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Saturday, December 22, 2018
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Monday, November 26, 2018
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Grandma Moses song and a Turkey game
I learned a new-to-me song for using egg shakers during story time. It is called Grandma Moses.
Grandma Moses sick in bed.
Call the doctor and the the Doctor said " Grandma,
grandma you ain't sick. All you need is a peppermint stick."
Hands up shakey shake, shake, shake.
Hands down shakey shake, shake, shake.
All around shakey shake, shake, shake.
Get out of town shakey shake, shake, shake.
You continue the verses by going around the circle and having each child fill in the bolded word with one that rhymes with sick.
I have found a fun flannel board game, too. The children add flannel feathers of different colors to a flannel turkey body each time you sing the rhyme.
Turkey Feathers Game
Sung to “Are you Sleeping?”
Our poor turkey
lost his feathers.
Let’s all help, everyone.
Do you have a *(red)
one?
Come and bring the *(red) one.
Oh what fun!
Oh what fun!
What fun things are you doing at your library?

Friday, October 12, 2018
Anti-Bullying and Pro-Kindness Read Alouds
I belong to the Storytime Underground Facebook group made up of children's librarians and youth engagement specialists. We had a pick-your-brain post on books that promote kindness or teach anti-bullying skills. I have typed up the shares!
Llama Llama and the Bully Goat by Ann Dewdney
Trouble Talk by Trudy Ludwig
Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed by Emily Pearson
The Judgmental Flower by Julia Cook
The Pout-Pout Fish and the Bully Bully Shark
by Deborah Diesen
Old Doggy Drama by Andra Gillum
King of the Playground by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev
I Walk with Vanessa by Kerascoët
Zoila the Zebra by Juanita Quinones Gandara
Ruby and the Rubbish Bin by Nicky Armstrong and Margot Sunderland
The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

Be a Friend by Salina Yoon
Be Kind by Pat Zietlow Miller
We Don't Eat Our Classmates! by Ryan T. Higgins
The Bad Seed by Jory John
The Peace Dragon series by Linda Ragsdale
Eddie the Bully by Henry Cole
Enemy Pie by Derek Munson

Zero, One, & Two. Three different books by Kathryn Otoshi



Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

Peanut Butter and Jellyfish by Jarrett Krosoczka
You Are Special by Max Lucado
The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Roberts
Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

We’re All Wonders by PJ Palacio

The Artist and Me by Shane Peacock

Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry and Tom Lichtenheld
Freda Stops a Bully by Stuart J. Murphy
Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell and David Catrow
Weekend With Wendell by Kevin Henkes
Ruby the Copycat by Margaret Rathmann and Peggy Rathmann
If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson
Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
The Recess Queen by Alexis O'neill and Laura Huliska-Beith
Nerdy Birdy by Aaron Reynolds and Matt Davies
A sick day for Amos McGee
Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller

Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Metacognition and why it matters to kids when reading!
Cognition is thinking. Metacognition
is simply put, thinking about thinking. Thinking about what you are reading.
Being aware and in the moment. Thinking is what is going on inside your head.
When a student is really reading they are thinking about the text. They may
stop to wonder what will happen next. They may realize they feel a certain way
about the text that they are reading. This is metacognition.
It is also about being
aware of what we don’t know. Maybe something has not yet taken place in the text.
The reader then uses problem-solving skills to determine what may happen next.
If you are monitoring your own thoughts during reading this will help lead to
deep reading comprehension, and this in turn, leads to more enhanced learning
to take place.
There are four levels of metacognitive awareness when
reading, according to Perkins (1992).
Levels of Metacognitive Awareness
1. Tacit
readers: lack awareness of their thinking
2. Aware
readers: know when meaning breaks down but no strategies to repair meaning
3. Strategic
readers: know when meaning breaks down and uses strategies to fix meaning
4. Reflective
readers: reflect on reading and intentionally apply strategies not only when
meaning is lost but also to deepen understanding
How can we increase our
students’ metacognitive abilities? By using teaching methods that are
interactive, get students to think and question, and are explicitly taught. One
example is a mini-lesson using the GIST Method.
GIST = Generating Interactions
between Schemata & Text
Students use the GIST strategy to
summarize a small passage into one sentence containing
the main “gist” of the section.
Discuss with students the skills of
summarization (identifying main ideas & paraphrasing)
1. Select an article or portion of
text and divide it into short passages (3-5 paragraphs each) & draw out 20
blanks.
2. Read the first paragraph.
3. Write a sentence summarizing the
first paragraph using 25 blanks (one word per blank).
4. Read the second paragraph.
5. Write a 25-word statement about
the first & second paragraphs combined.
6. Continue until the entire passage
has been read & summarized using one sentence of
25 words.
There are many more
teaching ideas like using graphic organizers, partner reading, using question
cards, exit slips, talking about story elements, discussing the author’s
purpose and retelling the text.
Make a retell bookmark, using color Post-It flags to
mark the areas.
Characters-Who?
Setting-Where? When?
Problem-What is wrong?
Events-How does the character try to solve the
problem?
Solution-How is the problem solved?
The most important tool
for assisting with metacognition and comprehension is to activate prior
knowledge. We want to bring information from long term memory into working
memory so that we can add to it. The most effective way to do this is to
question and have students also make predictions prior to reading the text.
I hope you find these
ideas about metacognition and reading to be helpful.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Cabin in the woods

It's okay...it does not look like this!!!
Have you ever worked yourself to
the point of utter exhaustion? Hello, that’s me! I am working two library
jobs-one public, one academic and finishing up my last semester of grad school.
I just turned in my Final Exam that took me a good 30 hours to work on.
But…there is a beautiful light at
the end of the tunnel. We are going into a newly-built luxury cabin in the
woods. This will be a relaxing family vacay. A much-needed one for me. I am
going to burrito myself in blankets and watch movies like The Blob, The Bad
Seed and Watcher in the Woods (all old versions) while eating Twizzlers. I am
going to hot tub it up and look at the stars. We are also going to a local
festival. Fun, fun, fun.
One of my co-workers reminded me that I am going into
an a cabin in the woods…during Halloween month…when the new Michael Myers
Halloween movie comes out…where there have been multiple bigfoot sightings…and
there are black bears, gars and alligators. Yeehaw! What did I say about
relaxing again?!?!

Sunday, September 30, 2018
Inside my brain
Saturday, September 29, 2018
New Anchor Charts and All About Graphic Organizers

Anchors A-weigh!!
Here are some neat anchor charts I found.
Chart beginning sounds! I would do this with my Prek/K kids.
I love that this teaches kids different strategies for math!
From Dr. Clement's Kindergarten's post on Facebook.
This is good for your early finishers and to also get your students to check their work.
I love this idea to encourage daily interaction!
From Teach Create Initiate, this is good during center time.
A kid-friendly rubric with examples.
Great literacy chart on teaching the differences in letters, words and sentences.
I like that this story map can be re-used. It is a great way to connect to text!
So about graphic organizers... My favorite thing is to take a graphic organizer and put it on chart paper for the students and I to fill out. Then we hang it for future reference on the wall. I like the Post-It giant chart paper the best, but that is pricey, so you can even cut up butcher paper or poster board can work. My students always enjoy using the “smelly markers” (Mr. Sketch brand) for writing on the charts. If you laminate the charts, you can re-use them.

Friday, September 28, 2018
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