December Blogging

December is short and filled with activities.  We are all so busy that we aren't blogging this month but we will resume in January.

For those of you who would like a Christmas story, let me share this one with you from YouTube:   "Mitch Albom reads "A Wish to be a Christmas Tree", a children's Christmas book written by Colleen Monroe and illustrated by Michael Glenn Monroe."



Merry Christmas.

What Are You Reading in November, Parents?

It is a proven fact that you are a great influence on your child.  In 1.57 minutes you can learn more: 

What Are You Reading in November, 3rd Grade?

We are getting ready to do our shopping, and so there will be lots of posts this month as we share more books that we are reading.

This month we are going to concentrate summarizing the story in three sentences.  For example, I enjoyed reading a book called Ish to the kindergarten and first grade classes.  My blog would look something like this: 
                   In November I read Ish by Peter Reynolds.  Ramon loves to
                   draw, but his brother Leon laughs at his drawings because
                   they don't look "real".  Ramon is discouraged and decides
                   to stop drawing.  However, his sister Marisol tells him his 
                   drawings are "ish,"  which means they are close.  Ramon
                   discovers he loves to draw tree-ish, flower-ish, and
                   other -ish pictures.

Library Shop coming November 24th

Some of the items the students can purchase include beanie babies, Wimpy Kid books, drawing books, beads, toys, etc.  The loot in the picture is just some of what will be available.  There will be certificates for McDonald Happy Meals delivered in time for lunch, a popcorn & movie time for the class, a pizza lunch party for six, "Get Out of a Library Fine" card, "Read the Morning Announcements," plus more.

THE LAST DAY TO POST A COMMENT ON THE BLOG IS TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH. 

I need time to read your blogs and award stickers.

What are you reading in October, Parents?

Parents are wonderful role models and you are heroes to your children.  Part of letting them know that reading is important is to read yourself and let your children see you doing it!  Of course reading together is important, too, but just sitting in an easy chair with a book for just a few minutes per day speaks volumes to your child. 

What Are You Reading in October, 3rd Grade?

Way to go, Third Grade!  I am very proud of how well you did posting comments for September.  This month please tell us what happened in your favorite part of the book.

Student recommendation

I had a first grader excitedly tell me about I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont and illustrated by David Catrow.  The rhyming verse follows the rhythm of the folk tune It Ain't Gonna Rain No More.  The girl who showed me the book was especially excited about the illustrations (see page 28 for her favorite).  JD in first grade and I recommend this book for your reading pleasure.

What Are You Reading in September, Parents?

Parents, you are invited to tell us what you are reading.  Are you reading newspapers, magazines, books, blogs, or something else?  Please let us know.  Students sign their blog with their initials so parents can sign their post with your child's initial and grade plus your relationship.  Example:  KK in 3Z's Mom (or Dad, or Grandma or Pawpa, etc.)

What Are You Reading in September, 3rd Grade?

This is the starting point for our 2009-2010 blog. Students will be posting comments to share what they are reading. They will be earning stickers to use as bargaining chips to purchase gifts from the library shop.

So, 3rd grade, tell us what you are reading.

For parents: All about blogs

This short video explains what blogs are and how they are used.

We will be using blogs to write annotations - quick ways to invite others to read.

This video was created by Lee LeFever of Common Craft, a great place for 3 minute technology videos. Many of the Common Craft videos can also be found on YouTube.



The parent letter for blogging, including the scoring rubric, can be found here (http://sites.google.com/a/tri-valley3.org/imc/3rd-grade-blogs)

Practice time - September 1 and 8

Today is a practice run. All students are visiting the blogspot and all are going to post a sentence. Starting September 2nd we will be posting our annotations of books we have read. Watch what we read and maybe you will find a book you want to tell us about, too.

Back to School

Third grade will trying something new this year: they will be earning stickers on their library cards when they submit a blog entry. I have asked them what kind of items they would like to buy with their stickers, and they wanted Nintendo DS games, movie tickets, DVDs. I said those were a little too pricey and I was thinking pencils, erasers, cans of pop, and books. So they have a wish list and I control the pocketbook, so we will see! We will have our sales in early December and late May.

Each student will have a chance to earn 5 stickers for a perfect annotation. Perfect means everything is spelled correctly, periods end sentences, capital letters start sentences, and the blog comment is coherent. The purpose of the blog is let other students know about books that might be of interest.

What are you reading? 2nd Grade answers

Second grade students were given a chance to leave comments about the books they are reading. Remember use your initials, not your name, to sign your comment.

What are you reading? Teacher answers

We asked the teachers to sign on and give us the title, author and a few words about their favorite children's books. Click on the comments to see what they wrote.

What are you reading? Parents answer.

Parents, tell us what you are reading. Please identify yourself by initials and grade level, i.e. Ms. J., 3rd grade parent or Mr. P., 3rd grade grandparent.

I just finished reading a new book by James Paterson, Sunday's At Tiffany's, a love story about a lonely child who grows up to be a lonely woman. Can she find true love with her imaginary friend from childhood? Ms. K., 3rd grade librarian

What are you reading? 3rd Grade answers

Tell us what you are reading. Include: Author, title, and your initials.

Weather Report!

The week of January 12 started out cold, but bearable. The book fair was in the elementary library and all was being prepared for a Thursday open house. Thursday classes were moved so the students could buy books on Thursday. Then came the snow, about 5 inches of the fine white stuff that blew across the prairie and the highways and lanes and just about shut down central Illinois. It did indeed shut down school. Then the temperatures started falling to below zero air temps that with the wind chills were below -20 degrees. Too cold to stand out and wait for school buses. No school on Thursday or Friday! We had just six days of school before we had a snow break for three days and then a holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Fortunately, we were able to keep the book fair through January 23rd so we were able to buy some good books for our own libraries.

Back to School

We are bacik to school the week of January 5th and reviewing how to behave and talking about the book fair the next week (January 12-16).

Kindergarten read a wonderful story called My Penguin, Osbert that points out some of the downsides of getting a pet for Christmas.

First grade started a new series by author Cynthia Rylant. We read Mr. Putter and Tabby Walked the Dog. We were introduced to senior citizens Mr. Putter and Mrs. Teaberry who live next door to each other, and to their pets the fine cat, Tabby and good dog, Zeke.