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Poetry Alive
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
Films on Demand
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.)
Who Wants to Grok?
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 Biographies
NEW Biography Resource List (click to open)
Amazing Author’s Visit with Kate Klise
“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.
NEW Poetry Books and More
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.
NEW Wordless Picture Books
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:
2015 Sakura Book Bowl Champions
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.
Gr. 3-5 Visiting Author- Kate Klise
On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, Kate Klise will visit the ASIJ ES Library . Kate is an award-winning author who has received several nationally recognized awards. Her most recent series, Three-Ring Rascals was selected as a Junior Library Guild recipient. Her book, The Show Must Go On (#1 Three Ring Rascals) has been short listed as a 2015 Sakura Medal Picture Book.
An exciting tradition that always accompanies an author’s visit is a book signing by the author. Signed books make great souvenirs for your child. I am writing now to provide you with the opportunity to order books written by Kate Klise. Kate will sign purchased books during her visit.
If you are interested in ordering a copy of one of Kate’s books for your child in Grades 3-5, please send the amount due in a sealed envelope and please indicate which book(s) you are ordering. Clearly mark the envelope “Library Book Order”, child’s name and class and have your child deliver the envelope to the ES Library by Wednesday, March 11, 2015.
Each paperback is 1,000 yen.
ASIJ ES LIBRARY 
