voted for their favorite nominee. The winner is Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein! That was the favorite at CJL, too! Pierre the Penguin by Jean Marzollo and Calvin Can’t Fly: The Story of a Bookworm Birdie by Jennifer Berne placed second and third respectively. The Chickadee Award voting results were announced in library classes throughout the week and Interrupting Chicken now has a shiny gold Chickadee Award sticker on its cover.
Helping our planet
In recognition of Earth Day, the theme of this week’s kindergarten storytime was caring for our planet. A globe was used to introduce our planet. The use of blue to represent water and green for land was discussed. Next the children listened to 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh. This innovative book introduces ten simple ways everyone, even children, can help reduce, reuse, and recycle. Mrs. Miliano then introduced a new project. Re-using materials the children started to create a new superhero named “Earthman.” His job is to teach children how to take care of our planet. The children colored Planet Earth (printed on recycled paper), cut it out, and glued it to a generic human figure (cut out of discarded file folders). Next visit the children will decorate their superheroes with scrap materials.
A really “fawn” lesson
A new informational text feature, bold print, was introduced to all first graders this week. In stories, bold print indicates to the reader that he/she should read the word louder and with excitement. In nonfiction, bold print indicates the word is important to the topic. Mrs. Miliano shared the book Fawns by Anne Wendorff. Specialized vocabulary words such as fawn, doe, and buck appear in bold print in this informational text. The bold words also appear in the glossary at the back of the book. Next the children worked as a group to compose an “all about” piece of informational writing on fawns. Mrs. Miliano typed the facts as the children contributed them. The document was projected on a large screen for all to see. After the facts were recorded, the group re-read the paragraph. They were very successful in selecting the important words to make bold. The children will receive copies of their “All About Fawns” next time.