This week the kindergartners and Mrs. McCall’s class celebrated Earth Day with a “taking care of the earth” themed storytime. First we talked about April 22nd as Earth Day and how we celebrate the Earth’s birthday by doing something to take care of it. 
Next we read the informational picture book The Earth Book by Todd Parr. In the book, Todd talks about recycling paper products in order to save the trees. The students were not aware of what comes from trees other than wood so I brought out a paper bag of items: a sheet of paper, a newspaper, a magazine, a cereal box, and the paper bag itself! Then we read and discussed the informational picture book Ten Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh. 
Finally, we discussed recycling. We placed a glass jar, an aluminum pie plate, the paper products, and a variety of plastic items in the library recycling bin to reinforce the concept of what can be recycled.
Earth Day 2016
Chickadee Award Program news
The kindergartners and Mrs. McCall’s students listened to the fictional story Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegaki. After the story, the children watched a video of a person using a violin to make animal sounds. They had fun trying to guess which animal each sound represented.
Mrs. Cote, Mrs. Abell, and Mrs. Bemis’ first graders; Mrs. Sturtevant’s second graders; and Mrs. Allaire’s third graders heard the 
nonfiction book Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate. They visited the Zoo Atlanta website to view a video of Ivan exploring his enclosure at the zoo.
Mrs. Taylor’s first graders, Miss Mallon and Mrs. Sullivan’s second graders, and Mrs. Cousens’ students enjoyed the picture book Dragon’s Extraordinary Egg by Debi Gliori. Since it was their tenth and final Chickadee Award nominee, it was time to vote for our favorite. We reviewed all ten books before voting. Many children said it was hard to pick just one as there are so many wonderful choices! Our votes were tallied and will be submitted to the Chickadee Award Committee once the rest of the classes have voted.
News about Chickadee Program
This week the kindergartners and the students in Mrs. McCall’s class listened to the story about the nine-year-old girl who plays hockey, The Highest Number in the World by Roy MacGregor.
Mrs. Cote, Mrs. Abell, and Mrs. Bemis’ first graders; Mrs.Gillis and Mrs. Sturtevant’s second graders; and Mrs. Allaire’s third graders heard the story of a beginning violinist, Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegaki. After the story, the children listened to violins being used to make animal sounds, to play a classical piece by Bach, and to play a modern techno piece.
Mrs. Taylor’s first graders, Miss Mallon and Mrs. Sullivan’s second graders, and Mrs. Cousens’ class were introduced to a very special nonfiction book, Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate. After reading the informational book, we visited the Zoo Atlanta website to watch a video of Ivan. He was moved to the zoo in 1994, after 27 years in a cage!
Chicka-dee-dee news
We continue to read more Chickadee Award nominees each week. This time the kindergartners and Mrs. McCall’s class heard the true story about an elephant seal that adopted the city of Chistchurch, New Zealand as her home: Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox.
Mrs. Cote, Mrs. Abell, Mrs. Bemis’ first graders; Mrs. Gillis and Mrs. Sturtevant’s second graders; and Mrs. Allaire’s third graders listened to The Highest Number in the World by Roy MacGregor. In this picture book, Gabe, a young hockey player, learns why number 9 is the highest number in Montreal and other hockey hotbeds.
Mrs. Taylor’s first graders, Miss Mallon and Mrs. Sullivan’s second graders, and Mrs. Cousens’ class met Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin by Chieri Uegaki. Hana, a beginner violinist, signs up to perform in her school talent show. Her brothers tell her she’ll be a disaster, but Hana surprises everyone by making animal noises with her violin instead of playing a piece of music. After the story, the children listened to the many voices of a violin through YouTube videos of a violinist making animal noises, another playing a piece of classical music, and a third playing a modern techno piece with a band!
Chickadee-dee-dee news
Children explored three different Chickadee Award nominees this week. The kindergartners, Mrs. Sturtevant’s second graders, and Mrs. 
McCall’s class solved the animal track mysteries in Who Was Here?: Discovering Wild Animal Tracks by Mia Posada.
Mrs. Bemis and Mrs. Cote’s first graders and Mrs. Allaire’s third graders were fascinated by the amazing elephant seal main character in Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox.
A hockey stick and a Portland Pirates T-shirt hinted at the topic of The Highest Number in the World by Roy MacGregor. Mrs. Taylor’s first graders, Miss Mallon and Mrs. Sullivan’s second graders, and Mrs. Cousens’ students enjoyed the story of a young hockey player who learns about the many famous players who wore the same number (9) as she has on her assigned jersey.