Cats, Bats, and Owls (week 23)

 Somehow, I always need a "theme" for the week to help me decide what to do, even though I am making lesson plans for six different grades. I had some stories that I really wanted to read, like Stellaluna, and this week ended up covering cats, bats, and owls.

PreK (and K)   -  I am new to Tumblebooks and when I checked it out through CC's public library, I found some great stuff. I showed Little Hoot and Little Pea and Little Oink by Amy Krause Rosenthal. We only have Little Pea in our library, so it was great to be able to "read" all three with tumblebooks. I made a worksheet with a circle in a box on one side, so the students could draw in Little Pea's face and a baby owl in another box, so they could dress him and draw what he liked more than anything.  If you haven't read these books, you should. I have to admit, the "adorable" factor is what roped me in.

    

I ended up doing these books with Kindergarten as well. I originally intended to do Stellaluna, but the first K class I tried it on didn't seem engaged at all.  So, it was on to Plan B (I have had to go to Plan B quite a few times this year.)

First graders watched Stellaluna being read on storylineonline.net. 




 I intended to read Owl at home by Arnold Lobel for the 2nd graders, but they had play practice and I ended up not seeing the 2nd grade this week at all.



Cats came into play with the 3rd grade.   Elijiah Wood (from Lord of the Rings) read Me and my cat on storylineonline and he did a wonderful job.  I didn't mind seeing it more than once and I think the children liked the book, too.



I showed the 4th and 5th graders a "computer game" called Order in the Library.  (Thanks, Heather, for telling me about this awesome game).  We had to do 2 shifts to get everyone on the computers after I did a brief review of what we have learned about call numbers and the dewey decimal system.  There wasn't much time to work on achieving "level 11", the level that makes you "Master of the Universe" -- at least in the Library Universe.

wk 22 - IF YOU GIVE A.... Laura Numeroff week

If you give a ... books by Laura Numeroff week:

During a first grade class before Easter, a first grader asked if she could pick out the book we read "next time."  She chose If you give a cat a cupcake.  We didn't do that during the 21st 6-day "week" but we are doing it now and it has opened up so many things to do.  In Kindergarten, we looked at all of the If you give a... books and voted on whether to read If you give a pig a pancake or If you give a pig a party. Afterwards, we made the cutest pig hand puppets with paper bags.


I read If you give a cat a cupcake to PreK and 1st and then they decorate a big paper cupcake with "sprinkles" (made out of paper and sequins) and cut out a little picture of the cat from the book and pasted it somewhere on the cupcake.            

For 2nd grade, I found a reading comprehension board game with the If you give a cat a cupcake theme, so after reading (and seeing) the book via a youtube video, the 2nd graders played the game in groups of three.  We used plastic gems for markers and took turns reading and answering the cards.

In keeping with the "pig" part of this week, I showed the 3rd grade the database available to all SPES students.  We have eLibrary - a database with over 2,000 full text sources.  We looked up the artists Matisse and Picasso and looked at what the database could offer on those two topics. Then we watched  a reading of When Pigasso met Mootise.  I think the students really enjoyed hearing/seeing the book with their new knowledge of the artists.

  

In the 4th and 5th grades, we are still working on our "video game" - passing "levels" by completing worksheets on the library catalog, call numbers and locating resources in the library.  In order to advance a level, the worksheets for that level have to be 100% correct.