What are you reading now?

Hope everyone is enjoying Winter Break!  I've been having a blast spending time with my little boys and reading as much as I can.  I finished The Red Pencil.  I've also worked through several graphic novels: Ms. Marvel, Roller Girl, and I found the copy of El Deafo  that I started and finished that as well.  I am really glad I read all of them.  For pure enjoyment I really loved Roller Girl but I'd have a hard time picking a favorite.  I was struck by the fact that all three were very interesting in terms of depicting the changing friendships of their characters.  I also read The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus and Kinda Like Brothers which I loved.  I sped through that one!  

Next up, I've started Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire.  So far I'm really enjoying this novelization loosely based on  the folktale Baba Yaga.  I read one of Maguire's other retellings many years ago and didn't enjoy it as much as I expected to (I usually love fairy tale retellings) so I've been very pleasantly surprised.  It's beautifully written and so far the story is really holding my interest.  

Hope you all have had the chance to read something great over break!

Book Art

One of my favorite projects that we do most years is recycled book art.  This is something we often do the week before Winter Break for a variety of reasons: it doesn't make sense to start something new, it gives those students that need to make up an assignment the chance to do so, and - most importantly - it's fun!  The books that students use have been weeded from our collection for some reason.  Most of them are already falling apart, but their pages are still beautiful.


This year we had a little contest between Ms. Papadakis's seventh graders and Mr. Wiggins's eighth graders to see who could create the best art out of recycled books.  These are books that have been weeded from our collection for some reason.  Our science art teacher Mr. Vacanti very kindly agreed to judge their artwork in order to choose the winner.

Students were allowed to work in groups of up to four students.  They used scissors and glue sticks to help put scraps of the books together.  Their work was judged on three criteria: craftsmanship, originality, and use of the source material - the book pages.

The runners up:

The Blue Bear in the Wild 

Rose

 And the winner is...

Pray for Paris

Many students used images from old almanacs as they were so bright and beautiful, but this group really did an exceptional job of taking those bright pictures and creating something out of them.

Book Donations

We've been very happy this week to be able to pass out a new or gently used book as a gift to every child at Disney.  During their library time students have had the opportunity to choose the book that they would like from the donated books.  This was made possible through donations from the Molina Foundation, First Book, and from student donations.  Happy reading!

Eric Carle Artwork

Last week first graders completed one of my favorite author study projects: Eric Carle artwork.  Students used tissue paper to create their own illustrations of animals and insects in the style of Eric Carle.  Their work is then displayed in the library windows where the light shines through their beautiful illustrations.

What are you reading now?

I just finished Rain Reign which is one of the Battle of the Books titles for 4th-6th grade.  I'm now starting The Red Pencil which is another Battle of the Books title.  Like other books I've read this year (May B., The Crossover, and Hidden) this is a novel in verse.  Have you ever read a novel in verse?  What did you think?

Battle of the Books

I'm very excited that this year we are starting our very own Disney Battle of the Books teams!  Students in grades 4-6 and 7-8 are invited to turn in permission slips to participate in Battle of the Books.  

Battle of the Books is a team competition in which students are asked a series of questions pulled from a specific list of books.  Students will work together throughout the year to better understand the books and prepare for a school battle in late March.  At that point, a final Disney 4^th-6^th grade team and Disney 7^th-8^th grade team will be decided.  Those teams will compete against other schools in early April.  The top 30 teams in each age group will then move on to the City Finals Competition in early May.  The team that correctly answers the most questions about the books wins!

Here at Disney we will be meeting weekly with our preliminary Battle of the Books teams for students to engage in fun activities about the books as they work toward our goal of the school battle in March!  Students will be expected to set personal goals for reading the titles on the list.   Ms. Herceg and I will be coaching the 4-6 grade team and Mr. Fernandez and I will be coaching the 7-8 grade team.

If you have any questions please email me at gerowe@cps.edu or give me a call at the school.

CPS Battle of the Books Wiki

Monarch Nominee: If It Rains Pancakes Haikus and Lantern Poems

This Monarch nominee was a lot of fun!  I was familiar with haikus, as were some students, but lantern poems were new to all of us.  Both styles of poetry are originally Japanese in origin.  We learned that the haiku is traditionally about something in nature but this funny book has haikus about everything!  The first line of a haiku has five syllables, the second has seven, and the third has five.  The lantern poems starts with a one syllable noun and then the rest of the poem describes that one syllable noun.  The noun is then casting it's light over the rest of the poem like a lantern.  Students tried their hand at writing their own haiku and lantern poems.  Take a look at some of the lantern poems Ms. Arroyo's class came up with.

New books!

This week students have been so excited to check out brand new books!  Thank you to the Disney PTA who have provided the funding for these books through money raised at the school book fairs.

MyOn

Students in 2nd-8th grade have been reintroduced to our online resource MyOn.  MyOn is a fabulous resource that contains over 5,000 quality e-books for students to enjoy and use for classwork.  Each individual student has his or her own individual login.

www.myon.com

Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week we finally read the classic Eric Carle title The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Then students sequenced the story in illustrations and labeled parts of their illustrations.

What Are You Reading Now?

I just finished reading Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff and it was fabulous.  Her books are very popular in our library.  Next up I'm starting El Deafo which was a Newbery Honor book this year.

What are YOU reading now?

Bluestem Group Goal Setting: Gottlieb

Ms. Gottlieb's class is reading books from both the Bluestem and Rebecca Caudill lists.  Recently they discussed the nominated titles from the Bluestem list and came to a consensus at their tables about which book they would like to read.

Bluestem Group Goal Setting: Persons

Ms. Persons class has been reading up a storm for the Bluestem Award!  Some of her students are close to finishing the four books that they need to have read in order to vote.  Students in this class discussed the nominated titles and decided as a table group which one they would most like to read.

Eric Carle/Pebble Go Research

We are very lucky to have a subscription to the online resource Pebble Go.  Pebble Go is a FANTASTIC database for primary students with four categories of information within the database: animals, biographies, science, and social studies.

Pebble Go  Ask your librarian for the username and password to enjoy this resource at home.

This week first grade students are continuing their author study of Eric Carle.  We read his classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar and students used Pebble Go to research two different types of butterflies.  As a class, we created a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two types of butterflies.

Bluestem Award Goal Setting: Stumbras

As I finish book talking the Bluestem and Rebecca Caudill Nominees, students have the opportunity to discuss the books.  Ms. Stumbras's class discussed all the nominees with their table groups and then decided which book their group would most like to read.

Preparing for Eric Carle Illustrations

First graders have been exploring Eric Carle's books and learning how he creates his illustrations.  Our final project for this author study will be to create a piece of artwork in the style of Eric Carle using tissue paper as he does.  This week students have been getting their materials ready.  Tissue paper has been such a fun medium to try out!

Stay tuned to find out what this paper will become...

Author Studies: Eric Carle

Now that the Global Read Aloud is over, first graders are getting back into author studies.  Next up is Eric Carle.  We started by watching the slide shows on his website that show how he creates his illustrations.

Then we read the book The Mixed Up Chameleon and students had a great time coming up with their very own mixed up creatures.

Lion Bird Robot

Giraffe Monkey

Eagle Tiger Chicken

Cat Human Chick

Duck Alligator Platypus

Lion Alligator Elephant

Starfish Tiger Penguin

Author Studies: Mo Willems

First graders will be working on author studies throughout the year.  They will explore the different styles of a variety of authors and start to learn the words to use when discussing the work of different authors.   The first author we studied this year was Mo Willems - always a favorite!  We learned that he was a stand up comedian and a writer for Sesame Street and Cartoon Network before he started writing and illustrating books.  We explored his websites:
Go Mo
Pigeon Presents

We also learned how to draw our very own pigeons using his directions.
How to Draw the Pigeon!

Pigeon drawn on the back of an old catalog card.

Bluestem and Rebecca Caudill Hall of Fame!

Wondering who has been reading the Bluestem and Rebecca Caudill Nominees?  Check out the hall of fame posters in the front of the library to see.

Illinois Children's Choice Awards

The Disney library is happy to be providing our students the opportunity to participate in the Illinois Children's Choice Awards.  These awards ask students to read a certain number of books from a list of nominated titles and then vote for their favorites.

The Monarch Award is open to students in Illinois in K-3 who have read at least 5 of the nominated titles.  I will be sharing these books with my second and third grade classes.

The Bluestem Award is open to students in Illinois in grades 3-5 who have read at least 4 of the nominated titles.  I am book talking these titles to my students and they will have the choice to read the books in time for the vote in March.  

   

Bluestem Nominees

Bluestem Nominee Spines

The Rebecca Caudill Award is open to students in Illinois in grades 4-8 who have read at least 3 of the nominated titles.  I have book talked these books to my 6th-8th graders and they will have the choice to read the books in time for the vote in February. 

Rebecca Caudill Nominees

Rebecca Caudill Nominee Spines

We have several copies of the books here in our library and they can be found at the public library as well.

The links to the individual award sites as well as past Disney winners are on our library wiki.

Library Wiki Bluestem, Caudill, Monarch Awards

Happy reading!

New books!

We are so thrilled to have had a shipment of books from Scholastic through funds donated by the PTA.  Thank you!  We are hard at work processing all of the new books and will have them on the shelves for checkout soon!