12/15/06

Greetings from Ashby Elementary School Library!

Total circulation for October & November: 4157

Highlights:

Second graders walked to the new Ashby Public Library for a tour and story.

* Kindergarten stories coincided with the classroom curriculum topics that included pig stories (Perfect the pig and Six perfectly different pigs), ocean theme (Very last first time and Sea animals), Grassland animals (Danger on the grassland and the Buffaloes), and holiday stories. In addition to stories they enjoyed various puppets, art activities, finger songs, puzzles and cutout stories. Library skill covered was the difference between fiction and non-fiction.

*First graders learned the importance of reading through the books, The little old man who could not read and Thomas Mead. We began studying habitats and trail signs including animal tracks using the book, Big tracks, little tracks. The children enjoyed the video, Poop, Paws and Hoof Prints and made their very own book of animal tracks to take home. They listened to the story, Who were the Pilgrims, and made turkey word birds that had to have their feathers filled with words from the story. Their thoroughly enjoyed books by author Mercer Mayer.

*The second graders prepared for their leave study field trip with the book, Why do leaves change colors. We discussed historical fiction and read the story, First Adventure, by Coatsworth that is based on a true story about a little boy from Plymouth Colony who gets lost in the woods and is saved by the Indians. To enhance their classroom study of spiders, they enjoyed Be nice to Spiders, read a choral reading poem about spiders, and put on the play Spiders are Special. They continued their study of weather by listening to the story, Hurricane, by Wiesner.

*Third graders spent much of October studying the economy. Books read were The go around dollar and Monster money. They very much enjoyed the informative DVD, How the Economy Works. The culminating activity was a list of economy words that had to be looked up in the dictionary and defined. Other topics covered were emperor penguins (The Emperor‚s egg), and New England Indians (Strawberry Thanksgiving). Students have begun a unit on using an atlas introduced by the story, How to make an apple pie and see the world. Their first activity sheet asked them to answer atlas questions on Africa.

*Fourth graders enhanced their United States Geography skills, by using a variety of resources to complete a New England States information worksheet. They were required to use book and Internet sources. Mrs. Rixford‚s class worked on a state brochure. Research on landforms required students to use atlases, dictionaries and encyclopedias. For Thanksgiving we read about turkeys, Wild turkeys, tame turkeys, and then had to compare their characteristics.

*Fifth grade students used library resources to research New World explorers for a report and presentation. Our research skill for the month of November was how to use an encyclopedia index. They had many activities to complete and a final test. To enhance their study of Jamestown, we enjoyed the historical fiction, The starving time, about a girl‚s experiences trying to survive in Jamestown.

In critical thinking classes, kindergarteners worked on properties and classifying using buttons, Mr. Wiggles number game, and memory skills. First graders‚ activities included Corn Cob Count and Acorn Math (math strategy counting activities), a creativity and fluency activity (Unicorns have horns and Ats have hats), a volume prediction activity (Which holds more). Second graders worked on their leave unit, which required them to identify and classify leaves. Other activities included a measurement and prediction challenge (How big is a foot), and Dudley the Detective Venn diagram problems. Third graders worked brainstorming, riddle solutions, inductive reasoning skills, and problem solving using grids.

Respectfully,
Anne Allen