Cahaba Library Chronicle

Thanks to the Lending Library at Trussville City Schools, we were able to check out VR headsets and plan collaborations with all of our classes. Students used Google Expeditions to explore areas, learn new information and connect to their Social Studies and Science standards.

Here are the areas we explored this month:

A big thank you to Mrs. Shannon, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Shorter, and Mrs. Bamberg's Kindergarten classes for joining us! We explored The Tundra. Students learned a lot about Polar Bears.

1st Grade Classes also joined the fun. Mrs. Latham, Mrs. Tilford, and Mrs. Grogan's classes joined us to learn more about the Arctic area and how animals adapt to that environment.

Thank you, Mrs. Cates and Mrs. Odom's classes for joining us for VR. We studied water and landforms. Students viewed various landforms and sketched those landforms in their library journal.

Mrs. Rish and Mrs. Windham's classes explored sharks in their natural environment. They used some keen observation skills and asked a lot of questions.

Mrs. Higginbotham and Mrs. Wessel's class explored types of energy. Students learned about fossil fuels, solar energy, wind energy, and hydroelectric energy.

Mrs. Feild, Miss Mince, and Mrs. Philpot's classes connected VR to their Growth Mindset study. Students observed parts of the brain and learned how those parts are connected to our reward system, memories, and emotions. These 4th graders practiced note-taking and used, "boxes and bullets" or "sketch and label" to help them remember what they had learned.

Mrs. Mills and Miss Crocker's class visited Paul Revere's house. They connected this learning to their American Revolution unit.

Enrich students also joined the fun. As a part of their research project, students visited Ancient Egypt and completed a graphic organizer completing the 5 W's.

Mrs. Windham, Mrs. Patterson, Mrs. Rish, and Mrs. Smith's classes each visited the library to practice digital notetaking in myON. Students participated in a mini-lesson to learn how to highlight and place notes in an online journal. We also talked about citing sources. Students practice these skills in pairs. They did a fantastic job!

The library assisted our Ted-Ed experience during their taping. Thank you Trussville City Schools Foundation for funding this video equipment. The students love the presentation experience.

With the Youth Media Awards right around the corner, January's classes focused on the 2018 Caldecott winning books and making predictions for the 2019 Caldecott.

Kindergarten read the Caldecott Medal Winner, Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell. Students asked themselves, "What does the cover tell me about the characters?". Students loved making these predictions. Many of the predictions were correct! Great job, Kindergarten!

First graders practiced the following skills while reading Big Cat, Little Cat Elisha Cooper: predict what might happen next, reread to notice more, and retell the important parts. First graders realized there was a lot more to the story when they used those strategies.

2nd Grade read Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes. Before reading, we reviewed the techniques often used by narrative writers. After reading the book, we charted the techniques we believed Mr. Barnes used in his writing. After charting, students returned to their library journals and wrote about an experience that made them feel as good as the character's haircut while using one of the same narrative techniques as our author.

Third grade read A Different Pod by Thi Bui. Before we read the book, we discussed understanding literary language by comparing two things. Students enjoyed reading this book. The comparisons used by Mr. Bui helped us understand his characters and their struggles. After reading, students returned to their library journals. Each table was given 2 things that were nothing alike at first glance. They had to dig deep to find something similar and write about it in their journal. They enjoyed the challenge!

After reviewing the 2018 Caldecott winners, 4th and 5th graders were challenged to use their library skills to search, find, compare/contrast and choose a favorite from previous years. Each table was assigned a year. Each table had to search the OPAC for all titles, fetch those titles from the shelf, read those titles as a group and journal the book they believed was their favorite. This was a highly engaging lesson, and it reminded our "big kids" how much they still love a good picture book.

At the end of the month, Mrs. Prickett pulled some of her favorite books she thought would win the Caldecott. Kindergarten and 1st grade read, Thank You, Omu by Oge Mora. This book is a heart-warming story about the giving spirit and community. Oge Mora uses a beautiful technique to create her story artwork. After we read the story, students returned to their library journal and wrote a thank you note to someone special like Omu.

2nd-5th Graders participated in a Caldecott Candidate Book Sample. Mrs. Prickett pulled some of her favorites from 2018 for students to sample. Students practiced looking at the cover, reading the book blurb, looking at the illustrations and reading a few pages. Students rotated books so they were able to sample 4 books. After the sampling, each student shared with their table-mates their favorite title and why. The class voted and we charted the results. Then students wrote in their library journal what book was their favorite and why.

*Strategies for each grade level were taken from Units of Study for Teaching Reading by Heinemann and Lucy Calkins, et al.

We were proud to be a part of Family Literacy Night. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Rosetta did a great job leading the team. Our students and parents learned new things and went home with a new- to-them book! What a fun night!

The library added 303 new books in January! We've added 1,017 books this year. We have an average copyright date of 2006. We are working hard to curate a current collection of great books for our students.