State Award Winning Books

Every year students across Iowa participate in a democratic process of our own as we read and then vote on our state award books. The Iowa Goldfinch Award is given to a book that's suitable for students in grades K - 3 while the Iowa Children's Choice Award focuses on books for students in grades 3 - 6. Students are to read--or have read to them--at least two of the nominated books to be eligible to vote. Here were this year's nominees:

Since the fall, students have been reading and listening to many of the books, and the voted in their respective buildings in March. At Dallas Center Elementary, the K - 2 students voted for Ball by Mary Sullivan to be the Goldfinch winner, and students at South Prairie voted for Memoirs of a Hamster by Devin Scillian.

The DC Elementary students in grades 3 - 5 students voted for Duke by Kirby Larson to be the Children’s Choice while North Ridge students chose Dog Diaries: Ginger by Kate Kilmo as their winner.

State winners were announced in early April at a statewide librarian conference. The Goldfinch Award winner for the state was The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt; the Iowa Children’s Choice winner was Duke by Kirby Larson.

Taking a Look at Greek Mythology

Third graders at Dallas Center Elementary have been working with their reading partners to learn more about different gods, goddesses, creatures, and other characters from Greek mythology. Reading articles from Britannica Online, students' first task was to learn about their topic and take notes, including information related to their new learning, inferences, and questions.

You can access the handout HERE.

Students also watched three stories from Greek mythology using Learn360: Daedalus & Icarus, Pandora's Box, and Jason & the Golden Fleece. Conversations related to the videos related to the way humans and gods/goddesses interact and why or how one group becomes upset or pleased with the others' actions.

Students' final project combined their learning of gods and goddesses along with their recent work with constellations. Working in groups, students brainstormed characters and items to include in an original myth that tells the story of a constellation they created.

You can access the handout HERE.

Here are some examples of students' constellation stories:

It's Dr. Seuss's Birthday!

At South Prairie Elementary today, teachers and students celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday with "Dress Like a Book Character" Day! Check out librarian Ms. Trent and instructional coach Mrs. White below:

Looks like they nailed it! How did your students celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday and Read Across America?

Goldfinch Book Pairing

All of our K - 2 students participate in voting for the Iowa Goldfinch Award in March, so we take time at the start of the new year to read aloud as many nominees as we can. A recent pairing of nominees was The Story of Fish & Snail by Deborah Freedman with Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems.

Both books feature friends who tell the story, and both feature decision making. Elephant and Piggie are long-time favorites of our students, and they were excited to meet Fish and Snail once we shared that the pairs are similar. 

After reading The Story of Fish & Snail, we talked about bravery and moments when we have been brave ourselves. Using the hashtag #BeBrave, students shared personal stories of bravey, which then became part of a display.

This display also included a word cloud generated from student responses to the question, "Where can someone show their bravery?" 

Second graders took to Padlet to record their thinking about times in their own lives when they've shown bravery.

Our work wasn't exclusively about bravery; we also approached Should I Share My Ice Cream? from that approach that everyone has a favorite flavor, so students designed their own ice cream scoops so we could put our "ice cream cones" in a display as well.

Stay tuned for more Iowa Goldfinch Award book pairings and examples of student work!

A Quick Follow-Up:

Usually, we post our blog updates on Twitter and link the new post to the tweet so others can see what's happening in our libraries. After doing so for this post, author Deborah Freedman replied to us!

Mystery Book Character Google Hangout

Before Christmas our friends in Mrs. Washington's 2nd grade class participated in a Google Hangout with their 5th grade buddies in Mrs. Updike's class for the second time. (You can read about our first Hangout here.) This time we held a Mystery Book Character Google Hangout!

Before the Hangout each class worked in small groups to choose a well-known book character and establish three clues to share with the other class. Mrs. Updike's classes' clues appear below:

On the day of the Hangout, a 5th grade small group met a 2nd grade small group, introducing themselves and sharing their group's clues. The other group then made a guess; if they were unsure, the group could ask one clarifying question before making a guess. 

Once groups shared their clues and made their guesses, students in both classes returned to their tables to work on the handout "My Favorite Book Character."

You can access the handout HERE.

Below are a few examples showing some of the 5th graders' favorite book characters:

Students' handouts were delivered to one another's classrooms so we could talk about favorite book characters. Our second Google Hangout was another success, and we're eager to continue our friendships with our friends at South Prairie Elementary!

DC Elementary: A Year in Review

Happy New Year! Here on January 1, 2016, I thought we'd take a look back at some of the statistics from the Dallas Center Elementary library during the 2015 calendar year:

Created using Canva

Some other stats that didn't make the infographic:

• The top 10 titles for 2015 were checked out a total of 369 times.
• The number of items available for circulation total 6,794.
• A total of 694 school and district patrons checked out materials from the DC Elementary 14,605 times!

Enjoy the last few days of the holiday break--and when we return, let's get back to reading!

Author Julia Cook Visits DC Elementary

With a generous grant from our PTO, Dallas Center Elementary secured an author visit on Tues. Nov. 24, 2015, with award winning writer and former guidance counselor Julia Cook.

Julia's schedule that day allowed her to speak with our 3rd - 5th graders for approximately 60 minutes. She talked about how she became a published writer and read three of her books to the students.

She also talked with the students about managing their time, especially when electronic devices and activities can take up so much of their time.

Using two staff volunteers, Julia also talked with students about the importance of face-to-face communication. She used the example of tossing a ball back and forth: when we tell our partners or show them where the ball is going, the likelihood of catching the ball increases. When we don't communicate face-to-face, catching the ball becomes much more difficult.

Julia also introduced the students and staff to one of her popular characters, Kirby. She is one of the featured characters in the book I Want to be the Only Dog, a story about sibling rivalry.

Julia Cook also took time that morning to talk with our students in grades K - 2. Using a similar format, she shared her writing journey and read books, including Soda Pop Head, a story about controlling one's anger.

Later in the day, Julia spoke with students in small groups. Students were able to ask questions about her life and books, as well as her writing process. Kirby also returned to make an appearance!