Cat's Colors

The second lesson I did with my K and 1 kiddos in summer school was to read Cat's Colors by Jane Cabrera.

The book starts with a question mark filled with different colors, which makes a perfect place to gauge prior knowledge. 

Next, the author asks what Cat's favorite color is and I love using that for share time. My K students usually just say their own favorite color and that makes a perfect opportunity to talk to them about point of view even if they can't quite grasp it. I also give them time to talk about their own favorite color. For me, share time is essential to read alouds because kids need to connect with you, connect with the book, and they need to feel like they are heard and they matter. 

The rest of the book takes you through the different colors and Cat gives you an itwm or two that matches that color. Of course we share some more and brainstorm other ideas. 

After the book is done I had different colored pieces of paper stuck on the wall. I put at least four different pieces of each color on the wall somewhere in the library. When I called a color they had to go find the color. They also could only have four people at each paper. This was a great brain break and only takes a minute or two to set up. 

You can do any age appropriate coloring sheet and pair another color book with the lesson.

Online Databases Intro

Once again I went a little freeform with this lesson because I want to see how the kids react and what they are capable of doing. Plus I did it during summer school so why not have a little fun?

I showed students how to use the Explora Elementary database that is available through EBSCO. As far as I know our elementary kids (up to sixth grade) have never seen or used a database. I typed in Stephen Curry and showed them that they could find images, videos, articles, and more. After showing the basics, students got to spend time picking their own topics and looking through their own articles.

Things I noticed as we searched were that they did NOT want to read articles and they were very stuck on people. I also found out they have no idea how to take notes or why they need to take notes. Students had a simple note page where they filled out the article title, author, and any notes they found important. Most had no idea what to write.

A couple ideas I had while we did this was to have a facts wall like I had in my third grade room. This should be a quick and fun way to get them interested in picking out fun details about people or things. Also, while we discussed which basketball player was better I thought it might be fun to do a people take on the "Who Would Win?" series. One of our research projects this year might need to be picking two people in a specific field and comparing them to see who would win. I'm thinking we should create ads...and the wheels begin to turn...

Online Catalog Lesson

I love lessons that take almost no planning and this is one of them. When talking to teachers one thing that came up was a request for books that were already available. Teachers and students had no idea we had access to an online catalog of our library. So that's one thing I feel like has to be made known.

I gave my fourth through sixth grade students a quick tour of the online catalog. We talked about finding books, using keywords if you aren't sure what you are looking for, and how to place a hold. After five to ten minutes of talking I gave them the chance to just explore. They got to look for book subjects that interested them. I kept it pretty freeform because I want students to have freedom in the library and I didn't want it to be a chore for students.

While we did the lesson I noticed a few things: 1) for the most part they followed and did what others were doing, 2) they tended to stick with the books they already knew about instead of exploring new options, and 3) exactly which students struggled with finding books in the library. That shows me we will need to come up with some creative ways to look at different styles of books and explore new interests. 

No Puppies Today Lesson

No Puppies Today by Joanna Cole is a cute book that is great to talk about counting, animals, and character feelings. I taught this lesson in summer school with my kindergarten and first graders.

First, I love to have kids connect somehow to the book. For this one my kids got to tell what animals they have at home. Then we read the book and predicted which animal she would get next, roared like lions, talked about the word bison, counted, and added. 

Once we were done with the book, they got a paper to draw any pet they wanted to take home. Kindergarten got a blank paper and I wrote the name of their animal at the top. First graders got a traditional writing page with a blank space for a drawing and lines for them to write a sentence. 

The last part of the lesson is to pair another book and this one perfectly paired with a non-fiction on animals. We happen to have a set of non-fiction books on baby animals in the library so that's what we read aloud to wrap things up. 

TPT 4th of July Sale

This past week summer school ended for us and I get to spend the next month "relaxing." To kick it off we are having some family fun around the holidays. Who doesn't love a good holiday and good sales. From now until the 4th I am having a 20% off sale in my store. I hope you find something you like! Happy Holidays!