library news

KINDERGARTEN:

Ask any child in kindergarten who Kevin Henkes is and they will tell you he is an author. That’s because the kindergartners have been doing an author study in the library and in their classrooms. They have been reading books by Kevin Henkes and using his books as models or “mentor texts” for their own writing. After reading the Kevin Henkes book, A GOOD DAY, many students followed Kevin’s lead and wrote stories of their own. Here’s what a few of the budding authors in Mr. Wright’s class wrote: A HOME DAY by Zachary Ladopoulos, THE SUPERBOWL FOOTBALL SUNDAY by Jason Novak, and A SNOW DAY by Alexandria Depaulo. There are some amazing writers in kindergarten!

GRADE ONE:

Through the WHOOSH and ZOOM… the students in Mrs. Chamberlain’s class followed a little girl on a roller coaster ride. Through that rollercoaster ride in Marla Frazee’s book, ROLLER COASTER, the first grade students are learning about small moment stories as they prepare to start writing a small moment story of their own. Mrs. Chamberlain and Mrs. Gara have been sharing books like ROLLERCOASTER and other small moment stories with these young writers in the library as they learn to “zoom in” on a small moment in their own lives. Just like the rollercoaster ride we can’t wait to see where the twists and turns in their writing will take these young writers as they begin to tell their own stories.

GRADE TWO:

Many second graders have been reading nonfiction since kindergarten. Now, the students in Mrs. Miller’s and Mrs. Miles’ class are learning about a special kind of nonfiction, literary nonfiction. To put it into one second graders’ words…”it sounds like a story but it has facts in it”. So… they are busy listening to and discussing literary nonfiction in the library and in their classroom. All this in preparation for a research project that will culminate in a literary nonfiction writing piece. The students know they are doing what real authors do…researching to gather information for nonfiction writing. Seems like a lot for these second grade students but they are excited about doing the research in the library and are up for the challenge!

GRADE THREE:

The students in Mrs. Kalsher’s class are getting ready to time travel. They will be going back in time to learn about a famous person from the past in order to write an informational article. So how are the students in Mrs. Kalsher’s class going to travel back in time and meet these famous people? They are going to be reading a biography. They have been busy in the library learning that there are lots of things a writer has to do before they get ready to write an informational article…read, think, take notes… Maybe there are some feature magazine writers in the class!

GRADE FOUR:

How do you learn about a president? You read a biography. The fourth grade students are learning about biographies in the library. After exploring the presidents in many collective biographies each student has selected a president that they would like to learn more about. They will be reading a biography about their president and using it to research and gather information. The students will not only learn about the writing process in this project but also be learning about important part of the history of our country at the same time!