Dec. 3-7
PreK & CASD
We read Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Students chose 3 healthy food choices from a selection of cut out foods to glue onto a small paper plate. |
Kinder
We read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and students decorated a gingerbread man. |
1st Grade
We read Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear! by Don and Audrey Wood. We discussed character change; how did mouse feeling at the beginning compared to the end? Students did a little inferencing by predicting what might happened next. They wrote and illustrated story extensions. |
2nd Grade
We read Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman and students completed a character trait analysis activity. |
3rd & 4th Grade
Both 3rd and 4th grade were working on nonfiction this week. 3rd grade did a nonfiction text features scavenger hunt. 4th grade worked in groups to identify nonfiction text structures. |
5th Grade
We discussed different types of "how-to" books and read How to Catch an Elf by Adam Wallace. Students wrote directions for catching an elf. |
Nov. 26-30
PreK & CASD
We read Pete the cat and the Bad Banana by James Dean. Students made a banana out of yellow construction paper with accordion folded legs/arms and googly eyes. |
Kinder
We read Farley Found It! by Bruce VanPatter and students completed a story elements activity. |
1st Grade
1st Grade was working on fables this week so we read The Lion and the Mouse by Shannon Eric Denton. |
2nd Grade
2nd grade was working on poetry this week so we read a selection of poems from various poetry books and students created their own poem. |
3rd Grade
We read a new nonfiction book titled The Marvelous Thing That Came From a Spring by Gilbert Ford. Students identified the main idea and 3 details. |
4th Grade
Nonfiction text features scavenger hunt! |
Nov. 13-16
PreK & CASD
We read 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey. Students made paper bag turkey puppets. |
Kinder
We read 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey. Students completed a color-by-letter turkey. |
1st Grade
We read This is the Turkey by Abby Levine. Students made pumpkin pie thankful spinners. |
2nd & 3rd Grade
We read Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano and discussed cause and effect. Students wrote things they were thankful for on strips of paper and created pumpkins. |
4th Grade
After reading Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet, we watched a YouTube clip of the Macy's thanksgiving Day Parade. Students illustrated a balloon of their favorite book character on a NYC street background. |
5th Grade
Nonfiction text features scavenger hunt! |
Nov. 5-9
Kinder, 1st, and 2nd Grade
We continued our 2X2 Battle this week with When's My Birthday? by Julie Fogliano and After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again by Dan Santat. Students wrote and illustrated about their favorite birthday memory. This week's winner was After the Fall. |
3rd Grade
We read the Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero by Patricia McCormick. Students worked independently to create a fitting award for Sergeant Reckless. |
4th Grade
Students learned how to use our databases to research Texas explorers. |
5th Grade
We read the Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero by Patricia McCormick. Students worked independently to create a fitting award for Sergeant Reckless. |
Oct. 29 - Nov. 2
PreK & CASD
We read Fire! Fire! Hurry! Hurry! by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha. Students made fireman hats to wear. |
Kindergarten
We read Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance by Keith Graves. Students made "free art" monsters. Scraps of different colors of construction paper were available for students to glue together to create a monster and embellish. |
1st Grade
We read Quit Calling Me a Monster by Jory John. Students drew monsters by playing roll-a-monster game. |
2nd & 3rd Grade
Students enjoyed fall makerspace/STEAM centers this week. Choice of centers included: Quivervision Fall Pumpkin, Makey-Makey playdough pumpkin piano, Fall LEGO challenge cards, What is Day of the Dead? - learn & color, and Roll-a-Monster |
4th & 5th Grade
We read selections from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz. Students wrote scary short stories using illustrations from The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg as inspiration. |
Storybook Pumpkin Patch Winners
PreK Winner - Dumbo
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Kindergarten Winner - The Very hungry Caterpillar
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1st Grade Winner - The Grinch
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2nd Grade Winner - Scarecrow
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Oct. 22-26
PreK & CASD
We read both Pumpkin Harvest by Calvin Harris and The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano. We talked about the difference between real and make believe and students colored pumpkins. |
Kinder & 1st Grade
We read The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano and students participated in Fall Makerspace/STEAM activities. Center choices included: fall LEGO challenge, Quivervision, Makey-Makey, roll-a-monster, paper plate spiderweb, and free art "create a monster". |
2nd Grade
If you haven't read this book yet, you are missing out! I'm Trying to Love Spiders (it isn't easy) by Bethany Barton is sure to make you laugh out loud! Students made fingerprint spiders (Ed Emberley fingerprint art style). |
3rd Grade
Creepy Pair of Underwear by Aaron Reynolds is such a fun book for this time of year! Students worked on research skills by using our country books to complete this sentence: "My creepy underwear went to _____ and brought back _____" |
4th Grade
We read the Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero by Patricia McCormick. Students worked independently to create a fitting award for Sergeant Reckless. |
Oct. 15-19
PreK & CASD
We celebrated the crisp air and the beautiful fall season with Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. Afterwards, students created their own leaf person with colorful die-cut leaf shapes. |
Kinder, 1st, & 2nd
We continued our 2X2 battle this week with Can I Join Your Club by John Kelly and Frank the Seven-Legged Spider by Michaele Razi. Students made construction paper spiders with crinkly legs and googly-eyes! Our winner this week was Frank the Seven-Legged Spider! |
3rd, 4th, & 5th
Our read aloud this week for the upper grades is a Texas Bluebonnet nominee. After reading, we discussed the characteristics of a biography as well as the pop art style of Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay A. Haring. Students enjoyed the fun activities on the Keith Haring website for kids: http://www.haringkids.com/index.html |
Oct. 9-12
PreK & CASD
We read The Family Book by Todd Parr and talked about our families. Students illustrated a picture of their family in a house. |
Kinder, 1st, & 2nd
Texas 2X2 books were introduced. We will read the 2X2 books -two at a time- throughout the year and students will vote for their favorite in our 2X2 Battle. We kicked it off this week with I Am Not a Chair by Ross Burach and Triangle by Mac Barnett & Jon Klassen. Students in all 3 grades voted for their favorite and the winner was I Am Not a Chair by Ross Burach! Students made stick puppets of triangle and square and retold the story. |
3rd, 4th, & 5th
Students enjoyed Fall Makerspace/STEAM activities during library this week. They had a choice of which center to go to after checking out their books. Centers included: Quivervision Fall Pumpkin Makey-Makey playdough pumpkin piano Fall LEGO challenge cards What is Day of the Dead? - learn & color Fall Word Search |
October 1-5 : Scholastic Book Fair
Sept. 24-28
With PreK and CASD classes, we read Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr. We talked about different feelings and how our face shows our feelings. Students thought about how they were feeling and drew a face to represent their emotions.
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Kindergarten enjoyed the Elephant & Piggie book, There is a Bird on Your Head, by Mo Willems. We made elephant & piggie paper bag puppets - so fun!
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1st Grade is learning about fables so we read The Ants and the Grasshopper by Rob M. Worley. We reviewed the characteristics of a fable and students made ants and grasshoppers out of construction paper shapes.
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2nd & 3rd Grades
We read Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind by Judy Finchler & Kevin O'Malley. There is a book out there for everybody! If you don't like to read, you just haven't found the right book yet! We discussed main idea and supporting details. |
4th & 5th Grades
We discussed the Texas Bluebonnet Book Program and students had a chance to see this year's nominees. Students will hear read alouds of 2 of the books during library time this year and their teachers will read one of the books to them in class. That means students will need to read 2 more Bluebonnet books on their own to be eligible to participate in the state-wide voting in January. |
Sept. 17-21
Sept. 10-14
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International Dot Day
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PreK & CASD
Read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. Students decorated a fin to add to the class fish. |
Sept. 3-7
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Library Orientations / Rules & Procedures
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PreK & CASD
What is a library? We watched a Sesame Street clip of cookie monster visiting the library. We read Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin & James Dean and practiced using good care to read our library books. |
Kinder & 1st Grade
We read Forest Friends go to School by Kathryn Warner and talked about book care. Kinder took home a "practice" library book and 1st grade reviewed how to use shelf markers with the shelf marker hokey-pokey. |
2nd Grade
We read School's First Day of School by Adam Rex. We talked about how the story is told from the school's point of view. Classes made books about the first week of school -from Clifton Park's point of view- by adding speech bubbles to photographs of rooms in our school. Our school loves our students! |
3rd Grade
We read Who is Melvin Bubble by Nick Bruel. We made storytellers (a foldable) which we used to play with a friend and learn about each other by telling stories about important things in our life. |
4th & 5th Grades
We read Rules of the House by Mac Barnett and reviewed library rules and procedures. |