Kindergarten and Grade 1

Why not you? Why not you? 

You're a winner! You're so strong!

You are perfect and important- 

You and all your gifts belong. 

Authors Ciara and Russel Wilson a brother and sister team have led successful lives and attribute it to the way that their parents encouraged them to pursue their dreams and showed them complete support. They wrote this book so all children could reflect upon their limitless potential. 

Students were encouraged to think about positive words that described themselves. They were affirmed in their words. 

When you visit the library, please keep in mind:

No running, no shouting -to all books, be kind. 

But there's one rule that's bigger than the rest. 

And it must be followed by all of our guests...

DO NOT BRING YOUR DRAGON TO THE LIBRARY! 

This Week the kindergarten's and Grade Ones were read Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library  by Julie Gassman. 

I usually use this book to introduce students to the library. Students love this fun story with a repetitive refrain that gets everyone involved. The grade ones were hearing it for the second time. The grade 2's and threes were disappointed I did not read it to them this year. 

As I read this book I talk to the students about how the library space is a space for the whole school community.  We talk about taking care of the space and all the books within it so it can be enjoyed for years to come. 

Students were invited to take home a library book for the first time this week. Kindergarten's took home just one book this week. Next week they will be invited to take two if they wish. 

I encourage you to read the book to your child and discuss the story or concept with them. Talk to them about future library book choices and children's books that you enjoy or have enjoyed. If you have any requests please send them with your child or email me and I will see what I can do to find the book or a similar one for you to enjoy with your child. 

"life can be great when you try something new!" 

This week was a library soft start for the grade ones, Ms. Ford's grade 2's, and a few kindergarten students who's part time school days overlapped with library. 

On Wednesday Ms. Muller was in the library while I was at a teacher librarian meeting. She is from Australia and talked to students from Ms. Baller and Ms. Ford's class about Koala's and Australia. I did the same with Ms. Nagao's class on Thursday, without the personal experience stories.  

After the story the students were invited to create with the library building supplies or paper and colors. 

We are starting off 2022 with a look at some alphabet books. Alphabet books are a wonderful way to build understanding of the alphabetic principle, how letters represent sounds. Alphabet books are also fantastic for building vocabulary and often have pictures that promote engagement and conversation around the book.

Our first book (January 11-13)was  A is for Axel by Kurt Browning. We talked about Kurt Browning and how he is a figure skating expert who shared his knowledge in the form of an alphabet book.

If your child would like to learn more about figure skating Olympics.com has a great overview that includes facts, videos and information. If you would like to learn more about Kurt Browning check out  Kiddle for an information page on his life and career. 

Our second book, for the week of January 18-20, is Alphabeasts. This is a fun and quirky alphabet book that highlights Walace Edwards artistic expression, with simple but engaging rhyming text . 

Alphabeasts is a winner of a Governor Generals Literary award. If you would like to learn more about the Governor Generals literary Award check out the webpage here. 

 January 25-27  we will be sharing local Author Shasta McCoy’s book The Alphabet Mandalas. We will  examine the beautiful photographs in the Mandala’s for each letter of the alphabet and talk about the local plants, rocks and minerals featured. We will also talk about list type alphabet books and search and find type books. 

Please talk to your child about the books we have shared and consider checking out a new alphabet book soon.  A list of Alphabet books found in our library is available here. 

A fun game you can play is to think of a category (animals, hockey words, winter words) and challenge your child to think of a word for each letter of the alphabet. It’s okay if you can’t think of one, consult google and see if you can learn a new word.  A variation for a student who is writing independently is to label a piece of paper with the letters of the alphabet and see how many words they can come up with in a set amount of time. 

You may consider writing and illustrating your own Alphabet book as the students in Ms. Baller’s K-1 class did last year. Check out their book here.