Skype, JP News & a Virtual Field Trip

Our 1st Mystery State skype with fourth graders kept our media center rocking and rolling this morning. The experience was a huge success. So was a multi grade level taping of JP News and a "Books and Breakfast" celebration in honor of our Read A Thon.

Skype Time!

Fourth and fifth grade students traveled to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History last week. It was a fun virtual field trip and behind the scenes tour of the museum courtesy of Scholastic. The trip fit in with our information literacy discoveries of primary and secondary sources too!

Third graders were introduced to Sara Pennypacker's Clementine which is one of my all time favorite reads for this age level. I love Clementine's voice. Students used MackinVia for the first time in class and continued to explore the card catalog in more detail.

The card catalog was fun to explore with the second graders as well. Looking up resources on the computer is always exciting. But can the students then find that information on the shelves in the library?  The skill of searching for information is one they will continue to practice in years to come. The students did a great job of helping one another.



"Books & Breakfast"



Thank you to author Peter H. Reynolds for his electronic version of The Dot. Kindergarten and first grade students enjoyed listening to him read. We also used the activities at the conclusion of the book and practiced putting the illustrations in story order on the Smartboard.

Two of my favorite new book finds this week were: Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon and Back to Front and Upside Down by Claire Alexander. My Kindergartner at home loved them too!

We hope you have had a chance to explore MackinVia at home. Check it out over Spring Break if you have not already done so with your child. Directions on how to create a backpack may be found in the Jeffers Pond Journal. Here is an easy suggestion for creating a backpack. Once you have logged on as a Jeffers Pond student, create the user name with your child's  1st initial+last name. The password could be just your child's last name. You will be asked for your email address when setting up the backpack.  Backpacks are fun to use with mobile devices. Just get the MackinVia app in the app store (ios) or play store (android).  Happy reading and enjoy your spring break!



JP News



Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

 

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”  ― Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You 

How appropriate is it that my youngest shares a birthday with a one of a kind author?  We will celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday at home and at school next week.

For those Justin Bieber fans some younger classes will be listening to his rendition of The Cat in the Hat.

3rd - 5th graders will use Excel to decode Dr. Seuss titles. 4th and 5th graders will wrap up their movie maker book trailers (perhaps titles include some Dr. Seuss favorites?) Finally, throughout the course of the month all students will be introduced to Mackin Via's e book collection!

We are also dabbling in OverDrive's School 30 day free trial. We are excited to offer the teachers another way to access e- books. Whether or not we continue after the trial will be dependent on cost, flexibility, and user friendliness.

Our Read A Thon last month was a success. The PTC is using the funds raised to break out new iPads! It will be exciting to use this technology with our students. Speaking of technology, I have still  not given up hope of getting ipod touches in the library. I submitted the grant to our principal today, will pass it on to the Laker Education Foundation next week and hope for the best.

Enjoy your weekend and remember “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” ― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!