Family Library Night 2009

Many of our ASD families joined in for some festive fun at out annual Family Library Night on December 7.

Children wore their pajamas and gave their parents a tour of the library!

Highlights of the evening included story telling from Middle School students, holiday card and craft making, cookie decorating, and of course reading many wonderful books!

We checked out over 500 books to children and parents in just one evening!

Happy holidays to all our library patrons. We hope you treat yourself to good book over the holiday season!

Research for Emerging Readers - Grade 1

Our Grade 1 students are budding researchers! Using a database designed especially for emerging readers, PebbleGo, Grade 1 students have been learning about desert animals. PebbleGo is a database featuring more than 200 animal articles including audio, video, images and read-aloud text.

The user friendly interface and interactive nature of the PebbleGo make it perfect for students in K1-Grade 2. Many children have been so excited about researching animals that they have been coming to the library at recess to learn as much as they can!

If you would like to try out Pebble Go at home, visit our Electronic Resources page, follow the link to PebbleGo and enter the passwords provided:
http://sites.google.com/a/asdubai.org/elem/Home/passwords/password

Fiction and Nonfiction in K1 and K2

Students in K1 and K2 can tell you all about fiction and nonfiction! We have been learning how to recognize and enjoy both fiction and nonfiction books and information in the library.

Students in K1 enjoyed a series of fiction dinosaur books called How Do Dinosaurs... by Jane Yolen. In these books we realized that the stories must be make-believe because real dinosaurs would not have gone to bed with a teddy bear or ridden to school in a bus! We also shared several nonfiction books about dinosaurs and discovered the table of contents, diagrams, index and real-looking images.

K2 students shared a fiction book called Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman and a nonfiction electronic book on Starfall.com called Pumpkin, Pumpkin. The children were thrilled by the real photographs of a pumkin that was taller than them! We also enjoyed a fiction story about fall called Leaf Man by Louis Elhert, a realistic fiction video called Ruby's Leaf Collection and a nonfiction film from BrainPop on Fall. We discussed which information from each story was fact or fiction.

Recommended resources to reinforce fiction and nonfiction concepts at home:

BookFlix:
A database of paired fiction and nonfiction video stories and books, ideal for students in grades K1-2. ASD subscribes to this online resource available from our website:
http://sites.google.com/a/asdubai.org/elem/Home/passwords/password

Star Fall:
Starfall.com is a free public website that is designed to motivate children to read with phonics. Games, stories and puzzles are appropriate for early readers.
http://www.starfall.com/

BrainPOP Jr.:
Animated Science, Health, Technology, Math, Social Studies, Arts & Music and English movies, quizzes, activity pages and school homework help for K-12. Available from our website:
http://sites.google.com/a/asdubai.org/elem/Home/passwords/password

Big6 Research in Grades 3-5

Our elementary students are refining their research skills. Using both print and electronic resources, students are learning the steps of the Big6 research process help them to develop as researchers. The Big6 is a model used to teach information and technology problem solving skills.

In Grade 3, students recently used a database called CultureGrams to learn about India. Grade 4 students researched the human body and natural disasters using a variety of resources. Books, World Book Online, Expert Space, and WebPath Express were just some of the tools these budding researchers explored to find information on their specific body system and type of disaster. Several Grade 5 students used multiple sources to research biomes of the world.

Using various graphic organizers to record their "treasure words" or main ideas, students are learning important skills related to locating, evaluating and using information. All students in Grades 2-5 are learning the following six-step approach:

1. Task Definition

• Define the information problem
• Identify information needed

2. Information Seeking Strategies

• Determine all possible sources
• Select the best sources

3. Location and Access

• Locate sources
• Find information within sources

4. Use of Information

• Engage, read, hear, view
• Extract relevant information

5. Synthesis

• Organize from multiple sources
• Present the information

6. Evaluation

• Judge the product
  
• Judge the process
  

For more information about the Big6, visit http://www.big6.com/kids/index.htm
Also, remember students can access our subscription resources from home. Simply visit the Elementary Library Home Page for links to our many helpful resources, all at appropriate reading levels for students.

Cynthia Rylant - Grade 2

Cynthia Rylant is the author of many genres of books for children of all ages. She received the Newbery Medal for her book Missing May, the Newbery Honor award for A Fine White Dust, as well as Caldecott Honors for The Relatives Came and When I Was Young in the Mountains. We have over 80 books by Cynthia Rylant in our elementary library!

Grade Two students have begun to explore some of her popular work for young readers. Several series they have started reading are Henry and Mudge, High-Rise Private Eyes, Mr. Putter and Tabby, Poppleton and Cobblestreet Cousins.


Students also enjoy many of Rylant's picture books including The Cookie-Cat Store, The Bookshop Dog, Little Whistle's Medicine and The Great Gracie Chase: Stop That Dog!

To read a letter from Cynthia Rylant, written for children, click here.