Collaboration Friday: Thanksgiving Letters from a Turkey

Gobble. Gobble to you! This is one of the many sounds associated with Thanksgiving feasts in America!  As we prepare for our thanksgiving break, we read our students one of my favorite Thanksgiving stories, 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dave Pilkey.

Students in Mr. James and Ms. Vitela's class have just begun working on the skill of writing a letter, so we challenged our students to write a persuasive letter from the turkeys point of view.  Students were working on the sections of a letter; a salutation, body, and closing.  Check out a few of their creations in the Haiku Deck below.

Thanksgiving Letters - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires


Thank you Mr. James and Ms. Vitela for collaborating and joining us in the library for Collaboration Friday!

Collaboration Friday: Force and Motion

Kiya! 

 

With the help of The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz & Genesis Jiujitsu, our students learned about force and motion during our collaboration Friday!  Students enjoyed a puppet show on a classic tale with a Ninja twist. In this fun story the three little pigs each train in a martial art specialty- Aikido, Jiujitsu, & Karate. The first little pig got bored and quit, the second little pig learned only one move, and the third little pig mastered them all.  You can guess the pattern of the story that followed in this book. 

Following this fun puppet show, we learned about motion and force seen in martial arts. Albert Hughes from Genesis Jiutjitsu shared martial motions with the students.  Throughout the video we were able to see patterns of motion and the force needed to create a motion.



Thank you Albert, Rudy, & Genesis Jiujitsu for helping teach our students about force and motion!



Next the students developed their own martial arts moves demonstrating: round and round, back and forth, push & pull, up and down, straight line, zig zag, & slow and fast.

Check out the Ninja Videos below:

November CE Library Newsletter

Collaboration Friday: Monster Goose Vs. Mother Goose

Your favorite Nursery Rhymes have been transformed into creepy, scary, icky tales in the book Monster Goose by Judy Sierra.

Mary had a Vampire Bat, There was an Old Zombie who Lived in a Shoe, & Twinkle Twinkle Little Slug are just a few of the titles represented in this creepy, fun book!  Students at Castleberry Elementary School had the opportunity to enjoy a Google hangout with Monster Goose & Mother Goose.  Each took turns sharing their version of infamous Nursery Rhymes.

Following the Google Hangout, we compare and contrasted the original Mother Goose rhymes to the Monster Goose Rhymes. 

Students found that the setting changed, the problem changed, and some of the characters changed in many of the rhymes Monster Goose shared with us. Although many things were different, there were many similarities including the main characters and rhyming lyrics. After each story the students voted on their favorite rhyme. Monster Goose was vary popular and prevailed on most stories, but there were many students that were Mother Goose fans and would even cheer for her after each story.

In addition to our Monster Goose Vs. Mother Goose activity, we enjoyed Character Parade at CE. The Specials team enjoyed sharing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle books with the students.  One of my personal favorites in the parade was Ms. Richerson's class. They depicted Henry and the Bucaneer Bunnies!!  This is one of my favorite books to read to students in regards to the importance of books and reading!

The Theme in the library this year is Minecraft! Many students enjoy playing Minecraft and instantly feel welcome in the library! 

At book parade, there were even Minecraft themed outfits!  This student was a Mathelete representing the Bluebonnet Nominee book Mathelete Vs. Athelete!

And of course, we can't forget about Creeper!!  One of our CE students found me at my church's fall festival and we had to get our picture taken together!