Traveling K-5 Librarian - What's Happening in Elementary?
In addition to working at West Middle School, I also travel to three elementary schools and teach information literacy skills to grades kindergarten through fifth grade. The schools I serve are: Meadowview, Cedar Hills, and Shepard Hills.
Author Spotlight - Saxton Freymann's Edible Art

Kindergarten and 1st grade classes celebrated Children's Book Week (May 7-15) by reading several of Saxton Freymann's picture books designed with edible art.! The children were very engaged with the books and afterwards we listened to Saxton talk about his books and how he chooses the fruits and vegetables. I wouldn't be surprised if students start seeing faces in their fruits and vegetables
http://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=18
http://www.teachingbooks.net/author_collection.cgi?id=18
Cardinal Directions

The second graders have been introduced to map skills and are working on remembering and using cardinal directions. Our Brain Pop video clip told us an easy way to remember the compass rose order is Never Eat Soggy Waffles. Students practiced using north, south, east, and west to determine where an object was located on our map.
Reader's Theater of The Paper Bag Princess

In honor of Children's Book Week, third graders at Shepard are going to practice reading fluency and perform a Reader's Theater version of one of my favorite books; The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. Kids will understand the concept of stereotyping and the elements of traditional literature.
Map Skills and Google Earth

Third graders were introduced to Google Earth and practiced map skills by using clues to determine which direction to place items on the farm. They used a compass rose on paper and throughout the library to identify where books are located. Students especially loved seeing their school on Google Earth pics and after that we went on a journey to the White House. I also read a Stuart J. Murphy favorite, Treasure Map.
Fourth graders were also introduced to Google Earth. We took a trip to the Grand canyon, White House and Statue of Liberty via Google Earth. We then watched a short video on cardinal directions and map keys. Our activity was to play a What State Am I In? riddle game, where students had to locate and follow directions to find the state on a map. We had great fun with this lesson!
Fourth graders were also introduced to Google Earth. We took a trip to the Grand canyon, White House and Statue of Liberty via Google Earth. We then watched a short video on cardinal directions and map keys. Our activity was to play a What State Am I In? riddle game, where students had to locate and follow directions to find the state on a map. We had great fun with this lesson!
Whose Is It Anyway?

Fifth graders will be working on understanding copyright and plagiarism. They will determine what is plagiarism in several different scenarios and play a vocabulary match card game.