This week Division 2 tried a Visualization activity with the book Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds. Ms. Lehnert described the picture on the cover, while students visualized in their minds and drew what Ms. Lehnert described. Students were not shown the picture until after the activity. Ms. Lehnert found it tricky to describe the picture as accurately as possible! Here are a few completed drawings; they turned out quite well!
Posted in Reader's Response
Tagged carrots, creepy, humorous stories, student samples, visualization
Happy Halloween!
This week we will be reading Halloween-themed picture books. The Kindergarteners and Grade 1’s will be reading Pumpkin Cat by Anne Mortimer. Cat learns how to plant and grow pumpkins with Mouse. At the end of the story, Mouse has a surprise for Cat.
Grades 2 and up will be reading Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds. This is a hilarious story about some wild carrots who start to follow Jasper Rabbit around, because he is eating them. Do creepy carrots really exist? Find out this week!
Posted in Weekly Read-a-Louds
Tagged carrots, creepy, Halloween, humorous stories, pumpkins, Weekly Storytime
This week we will continue with another circular story, The Napping House, by Audrey Wood, a Kindergarten classic. Everyone gets on the bed to have a nap, until a tiny insect has everyone jumping off the bed in quick succession!
The primary classes will be reading the new Library Mouse tale (no pun intended!). Library Mouse: A Museum Adventure, by Daniel Kirk, has Sam and his friend Sarah venturing into the museum. This story also talks about keeping a journal, and making it interesting with different things that you can put into it.
Posted in Weekly Read-a-Louds
Tagged circular stories, humorous stories, journals, Weekly Storytime
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This week, the Kindergarteners are very excited to read the new Pete the Cat – Pete the Cat and His Groovy Buttons, by Eric Litwin. Ms. Lehnert played the free audio version of the book from the publisher’s website. You can also listen to the first 2 Pete the Cat books. Stay tuned for Pete the Cat Saves Christmas!
Grade 1 – 3 will be reading a new book called The Day Louis Got Eaten, by John Fardell. This is a humorous story about a boy who gets eaten by a creature and then the creature gets eaten in turn – sort of like a circular story, or a story that ends almost the same way it began. The story is told partly in graphic novel format, and we will be discussing how to read graphic novels and which frame you read first.
Posted in Weekly Read-a-Louds
Tagged audio, circular stories, humorous stories, numbers, recording
This week we have 2 brand new books to read.
The Kindergarteners and Grade 1’s will be reading the new Llama Llama book, Llama Llama Time To Share, by Anna Dewdney. The beginning of the school year, when new friends are made, is a good time to review sharing. Llama Llama meets his new neighbour, Nelly Gnu, and she comes over for a visit. At first Llama Llama doesn’t want to share, but both characters learn a valuable lesson. Visit Llama Llama’s website for fun educational games and activities.
Grade 2’s and grade 3’s will be reading the latest installment of Olivia the Pig, in Olivia and the Fairy Princesses, by Ian Falconer. Olivia is a different pig, and she likes to stand out amongst the crowd. All the other girls want to be fairy princesses when they grow up, but not Olivia. This is a story about individuality. Visit Olivia’s website for more fun.
This week the grade 1’s and the Kindergarteners will be reading Mo Willems’ newest Pigeon book, The Duckling Gets A Cookie.
All other grades will be reading a charming story called, Max’s Words, by Kate Banks. Max’s two brothers each collect something special, so Max decides to start his own collection, of words. But a collection of words can easily turn into a thought, a sentence, or a story. This story makes me want to start collecting words, myself!
Posted in Weekly Read-a-Louds
Tagged brothers, collecting, humorous stories, pigeon, Weekly Storytime, words
THE TITANIC SINKS! APRIL 15, 1912 at 2:20 am
This week the Intermediate classes will be discussing the historical significance of the Titanic disaster, 100 years ago. We will be reading a survivor’s account of the terrible tragedy. Escaping Titanic: A Young Girl’s True Story of Survival, by Marybeth Lorbiecki, tells the story of 12-year-old Ruth Becker. Since this is a longer picturebook, we will be reading it in two parts: the first part this week, and the remainder next week.
There are many excellent websites about the Titanic. Click here for a list.
Kindergarteners and Grade 1 students will be reading the new Robert Munsch book, It’s My Room! This is a humorous story about a boy who finally gets his own room, but relatives keep coming over to visit.
Posted in Weekly Read-a-Louds
Tagged historical fiction, humorous stories, shipwrecks, Titanic, tragedies, Weekly Storytime
In anticipation of Lunar New Year (Monday, January 23rd), this week we will be reading a legend from Japan: I Am Tama, Lucky Cat by Wendy Henrichs. The story tells about the origins of the beckoning cat and how it came to be a symbol of good luck.
Grades K to 1 will be reading an Elephant & Piggie Book, I Broke My Trunk! This hilarious book by Mo Willems is the latest in the series.
Posted in Weekly Read-a-Louds
Tagged cats, elephants, friendship, humorous stories, Japan, legends, Lunar New Year, pigs, traditional literature, Weekly Storytime
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Welcome back after the Winter Break! This week we will be reading a couple of books. For K to 1, we will be reading Robert Munsch’s new book Give Me Back My Dad! This story is a result of an online poll that Scholastic held last Fall – students were given 3 different storylines, and the one with the most votes would be the story that Robert Munsch would write. This book contains the winning storyline, and true to Munsch’s writing style, is quite funny!
For grades 2 to 7 students (who visit the library for story-time), we will be reading a traditional French-Canadian folktale, The Flying Canoe, retold by Eric A. Kimmel.
This folktale has many versions, and has been altered since it was first published in the late 1800’s. The original publication had the story taking place on New Year’s Eve instead of Christmas Eve, and the main characters were loggers instead of voyageurs. The sinister element of the story has been toned down to make the story suitable for younger students; in the original story, it is El Diablo who visits the loggers and offers them a ride in the canoe back to their homes for New Year’s Eve. Grades 6 and 7 students will be comparing the original story to this newer version.
Posted in Weekly Read-a-Louds
Tagged Christmas, Folk Tales, French-Canadian, Holidays, humorous stories, Weekly Storytime, winter
While the Kindergarteners will be listening to Pete the Cat: Rocking In My School Shoes, the Grade 1 students will be reading a new story called Bear’s Loose Tooth by Karma Wilson. The Grade 2 and 3 students will be reviewing “How to choose the right book for me” through listening to the story Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins. Goldie Socks finds a “Just Right Book” by using the Five-Finger-Rule: when selecting a book, turn to a page and begin reading to yourself – put a finger up every time you come across a word that you don’t know – if you end up with all 5 fingers up, the book is probably too hard for you – if no fingers go up, the book might be too easy for you – if 1 – 3 fingers go up, the book is probably just right.
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