Crocker Library

Every year, our second and third graders participate in a project we call the Living Museum. Students learn about the lives of important people and share what they learn by writing a short report, creating a display, and dressing up as the person. We work on this project in the library, but much of the work needs to be completed at home with help from an adult. You can help your child by making sure they have time at home to work on the project. Ask questions, remind them of important steps, and provide explanation and advice when needed. It can be tricky, but do your best to let your child do the work.

You’ll find resources to help with this project here on our library website:http://library.crockerschool.org/pathfinders/biographies/

Just in case they don’t make it home, here is a copy of the assignment, a sheet to help with note taking, and a sample paper.

Important Living Museum deadlines:

Report Due: see individual teacher
Display Due: Wednesday, February 22
Dress Up Day: Friday, February 24

In January, our Crocker Cougar word is self-discipline. As part of self-discipline month, we have a little homework for the whole family. This week, students will bring home a booklet called NetCetera: Chatting With Kids About Being Online. We’re asking adults to read the booklet and families to have a discussion about online safety and responsibility.

For younger students, grades K-2, important topics include (not) sharing personal information, what to do when you run across inappropriate content, recognizing advertisements, and the risks associated with intentionally or unintentionally downloading content to a device. With older students, grades 3-5, consider discussing additional topics such as  socializing online (email, texting, social media websites, etc.), online bullying, and photo/video sharing. Don’t forget to ask your children about their experiences online — are they chatting with people, playing games, watching videos, sending email, or creating accounts on websites?

We’re talking about these topics at school during our library/lab time. As part of the discussions, I’m reminding the kids that any time they have a question or concern about something they encounter online they should talk to an adult at home. Rules and expectations for online activities and behavior vary from home to home. This week’s homework is an opportunity for all of us to be sure our families know what we expect of them when they are online.

It’s time for the Crocker Book Fair! Here’s the essential information:

• Two days to shop in the multipurpose room: Thursday and Friday, 12/1 and 12/2, 8:30am to 8:00pm.
• You can shop online now through December 9. Send the link to friends and family!

As part of the book fair, author Mac Barnett will be visiting with students on Friday. Barnett is the author some of our favorite books like Guess Again!, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, Mustache, and the Brixton Brothers series. He’s also a co-author of The Clock Without a Face and contributor to Guys Read. Reviewers have described his books as weird, wacky, fun, especially fun, funny, and cool! He’ll be signing his books after school on Friday.

What should you buy?  Ask the kids – yours and any others you might meet at the book fair. Our kids read a lot and can make fantastic recommendations. In addition, this time of year, there are lots of “Best of 2011” lists to help you with your shopping. Here are some you might be interested in:

Amazon Top 10 Middle Grade Books and Top 10 Picture Books

New York Times Special Section on Children’s Books

Publisher’s Weekly Top 10 Children’s Books

If shopping isn’t enough, you can still volunteer to help out at the book fair. Finally, a huge thanks to Liz Fitzgerald and Evelyn Hess for organizing what is going to be an amazing book fair. See you at there!

September was a busy month — setting up the library and lab, learning and practicing new routines with the kids, and holding an amazing book swap! Throughout the month, all of the kids have been visiting the library weekly to check out books. The third through fifth grades have also been working in the computer lab during library time. We’ve been creating folders, taking pictures, moving and renaming files, creating a list in a Word document, and we’re just starting to create tag clouds using Tagxedo. This has been a great opportunity for me to see what the kids can do and for us to start developing a shared vocabulary for working with computers. (It makes it easier for us to work together if we all agree on what the “arrow thingy” is called.) Kindergarten, first, and second grades will begin visiting the lab in October.

In the library and lab, we use the Crocker Library website as our home page. This week, I’m sending home bookmarks that look just like those that Pete the Cat is holding. The bookmarks have the address for the Crocker Library website and the user name and password for an online encyclopedia we’ll be using later in the year. Ask your child to show you around the site and try out a few new activities. Don’t forget to bookmark the site on your browser so your child can easily return to it.

Welcome to the 2011-12 school year! I’m looking forward to an exciting year in the library and computer lab. As many of you know, this year we are integrating our library and computer programs. The kids will still be checking out books, but we’ll also be learning how to find, evaluate, create, and share different kinds of information online.

All of our students visit the library and/or lab once a week. K and 1st grade students check out one book at a time and must return their book in order to check out another. All other students may check out 2 books at a time. Students are welcome to stop by the library after school to return or check out books. In addition to normal school hours, the library is open from 3:00 – 3:15-ish daily. Please remember this time is for book exchange. If your child is waiting to be picked up, they need to wait outside on the yard or in the office.

The library is also open to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders during lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In a month or two, I’m planning to have the lab open during lunch one day a week.

If you’d like to help out in the library or lab this year, you can contact me directly (lisa_a_hobbs@yahoo.com) or talk to your child’s teacher. Finally, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or ideas.

Thanks,

Lisa Hobbs, Librarian

April is National Poetry Month and we’re celebrating by having a Poem in Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 14! On Thursday, everyone at Crocker – students, teachers, volunteers – will have a poem in his or her pocket. Throughout the day we’ll share our poems with each other – in the classroom, at recess, at lunch, with friends and buddies. Last week, kids were busy writing poems, memorizing poems, and reading poetry books to find the perfect poem. There are just a few more days to get ready for Thursday. Here are a few details:

• All students in all grades are participating.
• Students can write their own poems.
• Students can read or recite a poem from memory.
• Help your child find a poem.
• Encourage your child to practice reading his or her poem at home.

If you’re planning to be at school on Thursday, bring a poem to share with the kids. If you forget, stop by the library and I’ll have a few poems to spare. If you’re on the yard at drop off, ask a few students to share their poems with you. Better yet, share a poem with them!

Last week, author/illustrator Bob Barner visited the library to talk to Crocker K, 1, and 2 students about his work. Barner is the author of 34 books including Bears!Bear! Bears!, Fish Wish, Dem Bones, and Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! His work is non-fiction and filled with amazing, colorful collage art. He shared several of his books and drew lots of pictures which he left for us to enjoy. Barner’s work combines art, science, and music – yes, music! Several of his stories have been set to music, Dem Bones is based on a song that is over 200 years old, and he played music while he drew for us.

Barner talked to us about the process of making books and answered lots of great questions from students. The kids wanted to know what is fun about being an author (having a new idea and seeing a finished book) and what isn’t fun (deadlines). They also wondered how he’s able to make such great pictures. Barner says it’s practice. He has been drawing since he was very young and studied art in college. Barner shared the fun and hard work that goes into creating a book. It was a wonderful visit!

Thanks to Mr. Donahue’s class for making a whole lot of bugs to create a collage art welcome sign for Mr. Barner. On March 30, author Pam Turner will be visiting 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders to talk about her work. Stay tuned!

I hope everyone is cleaning off their book shelves for the upcoming book swap (Friday, January 21). While you’re at it, keep an eye out for any Crocker library books that might be floating around your house, especially comics. Comics are some of the most popular books in the library. Unfortunately, they’re also the most likely to go missing. Just last week we received some awesome new comics, two of which were missing in less than 24 hours. Bummer!

Ask you child to take a look around the house, car, backpack, desk….anywhere! Let’s find those books and get them back in circulation!