I took a picture of Mr. Jones in his Halloween costume and added it to this futuristic drawing! Doesn't it look completely real! So cool! If you look closely, you can see Mr. Jones smiling in there!
October 31, 2011
Halloween Costume Roundup
All of the costumes were so great this year! But, I had to post some pictures of the costumes that caught my "librarian eye".
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| Our art teacher, Mark Jones created this amazing robot out of cardboard! |
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| Most literary boy: Harry Potter (Nick) |
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| Most literary girl: Katniss Everdeen (Erica) |
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| Most sophisticated costume: Garrett |
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| Most rockin' costume: Ric Ocasek of The Cars (Oisin) |
Ric Ocasek, lead singer of The Cars:
Best. Mashup. Ever.
(I hope you read that post title in Kevin's voice... Kevin from The Office).
This mashup combines 2 of my very favorite things: Halloween & Mary Poppins.
****Kevin from The Office
October 24, 2011
Posh KidLit Costumes!!
During my 1 Year Blogiversary Celebration, I really wanted the girls from Kidsmomo to write a guest post for us! It wasn't in the stars last month, but we managed to arrange a Halloween Guest Blog Swap! How exciting! I am writing over on their blog, and they are writing here! You are about to learn about Polyvore. Poly-what? Polyvore. It is an online space for people to create fashion collages. So cool! I am not much of a fashionista, but this looks like fun! You have to register to make a board, but you don't have to register to look around. Nancy and Karen from Kidsmomo have created some fun Polyvore collages to inspire your Halloween costume! Enjoy! And be sure to head over to Kidsmomo and read some great book reviews! Thanks, girls!
***********************************
Halloween is just around the corner, and you know what that
means… Candy! Chocolate! Sugar! Nom nom nom! Oh, yeah, and costumes too.
This year, we’re thinking about recycling our outfits from LeakyCon and dressing up
as Hogwarts students:
Of course, there are tons of other kitlit characters you can
be for Halloween, and that got us thinking – and designing!
Thanks to the website Polyvore,
you can clip and grab images of clothing from across the web and create your
own inspirational fashion collages. With Halloween in mind, we channeled our
inner Cinnas and came up with these costume collages for some of our favorite
children’s book characters:
(from The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins)
You’re fierce, and you
know it. Put all those scantily-clad nurses and French maids to shame.
(from Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus by Rick
Riordan)
If you encounter any
demons while you trick-or-treat, just slice them with your pen.
(from Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus by Rick
Riordan)
As described in the
book or as depicted in the movie – either way, Annabeth is always ready to kick
some butt. That Greek battle instinct will come in handy if anyone gets between
you and your candy corn.
(from The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin)
If anyone can
appreciate a holiday dedicated to junk food and dressing up, it’s the BSC VP!
(from the Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine)
We couldn’t come up
with a clever caption for Slappy because it’s creeping us out just to look at
this guy. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to find a well-lit room full of
bunnies and rainbows…
So, what about you? Have you ever dressed up as a kidlit
character? Leave a comment and let us know how you pulled it off!
And now that we’ve addressed the apparel, let’s get on to
the traditional candy bartering, shall we: Trade you this box of raisins for
your chocolate bar?
-- Nancy and Karen
Nancy Tsai and Karen Wang are the forces
behind Kidsmomo.com, an independent website for readers ages 8-13. Kidsmomo
covers new and favorite children’s books through podcasts, videos, author
interviews, book giveaways, and blog posts, and kids are also invited to submit
their own book reviews to share with their peers. Nancy and Karen can be
reached at contactus@kidsmomo.com.
Book Talk Tuesday
My rules?
1. All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
NEW 2. Please link to your original content, not the content of others.
3. Websites that you link to must be child friendly since lots of kids visit this site and if they click on your link, I want it to be appropriate for them.
4. Positive reviews only, please... we only spread love here at The Lemme Library!
5. Books must be available in The US. (you are welcome to link to ARC reviews)
6. I reserve the right to remove any reviews that don't meet criteria 1-5.
In the link title field, be sure to include the title of the book you are reviewing and your site name. In the URL field, please link to this specific post that contains the book review (That way people don't have to scour your blog looking for it!)
***
For newcomers & visitors: Definition of "Book Talk" from Wikipedia: "A booktalk in the broadest terms is what is spoken with the intent to convince someone to read a book. The booktalker gives the audience a glimpse of the setting, the characters, and/or the major conflict without providing the resolution or denouement. Booktalks make listeners care enough about the content of the book to want to read it. A long booktalk is usually about five to seven minutes long and a short booktalk is generally thirty seconds to two minutes long.
*******
My copy of Pete The Cat came in on Friday and I took it home to Leah, my 3 year old. I KNEW this would be a book that she would love! I was right. She hasn't put it down since. She is even planning a Pete the Cat Halloween costume. She is such a reader! She memorize entire books- and then months later can retell it- word for word. She reads with expression- if you didn't know, you would think she was really "reading" the words. I wonder if I have an early reader on my hands? This just shows what happens to kids when they are surrounded by books, read to and see people read. This is Leah reading Pete the Cat last night. What books do your kids love? Have you found that your 2nd child readers sooner than your first?
October 23, 2011
Leah + Pete = Luv
This is Leah reading her new favorite book "Pete the Cat".
I don't know how she memorized entire books... it is amazing!
I don't know how she memorized entire books... it is amazing!
What a reader!
Gotta Love October
This is how I spent my Saturday! Cute kids, cake and orange tractors (and pumpkins!) Happy October!
 |
| Leah 3 (mine), Kiley 8 (mine), Kade 1, Isaac 3 mos, Ben 5 |
October 17, 2011
Book Talk Tuesday
My rules?
1. All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
NEW 2. Please link to your original content, not the content of others.
3. Websites that you link to must be child friendly since lots of kids visit this site and if they click on your link, I want it to be appropriate for them.
4. Positive reviews only, please... we only spread love here at The Lemme Library!
5. Books must be available in The US. (you are welcome to link to ARC reviews)
6. I reserve the right to remove any reviews that don't meet criteria 1-5.
In the link title field, be sure to include the title of the book you are reviewing and your site name. In the URL field, please link to this specific post that contains the book review (That way people don't have to scour your blog looking for it!)
***
For newcomers & visitors: Definition of "Book Talk" from Wikipedia: "A booktalk in the broadest terms is what is spoken with the intent to convince someone to read a book. The booktalker gives the audience a glimpse of the setting, the characters, and/or the major conflict without providing the resolution or denouement. Booktalks make listeners care enough about the content of the book to want to read it. A long booktalk is usually about five to seven minutes long and a short booktalk is generally thirty seconds to two minutes long.
*********
Each year the teachers & staff try to coordinate a theme for our Halloween costumes. This year they have chosen "Super Teachers". Now, do I conform and join the group, or pick one of these costumes that I have been mulling over? Do you dress in a costume for Halloween? What are your plans this year?
What is your dream Halloween costume? (Mine is Mary Poppins!)
October 12, 2011
October 11, 2011
October 10, 2011
Book Talk Tuesday
I
have been searching the web for a great place to post book reviews
for librarians and teachers to use in the classroom. Well, I am
going to try hosting my own Book Talk Tuesday! I invite teachers
and librarians to link to a recent book talk or book review that
can be used by others- to help purchase new books, learn about new
books and to help give us book talk ideas.
My rules?
1. All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
NEW 2. Please link to your original content, not the content of others.
3.
Websites that you link to must be child friendly since lots
of kids visit this site and if they click on your link, I
want it to be appropriate for them.
4. Positive reviews only, please... we only spread love here at The Lemme Library!
5. Books must be available in The US. (you are welcome to link to ARC reviews)
6. I reserve the right to remove any reviews that don't meet criteria 1-5.
In
the link title field, be sure to include the title of the
book you are reviewing and your site name. In the URL field,
please link to this specific post that contains the book
review (That way people don't have to scour your blog looking
for it!)
***
For
newcomers & visitors: Definition of "Book Talk" from Wikipedia:
"A booktalk in the broadest terms is what is spoken with the
intent to convince someone to read a book. The booktalker gives
the audience a glimpse of the setting, the characters, and/or the major conflict without providing the resolution or denouement. Booktalks make listeners care enough about the content of the book to want to read it. A
long booktalk is usually about five to seven minutes long and a
short booktalk is generally thirty seconds to two minutes long.
Do you like Halloween? What is your favorite childhood memory from Halloween or what do you do with your own kids? I just remember the plastic mask costumes I would wear.... so not fire retardant! The mask would fog up and I would get so hot! I remember getting oodles of candy! When I was a kid- you would get homemade treats! Caramel apples and popcorn balls! Mrs. Casklavka made the best popcorn balls and she only made them at Halloween. If someone gave my girls a homemade popcorn ball now, I would throw it away! Kids just don't know how great it was in the olden days!
October 7, 2011
Conditioned Response or Cute Squeaky Toy?
I've blogged about my desire to sound less like Charlie Brown's teacher before. As part of that, I am using sounds to signal transitions. I squeak my little squid when the kids have 2 minutes left to check out books. I blow my train whistle when it is time to line up to leave. I use the noise maker to get the class quiet. I no longer have to screech and yell and repeat my self 900 times! It is like Pavlov and his dog. I make a noise and they move! It. Is. Awesome.
Pigeon Lover
I just love The Pigeon! Today I read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus with a group of kindergarten students. After the book, we used the Smartboard to Graph this question: Would you let the pigeon drive the bus? I was very shocked to learn that only 4 kids would let that cute little dude drive the bus. He's got dreams, ya know! You can download the template here. You will need to "ungroup" the name from the pigeon and add your own names!
October 4, 2011
Draw a Stickman
I do love, love, LOVE the site drawastickman.com. I have used this site with every single class; kindergarten through 6 and they all sit there transfixed on the screen. Kids that are shy or hesitant to speak come alive while using this site. You are prompted to draw a stickman (or woman or Spongebob like John did). Then, your drawing comes to life and you interact with the story by drawing items that your stickman needs. I've done this 12 times and have gotten 12 unique and fabulous stories! Try it! You'll like it! You'll LOVE it!
(We did this on the Smartboard and the kids drew with their fingers. You use a mouse on a desktop computer)
Red Light! Green Light!
When I talk to kids in the library, I feel like the teacher from Charlie Brown. Yes, like this:
I am trying to use more visual cues as a part of library check out. For the last 8 years I have preached about neat, tidy shelves. But, did I ever actually TEACH them how to make the shelves neat and tidy? Nope. So 2 weeks ago, we had an actual lesson on keeping shelves straightened. We call awesome shelves GREEN LIGHT SHELVES and awful shelves RED LIGHT SHELVES. I have photo examples hanging above the shelves. I will say that the library has never looked better! Now instead of me saying "Look at this shelf! Who left this like that? You need to move all of the books and smoosh them together and wah wah wah wah WAH!" I just say "Red light shelf" and I have 12 kids running over to fix it! So cool!
October 3, 2011
Book Talk Tuesday
I have been searching the web for a great place to post book reviews for
librarians and teachers to use in the classroom. Well, I am going to
try hosting my own Book Talk Tuesday! I invite teachers and librarians
to link to a recent book talk or book review that can be used by others-
to help purchase new books, learn about new books and to help give us
book talk ideas.
My rules?
My rules?
1. All content must be appropriate for children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.
NEW 2. Please link to your original content, not the content of others.
3. Websites that you link to must be child friendly since lots of kids
visit this site and if they click on your link, I want it to be
appropriate for them.
4. Positive reviews only, please... we only spread love here at The Lemme Library!
5. Books must be available in The US. (you are welcome to link to ARC reviews)
6. I reserve the right to remove any reviews that don't meet criteria 1-5.
In the link title field, be sure to include the title of the book you
are reviewing and your site name. In the URL field, please link to this
specific post that contains the book review (That way people don't have
to scour your blog looking for it!)
***
For newcomers & visitors: Definition of "Book Talk" from Wikipedia:
"A booktalk in the broadest terms is what is spoken with the intent to
convince someone to read a book. The booktalker gives the audience a
glimpse of the setting, the characters, and/or the major conflict
without providing the resolution or denouement. Booktalks make listeners
care enough about the content of the book to want to read it. A long
booktalk is usually about five to seven minutes long and a short
booktalk is generally thirty seconds to two minutes long.
*********
"Delicious
autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly
about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
~George Eliot
October is finally here! This is my favorite month of the year! I just knew it was October on Saturday by the way the air smelled. I love autumn, although I hate winter. I love the changing leaves, the food, Halloween, apple picking, warm sweatshirts, Pumpkin Spice Lattes... It could stay October forever and I would be very happy. I will spend the next month reading such fun Halloween books with my students. This one is my favorite:
