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!" :)
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.
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
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.
Our Spanish-speaking kindergarten students have been lucky to participate in a weekly bilingual storytime this semester. As part of their service learning requirement at Duke, four undergraduates planned and delivered a bilingual storytime every Monday morning. The students were exposed to familiar titles and authors while interacting with facilitators in Spanish! Hands-on activities followed each story and the students loved it! I am so grateful to our Duke volunteers for donating their time and energy. The pictures below are from our last storytime together. At the end of class, each student selected a bundle of books to keep with the promise that they would read them with their families!
Reading one of the Pigeon books by Mo Willems--a favorite!
Thanks to all the volunteers and families that came out to support our spring Book Fair! It was an amazing success!! The Club Blvd. community raised almost $4,000 for the Media Center. We will be able to buy a huge number of books for the Media Center and classrooms with this money. Thank you for generously supporting our readers :)
Students earned a chance to win a gift certificate by guessing the answer to this question. Each day they were given a new clue on the announcements to help them narrow down the number. What is your guess??
Multicultural Night was celebrated last Thursday evening at Club Blvd. with music, dancing, art, food, and learning about cultures all over the world. I look forward to it every year as a way to honor all the cultures and families represented in our school community!
As our contribution to the evening, Señora Moehlmann (Spanish teacher) and I collaborated to plan a Country Cube research project for Mrs. Hayes’ 4th grade class. Each pair of students randomly drew the name of a Spanish-speaking country of the Caribbean or South America. The students then used Culture Grams, an online database available through the Durham County Library, to complete their research and find pictures. Using Culture Grams gave the students an opportunity to explore a new database, practice skimming content for important facts, and examine helpful text features.
The students had to work with their partners to find 2-3 facts for each topic, cite their resource, and then create PowerPoint slides to glue on their cubes. The topics selected were: food; holidays; language; life as a child/school; and free choice. The students were motivated to learn about a new Spanish-speaking country and excited to share their information with the school. The class had to remain focused to complete their Culture Grams research, PowerPoint slides, and cube construction in just 5 short days!
Selecting a country
Conducting research using Culture Grams
Typing the PowerPoints
Our display board for Multicultural Night
Senora Moehlmann with a 4th grader and a few cubes
