Last week (March 9 – 13) we had the honour of hosting Donna Jo Napoli in our school. Donna Jo is the author of more than 70 books for children. She writes for a variety of age groups with some books suitable for the very young and other are better for older teens. Donna Jo worked with many of our students throughout the week. She gave a keynote address to our Middle School students – her topic how she uses myths and fairy tales in her writing. She gave writers’ workshops to grade 4, 5, 6, and 7 throughout the week. She spoke with grade 11 English students about taboo language and with Theory of Knowledge students about language, thinking and knowing. She shared some of her books with our students at Hisar and explained why she had written them.
Donna Jo was our very first writer in residence and we all enjoyed working with her. We hope to have other writers come and help us to develop our skills as writers in the future. Below are a few photos of Donna Jo at work with us.
The benefit of having a writer in school is that: students focus on that author’s writing, they connect with her and ask her specific questions about her books, they are inspired to write themselves, they have deeper conversations about the process of writing and the commitment to improve their own writing.
Snow interrupted Celebrate our reading week. The theme this year was really appropriate as we had three snow days. So our students got to live out the theme of any book, any place, any time – everyone. Thanks to everyone who showed what they were reading through the book photos (pictured above). One of the outcomes we wanted from this week was to make our reading visible. As students see others reading and celebrating what they read they begin to see them as ‘readers’ and their motivation to join the conversations and the reading community grows, (Leland, Lewison, & Harste, 2013, p.21). On the two days we did have of Celebrate our Reading week the children at Hisar created book nooks, they also had their dress up day and enjoyed their teachers’ enacting the story The Paper Bag Princess’. While at Marmara Campus we enjoyed a very successful PTA book swap and the stairs being decorated with book spines.
Anna Wilson – author visit. On Friday 23 January we had Anna Wilson at Marmara Campus working with our students in EY5 – grade 4. She did a wonderfully creative writer’s workshop with the students. I wanted to capture it for our Hisar students so here is the i movie I made about it. Lindsey and I used it with both grade 1 classes at Hisar last week – 12 February. They enjoyed the writing activities Anna introduced to us at Marmara.
Battle of the Books – soft, snow covered launch. We were going to launch the grade 5 and 6 battle of the books today (19 February) but instead we went online to do it. This library blog post was used to launch the concept and this i movie shows the students some of what is involved in a BOB. We have five titles and will hold the final Battle in June. The students now have to read the books and make up practice quiz questions about them.
Extended Essay workshops. Patricia and I worked together on the introduction to the Extended Essay with Grade 11. This year we invited them to read extended essays from previous years, look at sources of information and discuss the process with the seniors in the school. They are currently working on possible topics and creating an abstract to give to potential supervisors.
Challenges and Opportunities.
Writer in residence – Donna Jo Napoli. In just over two weeks time Donna Jo Napoli will be with us. I want to thank the leadership team for their support as I have tried to work out her programme. I will share it with you in the next few days.
Invitation to present a workshop at IASL conference in June. The 44th Annual International Conference & 17th International Forum on Research in School Librarianship is being held from June 28 – July 2, 2015, in Maastricht, The Netherlands. One of the themes is “The school library as a space and place: meeting, sharing, discussing. Collaborative learning and growing.” Two colleagues from our International School Librarian Network and I created a workshop proposal around the use our Network and the Book Chats we have been running since October as a Professional Learning Community. We wanted to show others how to set up PLCs and how our one works. At our last meeting 12 February we looked at using the Inquiry Cycle as a way to investigate our impact as librarians on student learning in our schools. This is a marvellous opportunity.
Quote and possible theme for Celebrate our reading week 2016
“Be awesome! Be a book nut!” — Dr. Seuss
Leland, C., Lewison, M., & Harste, J. C. (2013). Teaching children’s literature: It’s critical! New York: Routledge.
Author Anna Wilson came to work with our students, EY5 – grade 4, at Marmara Campus in January. She gave an imaginative writers’ workshop – asking the students to think about possible hiding places for animals. Here is a video about her visit and the workshop. Thanks to Greenhouse Bookshop for sponsoring her visit with us.
Our celebration of our reading week was shortened but many things were achieved in two days.
Our stairs were decorated with the spines of popular books from our library.
The teachers shared the books they were reading.
Our wonderwall invited people to share which book made them love reading.
The wonderful PTA ran the Book Swap.
Below the gallery of photos are the book quizzes for Friday.
For those who love our daily quizzes here are the links for you to try them at home – don’t forget to add your homeroom teacher’s name as well as your own in the first box
It is a good thing our theme this year is “Any book, any place, any time – EVERYONE” We can use these snow days to enjoy reading at home. We have ebooks available through your login toDestinyand through Tumblebooks
For those who love our daily quizzes here are the links for you to try them at home – don’t forget to add your homeroom teacher’s name as well as your own in the first box
Below are some photos from the Hisar Campus – they created book nooks and had their dress up day on Tuesday. The teachers created a drama from the story ‘The paper bag princess’ They all look fantastic
We were to start our Battle of the Books with grade 5 and 6 classes on Thursday 19th of February but the snow storm has meant we are not at school. Instead we invite them to watch this video and to start to think about who they want in their teams. All of the books are available in the library with one copy per class and some extras online as ebooks (available through Destiny) and as hard cover copies for any class. This is a reading challenge and the final battle will be held in June. As soon as we are back at school you can come and start to borrow the battle books – let the battle begin.
Next week we will be celebrating our reading, all week. On Thursday 19th February at Marmara and Friday 20th February at Hisar we will be dressing up as our favourite book characters.
Here are some photos from last year to help you start thinking about possible costumes – and here is a great website – book costumes for kids – to visit for ideas too. You don’t have to buy a costume, why not make one? There are some great ideas on that website.
Grade 1 is investigating challenges and how we overcome them. In the library yesterday at Hisar Mrs Paze and I read the book “Hands and Hearts” by Donna Jo Napoli. Donna Jo will be with our school in March as our first ever writer in residence. Hands and Hearts is about a mother and daughter’s day at the beach. Together the play and talk – only they use sign language to talk. Donna Jo has included 15 signs in her book and yesterday we tried to learn some of the signs. We also tried to find the sign for “read”. Here is a link to the American Sign Language website to find the sign for “read”
The students loved learning sign language and discussed how people who are born deaf might learn how to talk using sign language. Below are some photos of one of our students who joined us after the story had been read – he is reading it himself and trying out the signs.
Search for the philosopher name in the find box and then click on the “Web site” tab. You can filter the results to your grade level. You will find websites about your person.
To cite the website you can put the website in a resource list and then make a citation from the list.
Encyclopedia Britannica online: http://school.eb.co.uk/ Username: istanbulics Password: Britannica
Select Intermediate level or Beginner depending on your level of English then put the philosopher name in the find box
You will find articles, video and photographs. To cite the article or video look for the cite button.
Once in the main screen select Searchasaurus. Put your philosopher name in the find box. You will find newspaper and magazine articles.
Click on the article you want to read. Click on the “HTML” and at the top of the page is the citation information.
Watch Know Learn: http://www.watchknowlearn.org/ No log on necessary. These are videos found by teachers. Use the search box and put in your philosopher’s name. Be careful with the results as there will be some videos that are for senior high school. Each record has the age of the students for whom it will be useful. Teachers rate these in terms of helpfulness.
To cite copy and paste the url.
WHY are your citing your sources?
So your teachers can see that you have used – a website, an article, an encyclopedia entry, a video.
HOW can you cite your sources? Easybib add on in Google Docs
