The OLD Top Shelf

There has been some debate on the state librarians’ listserv recently about whether or not Kindergarten students can do research. In my district, they most certainly do – at least twice during the year. In fact, one of our elementary librarians made the following video of her Kindergarten students doing research with 4th grade buddies. The 4th graders help the students get to the selected online resource then read the onscreen information to the younger students. The kindergarten students wrote down answers to the research questions and told the teacher about what had been read to them. While not a full-blown “research paper” activity, these kids are not only learning things about mammals, but also that they can use resources other than themselves (or their parents and teachers) to find answers to their questions.

Click on the link to watch the video and then answer the question for yourself. Can Kindergartners do research?

Dallas ISD librarians have created a list of 20 excellent bilingual (Spanish/English) and Spanish language books for students in grades Pre-K through 3, called Luminarias. They have graciously offered to share their list by posting it on their web site. This is a great list of titles to consider when ordering books for this population. It might also serve as an alternative to the MISD Mockingbird list for campuses with a high bilingual enrollment.

Region One ESC and the Region One Library Advisory Committee would like to invite you and your students to participate in the Tejas Star Book Award Program. The Tejas Star list includes bilingual English/Spanish books and books written in Spanish. The purpose of the award is to promote reading in general and for readers to discover the cognitive and economic benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism. Participation is free to all Texas schools this year.

The list of Tejas Star books is available at http://www.esc1.net/tejasstarbookaward . You will also find detailed information on how to participate and how to vote at the Tejas Star web site. Voting will take place during the month of March and the winner will be announced in April, 2008.

Over on the Kids’ Wings web site, Suzy Red has some great links to go along with this year’s Texas Bluebonnet Award nominees.

Also, don’t forget about Tandem Library’s BookTalk site, where kids can read summaries of current Bluebonnet titles , get information about the authors, rate the books they have read, and get suggestions for read-alikes.

If you have other favorite Bluebonnet resources, please share in the Comments!

The following was posted on LM_NET regarding suggestions for books and activities to use with elementary level book clubs:

FOOD FOOD FOOD! If you feed them something fun related to the book, you will win them over. Another strategy is to incorporate a game, craft project, or guest relating to the book. –

My suggestions would be: Gregor the Overlander (a Bluebonnet nominee last year); Ghost of Fossil Glen; Hot and Cold Summer; Lois Lowry’s “Sam” books; Nothing’s Fair in Fifth Grade, or other past Bluebonnet winners. As these were books voted on by students, a lot of kids enjoy them (but they might not be great literature). You could also consider Newbery winners and honor books.

My suggestion is that you think in terms of themes. But series and author really set the kids on the road to reading. You can kill alot more birds if you read the following authors: Beverly Cleary I believe Ramona the Pest is an award winner. My Cleary favorite is The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s Shiloh (an award winner) Roald Dahl’s The Witches or Esio Trot may be fun if they are already reading his books in class. James ad the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are major classic and should be required reading. Just before summer vacation you may do the first Lemony Snickett A series of Unfortunate Events. They may be inspired to finish off the series over the vacation.

Hollywood just happens to turn really good books into movies, we can’t help that. I put out a brochure “if you liked the movie, you’ll LOVE the book”

I shall post something on my personal favorite “the cat who went to heaven” by coatsworth. It’s a newbery. I won’t take four weeks to read but you can get some good discussion . . . you can supplement the reading experience with other shorter stories of Japan . . . or . . Read also Sadako and the 1000 paper cranes by Coerr. That’s a relatively short one too and it has to do with Japan.

The Axle Galench books by Rooster Morris are a great Book Club choice! You can read the first chapter at www.axlegalench.com

Last year my theme was Florida. We read some Florida history and ecological novels (Strawberry Girls, Oonawassee Summer, Deadly Waters, Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo, Cypress Tree Island, seems like there was one more but I can’t remember it now.)

This year I am featuring Historical Fiction based in the US. We are studying Sign of the Beaver, George Washington’s Socks, Freedom Crossing, Ghost Cadet, Riding the Flume and Under the Blood Red Sun Next year I will mix the genres but all books will be Newbery winners.

I have found it difficult to know whether the kids read the book or not. I tried to make it fun and low pressure (They seem to get enough of that) but towards the end, especially, many weren’t reading the book. I give a couple weeks (5-6) weeks this year between books, hoping that helps. Last year, I brought in food that pertained to the books, but not doing it this year.

This year I have gone on United Streaming and burned video clips pertaining to the topic and that really brings the time period into perspective for the kids.

At first, I was going to have the kids pass the AR test on the book to assure that they read it, but many are reading above their level and were struggling, even though they read the book, so now, I hide the AR questions in the discussion at our meeting, but I still don’t have a way to get them to read before the meeting.

One of my recent favorites is Clementine by Pennypacker. It may be a bit young for 5th grade, but it is so much fun! Please feel free to check out my website for other suggestions. http://www.bookwink.com <http://www.bookwink.com/>

What ideas do YOU have? Post a comment and share!

One of the great joys of reading is that books can take us places that we could never go. The 2007- 2008 Texas Bluebonnet Master List creates such a journey, allowing readers to log millions of literary frequent flyer miles – miles that can be used for widening their imaginations, critical reading skills, and pleasure in the written word.

These young readers will visit a new world, the land of Foo (Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo), and revisit a familiar one…

Read more in the TLACast 25_4: DECEMBER 2006

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