Author Study

Grace Lin is coming to visit my school next Monday!  Very exciting!  In preparation for her visit, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders have been doing an author study.  We have read many of Grace Lin's books, such as Lissy's Friends, Dim Sum for Everyone, Olvina Swims.

We have been documenting our learning on a collaborative poster: 

After we read books, I asked students what characters we met or if they noticed anything we should add to the poster.  I wrote their ideas on sticky notes and added them to the poster.  Students could add anything they wanted to the poster on their own - questions, comments, characters, drawings, origami, facts we learned.  I think the kids did a great job!  Here are some examples of their sticky notes: 

To add to the display, I put out books from our library (I supplemented my collection with books borrowed from a colleague and my public library).  I also created an author showcase (Pinterest inspired, originally from here).  I used pictures and a short biography from Grace Lin's press kit.

In the weeks leading up to Grace Lin's visit we have had special Grace Lin centers: 

Grace Lin's Books Center- Students can read and look at Grace Lin's books.  I put pencils and sticky notes at this table for students to add characters, books, and other information to our Grace Lin poster.

Grace Lin Coloring Center- Grace Lin has TONS of printables on her website, from coloring pages to activities like mazes.  I put them all in a folder for students to choose from.  Students added a few of their pictures to the poster.

Grace Lin Origami Center-  One of the first books we read was Lissy's Friends where a young girl makes friends out of origami when she is the new girl at school and doesn't have anyone to eat with at lunch.  I printed a few easy origami instructions from here and put out any origami books I have.  Students made dogs, cats, and foxes using the printed instructions.  Some talented students knew how to make cranes, boats, and other fun things on their own!

Grace Lin's Website Center- Students could explore Grace Lin's website and find facts to add to our poster and watch book trailers like this one: 

What fun projects have you done with an author study?  Any recommendations for authors to study?

PS - The kids are thrilled with the Truffula trees and they have really brightened up the library :) I'll be back later this week with pictures of the Truffula Trees in the library.  Yesterday my camera battery died and today I left the memory card in my laptop but tomorrow I should have my act together and be able to take pics! 

Order in the Library

**Update: the bad news is Order in the Library was taken offline in 2012 but the good news is Mr. Lodge made Shelve-it, a game to practice shelving books.

Do you use Order in the Library in your library?  Order in the Library is an online library game provided by the University of Texas.  Students can practice sorting, shelving, and reordering books using the Dewey Decimal System.

I often have Order in the Library as a center.  My students love to choose a character, play, and try to get to the next level.  It's great because they are practicing putting books in order.   They have fun and I know they're practicing "shelving" -  win-win!

game choices

example of the shelving game

Truffula Trees!

For the past few weeks, I have been planning Dr. Seuss's Birthday Bash for my school.  We will be celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday with a week of reading celebrations.  To add to the fun, I wanted to incorporate some Dr. Seuss-themed decorations into my library space.  I've seen many cute truffula tree projects on Pinterest so I decided to give truffula trees a whirl.

Here is what I came up with: 

I'm thrilled with how they came out!  I may have developed a truffula tree addiction and want to spend all day tomorrow making more trees.

I initially thought I would use paper towel rolls to make small truffula trees.  Then I thought big trees would be more fun.  The first tree trunks I thought of using were pool noodles but I couldn't find any in stores yet.  The next best thing I could think of was foam insulation for plumbing.  I popped over to Home Depot and tracked down plumbing insulation.  Turns out, it's super cheap!  I got a pack of 4 3' insulators for $2.47 and the taller 6' insulators for $1.28 each.  Then I found some yellow duct tape...perfect!  I also picked up some $1 packs of tissue paper from the Christmas Tree Shop.

Here's how I went about making my truffula trees: 

First, I used Martha Stewart's instructions for tissue paper pom-poms.  The only change I made was to keep the floral wire long to attach the pom-poms to the foam insulators.

  
 I used all of  the same color tissue paper for some pom-poms: 

 and alternated light and dark shades for others:

I wrapped the foam insulators with the yellow duct tape: 

Then I attached the pom-poms to the "trunks".  The foam insulators are hollow, so I stuck the ends of the floral wire through the center of the foam tube and poked them through to the outside.

Then I twisted the ends together:

Lastly, I added one more strip of duct tape to cover and secure the wire: 

Voila!  A truffula tree:

As much as I'm enjoying the Seuss-ified corner of my living room, I can't wait to bring these trees to school after vacation and jazz up the library!

Library Trivia Jenga Center

Who doesn't love a good game of Jenga?  I saw a few Jenga games on Pinterest - math questions and other school-related trivia.  I thought, why not library trivia?  Luckily, I found a Jenga game at the thrift store for $3!

I am also part of an assessment team developing a questionnaire to assess student learning in the library.  There were so many questions ideas from our assessment I was able to tweak for my Library Jenga.  It also helped me gear the questions to what students should be taking away from library class.

The best part about Library Trivia Jenga is that students are having a blast playing while reviewing important library terms and ideas.

For my Library Trivia Jenga, I first made up a list of questions.  I numbered and color coded them just to make it easier to find the answers on the cheat sheet.  The colors also make the game just a little more colorful.  Then I laminated the questions and answers.  I cut up the questions and taped them to the blocks.  That's it!

Students play a little differently than traditional Jenga.  They set up the Jenga tower.  Then, when they take out a block, they have to answer the question.  If they get the answer right, they can keep the block.  Otherwise it goes back on the tower.  The person with the most blocks wins.

Here are some pictures the game and students playing: 

This center is available on TPT.

The Dot

I love the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.  At my school, I have both the book and the ebook through Tumblebooks.  I saw few projects on Pinterest which I combined for a second grade Dot project.  One Pinterest picture I saw was a really cute bulletin board of student-made dots, originally from Framed in Swirly Gold.   Then I saw these instructions for window treatments.  I thought it would be fun to combine the two ideas and hang dots all over my library.  

I cut out 4x4 squares of computer paper for the Dot drawings.  Then I cut 6x6 squares from construction paper for "frames".  As students finished their dots, they would pick a frame color.  We taped the dots on the frames and I laminated them (thank goodness for volunteers who helped cut out all these works of art!).  Then, I used a very small hole punch to make holes at the top and bottom and just slipped them on paperclips.

My second graders were very enthusiastic about making their own Dot after reading The Dot and were amazingly creative!  I may have to do this as a center or beginning of the year activity at all grade levels!  I want to take home and frame a few in the first picture (I hung them behind my desk so I can see them all the time!)

Wondrous Words

Who knew an online dictionary could be so much fun???  My students love using Word Central when we do dictionary and thesaurus work.  Word Central is an easy to use website by Merriam-Webster.  In addition to a dictionary, thesaurus, and rhyming dictionary, there are many other fun things for students to do.  There is a Build Your Own Dictionary to add made up words.  My favorite is bookster - a person who really likes to read books.  There are also some fun spelling games the kids go nuts over.  

I have seen paint chips being used all over Pinterest and thought there has to be a great way to use them with Word Central.  As a fun way to practice using the thesaurus I had my students look up "colorful words".  On the palest color of a paint strip, I put a "boring" word like said, good, or nice.  Then students used the Word Central thesaurus to look up more colorful words to write on their paint strip on the darker colors.  They came up with amazing word choices!  All the paint chips make an awesome, colorful bulletin board.  Here are a few examples of the colorful words:

I just got a new bucket at Target for my Wondrous Word Center.  I'm very excited to break it out after vacation.  I added a two new types of word cards: wondrous words (to look up definitions) and rhyming words (to look up words in the rhyming dictionary).  Should be fun to add to my word wall!

 

As far as paint chips go - I've gotten them at Lowe's, Home Depot, and local hardware stores.  I always explain I'm a teacher and would like to use paint chips for a school project and ask before I take handfuls.  The hardware store down the road from my school was especially happy to give away paint chips and even offered a bag for me to hold them all.  There are so many different shapes and sizes, I can't imagine all the great projects that can come from them!

Exit Tickets

I saw Cari at The Centered School Library has been talking about assessment recently.  I often use exit tickets to assess student learning.   I have found them to be a very helpful way to check whether students understood a concept or main idea I was trying to get across during my lesson.  I have also been able to see where I went wrong or if I need to clarify anything in my next lesson.

I have tried a few different ways of giving exit tickets.  

I have used slips of paper: 

I also recently started using sticky notes.  I leave out a sign with the question and a few pads of sticky notes.  I have two places students can leave their sticky notes - a "parking lot" and a tree.  This lets me do sticky exit tickets with back to back classes.

My last type of exit ticket is electronic.  I used Wallwisher last week to have 4th graders post questions for an upcoming author visit.  It was not totally smooth...some kids didn't remember to click "ok" when they were done typing and their stickies didn't stay posted.  But, I think with some practice, this might be a fun way to evaluate at the end of a class.