Mrs. Kadish

During January there have been three other topics that have been visited.

Second grade has been working on a Dinosaur Unit  and have found information in a variety of non-fiction books as well as Reference books.

First grade is studying different types of animals and have found animals from various groups.  Again non-fiction books have been used.

As students have worked on these units we revisited some of the characteristics of non-fiction books. ( Table of Contents, Index and Glossary).

Kindergarten has read many snow books, even though we haven’t had much to play in and enjoy!  This week I read Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton.  This book is over 60 years old yet still enjoyed very much by the students.  Click below to hear the story read.

Katy and the Big Snow

We have been very busy since we got back from the holiday. Red Clover books have been a focus. We have now completed all ten. It will be interesting to see which book is chosen as the students favorite when we vote next week.
This month we have read:

I Know Here by Laurel Croza
While discussing this book students thought of things that were important to them in Colchester. The responses were everything from the lake to McDonald’s!  It was a great discussion.  Some students shared what they remember from places they had lived before.

Bink and Gollie by DiCammillo, Kate and Alison McGhee was a mini chapter book about two good friends. The students enjoyed the humor and learned new vocabulary with DiCammillo’s colorful words.

Who Stole Mona Lisa ? by Ruthie Knapp   While reading this book we discussed voice in a story.  Part of the story is told in Mona Lisa’s voice and part is told in the museum guide’s voice.  Many students shared stories about seeing the picture of Mona Lisa at relatives homes or in art class.  The were also interested in  Leonardo Da Vinci’s many talents.  The learned about the Lourve in Paris and that 80% of the visitors are there only to see the Mona Lisa.  The students also enjoyed the story of the man who stole the painting wondering why he would do that and keep the painting from people who loved to see it.

As a review of the books I selected some images that appeared in more than one book but may have looked very different.  For example the fish in Mirror Mirror and the fish in Bink and Gollie or the classroom in Stand Straight Ella Kate and the classroom in I Know Here.  We called these mirror images.  I had several pairs on a bulletin board and students had to recall which book the pictures came from.  It was a fun way  to revisit the books.

Next week students will vote for their favorite of the ten Red Clover books.  I can’t wait to see which books wins!

Mirror-Mirror

Our latest Red Clover book was Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer.  Ms. Singer has won many awards including the notable award for her poetry given by the American Library Association. She developed Reverso poetry.  Each of the poems in this book can be read top to bottom or bottom to top.  We played a guessing game to try to guess what fairy tale she was writing about.  Then we often guessed whose voice the poem was written in.  Students seemed interested and fascinated by how the voice changed just by reading the poem in reverse.

Marilyn’s first reverso poem was a simple one.

A cat                                                                                   Incomplete:

without                                                                               A chair        

a chair                                                                                 without

Incomplete                                                                         a cat.

The only changes allowed in reverso poems are in punctuation and capitalization.

We have also been exploring books on many holiday occurring during the month of December.

Next month I will be looking for a few volunteers to help prepare materials for our Red Clover activity day. (this takes place in February)  Most of what I will need help with involves cutting out pieces for projects and it can be done at home.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

This week in the library second grade students were introduced to the Children’s Atlas of the World.  We worked on how to use an index.  Students learned how  to locate the capital city of a country and how to find out data or other interesting facts.

Kindergarten and first grade students listened to non-fiction and picture books.  They learned facts from non-fiction books and were able to distinguish the difference between the two types of books.  We talked about spine labels and how the information on the spine can tell us what kind of a book it is.

With the holiday season upon us I wanted students to remember there are many celebrations and special days celebrated by all people.  I read the book Whoever You Are  by Mem Fox as a reminder that we are all the same in many ways even though we may not look the same or speak the same or live in the same kind of house or go to the same kind of school.  “Whoever you are, there are little ones just like you all over the world.”  This book also reminds students of our school expectation of “Be Respectful”.

Mem Fox’s website 

                   Red Clover book  Art & Max

Art & Max  by David Wiesner is about an accomplished lizard artist and his friend Max, who is a novice.  There are very few words in this book but by following Weisner’s wonderful illustrations students followed the transformation illustrations through different modes.  Splatter painting, string art, pencil drawings, pastels and the use of wash make the illustrations lively and fun to view. 

David Weisner is only the second person in history to have won the prestigious Caldecott Medal three times.  His creative ability with visual storytelling make his works very popular with young and old.

Visit Weisner’s web site to see all his works and learn more about him.

I would like to thank all the parents who helped with the November

book fair. The jobs of  previewing with students and setting up and

packing up books is time consuming and many hands made it easier.

The parent sales and purchase orders from the libraryand two other

teachers allowed us to earn a cash profit of  $1,119.  With that money

 I was able to purchase a new flat screen television for the library.  I have

moved the television that was in the library to a kindergarten room where

 is has been mounted on the wall.  I then purchased a new VCR/DVD player for

that room.  I will use other funds from Book Fair profits to pay for Red Clover

Day project materials.  I will also be given Scholastic Dollars which will be used

for new book and cd packs.