April News

We have been VERY busy in the media center this past month.  Kindergarten students are now going into the lab on an every other week basis and are LOVING it.  We have used the program Tux Paint to create pictures and Kidkeys to start learning where the letters on the keyboard are and what sounds they make when we type them.  This week we went on a website www.starfall.com and did a vey fun recycling activity.  First grade students and I have been reading lots of different fun books about pigs.  They know I have a love of pig stories and they are sharing my enthusiasm.  One of our favorites was Princess Pigsty by Cornelia Funke about a princess who would rather live with the pigs than be pampered by all of her servants!  We are getting reading to do an activity on starfall.com titled "All About Me".  We get to choose how we look, a pet we want, the bedroom we would like, and friend activities.  They will be coming home at the end of the school year.  In second grade we are studying different books that have won the Caldecott Medal (for best illustrations).  I think our favorite was The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Modicai Gerstein.  The students couldn't believe that a man once walked between the north and south towers in New York City!  We have been practicing our drawing and painting abilities in the computer lab using Tux Paint - the students love to illustrate their favorite parts of the books we read. We also went on a very fun keyboarding website Dance Mat Typing.  The Mystery of the Cobweb Confession (Third Grade Detective series by George Stanley) has been an awesome mystery for our third graders.  Each week we are using our detective notebooks to take notes on suspects, characters, and secret code clues.  Ask your student what our first secret code clue was!  Fourth grade students are studying mythology and getting ready to play a jeopardy game on the different books we have read together.  I think our favorite book may have been Pandora by Robert Burleigh.  On our computer lab weeks, we will be creating book reviews using PowerPoint.  The students are quick learners and their reviews are looking great so far.  In fifth grade we are busily working on two projects.  During our computer lab weeks we are creating scrapbooks of our fifth grade year using PowerPoint.  I have loaded some photographs onto the computers and we are getting more for them to use.  If you have any you would like to send to me that would be very welcome.  We are also working on book reviews in groups which we are going to video using our Flip cameras.  Students are writing scripts, creating backgrounds and props, and scheduling their video time.  Both these projects have been great learning experiences for all of us.



 



The Growing Reader Reading Logs for Kindergarten, First, Second, and Third Grade students will be due on Friday, May 11.  Keep up the good work!  Our Ice Cream Sundae party is scheuled for Wednesday, May 23 at 2:30 in the gym.  We will have ice cream and lots of yummy toppings!



Our Newbery party was a HUGE success.  We had 159 4th and 5th graders attend.  Each of the students read at least five Newbery Challenge books; a huge achievement.  The celebration included cheese pizza, rootbeer floats, and candy.  A great time was had by all of us:)