We Hosted a Book Tasting!

After seeing several book tastings on Pinterest, we decided to give it a try! We'd been wanting to showcase different genres with kids, and this seemed like a good approach. Since mysteries and graphic  novels are also popular with our kids, we added those to our book tasting as well.

We found red-and-white checked plates and put paper on the tables to look like tablecloths. Then we pulled several books in the different genres/categories we wanted to feature: realistic fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, and graphic novels.

You can grab the genre bookmarks from HERE.

Next, we created a "menu" that kids would fill out at they listened to book talks and watched book trailers. (While we liked this version before starting the tasting, we decided we needed a simpler approach and are already thinking about how to revise it for future book tastings.)

Click HERE for source information

During the book tasting, we talked about the different genres, book talked some examples, and featured a book trailer or two. All of this we put into a Google presentation to make the lesson run more smoothly:

Students had time to browse the books at their tables after the book talks and trailers to write down titles that interested them, and we'll keep their sheets so they can refer back to them when they're looking for a book during check out.

Goldie Socks & Goldilocks & 3 Bears. . . and Dinosaurs!

With our second graders, we've been spending some time talking about different Goldilocks stories as we work on the Core standard RL.2.9: Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.

We began with Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins.

We even have our own "gold-y socks" to wear with this lesson! :)

This book also gives us the opportunity to talk with students about Just Right books, and they completed a ticket out the door to tell us about the Just Right book they just checked out.

When we came back to the lesson on the next cycle, students listened to two more Goldilocks stories--Goldilocks and the Three Bears by James Marshall and Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems.

Students reviewed how to complete a Venn diagram, and then they completed a Venn diagram--either of their own or as a full class--to compare and contrast any two of the Goldie Socks/Goldilocks stories.

Click HERE for a link to the template.

Readers ARE Thinkers!

Last year we discovered this really magical video called "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore". It is a video that encourages thinking and connections, explores the power of reading and books and also the importance of stories, and leaves all viewers with a sense of something magical. Here is the video below:

After the success of this short film--it won an Academy Award--it was turned into a book- which is equally wonderful:

 Here is how we incorporated it into our library lessons for our 4th graders.

Session One: We talked about how readers are thinkers--and that same type of thinking can apply in another area of our lives: viewing. This video will have kids asking questions and making connections right from the start, so while we are watching, we have them jot down thoughts on a sheet of paper of their CONNECTIONS, QUESTIONS, and INFERENCES (things they notice) as they were watching.

Session Two: Share the app. The app that goes along with this book is the most interesting, engaging and interactive app I have seen for a book yet. I used Reflector to reflect the app from my iPhone as I projected it up to the screen. As we walked through the book with the app, we talked about the connections, questions and inferences we had from the week before. Here are some pictures:

Ticket out: As a table group, students wrote an inference, or new learning that they had from the video and book. I had them write it on a sentence strip. See below for some examples.

It was one of those lessons that I'm pretty sure will stick with the kids, and it reinforces the importance of reading and all of the stories we have for them in the library.

Kindergartners & Book Care

The kindergartners have been talking about book care expectations. We read a book from the blog Kindergarten. . . Kindergarten; it was called Forest Friends go to School by Kathryn Warner, and it featured several pages of book pages that have been mistreated.

After reading and talking about the pages in the book, kindergartners created a class T-chart showing ways that we should treat our library books and the ways we should not treat them.

Library Displays

Since the school year has started, we have been busy adding displays to the library!

Since starting this position, I've been surprised at how much I enjoy this part of my job. I love to use books and characters as inspiration. Below are pictures of some of the displays......

Hungry for books!

Bad Case of Stripes Door

Hedgehogs from 2nd grade book care lesson (see post below!)

Pete the Cat door- inspiration from Pinterest!

Spotted- Great Readers- not sure if you can spot all of the character shadows in the display.

I got these great signs from Carolyn at RiskingFailure - Teachers Pay Teachers

Marion the Hedgehog and Book Care

The book care lessons continued with our second graders reading and talking about Marion in What Happened to Marion's Book? by Brook Berg.

We first visited the National Geographic Kids website for hedgehog information. We learned about what a hedgehog looks like, where they live, and why it has spines. We even watched a video of a hedgehog!

Marion the Hedgehog, the main character in our story, is based on a true story, so we also visited Marion's official website to learn more about her past and her role as an author.

Finally, students worked in pairs to write a book care expectation on a hedgehog spine that later became part of a library display. Check out some of the students' work below: 

And their finished products: