The Cat, the Dog, Little Red, the Exploding Eggs, the Wolf, and Grandma
by Diane Fox
This book was a sure fire hit when I read it book earlier this month during library class with second graders. Unfortunately, it didn’t make it onto next year’s Sakura Medal List.
Watch the videos below.
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?
Foul Shot by Edwin Hoey
Forest Walk by Kristine O’Connell George
No Breathing in Class by Michael Rosen
Catch a Little Rhyme by Eve Merriam
Early Memory by January Gill
Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper by Martín Espada
Analysis of Baseball by May Swenson
A Minor Bird by Robert Frost
After watching these videos, what ideas do you have for your own performances?
Tips for Poetry Performance by Renee M. LaTulippe
1) Score Your Poem: Create a roadmap for your performance.
2) Find Your Pace: Save your pauses for the punctuation not all of the line breaks.
3) Use Good Diction: Pronounce words clearly.
4) Be Natural & Have Fun!
More Tips for Poetry Performance
Classroom Video – Films On Demand is new to the ASIJ Libraries. This site has thousands of educational videos that are available 24/7. These videos are also iPad friendly. A direct URL link can be found on the password protected database page of this blog.
(Please contact the elementary library staff for the database password.)
Searching Just Got A Whole Lot Easier I was not familiar with InstaGrok, and I am excited to share this search engine with my readers. It is not your average search engine. My first search was “ducks”……then I tried “gnats”, “ponds” and finally “ecosystems”. Guess which grade level was inspiring my learning this weekend?
Who Needs Google, When You Can Grok? InstaGrok is better than any other search engine I have experimented with this year and it has a very different feel than any other search engine I have ever used. Not only is it interactive and engaging, but hopefully the journaling and pinning features of this search engine will help students who aren’t organized, better organize their thinking. There are a few added bonuses that I especially like because these features are evaluative in nature. The bibliographic component of InstaGrok allows students to see their sources and instantly evaluate their credibility. Students can also take a multiple-choice quiz to self-evaluate their reading comprehension for each search topic.
AccessibilityWith every search, students get an interactive visual map of their search, images, videos, plus written information in chunks they can read, a journaling option, bibliographic capabilities and MORE.
If you want to use the web-based version I have added InstaGrok to the homepage of Destiny under Search Engines. Plus, InstaGrok is a FREE app in the iTunes Store!
NEW Biography Resource List (click to open)
“There’s A Secret to Writing Books”
Kate Klise was an entertaining and engaging presenter for students in Grades 3 – 5. She shared a few of her secrets to writing books and inspired young writers using anecdotal stories, read alouds, planning charts, photographs and student participation. Students even learned a few new planning strategies. The 1-1-1 strategy (character/problem/action) was introduced to Gr. 3 students. Students in Grades 4-5 learned about the planning circle used by screenwriters in Hollywood.
Online Resources:
Children’s Poetry Archive – You can choose a theme from the list in the left sidebar to find poems on a topic, or use the search box to find a favorite poet.
Giggle Poetry – Website of poet Bruce Lansky.
Poetry Aloud – Kristine O’Connell George’s website. Includes audio clips of some of her poems. Audio recordings available.
Shel’s Books – I absolutely love this site! Whenever I have shared this with students they have loved it too. Includes animated poems and audio with Shel Silverstein’s reading some of his most famous poems.
Some incredible wordless picture books have been published this year. These books can be used to support literacy in a variety of ways.
Supporting Emergent & Beginning Readers
While “reading” and retelling what happened in a wordless picture book, children practice identifying story line, evaluating a character’s actions, oral expression and improving vocabulary.
Develop Story Lines
Wordless picture books or “Stories without Words” can be used to help children who struggle with story ideas and topics for writing. Children can be encouraged to create story lines orally and in writing. Writing techniques that students can easily practice include: dialogue, setting development, character descriptions, sequencing of events, and story development.
Here are a few of my NEW favorites:
Congratulations to all 2015 Sakura Book Bowl participants! Competition was stiff this year and after four months of reading Sakura Medal Books, a quiz, preliminary and final rounds, we finally have a champion for each track. In both the preliminary and final rounds there were a few sudden death rounds and in the end it came down to some serious nail biting and one question.
ASIJ ES LIBRARY 
