While we won't be meeting in the library for a few weeks, I wanted to make sure I could bring the library to you! I created a distance learning site for our library, full of library-related resources and activities! I will also be doing a daily virtual story time via Zoom, the schedule and links are also on the library distance learning site.
I shared the link to this site with your teachers. If you need the link, please email me at [email protected]. We are looking forward to seeing everyone when we return to school!
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Last week several of our 4th and 5th grade classes learned about some fantastic resources for learning about different animals!
During their library visits, the students visited different centers. Each center was set up with an activity that allowed them to try a different resource. While the San Diego Zoo's live cams were a clear favorite among our learners, they also enjoyed the other activities! The sites the students used included: World Book Kids (available free through the Maine State Library's Digital Maine Library) National Geographic Kids (also available through the Digital Maine Library) San Diego Zoo Live Cams World Read Aloud Day was February 5th! Like many school librarians, I choose to celebrate WRAD all week long! Many of our classes had the opportunity to connect with other classes, as well as authors, via Skype during their library visits last week. Our WRAD Skypes connected us to classes in Georgia, Vermont, South Carolina, Michigan, Louisiana, New York, Minnesota and Texas! Six classes had the opportunity to Skype with authors during this amazing reading celebration. As with previous years, the weather did get in the way of some of our activities, but we are so excited about the connections we made with new friends around the nation! Last week some of our classes had fun using Ready Set Draw! to practice drawing some of our favorite book characters. Ready Set Draw! is a series of videos on KidLit TV where book illustrators demonstrate how to draw some of their characters. These videos are fun and easy to follow along with.
I am so excited to have 3rd graders participate in this year's Global Postcard Exchange! This will be the 5th year that I have had students create postcards to send to partner classes around the nation and the world. It's a wonderful opportunity to be creative and develop global connections. Three of our 3rd grade classes have been hard at work creating their Maine-themed postcards and, once they are done, we will add facts about our school, town, and state before mailing them to our buddy classes! We have already started to receive postcards from our partner classes and look forward to sending them our creations!
Our library had three amazing author Skypes last week! There are so many outstanding authors who generously will do virtual visits with classes and I love using Skype to connect our learners with as many authors as possible during their library visits! On Monday, Mrs. Bolton's class connected with author. Among her many books is the biography The Noisy Paintbox (which we read prior to her Skype). She gave us fantastic advice about how to find information when doing research! On Tuesday, we had two Skypes! Our day began with author Sarah Aronson connecting with our 5th grades. She is the author of both fiction and nonfiction books and read aloud one of her recent nonfiction books, Just Like Rube, then answered student questions. Our 2nd Skype on Tuesday was with the very entertaining Tom Angleberger! This is the fourth time I have had a class Skype with Mr. Angleberger, and his engaging presentations always brings about much laughter and enthusiasm from our learners!
I am so excited to have our learners participate in the Global Traveling Mural Project! It's an amazing opportunity for our community of learners to collaboratively create a mural, then share it with partner classes in other schools.
The project began with our learners helping to create a ten foot long mural on a piece of paper. Then, once it was completed, the paper was cut into ten equal pieces. We kept one piece, the others were mailed to our partner classes. Those partner classes will each send us a section of their mural! Over the next few weeks we will be receiving pieces of the murals created by classes in South Carolina, Kansas, Texas, Maryland, Missouri, Iowa, Florida, and Iceland! Below are pictures of our mural. We are looking forward to receiving the mural pieces from our buddy classes! One of our 3rd grade classes had an exciting Skype with author Adam Lehrhaupt! His engaging picture books include Warning: Do Not Open This Book, Word Play, and many other entertaining stories! During his Skype, he read aloud his book This is a Good Story, spoke about being an author, and answered student questions. We had a fantastic time learning more about him and his books!
The upcoming weeks will bring many more author Skypes to our library. These virtual visits are a wonderful way to connect our learners with these great authors! One of our 4th grades had an exciting Skype with author Amy Butler Greenfield! Her books include Ra the Mighty: Cat Detective, which is on this year's MSBA reading list. She shared some great information about being an author and answered several questions from our class. We had a wonderful time and appreciate her taking the time to Skype with us!
Many of our classes have been spending time designing and creating in our library MakerLab! One group of 5th graders were given the design challenge of creating playgrounds for our library gecko, Newbery. The enthusiasm of these learners as they worked together in teams to design and create playgrounds for Newbery was amazing! Many have completed their projects and Newbery has enjoyed exploring the fun playgrounds our library users have made for her! |
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