Our Fall Favorites!

After a full month of school, all our classes have had the chance to hear lots of great stories during library visits. Here are brief descriptions of our favorites. Ask your student about their favorite stories because talking about storytelling and books is a crucial piece of emerging literacy!

Kinder
Each week, students have helped read stories by saying repetitive parts out loud with me. Ask your child which part of these books we all said together and the action we used with it!

• I Went Walking by Sue Williams
• Chickens to the Rescue! by John Himmelman
  
• The Napping House by Audrey Wood

1st
We have spent a few classes learning about different places in the library and how to take care of books when they go home.

• I Took My Frog to the Library by Eric Kimmel: students did a great job listening AND walking around the library finding animal books!
  
• Read It Don't Eat It by Ian Schoenher: students already knew lots of these rules and it was extra silly to see them in action!
  

2nd
Second graders learned how to decide if a book is fiction or nonfiction and have been working on storytelling styles.

• Alphabet picnic game: ask your student what they would bring to the alphabet picnic (hint, the food should begin with the same letter as their name)
  
• Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems
• The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend
• "Poor Little Bug on a Wall" poem: Ask them to tell you the poem in an extra sad voice!
  

3rd
We have talked a lot about fairy tales and have found that sometimes stories go in circles or even go backwards!

• The End by David LaRochelle: This story starts with "The End" and moves backwards, we had to work together to think of ideas about caused the action.
  
• The Stonecutter oral story from Japan
  

4th and 5th
Older grades have really enjoyed hearing folktales and oral stories. Some of their favorites so far were the ones with sound effects. Ask your student about the sound effects for these stories!

• Roly Poly Rice Ball oral story from Japan
  
• How Camel Got His Hump oral story from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories
  
• Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock by Eric Kimmel

Feel free to leave a comment with your own favorite readalouds or oral stories!

Welcome to the 2010-2011 School Year!

Welcome to the Cragmont Elementary School library blog for the 2010-2011 school year. Here I will be posting book reviews, information about using the library and details about special events in our beautiful space. My name is Mrs. Jackie Overlid and I am very excited about being your new librarian!

We are already in our third week of school and all our classrooms have visited the library and checked out books. We have shared classic books, new titles, oral folktales and stories told with help of our fingers. There are lots of new titles in the library and next week I will add some mini-booktalks about some of my favorites. A booktalk is like a movie preview for a book, a short description to share with someone to get them interested. This is a great way to practice talking about what we have read and articulating why we enjoyed a book, just be sure not to give away the ending!

Please feel free to come introduce yourself and say hello. I am looking forward to meeting many more members of the Cragmont community.