Book Swap for Summer Reading

Students in grades K-5 visited the Book Swap this week. Thanks to all the families who donated their used books! We collected between 1,200-1,300 books. I saw hundreds of happy faces leaving with books to kick off their summer reading :) Students also learned about my summer reading incentives (K-2: 80 days of summer reading; 3-4: READO) and I encouraged all to visit the Durham County Library to sign up for their summer reading program. In order for students to avoid the "summer slide" and be prepared for school in the fall, it is imperative that they READ, READ, READ this summer!

Please save your summer reading log and turn it into me the first week of school. Students who submit their logs will receive an invitation to our Summer Reading Celebration!!

Which ones should we choose?

1st graders are happy with their selections!

Sharing our new books :)

Top Readers at Club!

Congratulations to these Top 10 readers who checked out the most books from the Media Center this year. Each student selected a new book to kick off their summer reading.

Henry was our top reader. He checked out 176 books this school year! Way to go, Henry!

Can you guess what the number below stands for? This is the TOTAL NUMBER of books that students and teachers checked out from the Media Center this year!!!! AMAZING!! We love to read at Club Blvd :)

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.

via

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