Patton students will be voting for their favorite Monarch nominated Illinois' K-3 Readers' Choice Award book next week. We have been reading the books all year but spent this week reviewing and rating them. Our Kindergarten students took this responsibility very seriously as they enjoyed the wonderful books:
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During the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, Russia, the classes at Patton participated in their own contest! Each adopted a country that was competing in the Olympics and answered a different question about that country each day. We displayed the facts (continent, capital, highest peak, important holiday, national food, language etc.) outside the LMC for students to view and expand their ideas and information about many countries.
Our Library Media, Art, Physical Education and Music programs were on display for parents during the evening on Thursday February 20. Parent's were able to experience these special areas like the students do and learned a little about what is taught, shared and learned by their students in these programs and how important they are to the full development of their learner. Here's a quick look: This cold winter, first grade students have been learning about penguins in class and in the LMC. We first studied a map to discover the many places in the Southern Hemisphere that penguins live in addition to Antarctica! We practiced taking notes after listening to a PebbleGo chapter on the King penguin, focusing on where the penguin lives, what it eats and one special fact. Each student then chose another penguin to learn about independently using the website PebbleGo or Facts4Me. Next each student used the iPad app Explain Everything, or ChatterPix to create a short movie, telling what they know about their penguin. All the classes work can be seen on the first grade student projects page, and here is Mrs. Litberg's class: Fourth grade students are studying Explorers of the New World, learning about their motivations for exploring, what they discovered and what impact they made, positive and negative, on their world and on the future. Students used books and online sites to take notes on an individual explorer, using the Independent Investigation Method (IIM). The next step in the process is to categorize and sort the notes so that they are organized and ready for writing. To do so students cut each note fact separately and sorted them into categories and then put them into a good order for their paper. Here is a look at the organizing phase of the process: Illinois Representative David Harris spoke to two 3rd grade classes on Wednesday morning about the Bill he is introducing in the Illinois House of Representatives which will make the penalty harsher for people who operate puppy mills. The bill is in response to a letter from three 3rd grade students, Madeline, Clare and Brooke who began a campaign to research, educate about and ban puppy mills. In the LMC, we helped the students find and write to their local and national representatives about the current laws. Rep. Harris wrote back and decided to try to give the Illinois law "more teeth" by introducing House Bill 4410. He met the girls at Patton and then explained to all the students the process of how a bill becomes a Law. We will all be following the progress of House Bill 4410. The 2014 Randolph Caldecott Medal for "most distinguished picture book for children" was awarded last week to author and illustrator, Brian Floca, for Locomotive the story of the first cross country passenger train trip from Omaha, Nebraska to Oakland, California as told by a family in the 1800s. The honor award was given to author and illustrator Aaron Becker for Journey, a unique and beautiful fantastical journey in the mind of one young girl with a red crayon and a boy with a purple crayon. In honor of this special award, in second grade we devoted the last two weeks to all the wonderful Caldecott picture books. Students learned the qualifications for the award, how to find the year the book won, the types of books and illustrations that have won and what unique twists many have. Then each student was given a "judge's badge" and piles of Caldecott winning books to read and rate. Here is a look at their hard work: |
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AuthorI am the Library Media Center director at Patton School in Arlington Heights where I help students from kindergarten through 5th grade find terrific independent reading for enjoyment and information, and teach students the skills to use information and technology safely and productively and to connect, communicate and share with others. I have four grown children, a large black dog, (flat coat retriever) and a small striped cat. I am an obessive Chicago Cubs fan and I love to run. Patton LMC Summer Reading Blog |