Book Gravy

Read Alouds for October Creepy  Carrots! Written by Aaron Reynolds, pictures by Peter Brown. The black and white (and orange) illustrations give this scary story a creepy, classic horror film feel.  And the creepy carrots will make you think twice next time you select carrots from the salad bar.  Great for ages 5-12.  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, by Linda Williams, illustrated by Megan Lloyd A fun, engaging book that invites audience participation.  The students have fun making all the silly and scary sounds, and trying to figure out what will become of the little old lady and the clothes that follow her home.   Ages 5-8   Harper Collins. Pumpkin Circle: The Story of a Garden Paperback, by George Levenson, photographs by Shmuel Thaler  Follow this pumpkin patch from seed to jack-o-lantern, and back to seed.  The vivid photographs and rhyming text make this a great intro...

It's Tech Tuesday, and today I'm sharing software that may change the way you look at presentations. Prezi  software offers a new way of presenting information.  As the website states, "Unlike static slides, Prezi combines motion, zoom, and spatial relationships to engage your audience and help them remember your message." Where to find it? You can access prezi by going to www.prezi.com .  Then log in or register as a first time user.  You can also log in through your Facebook account. What will you find? Each prezi begins with either a template, or a clear canvas, on which you will organize all your media.  As you construct your prezi, you can create it to show the whole canvas, zoom in on a particular area of the canvas, or zoom in even further for more detailed information.  You create an order for the information you are presented, similar to slides, and change the order as needed. Before beginning your first Prezi, you can take the interactive tutori...

It's Tech Tuesday! Today, I'm sharing a website that is already available to anyone using Fontana Unified SD computers.  World Book Online is an excellent research tool that provides different websites for the different grade level needs. Where to find it? World Book can be accessed on site from the Redwood Elementary School's website  and from the library home page .  To sign on from home, use the Fontana Unifed School District's Student website . What will you find? Once on the World Book Online website, you will find several products, each tailored to function for the different learners in grades K-12: Early World of Learning - For children ages preschool through grade 2, this resource provides things to read, watch, play and print or do (like coloring pages).  It provides dozens of beginning reader books to read and to be read to , and the option to print out readers for future use. Kids!  - The website uses images to engage young learners. There are i...

So, in response to Library Girl's questions about libraries , I've decided to post what I have so far.  I appreciate that the questions will lead to more complex ones, and that vague answers will require more details. How will you make a difference for students? I will greet them at the door with a smile. I will stop what I am doing to listen to them.   They need to know that what they are saying to me is important. I will ask follow-up questions to their queries to best understand their needs. By giving library mini-lessons on a regular basis, which will improve their information literacy skills. By hosting story times, activities, book clubs, and other events in which the students and their parents can participate.   These activities engage the students and encourage discovery and ideas. By posting class work in the library.   This recognizes the student work, and makes them want to do quality work...

Storytime for Kinders for the fourth week of February: Kitten's First Full Moon , Henkes, Kevin, Scholastic, Inc. Sometimes I'm Bombaloo , Vail, Rachel, Scholastic How do Dinosaurs go to School ? Yolen, Jane, Blue Sky Press

For this unit, we will be reading the following titles: Dinosaur Teeth , Gray, Susan, Children's Press Where to Look for a Dinosaur , Most, Bernard, Voyager Books Dino Pets , Plourde, Lynn, Dutton Children's Books How do Dinosaurs...? series, Yolen, Jane, Blue Sky Press

This week, the focus was on refreshing the parts of the book with the students, with an emphasis on non-fiction. Each student was given a book, and I had them turn to the title page, and discussed the title pages features. We then turned to the table of contents, and practiced using this feature. In the future, I would divide this lesson into two. However, it was unclear to me if this was a new concept, or a refresher, so I decided to included both parts in this lesson.