The Bluestem Books! 2016 from Patton LMC on Vimeo.
After reading Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems, our first graders made a list of the Patton School rules that keep us safe and productive and wrote a book using Mo Willem's model...wondering what if the pigeon came to Patton? To create the book, each student took a photo of one area of the school and drew the pigeon (using Mo Willem's instructions) on their photo in Pixie. Next they added a speech bubble and the Patton rule for that area. What a naughty pigeon! Enjoy Mrs. Copersmet's students' work below and go to the Student Projects - First Grade page for Mrs. Cowen/Hasemeyer and Mrs. Litberg's classes.
Dinosaur Boy by Cory Putnam Oakes is the science fiction story about a world where people can become part dinosaur! Sawyer is 11 and just about to start fifth grade when his world is turned upside down by the appearance of spikes growing from his back and a tail sprouting longer every day. In a few months he is part human, part Stegasaurus. How could this happen? It turns out Sawyer's grandfather is a scientist in a lab that mistakenly mixed dinosaur DNA with that of humans. Over 100 people working at the lab were infected with the mixed DNA and Sawyer’s grandfather was one of the ones who did. After skipping a generation, Sawyer has become a "dinosaur boy and is not too happy about it. In school, though his friend Elliot sticks by him a group of students make his life a nightmare until a Sylvie moves in with some great ideas on how Sawyer can use his talents. Then Sylvie, Elliott and Sawyer begin to suspect the principal might have some strange secrets too. Grade 3-5 Lewis and Clark and Me, A Dog's Tale by Laurie Myers is the story of Seaman, Merriwether Lewis' dog who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition to discover the United States territory west of the Mississippi in 1803. From journal entries, historians have learned that this Newfoundland, bought by Lewis just before beginning the journey, became Lewis constant companion from Pennsylvania to the Pacific Ocean and back. Seaman helped the group of men hunt buffalo and beaver, protected them, and kept company with their guide Sagacawea and the Indians they became friendly with along the way. In this book, the story is told by Seaman himself based on the stories written by Lewis. Enjoy this unusual perspective while learning about this fascinating part of our U.S. history. Grade 3-5 In A Whole New Ball Game by Phil Buildner, the new game is fifth grade for best friends Rip and Red. Their new teacher, Mr. Acevedo, is full of tatoos and radical ideas for research projects and how their classroom will be run. He doesn't even believe in homework or prepping for the state tests! Rip is not sure he will like all the differences but mostly he is worried about Red, his autistic friend who does not like change at all. And then they find out that Mr. Acevedo is their new basketball coach too! Read to find out if research on the "yuckiest thing you can think of", and group meetings to air grievances will engage both boys or will the parents shut him down for fear his methods won't prepare their kids properly? A fun book about friendship, school and sports too! Grade 3-5 The Life of Ty by Lauren Myracle is new series starring Ty Perry, second grader and younger brother to older sister's Winnie and Sandra who love to give advice to Ty as they help out their mom who just had Ty's littlest sister, baby Maggie. In this book of the series, Friends of a Feather, Ty's best friend Joseph is finally back in class after treatment for Leukemia. But the whole class is so excited to see Joseph that Ty fears they will never get their real friendship back. But with the rescue of a wild bird and humor and good intentions, Ty learns a lot about friendhip and the reader learns all about the funny Life of Ty! Grade 2-3. During this second week of LMC, all grades reviewed the expectations for behavior while in the computer lab including cleaning up our space, not wasting resources, and proper use of the swivel chairs: ("chair video") and 2nd - 5th grades also reviewed our Patton Tech Contract and each student signed a copy of it in their Google Clasroom. 2nd - 5th grade classes also began the ongoing discussion of how to be a good digital citizen and how that was similar and different from being a good citizen of their class, Patton School or Arlington Heights. We discussed private and personal information and asked students to think about what they post online. This applies to commenting in Google docs, or posting in kidblog, or Edmodo or on a website at school or at home. We asked students to THINK - is the post?: True, Helpful. Inspiring, Necessary, Kind? Some of the classes also used a Nearpod created by Common Sense Media to reinforce these important issues. Kindergarten students opened a Pixie template to create a computer lab nametag. They typed in their name and the number of their assigned computer and then colored it in.
First grade students, listened to the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems and then expanded the rules discussion to include responsibilities in art, music, P.E., the lunchroom and playground in preparation for creating a class book called Don't Let the Pigeon Break the Patton School Rules. We brainstormed the rules as a class and then split up into groups with iPads and went to different areas of the school where each student took one photo to use as their page of the book.
Orient - "to acquaint with the existing situation or environment" (Merriam-Webster.com). Because we want to develop students who are independent and self-sufficient, we devoted this first week of LMC to helping classes discover and understand the new features of our space and gain a beginning understanding of where books and other resources are located. There is a lot that is new - comfortable, and flexible tables and chairs, shelving units on wheels, new display book cases and most importantly "genre-fication" of the fiction chapter books! First we shared a movie highlighting the genrefication process:
Next, students in 2nd - 5th grade used the app Klikaklu to follow a picture matching treasure hunt through the LMC. The hunt revealed each new genre section as well as several non fiction/information areas. Each hunt was customized by level so that the students located many of the areas that we know they will be using, or interested in checking out to read. First grade went on a similar hunt using iPads to take a photo when they found the right area. Take a look at the fun, learning and orienting!
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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 |