Reading in the Library

Most library classes start with the students gathered to listen to a read aloud. Often the books are chosen to structure the upcoming lesson, although sometimes we read for the simple joy of literature and the thought provoking conversations that can erupt from a good story. Here is some of what we are reading.
 First grade has been thinking about characters and how we form opinions. This study has been done through the investigation of monsters. As previously noted, we talked about what we believed to be true (they are scary) and what we know, (monsters don't exist). We read many books about monsters with The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson being a favorite.

In The Gruffalo a small mouse outsmarts a snake, fox and owl by convincing the predators that he is meeting a monster who would love to feast on the snake, owl and fox. The mouse is completely surprised when he discovers his imaginary monster is in fact real. The mouse has to think pretty quickly to outsmart the Gruffalo. Students really enjoy this book and we have the opportunity to compare the text with the movie. We end our unit with The Gruffalo's Child. 


Second graders have been thinking about pictures and how the same picture can impact everyone differently. We opened this unit with the book They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel.  In this picture book the same cat is show through the eyes of multiple different characters including a mouse, a flea, a dog, a human, a fish and many more. This invited conversation as to how this is possible. Students are easily able to understand that all people are different and that these differences will affect the way they move through and experience the world. We have continued with this conversation as students create their own images through PhotoBooth, using digital effects to change the pictures of themselves.


Third graders have been working hard on two projects this year. The first is the ongoing unit of interviewing people in the AFS community and then creating a presentation to share with the rest of the school. The second is an individual research project through PebbleGo. Students were able to pick a topic of their choice, find four facts and then share those facts with images they pulled from the Internet through a slideshow. Third graders are listening to a book called Dear Hank Williams by Kimberly Willis Holt.
This is a story of a young girl from Louisiana in 1948 who decides to write to radio star Hank Williams. This is a story we are reading for the simple joy of literature. Each chapter is a different letter to Hank Williams which slowly reveals the life of Tate, the young protagonist in the story. This story gives students a peak into a world before televisions and cell phones through Tate's hilarious letters.


By fourth grade the themes of our stories become more challenging. Students started the year by exploring identity. With this in mind, we have the students keep journals and facilitate discussions that unpack the deeper messages in the stories. This year the students were able to vote on the book they would like to listen to. Two of the classes chose Ghost by Jason Reynolds. This is an urban story of a boy whose life is transformed by joining a track team. The lead character, Castle, renames himself Ghost when he agrees to be part of the track team. The story explains his developing identity in relation to his economic status as well as his feelings towards his father who suffers from alcoholism.  The man who steps into his life, Coach,  helps Ghost work through his anger both through running and being a mentor.

One of the classes voted for Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. This is the story of Melody, a brilliant young girl stuck in a wheel chair, unable to speak or share her brilliance. Students have the opportunity to see life through the eyes of Melody as she shares her perspective on everything from the color pink, to the way the world totally misunderstand who she is as a person, because they can't see past the wheelchair. Throughout the story, technology allows the world to begin to understand and seem Melody as a full person. Students are able to share her triumphs and her frustrations as she has to work so much harder to be heard and seen.