So today I read The Big Elephant in the Room to kindergarten and first grade as part of our state's Readers' Choice nominees list. I did not love this book when I first read it, but I try to leave my own opinions out of it when reading to the children. There have been several books I have not loved that the students absolutely ADORE, so I was hoping I was wrong about this book.
Nope. I set up the book before reading it to the kids--they knew all about idioms and knew what was meant by the phrase "the big elephant in the room." Then I read the story. Not one laugh. Anywhere. From any kid. When I finished, one girl started to clap, but I stopped her--it was a half-hearted clap, like "I usually do this after a story, so I'm doing it now."
And I looked at my assistant and said, "epic failure." I've never said that about a book before. I completely bagged the activity I had planned for the book and instead went on to read another book on the list to them.
Ugh. I am not happy. I do NOT want to read this book to other classes. It's a bad story of a bad friendship between two donkeys. Yeah. I'm done with this one. If the kids ask me why I didn't read it to them, I'll encourage them to check it out on their own and let me know what they think. I know what I think, and it's not good. Lane Smith, Joan Kindig, and the VRC Committee, this is a big miss.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Okra!
Yesterday, I brought left-over Jambalaya for lunch. I was a little worried about the shrimp smell permeating the library, but that's not what the first student in the door after lunch smelled.
As he walked in, he asked, "Do I smell okra?!?!!?" Why, yes, Madison, you do!
Love these kids.
As he walked in, he asked, "Do I smell okra?!?!!?" Why, yes, Madison, you do!
Love these kids.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Harry and Horsie pics
As promised, here are some photos from the kids' work on Friday.
This first one is from the beginning of the book, in Harry's bedroom. I love the toys inside the bubbles. I'm not sure which toy this is, but it's perfectly recognizable as a toy, I think!
The next one is from the middle of the book, in outer space. It's a cat on the Milky Way, of course!
And this last one is at the end of the book, where Harry finds Horsie hanging from the crescent moon. The kids loved learning that phrase, "crescent moon."
Hooray for the kids! They did such a cute job on this!
This first one is from the beginning of the book, in Harry's bedroom. I love the toys inside the bubbles. I'm not sure which toy this is, but it's perfectly recognizable as a toy, I think!
The next one is from the middle of the book, in outer space. It's a cat on the Milky Way, of course!
And this last one is at the end of the book, where Harry finds Horsie hanging from the crescent moon. The kids loved learning that phrase, "crescent moon."
Hooray for the kids! They did such a cute job on this!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Harry and Horsie
Last fall, I presented at a librarians' conference about ideas for teaching our state readers' choice books in the library. It was wildly successful with well over 100 attendees.
I made the decision at the start of the school year not to teach the books until later in the year, which meant that all the lesson ideas I presented were just theoretical. I hoped they would work.
This past week, I've been doing Harry and Horsie with the students, and the first extension activity, with students plotting a number of points between home and Saturn in a line with their friends, was fine. The kids really thought, though, that China was further away than the moon. I guess in their little world it is--we can at least SEE the moon!
The second time I read it, I decided to have the kids raise their hands when they heard a "space" word. This worked well, and we matched pictures to these terms (I had pre-chosen pictures for the words).
The third time I read it, though, I just wasn't feeling like either of those activities was very literary or meaningful. So, literally as I was reading the book, I realized that the text is perfect for teaching beginning, middle, and end! The class and I took a little field trip to the work room and got some dark blue bulletin board paper (their idea), and we gathered in groups and illustrated the paper with details from the beginning (in Harry's room--lots of bubbles with toys in them); the middle (outer space--lots of planets, stars, cars racing around on Saturn's rings); and the end (a combination of the crescent moon and Harry's house--you should see Horsie hanging from the moon!).
PERFECT!!! I will take some pictures when I get back to school on Monday with closeups of the cutest parts.
Sorry to all those VEMA people who didn't get my best ideas for this VRC book. Sometimes, you have to be in the middle of it to get the really good ideas!
I made the decision at the start of the school year not to teach the books until later in the year, which meant that all the lesson ideas I presented were just theoretical. I hoped they would work.
This past week, I've been doing Harry and Horsie with the students, and the first extension activity, with students plotting a number of points between home and Saturn in a line with their friends, was fine. The kids really thought, though, that China was further away than the moon. I guess in their little world it is--we can at least SEE the moon!
The second time I read it, I decided to have the kids raise their hands when they heard a "space" word. This worked well, and we matched pictures to these terms (I had pre-chosen pictures for the words).
The third time I read it, though, I just wasn't feeling like either of those activities was very literary or meaningful. So, literally as I was reading the book, I realized that the text is perfect for teaching beginning, middle, and end! The class and I took a little field trip to the work room and got some dark blue bulletin board paper (their idea), and we gathered in groups and illustrated the paper with details from the beginning (in Harry's room--lots of bubbles with toys in them); the middle (outer space--lots of planets, stars, cars racing around on Saturn's rings); and the end (a combination of the crescent moon and Harry's house--you should see Horsie hanging from the moon!).
PERFECT!!! I will take some pictures when I get back to school on Monday with closeups of the cutest parts.
Sorry to all those VEMA people who didn't get my best ideas for this VRC book. Sometimes, you have to be in the middle of it to get the really good ideas!
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