Social Networking for Club Readers

3rd and 4th graders have been learning about how to use Destiny MyQuest, a social networking program for readers. Destiny MyQuest is available to students through the

Club Boulevard

Destiny Media catalog. Students may log in to interact with other readers at our school by writing book reviews, making recommendations, and building their virtual shelves. This is a great activity for the students to help them engage and think about their reading over the summer!  

Elephant and Piggie

One of our favorite authors here at Club Boulevard is Mo Willems. He writes the Pigeon books, Elephant and Piggie, Knuffle Bunny, and a few others. Last week Ms. Noble's K/1 class and Mrs. Reuther's Kindergarten classes read Elephants Cannot Dance during their Media time.

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We then went to the Pigeon's website to play the "Elephant and Piggie Dance Game." Students volunteered to imitate Elephant and Piggie as they were dancing. Check out two of our fantastic dancers in the video clip below:



Parents--this is a great way to engage your kids and motivate them to read! Check out the Pigeon's website for more fun activities and ideas.

Guest Drummer from Haiti!

This week we were fortunate to have Bill Nathan, a native Haitian, speak to some of our 4th and 5th grade classes in the Media Center. Bill survived the catastrophic earthquake that devasted his country in 2010 and shared his experiences as a "restavek" or child slave. Bill was rescued by Catholic nuns and taken to Saint Joseph's Home for Boys where he received care, education, and eventually musical training to fine tune his drumming skills. Bill is now the director of St. Joseph's and continues to help children who are in the same situation he faced as a child. He was interviewed by WRAL in Raleigh the night before his visit to Club:



We were lucky to have Bill drum for us and also teach us a few Haitian songs. Please watch the video clips below for a glimpse into his energetic visit! (For best quality viewing, click on the gear and select 480p)

Battle of the Books

Congratulations to our 5th grade Battle of the Books team! This group of dedicated readers placed 5th in the district competition held April 27th at the Staff Development Center. The students competed against 14 other elementary schools from Durham and were quizzed on their knowledge of 18 books from a designated list issued by the state. Starting in October, the team met with me weekly during their lunch in the Media Center in order to prepare for the competition. I am so proud of their dedication and commitment to the team!

Team photo on competition day!

Mrs. Husketh with all the girls--waiting for the competition to begin

Ready to begin the round-- "In which book....?"

This video was shot on the day of the competition with a Flip camera. Some of the footage was taken by Mrs. Husketh and some was taken by a student:

The other highlight of our year was hosting Joyce Moyer Hostetter, the author of Blue. Teams from 3 other elementary schools joined us in the Media Center for a wonderful 2 hours with Ms. Hostetter. She talked to us about the process of getting a book published and how she gets her ideas. We also learned more about the polio epidemic that struck the town of Hickory, NC, in the 1940s. This was the historical background for her novel, Blue. We are so thankful we got to spend time with such an interesting and inspiring North Carolina author! 

Ms. Hostetter reads from Comfort, the sequel to Blue

Our team poses with Ms. Hostetter at the end of our visit. 

Here is a book trailer for Blue, created by 5th grade team member Georgia:

Math Adventures

A group of 3rd grade students have worked hard with Ms. Sachs to create their own Math Adventure movies. The students modeled their movies off the Cyberchase Math movies on PBS Kids. Here is one Cyberchase example called "All the Right Angles." After the students watched a few examples online, they set to work brainstorming and writing their own scripts. Each group chose a math concept as the center of their movie. Their goal was to collaborate to write and produce a movie that would teach the viewer about that math concept.

Mrs. Husketh taught the students how to use a program called Photostory to create their movies. Photostory is a free digital storytelling tool from Microsoft. The students imported their scanned illustrations, recorded narration, and edited each scene. Trouble-shooting was also needed as we learned that technology can be finicky and we had to be flexible! This required a lot of critical thinking and problem solving for the groups to achieve the final product. Ms. Sachs and I were proud of their efforts!

Please scroll down past the pictures to view each Math Adventure. Turn up your volume to the maximum level and use external speakers or headphones for the best quality viewing experience.



This group is illustrating their script. Once the illustrations are complete, Mrs. Husketh will scan the images.



Adding narration.

Previewing our work :)

Practicing the script

Recording narration.

This group included a math rap in their movie!

Listening to the narration before moving forward.

Adding the final touches.

Our Math Adventure Movies

Ashley Bryan visits Club Boulevard

We had the very distinct pleasure of hosting an impromptu visit on Monday, April 23rd, by the fabulous storyteller, musician, author, poet, and artist, Ashley Bryan. Mr. Bryan is the 2012 recipient of the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1962 he became the first African-American to both write and illustrate a children's book. Our fourth graders have been learning all about him and his work through visiting author, Rosemarie Gulla. As part of their work with Ms. Gulla, students performed at 2 local events in the community during Mr. Bryan's stay in Durham.

During his visit in the Media Center, we were treated to readings, songs, and words of wisdom and encouragement from Mr. Bryan. Please enjoy a pictures and brief video clips below. Our time with Ashley Bryan is certainly an experience we will never forget!

4th grade teacher, Lisa Lord, introduces Mr. Bryan and asks the students who loves his artwork and books. Can you tell they are excited??

Mr. Bryan recites "Baby," by Langston Huges. He demonstrated that some poems are meant to be read softly and others are meant to be read loudly. He encouraged us to try and "hear the poet's voice."

He asked students many questions during his presentation

Mrs. Harrison's class recited his poem, "Ancestry," at the end of the visit

I created the video below using a new website called WeVideo. I'm still learning so I know it's not the highest quality--I will get better! It will still give you a good idea of how engaging and infectious Ashley Bryan was and how much we enjoyed his visit! There are 5 short clips--my favorite, of course, is the one called: "Books Make Me Happy!" :)

Eric Carle

1st graders and K/1 students have been learning about the renowned author and illustrator, Eric Carle. He is most famous for his colorful collage illustrations in books like The Very Hungry Catepillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, Little Cloud, etc. When Mrs. Overby's class visited the Media Center a few weeks ago, I showed them this video of Eric Carle reading and discussing his newest book, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse.



Afterwards we discussed Eric Carle's technique and read his new book again. Several students couldn't wait to check out one of his books!

On Thursday, April 26th, the K/1 and 1st grade classes held an Eric Carle Art Show in the Media Center to raise money for their annual Zoo field trip. Visit Ms. Foote and Mrs. Childress's classroom blogs below to see students proudly displaying their Eric Carle artwork.

Ms. Foote: http://foote-friends-first.blogspot.com/2012/04/eric-carle-inspired-art.html

Mrs. Childress: http://kisfork1.blogspot.com/ (scroll down to find the posts for April 23rd and April 30th)

Volunteer Appreciation Week

Volunteer Appreciation Week was celebrated at Club Blvd. the week of April 16-20th. I am very lucky to have SO many amazing volunteers in the Media Center. Countless parents and community members generously donate their time to reshelve books, process new materials, create displays, staff the book fair, and help with special events. This allows me to spend more time planning, collaborating with teachers, and working with students. Thank you, volunteers, from the bottom of my heart! You are truly a gift to our school :)

Here are a few snapshots from the Ice Cream Social on Friday, April 20th. If you'd like to see more, watch the slideshow below.

A gift of thanks for my weekly volunteers :)

5th graders served ice cream to all the volunteers at the social

A few of my fabulous Media Center volunteers: the Book Fair chair on the left and the PTA president on the right (plus a Club alum in the middle who helps out from time to time). Thanks, ladies, for all you do!

The Volunteer of the Year (who is also a Media Center volunteer)! We started a new tradition this year to donate a book in her honor to the Media Center. This year's book: Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Rainforest Research with 1st Grade

1st graders in Ms. Rogers' Rainforest literacy club returned from spring break ready to learn about rainforest animals! Each small group used PebbleGo, a non-fiction database for emergent readers, to learn about their animal. This database is great for young learners because of the clean layout, read-aloud option, media content, navigation by picture and text, and clear, concise information.

Students practiced navigating the database to find their animal and worked together to find the information. If you would like to use PebbleGo at home with your child, please contact Mrs. Husketh for Club's username and password!

Each member of the group was responsible for writing his/her own important facts in their own words. We learned that it was okay to have different facts from our group members on the same topic.

We love PebbleGo!