Friday Focus-Hurricane Edition

Welcome to the first edition of the Friday Focus, a weekly feature where I will highlight some books and other resources you may want to share with your child. For this first focus, I intended to feature books on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to celebrate the opening of the memorial here in Washington, DC. However, as most of the festivities have been postponed, I will hold those resources until the celebration is rescheduled. Instead, I will share some books and websites about the reason for the postponement--hurricanes!

Please note that some of these resources depict fairly extreme effects of hurricanes, far more devastating than we are likely to see here in our region. Please preview before sharing with your child-you know him or her best!

Picture Books

The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry *

Follow a seed as it falls from the branch of a mangrove tree, makes its way to an island and grows to a tree itself--then serves as a shelter for fish and animals during a hurricane. This book has drawings of the storm but does not show upsetting images of the aftermath.

Two Bobbies: a True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival by Kirby Larson *

This sweet tale of a dog and cat who relied on each other to survive the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is guaranteed to make you sniffle a bit. Based on a true story, this book shows the devastation of New Orleans post-Katrina but offers a happy ending. This was one of our Principal's Book of the Month selections last year.

Nonfiction

Hurricanes! by Gail Gibbons

The ever-informative Gail Gibbons describes how hurricanes are formed and named, and what to do if one is headed your way.

Hurricane Hunters! by Chris L. Demarest *

Go inside a hurricane with the men and women of the Air Force special reconnaissance squadron, who are tasked with collecting information about the storm. This book talks about what happens before the storm makes landfall, so while it describes preparing for the storm there are no images of destruction.

The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane by Joanna Cole

The intrepid Ms. Frizzle teaches science as only she can-by taking her class inside a hurricane to learn what makes these huge storms tick!

Howling Hurricanes by Louise and Richard Spilsbury *

This book is perfect for older students who want to know what a hurricane is and how it works. It also discusses what happens after a hurricane-who helps and how people get back on their feet. There are photographs of preparations for the storm as well as the aftermath, and one particularly amusing photo showing that the flamingos at the Miami Zoo are housed inside a bathroom to keep them safe during the storm.

Websites

Hurricanes-fema.gov

This website for kids from FEMA gives all of the basic facts about hurricanes and hurricane preparedness, as well as fun facts about canine heroes of past hurricanes and quizzes to test hurricane knowledge.

Hurricane Storm Science - The Miami Museum of Science

This interactive website takes kids inside a hurricane. You may want to discuss with your child that Miami gets hit much harder by hurricanes than our region.

Animated Hurricane Guide - CBBC

This animated presentation from Children's BBC clearly shows how hurricanes are formed. The last slide allows you to see the likely effects of a hurricane based on its category rating.

Resources marked with a * are available in the Maury Library for checkout. If it's not marked with a star, we'd love to have it! Find out how you can donate those books to the library by emailing Ms. Sweeney.

Welcome Back!

After a year of dormancy, I'm reviving my library blog. I love to let parents know what's going on in the library here at Maury Elementary, and this is a great tool to communicate that. It's also a great tool for you to communicate with me--please feel free to comment on these posts to give me feedback! Since this is a school-related blog, comments are moderated to avoid spam.

We've had a great week so far here at Maury, albeit a very eventful one! I've welcomed most classes into the library this week. I'll see many of the early childhood classes for the first time next week as well as my regularly scheduled Wednesday classes which I missed due to the earthquake day.

Look for a letter to come home with your child next week with more information about the library and book checkout, as well as a media release form to indicate whether or not I may photograph your child for this blog. (I will never identify students by name on the web.) I'm looking forward to a great year!

By the way, this page, along with most blogs, is currently blocked by DCPS internet content filters. I'm working to get that resolved, but for now please excuse any formatting errors. I can post to it, but I can't see it!

Week 18

Welcome back from Winter Break!

With the frigid weather and a chance of snow flurries this week, Preschool and Pre-K are getting into the winter spirit.

Preschool classes will be reading all about snowmen. The books we'll read this week are:

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

All You Need for a Snowman by Barbara LaVallee

A Really Good Snowman by Daniel J. Mahoney

Pre-K will be celebrating winter by reading all about ice skating. We'll read:

Skating with the Bears by Andrew Breakspeare

Pearl's New Skates by Holly Keller

This is an exciting week for Kindergarten students. We'll be learning all about taking care of our library books, because next week Kindergarteners will take their books home! We'll read Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book by Lauren Child to get ready.

Before the break, first graders were learning all about illustrators. This week, they'll get to try their hand at illustrating a book themselves.

Second graders will continue learning about setting. We'll start reading the chapter book Who Cloned the President by Ron Roy and talk about the setting of the book. This book takes place right here in Washington, DC.

Third graders are continuing to learn about using dictionaries. This week, we'll practice defining words using a dictionary.

Fourth and fifth graders spent the last several weeks learning about the Dewey Decimal System. This week is a review week-we'll talk about what we've already learned and get ready to practice our new book-finding skills next week.

Week 7

Welcome back to a wonderful week at Maury!

This week, our preschool classes will be reading all about counting. We'll read:

Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss

How Many Feet in the Bed by Dianne Johnston Hamm

Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews

One is a Drummer by Roseanne Thong

Pre-K students will be reading Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. (More information is TBD.)

Last week, Kindergarten classes learned about the differences between fiction and nonfiction. This week, we'll build on that lesson, and talk about the fact that fiction and nonfiction are in separate sections of the library. We'll read Julius by Angela Johnson and Pigs by TBA.

First grade classes will learn about how the library is organized and why each book has one special place on the library shelf.

Second grade classes will build on last week's lesson about why the alphabet is so important in the library. We'll practice using alphabetical order.

This week, the third grade will talk about the differences in the way fiction books and nonfiction books are arranged in the library. Next week, we'll talk about how to find fiction books.

Fourth graders will be reviewing how to find fiction books and how a call number is used. We'll practice finding fiction books if we have time-if not, we'll continue this lesson next week.

The fifth grade will learn all about the Dewey Decimal System this week. We touched on it briefly last year in fourth grade, and this week we'll be expanding on that knowledge. We'll read What Marion Taught Willis by Brook Berg.

Week 4

This week, preschool classes are reading books about ducks. We'll read:

Little Quack by Lauren Thompson

Duck on a Bike by David Shannon

Mucky Duck by Sally Grindley

We'll also sing Five Little Ducks.

Pre-K classes are talking about imagination. We'll read:

Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

Alexander's Pretending Day by Bunny Crumpacker

We'll talk about all of the fun things we can think of to do with a box, and we'll draw pictures of them. If you'd like to continue this theme at home, you can read Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis.

Kindergarten classes are taking tours of the library and talking about all of the different areas. We'll read Mr. Wiggle's Library by Carol Thompson to help us with our tour. We'll also read selections from My Librarian is a Camel by Margriet Ruurs.

First and second grade classes are talking about choosing just-right books. We're reading Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins. Ask your child to tell you about the Five-Finger Rule for choosing a just-right book.

Third grade will not visit the library this week due to the Friday professional development day.

Fourth and fifth grades are talking about using the library computers. We're learning the library computer rules and how to use the catalog.

Week 3

Welcome back after the long Labor Day weekend. I was so pleased to meet (or see again!) so many of you on Back to School Night.

This week, students in grades PK-5th will begin checking out books. We'll spend part of each class learning book checkout procedures, and students in K-5th will learn how to use shelf markers. Students use shelf markers to mark their place on the shelf before they remove a book. That way, if they decide to replace the book, the shelf marker shows them where to place it.

Preschool students are reading about mice this week. We will read:

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie by Laura Numeroff

Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood

We will sing Hickory Dickory Dock.

Pre-K students will read:

What Happened to Marion's Book? by Brook Berg

Kindergarten students will read:

What Happened to Marion's Book? by Brook Berg

First grade students will read:

Beverly Billingsley Borrows a Book by Alexander Stadler

Second grade students will read:

Stella Louella's Runaway Book by Lisa Campbell Ernst

Third and Fourth grade students will finish reading:

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book by Lauren Child

Fifth grade students will not visit the library this week due to the Labor Day holiday.

Week 2

This week in the library, the Preschool and Pre-K are reading books about books! We're reviewing library procedures and talking about how to handle books carefully. The books we are reading are:

Preschool

Baby Bear's Books by Jane Yolen

B is for Books! by Annie Cobb

I Like Books by Anthony Browne

Max Goes to the Library by Adria Klein

Pre-K

Maybe a Bear Ate It! by Robie Harris

But Excuse Me That Is My Book by Lauren Child

Wild About Books by Judy Sierra

Kindergarten through fifth grades are talking about how we care for our books. We're learning that there are only three places a library book should be kept:

In our bookbags while we're at home,

In our desks while we're at school,

In our hands while we're reading.

We're also learning that books should be kept away from food, pets and younger siblings to keep them safe.

Kindergarten, First and Second grades are reading:

The Shelf Elf by Jackie Mims Hopkins

Third, Fourth and Fifth grades are reading:

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book by Lauren Child

Last week, I had a question from a parent who asked if I always teach the same lessons to many grades. The answer is sometimes! This early in the year, I'm teaching many of the same skills to all of my classes--skills like library manners and book care. At this time of year, I'm more likely to teach similar lessons to many grades. Over the next few weeks, you'll see this become less common--but it does still happen occasionally.

Don't forget, tomorrow, September 1 is our first morning parent checkout. The library will be open to parents from 8:15-8:45 every Tuesday and Thursday. Parents may check out up to three books.