Summer Reading Program Sneak Peek

If you attend this event on Tuesday night, Cranston Public Library will waive any fines you owe!

Frog on a Log?

The spring book fair is next week, and I got a preview pack from Scholastic. One of the books is "Frog on a Log?," in which Cat bosses around all the animals; they have to sit on something that rhymes with their name. In light of the doves on gloves and apes on grapes, we came up for seating arrangements for the first grade (note, for rhyming purposes, we had to use some middle and last names):

• Moores sit on doors
• Mike site on bikes
• Peters sit on heaters
• Miles site on piles, files, and tiles
• Rose(s) sit on toes
• Clives sit on hives
• Lees sit in trees
• Shannons sit on cannons
• Flynns sit on Wynns (and vice versa)
• Jakes sit on rakes
• Ps sit in tea
• Maisies sit on daisies
• Neris sit on berries
• Aves sit on pave(ments)
• Lanes sit on canes

In Other Words ... with Room 9

Fifth graders are practicing their paraphrasing skills. First we worked together to come up with synonyms and ways to recast a sentence.

ORIGINAL: The automobile that went by very quickly was maroon. It went through a big puddle and splashed us.

NEW: We got wet by the large car that zoomed by.

ORIGINAL: The educator removed the unruly student from the learning environment because of the sounds he was making

NEW: The student was creating noise, so he was thrown out of the classroom.

ORIGINAL: In the metropolis, the recreation area was dilapidated. Youngsters received injuries when they attempted to utilize the equipment.

NEW: In the city, the children were getting hurt because the playground was worn out.

Then they worked on an individual assignment, putting the following sentences into their own words:

During my earlier years, I experienced much conflict with my male and female siblings who were born before me. Now that we are more mature, we have overcome some of our differences and have the ability to interact pleasantly.

Here are some of the new sentences the students came up with:

• When I was younger, my older brother and sister always fought with me. But now that we are older, we get along better. - C.G.
  
• In the past years, I had a lot of problems with my brother and sister who were born before me. Now they are older, and we have set some of our differences and have the power to play nicely. - C.S.
  
• When I was younger, I fought with my brother and sister who were older than me. Now that we are older, we can talk with each other and not fight. - G. C.
  
• When I was younger, my brother and sister and I fought, but now that we are older and mature, we are nice to one another. - R.W.
  
• When I was younger, I went through many arguments with my brothers and sisters. Now that we are older, we get along well. - C.M.
  
• Since we are older now, my older brothers and sisters and I don't fight, unlike the past years. - O.H.
  
• I had much trouble with my older brother and sister when I was young, but now that we are older, we get along much better. - H.B.
  
• When I was a kid, my brothers and sisters and I would fight. Now that we are older, we get along better. - G.P.
  
• In my younger years, my brother, sister, and I did not get along, but since we're older, we get along better. - D. V.
  
• When I was younger, I have seen my siblings fight with each other and with me, even though they were older than me. Now we are grown up, and we never fight. - T. R.
  
• During my younger years, I had many arguments with my older brothers and sisters. Now we are more responsible and can talk without arguing. - M.P.
  
• When I was younger, I had a lot of fights with my older brothers and sisters. But now that we are older, we have stopped fighting. - H.T.
  
• When I was younger, my brother and sister and I went through a lot of conflict. Now that we are older, we interact nicely. - S.G. 

Common Core standards addressed: L.5.3.A - Expand, combine, and reduce sentences for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style; W.5.8 - ... summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work ...

Room 17 Autobiography Poems

April is National Poetry Month, so I tried to do something poetic in many of our library classes.

In third grade, the kids had just finished their final assessment on how to use the online catalog to find books on the shelf; the rule of thumb I gave them was that nonfiction books have actual numbers in their call numbers. However, one section defies the rule: biographies (it's B plus the subject's last name ... e.g. B Moore for a book about me).

 I decided to combine a lesson about biography call numbers with a poetry assignment. Here is Room 17 working on theirs, as well as some of their poems after the photos.

Jonah 
Smart, funny, creative, friendly
Brother of Jake and Ben
Likes superhero memes and his friends
Dislikes buillies
Needs lots of sleep, food, and awesomeness
Dreams of being a superhero and a Youtuber
Wants to be a superhero and a Youtuber
Would like to meet himself from the future
Wants to go to another universe
Jonah

Dylan
Awesome, cool, generous, friendly
Brother of Stephen
Likes playing games, watching TV, playing Nerf, and breaking fences
Dislikes spoilers
Needs to be comfy
Dreams of jumping off a building
Wants to be a firefighter
Would liked to meet John Cena
Wants to go to heaven and see what it looks like
Dylan

Room 17 student
Funny, smart, friendly, pretty
Member of the S. family
Likes reading, playing, watching Food Network, trying new foods
Dislikes being bullied
Needs to go outside more
Dreams of meeting Dove Cameron
Wants to be an artist
Would like to meet Grover Cleveland
Wants to go to New York
Room 17 student

Francesca
Confident, friendly, sporty, funny
Daughter of my dad
Likes music, singing, and dancing
Dislikes brussels sprouts and death
Needs food, communication, and shelter
Dreams of winning 1,000,000,000 dollars
Wants to be a musician
Would like to meet Josh Dunn and Tyler Joseph
Wants to go to Italy
Francesca

In Other Words ... with Room 10

Fifth graders are practicing their paraphrasing skills. First we worked together to come up with synonyms and ways to recast a sentence.

ORIGINAL: The automobile that went by very quickly was maroon. It went through a big puddle and splashed us.

NEW: We got splashed with water when a fast-moving car went in a puddle.

ORIGINAL: The educator removed the unruly student from the learning environment because of the sounds he was making

NEW: The student was making rude noises, so the teacher pulled him from class.

ORIGINAL: In the metropolis, the recreation area was dilapidated. Youngsters received injuries when they attempted to utilize the equipment.

NEW: The chubby little babies got booboos when trying to use the trashy dump of a city playground.

Then they worked on an individual assignment, putting the following sentences into their own words:

During my earlier years, I experienced much conflict with my male and female siblings who were born before me. Now that we are more mature, we have overcome some of our differences and have the ability to interact pleasantly.

Here are some of the new sentences the students came up with:

• When I was younger, I had lots of problems with my older brothers and sisters. Now that we are older, we are nice to each other and talk politely. - V.M.


• I had problems with my family who are older than me, but since we are grown up, we are able to have fun together. - N.M.


• My brothers and sisters and I don't fight anymore because they are less annoying now that they are older, and we play together nicely. - A.S.


• When I was younger, I would have problems with my older siblings. Now we are more polite and act with kindness. - A.W.


• When I was a youngling, I was arguing with my older brothers and sisters. But now we are older and talk and act nicely to each other. - Z.B.


• When I was little, I had many conflicts with my family, but now we get along with each other. - J.M.


• Now that my bossy older siblings and I are more classy, we can be friendly around each other, unlike our baby times when we used to argue and fight. - J.S.

Common Core standards addressed: L.5.3.A - Expand, combine, and reduce sentences for meaning, reader/listener interest, and style; W.5.8 - ... summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work ...

Guide Word Rags to Riches

Before second graders start using the dictionary, they need to know how to use guide words. So they've been practicing via an online game. So far, the highest score in Mrs. Ingall's class was 32,000, hit by A.F. Can you beat his score?

See how well you know your alphabet by taking this quiz.

Common Core Standard addressed: RI.2.5 - Know and use various text features to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

May Reading Recommendations from Ms. Moore

I always have at least two books going; one at home and one in the car. I read a ton of new releases to plan for Mock Caldecott, Mock Newbery, and our general collection wish list. Here are some of the ones I liked the most from the past couple of months. All book covers and plot summaries are from Goodreads:

Picture books

Flowers blooming in sheets of snow make way for happy frogs dancing in the rain. Summer swims move over for autumn sweaters until the snow comes back again. In Julie Fogliano's skilled hand and illustrated by Julie Morstad's charming pictures, the seasons come to life in this gorgeous and comprehensive book of poetry.

A comic visual exploration of opposites, from prize-winning, internationally best-selling picture book maker, Oliver Jeffers. In this 4th title in the series, the Hueys explore the concept of opposites in their characteristically quirky way. Starting out with some easy ones like ‘up’ and ‘down’, they move on to ever more wildy imaginative examples, guaranteed to raise a smile! Packed full of visual humour, this book will be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

Nonfiction

Mary Garber was a pioneering sports journalist in a time where women were rarely a part of the newspaper business. Women weren’t even allowed to sit in the press boxes at sporting events, so Mary was forced to sit with the coaches’ wives. But that didn’t stop her. ...  And now, every year the Association of Women in Sports Media presents the Mary Garber Pioneer Award in her honor to a role model for women in sports media. ... Sure to inspire future journalists, athletes, and any child who has a dream ...

Why be afraid of the dark when there is so much to see? Whether it’s used to hunt, hide, find a friend, or escape an enemy, bioluminescence—the ability to glow—is a unique adaptation in nature. In this fun and fascinating nonfiction picture book, join world-renowned photographers and biologists on their close encounters with the curious creatures that make their own light. Author’s note and bibliography included.

It was 1904 and St. Louis was proud to host the World’s Fair and America’s First Olympics. Hundreds of thousands of people came by car, by train, by boat. Part of the Olympics was a wild, wacky marathon. Forty-two racers registered, thirty-two showed up, and of the three racers vying for the finish line: one drove part way, one was helped by his trainers over the line, and one was a postman who travelled from Cuba and ran in street clothes that he cut off to look like shorts. How they ran and who won is a story of twists and turns that wouldn’t be believed if it weren’t true! And it is!  

Middle grade fiction

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. Why is she there? Where did she come from? And, most important, how will she survive in her harsh surroundings? Roz's only hope is to learn from the island's hostile animal inhabitants. When she tries to care for an orphaned gosling, the other animals finally decide to help, and the island starts to feel like home. Until one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her....