This month our Kindergarteners are exploring traditional tales. We began by identifying the features of a traditional tale and then we read the stories of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and 'The Three Little Pigs'. We're trying hard to sequence events from the stories so we have been ordering pictures and completing story maps.

This month our Kindergarteners are learning to love books! We are exploring different story elements to discover what makes a great story. We have examined some exciting characters so far and described what they are like. We especially liked learning about the character David in 'No, David!'.

Here is a picture of our Kindergartners hard at work in the library describing a character from a story.

It's coming into the holiday season and we've been using celebrations around us to help learn more about the types of books we can find in our library.

First we learned to sort fiction and nonfiction books. We look at covers and read titles to help sort them into piles. We then examined the features of fiction books and nonfiction books. 

To support the lessons we read the stories 'The Halloween Tree' and a nonfiction book all about Veterans Day.

During these two weeks our Kindergarteners are learning all about books! 

First we learned that there are different kinds of story books - picture books, board books, and chapter books. We examined and sorted these books with friends and learned where to find them in the library. We then read 'Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library' and designed our own new book 'Do Not Bring Your Alien to the Library'.

To continue learning about books, we have started to explore alphabetical order. We put oursleves in order by first name and then sorted books away in alphabetical order. We read the fun book 'Alphabet Boats' and drew our own cool boats for a display,

During these two weeks our Kindergarteners are getting ready to check out their first school library books! 

First we read 'Manners with a Library Book' and explored good and bad ways to treat a borrowed book. We practiced exploring the library and finding where books of interest might be. 

On the day of our first book check out we will read 'The Library Book' and then make our first choices. Very exciting! 

For the month of January our First Graders have been learning more about traditional tales from around the world. 

First we read 'Strega Nona' and then we read 'Stone Soup'. Both books are award winners so we discussed why these books were chosen to win a prize. We also looked at sequencing events from the stories and completing activities related to the story. For example, writing our own recipes for a Stone Soup and illustrating what would come out of a magic cooking pot if we had our own.

For the month of December our First Graders have been learning more about the elements of a story. We have identified and described characters, examined their personalities as well as explored their possible motivations. 

To help us with our learning we've read the fun and exciting stories 'Those Darn Squirrels!' and the 'Gingerbread Baby'. Both have fun and interesting characters for us to explore and describe.

Our First Graders have been examining the roles of authors and illustrators in writing fiction books. 

First we read the story 'The Good, The Bad and the Spooky', we talked about the pictures and how they help to tell the story. Using this as inspiration we then illustrated a cover to our own story called 'The Spooky Garden' where we decorated a picture of a garden. 

Then, using Veterans Day as inspiration, we used a nonfiction book from our library to discover some new information. We read the book 'Celebrating Heroes: Veterans Day', we followed step-by-step instructions on how to draw a Veterans Day figure and created flags for a library display.

During these two weeks our First Graders are learning all about books.

First we checked our understanding of some key vocabulary. We practiced saying, finding, and writing the words: front cover, back cover, spine,  pages, author, illustrator, and illustrations. We then read a fun story called 'Superbat' and discussed how would could help our library community and neighborhood.

To continue learning about the library we will also explore how the library is organized alphabetically. We will discuss that books are organized by author last name, practicing placing ourselves in alphabetical order and then putting books correctly back onto shelves. To help with this concept, we will read the quirky book 'Animalicious' which explore the alphabet in a fun way.