It's a SPECIAL DELIVERY!

The kindergarten students and I shared a story from the summer reading list today. I think that reading one of the books from the list gets them excited about the others and hopefully drives them to the public library to check them out.

So, today we read Special Delivery, written by Philip Stead and illustrated by Matthew Cordell.  Special Delivery is about a young girl, Sadie, who wants to send an elephant to her great aunt Josephine, "who lives almost completely alone and could really use the company." An elephant is not your typical post office package, so Sadie finds some very creative ways to get them both to Josephine.  It's a story that celebrates the happiness of sending and receiving packages of all sizes.

When I used this book with third grade last year, it turned into a pen pal relationship with students in Minnesota.  

With the kindergartners today, they drew pictures of the animals that they thought Sadie should next send her great aunt Josephine. Prior to doing this the students identified all the other animals (along with the newly-arrived elephant) that Sadie had already sent to Josephine. They then thought of animals that were missing and should be sent.

I sent their art home with them to finish and encouraged them to mail their pictures to someone special. It's too bad that Josephine can't receive all of these great animals, but I bet that whoever receives these special deliveries will be just as pleased!

Boost Your Brain with Summer Reading

Summer is on the horizon!

We are still in the thick of learning here (we have 22 days of school left in this year) and there is the usual buzz of activity as projects wrap up, but it is not too early to talk about summer reading. I feel like the years when I have left the conversation until mid-June, the students are already into summer mode and not as excited and inevitably the brochures and papers and email get lost in the end-of-the-year shuffle. The programs and lists get more attention when delivered now.

I created this year's bulletin board (with the help of my daughter), with a simple message about the importance and value of reading over the summer. 

The public library sends librarians to meet with our third, fourth, and fifth graders (I run the lesson for the kindergarten through second graders). 

The public librarians talk up the summer reading programs and book talk books off of the summer reading lists. The students then have time to explore the books. It's always a great visit.