P. Zonka and Pysanky Eggs with Kindergarten

Paschkis, Julie. P. Zonka Lays an
Egg. Peachtree, 2015.

P. Zonka is a hen who spends her days daydreaming and admiring nature around her. With all the beauty around her, she has never taken the time to lay an egg. The other hens think that P. Zonka is just plain lazy. Finally, P. Zonka decides to give this egg laying a try. To everyone's amazement, her eggs are dazzling!

With Easter coming just around the corner, this book is a perfect read aloud. The illustrations are beautiful, and the rooster, Gloria, makes for a hilarious addition to the story. The kids love it when the reader makes the loud "Cock-a-doodle-doo" sound. 

Psyanky 

After reading the story, I tell the students about the Ukranian tradition of making psyanky, which is a Ukranian Easter Egg. The decorations are always elaborate on, and often depict different aspects of nature. In P. Zonka's egg, you can see the red tulips, yellow sunshine, sky dark blue at midnight, and the green grass that she admired so often. 

Then, students were able to decorate their own eggs. Some students used patterns and geometric shapes, while others used P. Zonka's ideas and drew their favorite flowers and things in nature. 

This student drew here friends and the sun. 

You can find more activities, as well as this one, in this event kit by the publisher.  This download also has a description of psyanky.

Imaginary Pets with Kindergarten

Lehrhaupt, Adam. I WILL NOT EAT YOU.
illustrated by Scott Magoon. Simon & Schuster. 2017.

One of my favorite days of the week is the day that Kindergarten comes to the library. They are so fun and they really are drawn into the books. Today, I read I WILL NOT EAT YOU by Adam Lehrhaupt. This is an amazing read aloud story, so if you don't have it in your library, get it soon!

We started off making a prediction of what the animal is in the cave that we see on the front cover. Most of the kindergarteners thought it was a bear, but we don't find out until the middle of the book.

We find out on the first page that the animal in the cave's name is Theodore. Different animals come to his cave and make sounds at him. The students enjoy making the sounds along with me. The first animal is a little bird, so the kids get to tweet tweet. I think their favorite was the lion. They let out a loud roar for me!

Finally, a litte boy dressed as a knight on a stick horse comes to Theodore's cave. Theodore thinks of eating the little boy, but after the boy pokes him and runs around, the boy begins to laugh. Well you know laughter is contagious, so Theodore also begins to laugh. Instead of eating the boy he plays with the boy.

That brought us to our second skill, fantasy versus realistic. The kids decided that Theodore, being a dragon, was a figment of the little boys imagination. I asked them what made them think this, and it was because the boy was dressed as a knight, so he needed a dragon to fight.

Each kindergartener then drew the animal they would have as their imaginary play pet. I had a few dragons, lots of unicorns, a narwhal, an elephant, and a few lions.

This girl has a pegasus as her imaginary pet. 

This young lady wants Gerald to play with.

Lots of the girls drew unicorns. I love the rainbow this girl added. 

Favorite Picture Books of 2017

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you know that my passion is collaborating and co-teaching with the classroom teachers. However, I also really love story time! Especially with kindergarten and first grade students. There is just something magical in the way that the students will sit and listen to a story being read.

I have compiled my top 10 favorite books that I read aloud to classes in the year 2017. These books were not necessarily published in 2017, but they were books I chose to read aloud during the year 2017 to my students.

***These are in no particular order.***

La Princesa and the Pea

One of my favorite fairy tales from when I was little was The Princess and the Pea. This is a latino take on the original story. The author incorporates Spanish words into the story, so it was really fun to read with our bilingual class. They enjoyed telling me when I said the word wrong and praising me if I said it correct the first time.

The rhyming text makes it fun for a read aloud, and the illustrations are gorgeous! This is perfect for multicultural, fractured fairy tales, and trickster tales!

Elyn, Susan Middleton. La Princessa and the Pea. G. P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2017.

We Found a Hat

I love Jon Klassen's Hat trilogy, but it is dry humor and not everyone appreciates it. For example, the first of the triloly, I WANT MY HAT BACK, is not something that I would read to my kinders. I don't think they would understand it. This book, though, was not quite as deep and some of the gifted kinders could understand. My first graders and second graders found it to be hilarious! 

Two turtles find a hat. They both want the hat, but there is only one hat. What ever will they do? The ending is so sweet, but the best part is that students have to make inferences to really know what happens.  

Klassen, Jon. We Found a Hat. Candlewick, 2016.

The Grumpy Pets

Billy is a grumpy child, so his mom takes him to the pet store to pick out a pet. Billy does not want a cheerful, cute, playful pet. Then, Billy finds the pets in the back of the pet store. These pets are grouchy, and a bit grumpy just like Billy! 

This is a great read aloud for younger students. The kids laughed out loud at the faces that Billy made, and then all the antics of the pets in the store. There were quite a few oooohs and awwws at the end of the story, too. 

Lombardi, Kristine. The Grumpy Pets. Harry N. Abrams, 2016. 

School's First Day of School

I knew I would love this book when I saw that it was illustrated by Christian Robinson. He is one of my absolute favorite children's illustrators. 

I read this to kinder and first grade back in September when everyone was back at school. It was especially great for the new kinders and all our new first graders. Everyone is nervous the first week of school, but did anyone ever think about how the school building feels the first day of school? In this story, the main character is the school building, who talks to the janitor each day. The school is really nervous about school starting, but everything turns out great. By the end of the day, the school decides he wants the children to come back. 

Rex, Adam. School's First Day of School. illustrated by Christian
 Robinson. Roaring Book Press, 2016. 

Samson in the Snow

Samson, a wooly mammoth, has a dandelion patch, which is his favorite flower because yellow is his favorite color. While tending to his dandelions, Samson meets a red bird. The red bird asks if he can have just 3 dandelions to give to his friend, who loves anything yellow. Samson allows the bird to have the flowers, then begins to dream of what it would be like to have a friend. He wakes up to snow everywhere! On his journey through the blizzrd, he finds the mouse and offers him shelter. Samson finds out the mouse is looking for his friend, that turns out to be the red bird! A beautiful story of friendship and kindness. 

Stead, Philip C. Samson in the Snow. Roaring Book Press, 2016. 

Good Night Owl

If you do not own any of Greg Pizzoli's picture books, I implore you to buy some for your library this week!! He is a fabulous author, and the kids love his books. 

Good Night Owl is about an owl that is just trying to get some sleep. As soon as Owl settles down into his cozy bed, he hears a sound. He knows he will never be able to sleep if he doesn't find the sound. He looks everywhere: cupboards, floorboards, even the walls! While tearing up his house to find the sound, he misses a small mouse-shaped detail. 

The best part of the story is the illustrations. Owl's cute pajamas made the kids crack up, and with the mouse hidden on each page we all had a case of the giggles. 

Pizzoli, Greg. Good Night Owl. Disney-Hyperion, 2016.

Nugget & Fang: Friends Forever -- Or Snack Time?

Who doesn't love a good book with a shark? How about a shark that is a vegetarian?! My students love shark books, and this book did not disapppoint! 

Nugget and Fang are the best of friends, and they love swimming together in the big ocean. Then Nugget has to go to minnow school, where he learns the dangers of sharks. Fang has to prove to Nugget that he can be trusted. He takes desparate and hilarious measures to get Nugget back as a friend. 

The illustrations make the book even more hilarious. The text and illustrations also make this a great book for making predictions. 

Sauer, Tammi. Nugget & Fang: Friends Forever or Snack Time? illustrated by
Michael Slack. HMH Books for Young Readers. 2013. 

Alan's Big Scary Teeth

This book was so fun to read aloud, because you can make the different voices for Alan the Alligator and the other animals. The kids love to hear the different voices, it draws them in. 

Alan comes from a long line of alligators who are great at being scary. He doesn't know how to do anything else, so he scares the other animals in the jungle with his big scary teeth. What a surprise to find out his big, scary teeth are FALSE, and he loses them one day! What will Alan do now? 

My favorite thing about this book is the look of astonishment on the kids' faces when we find out that Alan's teeth are false! 

Jarvis. Alan's Big Scary Teeth. Candlewick Press, 2016. 

Penguin Problems

Who doesn't love a good picture book with penguins? How about a penguin who doesn't know if he likes being a penguin? His home is too cold, other animals are trying to eat him, everyone looks the same, and the list goes on. The long speech by the walrus was a little much, but if you talk in a funny voice you can keep their attention. The ending is hilarious, and helps teach making inferences. 

John, Jory. Penguin Problems. illustrated by Lane Smith.
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2016. 

The William Hoy Story

I am a huge baseball fan, so I knew I would love this biography about William Hoy, a professional baseball player who struggled because he was deaf. On top of his teammates and other teams shunning him because of his disability, he couldn't hear the umpires. He works to have the umpires use hand signals for the calls. This changed the way the game of baseball was played. 

This amazing biography teaches perserverance, and is a great read for any student that loves baseball or biographies. 

It was hard to make my top ten choices, because so many great books have been written. What was your favorite picture book you read in 2017?

Mock Caldecott 2017

I started late this year, but I decided to do a Mock Caldecott election with the Kinder and first grade students. Last week we discussed the Caldecott Award and Caldecott Honor and that the awards are for the best picture book.  We discuss how the illustrations often give more detail and are very important to the story.

I showed them last year's winners and read Finding Winnie and Last Stop on Market Street. I pointed out the different techniques that the illustrator used, specifically the cut paper technique that Christian Robinson uses in Last Stop on Market Street.




















I then chose the books we will be voting on for our Mock Caldecott. I follow a few book gurus on Twitter that helped me make me decision for out books, such as John Schu and Travis Jonkers.  I decided this year, since we are starting late, we won't have a lot of books to choose from. We will start with only six.

After deciding on the books for this year, I created a ballot that the students can fill out after we read each book.

This week we read Samson in the Snow, which is about a woolly mammoth named Samson, who loves dandelions and desparately wants a friend. He encounters a red bird who wants to cheer up her friend whose favorite color is yellow. A blizzard comes, and Samson begins to worry about the little red bird, so he wanders off to find her. The picture book is wonderful for making predictions, and the illustrations add so much detail to the story.

Next week, we will read another picture book that just might be the 2017 winner!  (p,s. Even though the real winner is announced next week, I won't tell my kids until we are done. LOL!) 

I can't end the week without letting you see my Jamberry manicure that held up all week long and still looks fabulous! And a sneak peek of what we will read next week. 

Friday Wrap up, New Year, and SNOW!

We are already a week into the year 2017! We have only been back at school for 4 days, and the library has already circulated over 1,100 books. It makes me so happy to have such avid readers here. 

No time was wasted this week, and everyone dove right into working and researching. Third grade is learning about landforms, so the teacher and I collaborated on ways to make it more meaningful. She found a passport, and I provided the lesson on using Google Earth and our online World Atlas. Students were given the task to find information on different types of landforms, then to locate famous landforms using Google Earth and illustrate in their passport. 

The students and I had loads of fun searching for landforms using Google Earth. We looked at some of the volcanoes in Hawaii and mountain ranges in Europe. One group even viewed Death Valley! 

In kinder and first grade, we discussed the difference between fiction and nonfiction. I forgot to take pics, but we made a t-chart to show the difference. We learned that fiction is to entertain and nonfiction is to inform. I used the book TOYS MEET SNOW by Emily Jenkins as the fiction book and WHO LIKES THE SNOW by Etta Kaner as the nonfiction example. If you have not read TOYS MEET SNOW to your students, it is a must read and a must have for your elementary library! 

To wrap up the week, it SNOWED!! It is hard enough to concentrate on a Friday, but to add on snow! We don't see snow very often here in Texas, so the students were all abuzz with excitement this afternoon. 

Also, to wrap up the week, my manicure has lasted all week through numerous book repairs. I love these Jamberry nail wraps!!  

Happy Valentine's Day

What a fun week in the library! Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. The library is very festive, with shiny hearts hanging from every corner. The students have had fun this week being a part of the decorating. The fifth graders were given the chance to write their favorite books or book series on my "We <3 Books" bulletin board. It has been interesting reading everyone's favorite. I was surprised that I didn't have many duplicates of books. I love that the students at my school are individuals and they know what they like to read.

I forgot to take a picture, but outside the library I have a large tree. I call it my tree of kindness, and the first graders have been adding their acts of kindness to the tree. We read BEAR GETS SICK by Karma Wilson. We made text-to-self connections and compared how the animals helped Bear to how people have helped us. They also learned the meaning of the word 'compassion'. 

These books about BEAR are some of my favorite picture books. 

My second graders listened to the story THE VALENTINES BEARS by Eve Bunting. They made text-to-text connections and noticed that the illustrator of this story, Jan Brett, is also an author of a book they had read in the past. This was actually not the lesson that I had intended, but I went with it when the students noticed and recognized her name. So, we talked about the illustrations and how they were similar to her illustrations in THE MITTEN. I love it when the students guide the lesson. 

Fourth grade and fifth grade are both learning steps to research and how to correctly cite their sources. I am over the top excited that next week I will be collaborating with the fourth grade ELA teacher! Fourth grade will be coming to the library next week to do research over Texas Battles, and together with the ELA teacher, I will be helping the students conduct their research. I hope that by doing this, more teachers will jump on board and allow me to collaborate with them more often. Stay tuned for my post next week to see how it goes! 

Holidays at Hillside

The semester is nearly complete. WOW! These past months have flown by, and I have nearly completed a semester of being a school librarian. I have loved every minute of my new position, and I cannot wait to see what the next semester has in store for me at Hillside Academy.

The library is decorated for the holidays, and I must say it looks amazing. My fifth grade junior library assistants helped me put up the tree, and even decorated the tree skirt. I let them each sign their name so I will remember over the years who made the tree skirt. 

The library has received some gifts for this holiday season. We just received 3 new large bean bag chairs and a beautiful rug for our reading area. I have to rearrange some shelves soon to make room for the rug, but it will be ready soon. The bean bag chairs are already getting a lot of use. 

We also finally received our eBooks in the Hillside catalog. The students were so excited when I told them about the eBooks, and already I have almost half of the eBooks in use and checked out now. It made my heart happy that the kids were so excited about books. 

Alright, let's talk books now! Kindergarten has been comparing stories in the library. In their classes, kinder students have been reading and listening to different Gingerbread stories, such as The Gingerbread Boy, The Gingerbread Man, and The Gingerbread Girl.  In the library, I read the kinder students The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires, then we discussed the similarities and differences. 

First graders compared stories and made text-to-self connections in the library this month. We read the famous poem by Clement Moore, The Night Before Christmas. The students were upset that Rudolph was not in the story, so we had a discussion about how the poem was written before Santa found Rudolph and asked him to lead his sleigh. The following week, I read Texas Night Before Christmas by James Rice. The kids laughed at my southern Texan accent. After they finished giggling, we compared the two versions of the story. 

This is one of my favorite versions. The illustrations are beautiful!

Last Friday, the students had their house holiday parties. Each house had hot chocolate, made an ornament, and was able to invite their parents. The best part of my day was being able to go to my kids' house parties and seeing their bright smiles during the school day. 

Kinder meets I.Q. and More!

The second week of school has passed already, and what a week it was! Especially Friday!! Everyone wanted new books for the long weekend. By the end of the day on Friday, I felt like books were flying at me from all directions. But, that is a good thing, because that means my Hillside Scholars are reading and loving books.

 

Kindergarten met our library mouse, I.Q. In the book, I.Q. learns to find books on the shelf and use his library card. We learned what a library card is, and everyone checked out a new book. 

 

 

 

First grade read Wild About Books by Judy Sierra, which is about a librarian who accidently takes her book cart to the zoo. The animals love the books so much, they decide to start their own zoobrary. It is a fun, rhyming book. Then first graders watched a video on how to use the shelf markers, and they practiced using the shelf markers correctly while choosing their books. 

 

 

 

 

Second graders reviewed ways to take care of our books and be responsible. We watched the video, based on Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, which is a favorite at our school.  Of course, we laughed while watching the video, then they talked at their tables about what the pigeon did that he should not have done to the library books. 

 

 

 

 

Third, Fourth, and Fifth graders were introduced to the Texas Bluebonnet Club, and I showed them how to access the BlueBonnet Book Response form. I already have some that have filled their response forms out and have their names on our bulletin board outside the library.

 

 

I just finished reading The Lost Planet by Rachel Searles, and I highly recommend this book! It is filled with adventure. What are you reading this week?