Ooops!  Change of plan...I nixed Black Elk's Vision and substituted another biography to use with third grade and some of our bilingual fourth grade classes...The Hallelujah Flight by Phil Bildner, illustrated by John Holyfield, and I am sooo glad I did!  Great, great book.  The kids loved it, got into the story, enjoyed the illustrations and even joined me in reciting the repetitive phrases!  

Wow!  Where has the fall gone?  In some ways it seems like we just started the school year, and yet August seems long, long ago.  

Have been super frustrated about the number of interim principals we have seen come and go (and in some cases, come again) this fall.  We finally have a wonderful, shiny new AP, Eva Zapata, who is full of energy and enthusiasm and stamina.  But we need a fearless leader to come into Moye, to stay there and to work alongside Ms. Zapata and lead our campus forward and out of what feels like a dungeon.

Planning on making Stone Soup with second grade next week, and doing lessons on biographies using some great Bluebonnet nominees from this year's Master List with our third, fourth and fifth graders.  http://www.txla.org/TBA-nominees .  The books I plan on using are Black Elk's Vision, Louisa:  The Life of Louisa May Alcott, and The Extraordinary Mark Twain.  I am thinking we will make biography cubes with information about each person's life - Bio Cubes .

Moye's Smallest Mountain Lions Visit the Library

First graders making diapers!

The youngest students have visited the library this week for an orientation on caring for library materials.  We shared a book entitled A Book of Hugs by Dave Ross and practiced several of the hugs described by the author including the brother hug, sister hug, arm hug and knee hug.  The children were great fun and eager participants when it came time to HUG!  We also viewed a PowerPoint presentation featuring my granddaughter, Cady.  The slide show compares the ways that book care is similar to caring for a baby, including the way we hold our books/babies with two hands, the way we keep the two clean and dry, the way we use quiet voices in the library and when talking to a baby.  I showed the children a video clip of Cady sifting through Brennyn and Corey's junk mail and we all shared a good laugh.  
The prekinder and kinder students colored diapers on paper doll babies.  The first graders made origami diapers.  All of the students lined up at the door to receive kisses on their heads while being sure to give their books a two-handed hug.

Junk Mail

Welcome Back, Mountain Lions!

Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful, restful summer...I know I did!  I am happy to be back to school, though, and looking forward to seeing our second, third, fourth and fifth grade students this week for a quick introduction to Accelerated Reader (2nd grade) or the Bluebonnet Reading Program (3rd, 4th and 5th grades).  
I will also be attending a meeting for Reading is Fundamental (RIF) on Thursday morning in order to get information for this final year of the program.  

During the first two weeks of school, Ms. Manso and I have been busy adding over five carts of new books to the library database and processing each book so that it is ready to be checked out by
YOU!  Many of the new books were titles that I received for consideration for the Bluebonnet Master List.  Some of them are books that I received in exchange for writing a review for the EPISD book review publication.  The rest of the books were from my last order in the spring.  Check out the new biographies...Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and many more!  There are new books in every collection in the library! 

Next time you are in the library be sure to notice the new curtains courtesy of my sweet mom!  The new striped curtains on the windows were from my parents' living room in their old apartment.  The plaid curtains on the AR Store window are some my mother made for my parents' bedroom in their apartment.  When they moved in May, I inherited all of their curtains and I think they look great in our library!

Also, be sure to check out the story written by my dad in September's issue of Military Magazine.  The story is based on his days as a paratrooper at the end of World War II.  I have put the magazine and a picture of my father on the sofa table that Ms. Blanco donated to the library.  The story is patriotic, funny and touching.  I love having bits and pieces of my family in the library with me.  

Cady Visits the Library

Cady climbing in the reading den.

Cady cuddling with Ms. Manso.

My sweet grandbaby, Cadence, visited the H.R. Moye library for the first time on May 27th.  She loved the Mountain Lions' Reading Den and enjoyed a big hug from Ms. Manso.  Wish Cady lived close enough to come for storytime on a regular basis.  She seems to love books which is a very good thing with three librarians in the family!

Trying out the toy kitchen we use for Reader's Theater.

Wee Search in April and May

Osmar and his penguino.

As the school begins to wind down and with the TAKS testing behind us, Moye students  S p r I n G  into research.  As a finale' to their polar animal research, my sweet second graders made penguin pencil holders from painted soup cans.  The final product was adorable!   

Ms. Navarette and 2C

For the next six weeks, second grade continued with research on various animals and famous people.   The wonderful second grade teachers handled most of the information seeking in the classroom with resources Lorena and I gathered in the library and using graphic organizers I created for them.  Most recently, they read biographies on Helen Keller both in the library and in the classroom.  They came to the library and used EbscoHost and Britannica Online to find additional information on this incredible woman.  They completed worksheets about Helen's life and learned how to write their names in Braille.

  

Third grade students researched Dr. Seuss during the month of March using some wonderful articles on Ebsco and Britannica. The children used a sketching technique to take 'notes' about Theodore Seuss Geisel's life.  In early April, we transformed their sketches into complete sentences that we transcribed onto red and white striped construction paper Cat in the Hats.  They turned out very well!!  And the kids loved the sketch-note-taking technique and were very good at it!!

Rodolfo created a perfect drinking gourd.

Lezley and her delicious quilt.

The subject of their final research experience was Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.  We began by reading a brief biography and the historical fiction picture book Aunt Harriet and the Underground Railroad.  The children completed a graphic organizer using print and online information then created quilts squares using graham crackers, icing and a combination of mini-marshmallows, gumdrops, Nerds, and sprinkles.  The edible quilts were symbolic of the quilts sometimes used as maps for runaway slaves or the quilts used to signal a safe house along the path of the Underground Railroad.  

Carmen appears to be captivated with database information.

Using print resources to learn about Native Americans.

In April, the fourth grade did a quick research activity on Native Americans that combined writing with drawing information on a graphic organizer I created.  We used online databases to find pictures to further illustrate the various Native American tribes.   The children have become very adept at using the computers and online databases to locate information and to expand their subject searches.  

Cranes at the base of  Sadako's statue.

Fourth grade girls using the databases.

Fourth grade's final research revolved around learning about Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who died in Hiroshima, Japan after exposure to radiation left by the atomic bomb dropped on that city.  The kiddos used information available on Britannica Online to learn about the Peace Memorial Park dedicated to those whose lives were taken or forever changed by the explosion of the bomb.  They even learned how to write in Japanese!  We saw pictures of origami cranes created by children around the world and lain to rest at the base of the statue memorializing Sadako's short life.  I have been searching for a simple step-by-step set of directions for making origami cranes and hope that we can each make one before the school year's end.  

Finally, my sweet fifth graders!  I have seen so little of these babies this year because so much of their school experience revolves around preparing for the blessed TAKS test.  But at long last, late this spring they have been able to come to the library!  As a part of the college readiness curriculum, the children came to the library and used reference materials, books on the various states, and a wonderful website - collegeboard.com - to find information about a number of colleges and universities across the country.  They completed a worksheet about the state and school assigned them and created a visual product - poster, banner, foldable to present the information to students throughout the school.

April!

Easter surprise basket for RIF.

Students in 2A shopping at the AR store.

Fourth grade selecting their RIF books.

A bit of breakfast to celebrate School Library Day.

Lorena and I share a hug on School Library Day.

In April, the M&Ms met for some jigsaw puzzle building fun.  The children were adorable as they worked in groups of three or four students to put together assorted book and movie character puzzles.  The mentors moved around from table to table cheering the children on and fitting an occasional piece into a puzzle.  It was refreshing to watch the teamwork among the kids and even between groups as they worked until every table completed at least one puzzle.  It was especially refreshing that the children didn't seek a prize for solving a puzzle.  The gratification of completing the puzzle was reward enough.  Bravo, M&Ms, bravo!

March Mouse Madness at Moye

PPCD and the employee daycare babies.

The little ones in PK, PPCD and kinder enjoyed listening to the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and participating in activities to help them recall the sequential, story-building details of what happens when mouse enjoys a chocolate chip cookie and a big glass of milk.  After listening to the book, the prekinder babies retold the story aloud together as I turned the pages of the library's over-sized copy of this Numeroff "classic".  Then they moved to the tables to make mice puppets and enjoy mice-sized chocolate chip cookies.  

KC prepares to act out If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

The H.R. Moye kinders were such fun as they used props to act out the story after hearing it read aloud.  Each child had some item from the story - a glass, a gallon milk container, a straw, a napkin, even a broom and mop.  We used my daughters' old plastic kitchen and our plush mouse doll to help us set the stage.  As I retold the story, the children with the appropriate item or prop came forward to act out the action on that particular page of the book.  I am not sure who had more fun, the librarian or the children!

Mouse colors a picture of his family.

Mouse needs a haircut.

Mouse sweeps up after his hair cut.

Then he mops the whole house!

 

Mountain Lions go to the Library

A Fast and Furious February

Let that records show that snow dancing definitely works!  The first week of February brought about four inches of the frosty white powder to our desert home and with that we had four days off from school to enjoy this rare treat.  Having the days off was wonderful but as a result we had to fit four weeks of learning and library into a rushed three week schedule.  But that we did!

This month, the youngest Moye Mountain Lions learned about Mother Goose and how nursery rhymes were one way children hundreds of years ago became reading-ready.  We recited some popular rhymes then watched "Richard Scarry's Mother Goose" and made woolly little lambs that the PK and kinder babies could use as prompts for sharing what they learned with family at home.

The first graders compared Mother Goose's "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with the water cycle.  We read a nonfiction book together then used the information to
complete a water cycle worksheet.  The children were already familiar with the cycle so did a great job applying their prior knowledge and facts from the book to fill in the blanks on the graphic organizer.

Second grade used Britannica Online for the first time with our research of polar animals.  We talked about what an encyclopedia is, looked at the print versions we have in the reference section then used the online encyclopedia and nonfiction print resources to complete a worksheet on their animal.  The children were able to explore Britannica Online a little bit, watching videos, listening to audio clips and selecting photographs to print of whales, penguins, walruses, seals and polar bears.  In coming weeks, we will use the information they gathered to write a short paper on their animals and will top things off by learning to draw various polar animals and making a penguin pencil holder.  Stay tuned for pictures of our final products.


Third graders watched PowerPoints about the Dewey Decimal System and the neighborhoods in the library.  We discussed the purpose of the call number as the specific address for a book within a neighborhood or collection in the library.  Children identified the call numbers for the nonfiction, fiction, easy, biography and reference neighborhoods.  I divided the students into groups of three or four students then gave each group a collection of small items to sort.  Each group of children had to devise a plan for sorting the little objects and then organize the buttons, erasers, foam shapes, beads and be able to explain to their classification system.  After careful consideration, almost every group figured out a classification system similar to the way nonfiction books are organized by subject and assigned a Dewey number.  In several classes, the children even sorted tiny foam princesses, crowns, slippers and magic wands together into a category they called fairy tale things!  Better known to librarians as the 398.2 section!  Be still my heart!


Fourth graders finished up soil research by taking the information on their graphic organizers and creating a three to five paragraph report.  We placed the worksheets, which served as our notes with their research papers inside folders the children decorated with soil-related illustrations such as the mineral and organic matter that create dirt, the layers of soil, and the types of soil.  I hope to have time to hang these products in the main hall this week.


My poor fifth graders have hardly had an opportunity to visit the library lately with all of the cohorts, benchmark and mock testing they have been doing.  I still have hopes that we will finish the planet research we began before our snowstorm.


Now that the snow has melted and temperatures are warming, I am looking forward to spring but will always remember the almost magical hush of February's falling snowflakes.  Lazy snow days bring out the child in all of us and you can be sure that next year, I will try my luck at snow dancing again.

Bluebonnet Voting at Moye

Fifth grader boys voting online.

During the last week of January, third, fourth and fifth grade Moye Mountain Lions voted for their favorite Bluebonnet book.  The Hinky Pink, That Book Woman, 14 Cows for America and The Uglified Ducky were among the twenty nominated titles read by the children at Moye.  This year, the Texas Bluebonnet Award committee created an online voting experience for program participants that had the feel of a national Presidential election.  Most of the children on campus had the opportunity to visit the Mackin Booktalk website through the TBA website and to vote online.  

Fifth grade girls cast their votes!

A total of 252 students voted, selecting The Hinky Pink by Megan McDonald as their favorite Bluebonnet book for 2010-2011.  Coming in second, was The Uglified Ducky by Willie Claflin and third place went to 14 Cows for America.  The students at Moye have an excellent history of picking the winning Bluebonnet title as chosen by students across the state and this year was no exception.  Our second place winner was the first place winner across Texas and our first place choice was the second place winner across the state.  Great work, Mountain Lions! 
 

Brrrr! January!

Fifth grade students using Britannica Online.

Fourth graders doing soil research.

Fourth graders making soil folders.

A lot of great things happened in the Moye library during the month of January.  Fourth and fifth graders began research on soil and the planets, respectively, using print resources and Encyclopedia Britannica Online.  The fourth graders used the mouse (mice?) to manipulate a photograph of the layers of soil and the fifth graders were able to see actual photographs of the planet they were studying.  The Britannica Online database is wonderful because students can highlight passages and see a Spanish translation of the English text and can opt to have the text read aloud to the them by the computer. 

First Day of Winter

Pre-kindergartners built a snowman after reading the cumulative tale The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming.  We used a chart paper snowman as our "canvas" and added to him a variety of things - one red cap, two (blue) mittens, three striped scarves...ten peanut toes -   to make him look like the snowman in the book.  Each class posed for a picture with their snowman creation and Ms. Manso and Ms. Blanco combined efforts to make a very CHILL display outside the library door. 

One of the librarians in the district has asked us to send pictures of our bulletins so that she can compile a CD showcasing our many creative endeavors. I have sent her pictures of a couple of bulletin boards but have felt so blue lately that I didn't think I had the energy to put together an new board this winter. When I received Anne's email asking for submissions, I pulled myself up by the boot straps and got busy and this is the result. Nothing like reading on these cold wintry days.

Little Red

The week of January 17, students in second grade performed a reader's theater production of the folktale "Little Red Riding Hood".  The children were divided into groups of two or three students each and assigned parts...narrator, Little Red Riding Hood, mother, grandmother, the wolf or the woodsman.  We read our lines through once and then five lucky students were selected to act out the play with finger puppets and the puppet theater while the rest of the class read the lines from the play.  It was our first attempt at doing a finger puppet show in the library.  The area behind the puppet theater was a bit squishy even for five pint-sized, second grade puppeteers but they managed to put on a great performance despite the cramped quarters.  I look forward to having some of the second graders perform the play to our kindergarten students after a few more dress rehearsals. 

Happy New Year?

January promises to be a hectic month and the beginning to what may be a very interesting year for EPISD librarians.  Because the tax ratification bill did not pass this summer, our district's budget faced a deficit coming into this school year.  Eighty-six positions were cut to balance the budget for the 2010-2011 school year but now the district is facing a reduction in state funding which will impact the 2011-2012 budget.  The State Legislators will be meeting in a few weeks to determine the appropriations for public education.  Once the appropriation bill is passed, EPISD will begin to gauge what measures it will need to take to balance the 2011-2012 district budget.  A Budget Stakeholders Committee has been created by Dr. Garcia and they are looking at several models to include a 5% reduction in personnel in order to satisfy the anticipated $22 million dollar deficit.  In the meantime, this librarian is concerned for her job and for the impact that cutting librarians and possibly closing the district's school libraries might have on the education of El Paso's school children.

December in Library

December was an extremely busy month in the library.  We had regularly scheduled classes the first week of the month, with our third grade students finishing up their research on Dia de los Muertos and decorating their altar-shaped folders for their completed research worksheets. The second grade read versions of "Little Red Riding Hood," identifying the characteristics of a folktale and relating the lesson learned by Little Red to safety online and the importance of the AUA. 

The fifth graders were entertained and informed through a presentation on the Buffalo Soldiers given by Mr. Charles Taylor.  Technology site coordinator, Sherita Martin told me about Mr. Taylor's presentations and I invited him to present to our kids.  I prepared a little background information in the form of several transparencies that the fifth grade teachers used to introduce the Buffalo Soldiers to their students.  Ms. Martin videotaped and I photographed the presentation while our fifth graders listened intently.  Mr. Taylor was a most enjoyable and informative  speaker! 

The M&Ms (Mentors and Mentees) met for the first time in December.  Among the teachers mentoring students were Ms. Mueller, Ms. Oseles, Ms. Stone, Ms. Ayala, Ms. Barrera, Ms. Samaniego, Mr. Siemenn and yours truly.  I put together an art activity for the children to make - a paper plate angel - and Ms.  Ayala provided the snacks and a Santa hat for each mentee.  A good time was had by all.

All of the Moye children participated in pajama day the week of December 13th.  Donning their sleeping attire, the children came to the library for a holiday, book-based movie - "A Christmas Carol", "Polar Express" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and a cup of hot cocoa.  Everyone was on their very best behavior as they knew Santa was watching and preparing his list of good boys and girls!

And lo and behold, Santa did visit the children at Moye on the very last day of class before the holiday break! We had a RIF distribution so that each child was able to take a book home to read over their vacation, and while they were selecting books, who should appear but Santa and his trusty elf, distributing candy canes and good cheer.