OUTBACK LIbrary time

G’day, mate!  Did you know that there is a huge area of Australia called the Outback?  The area is so big, and the families living there live so far apart that going to school is impossible.  Kids might live hundreds of miles from their teachers and their school!  The only way kids in the Australian Outback can experience school is through “distance learning” like you are doing this week.   Each child has a computer and an adult helper nearby, usually a parent, and receives lessons and schoolwork from teachers and then returns the work to teachers through email.  Then 3 or 4 times a year the kids travel long distances to meet together for a week, kind of like a school camp.  Why don’t we pretend we are living in the Australian Outback, and I will deliver your ‘library time lesson’ for the week below?  Isn’t that a grouse idea?  (In Australian slang ‘grouse’ means that you like something, like you think it’s a wonderful idea.)

So here goes the lesson for the week of March 16, 2020 for 5th grade:

I hope you have begun your Newbery Award or Newbery Honor book and are thoroughly enjoying it.  Remember the book you chose was voted the BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR or a runner up to that honor in the year it was published.   Reading just doesn’t get much better than that!   If we were in the library this week, I would give you free silent time to begin your Newbery book and then give you the wordsearch puzzle below to do for fun and to see how many Newbery titles you remember hearing about last week.  I hope you will remember many of those titles and will read them in middle school because you’ll find most of them on the middle school side of the library, too.              

Before you start reading and wordsearching, I want to share a few facts from those amazing Weird But True books that you love so much:

Vanilla is used to make chocolate.

An elephant’s tooth is the size of a brick.

The Statue of Liberty’s nose is almost 5 feet long, taller than you.

Chewing gum can make your heart beat faster.

The 50 tallest mountains in the world are all in Asia.

There are around 3 trillion (3,000,000,000,000) trees on Earth.                         (I wonder how many are cherry blossom trees.)

Isn’t it just amazing and so much fun to see what all you can learn when you read!

Now…on to your Newbery reading and wordsearch puzzle. Can you print it at home and let the fun begin?

        

Newbery Award and Honor Books Word Bank

Al Capone Does My Shirts           A Wrinkle in Time              Bud Not Buddy

Ella Enchanted                             Hatchet                             Hope Was Here

Rules               Hoot                     The Tale of Despereaux       Wolf Hollow

A Long Way from Chicago     A Year Down Yonder    Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Everything On A Waffle                Holes                                Old Yeller

The House of Sixty Fathers          A Single Shard                  The Westing Game

Because of Winn Dixie                 Elijah of Buxton                 Flora and Ulysses

The War That Saved My Life   Pictures of Hollis Woods  The One and Only Ivan

                           So here goes the lesson for the week of March 16, 2020 for 4th grade:

Now…enough about Australia.  Let’s talk about Ireland, an island and part of the continent of Europe.  If you were in our library this week, I would read you a story about the life of Saint Patrick and some of the traditions and fun associated with Saint Patrick’s Day celebrated on March 17 each year, but since we are  ‘distance learning’ this week, please click here (kids.nationalgeographpic.com – search St. Patrick’s Day) on a computer or iPad and read National Geographic Kids’ short article on St. Patrick’s Day.  It’s so interesting!  Take the short quiz at the end to see what you remember about St. Patrick.  

                     

Well, that was fun!  But now would you like to know even more about the real St. Patrick?  And about why we wear green?  And what a 3-leaf clover has to do with anything?  You must learn why the real St. Patrick went to Ireland two times!  Ask a grown-up to click here (DouglasTalks.com Who is St. Patrick?) to watch the video and learn the answers.  I can hardly wait to see you again to discuss the life of this brave Christian man and why he is still celebrated more than 1,500 years later!  We can learn a lot about who God wants us to be by learning about St. Patrick!  

                   

One more thing, knowing how much you LOVE the Weird But True books, I just have to share a few facts:

Vanilla is used to make chocolate.

An elephant’s tooth is the size of a brick.

The Statue of Liberty’s nose is almost 5 feet long, taller than you.

Chewing gum can make your heart beat faster.

The 50 tallest mountains in the world are all in Asia.

     There are around 3 trillion (3,000,000,000,000) trees on Earth. 

(I wonder how many are cherry blossom trees.)

Isn’t it just amazing and so much fun to see what all you can learn when you read!

 So here goes the lesson for the week of March 16, 2020 for 3rd grade:

Now…enough about Australia.  Let’s talk about Ireland, an island and part of the continent of Europe.  If you were in our library this week, I would show you Ireland on a  map and read you a story about the life of Saint Patrick and some of the traditions and fun associated with Saint Patrick’s Day celebrated on March 17 each year, but since we are ‘distance learning’ this week, please ask a grown-up to click here: (kids.nationalgeographic.com – search St. Patrick’s Day) on a computer or iPad and read National Geographic Kids’ short article on      St. Patrick’s Day.  It’s so interesting!  Take the short quiz at the en      to see what you remember about St. Patrick. 

                        

Well, that was fun!  But now would you like to know even more about the real St. Patrick?  And about why we wear green?  And what a 3-leaf clover has to do with anything?  You must learn why the real St. Patrick went to Ireland two times!  Ask a grown-up to click here                (DouglasTalks.com Who is St. Patrick?) to watch the video and learn the answers.  I can hardly wait to see you again to discuss the life of this brave Christian man and why he is still celebrated more than 1,500 years later!  We can learn a lot about who God wants us to be by learning about St. Patrick!

One more thing, knowing how much you LOVE the Weird But True books, I just have to share a few facts:

Vanilla is used to make chocolate.

An elephant’s tooth is the size of a brick.

The Statue of Liberty’s nose is almost 5 feet long.

Chewing gum can make your heart beat faster.

The 50 tallest mountains in the world are all in Asia.

     There are around 3 trillion (3,000,000,000,000) trees on Earth. 

(I wonder how many are cherry blossom trees.)

Isn’t it just amazing and so much fun to see what all you can learn when you read!

So here goes the lesson for March 16 2nd grade:

Now…enough about Australia.  Let’s talk about Ireland, an island and part of the continent of Europe.  If you were in our library this week, I would show you Ireland on a  map and read you a story about St. Patrick’s Day which is celebrated on March 17 each year, but since we are  ‘distance learning’ this week, you can have a St. Patrick’s Day story read to you online and see the pictures up really close, too.  Just ask a grown-up to click here (Pete the Cat – The Great Leprechaun Chase).  I hope you enjoy this fun story about Pete the Cat trying to catch a leprechaun.

Well, that was fun!  But now would you like to know more about the real   St. Patrick?  And about why we wear green?  And what a 3-leaf clover has to do with anything?  You must learn why the real St. Patrick went to Ireland two times!  Ask a grown-up to click here (YouTube DouglasTalks.com Who is St. Patrick?) to watch the video and learn the answers.  I can hardly wait to see you again to discuss the life of this brave Christian man and why he is still celebrated more than 1,500 years later!  We can learn a lot about who God wants us to be by learning about St. Patrick!

I hope you have a wonderful week and enjoy learning and reading about St. Patrick!  Will you read lots of books on your bookshelves at home, too, and tell me about your favorite one when we see each other again?

So here goes the lesson for March 16 for 3k,, 4k,, 5k, and 1st

Oh, how I wish I could read a story and sing a song with you, but since we’re distance learning this week, I found a wonderful librarian online to read and sing with you.  Her name is Sheneatha, and she works2 at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York.  When someone in your home has 15 free minutes, crawl up in that person’s lap and ask to click here (Go to Brooklyn Public Library Facebook page and locate their virtual storytime with Sheneatha) on an iPad or tablet.   You will LOVE hearing Sheneatha read Leonardo the Terrible Monster by the wonderful Mo Willems and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin.  Remember when you met Mr. Eric Litwin in our library before Thanksgiving and you got to hear him sing and talk about his books?  That was so fun!  You’ll think this library lesson with Sheneatha is fun, too, especially the funny faces and songs she will share with you.  When you finish watching her video, tell the person you are watching it with something that you remember about Mr. Eric Litwin’s visit and his books about Pete the Cat or Groovy Joe or the Nut family.  Aren’t books just SO MUCH FUN?  I’m so glad and thankful that I get to share great books with you each week.  Enjoy your time at home with reading lots of good books from your own bookshelves right next to somebody you love!

Happy, happy Saint Patrick’s Day!