Mrs. Hedrick's Blog

We are all looking forward to our Earth Day celebration tomorrow and of course SPRING BREAK starting on Friday! Relax, recharge, and read a good book! Here is what is happening this month in the library!

5th Grade: We did rotations to review genre and took a practice test.

4th Grade: We also did genre rotations. The week after spring break Ms. Tameka Hobbs from The Library of Virginia will come speak to our 4th grade students about using primary resources. Students will receive a free copy of her recently published book!

3rd Grade: We reviewed folk tales and discussed how folk tales were the start of a rich literary history that includes myths, legends, fairy tales, and tall tales. Some classes also completed explorer rotations. Many students are still earning patches for their reading jackets. Keep on reading to earn the ice cream party at the end of the year!

2nd Grade: We began learning how to use the library catalog to find books independently on the library. The last day to take AR quizzes will be Tuesday May 23! After that date school computers will be utilized for online testing.

1st grade: We do a lot in April! We learned what call numbers are, reviewed what the Caldecott medal is, and learned about the life of Marc Brown, the author of the “Arthur” book series. The last day to take AR quizzes will be Tuesday May 23! After that date school computers will be utilized for online testing.

Kindergarten: We talked about nursery rhymes, the beginning of stories , the Caldecott medal, and read Curious George.

Don’t forget about our BOOK EXCHANGE!!! For every two gently used books you bring in the week of April 11-15 you will get to bring home one “new” book the week after spring break! This is a great way to “reuse” and share great books! Don’t forget to bring in those books!

Well I had the best of intentions to update this blog monthly when I created it back in November but better late than never! Here is what is happening this month in the library:

Kindergarten: After a couple of breaks for Valentine’s Day and our visiting author Ginjer Clarke we will finish up our “snow” stations (before the first day of spring-yeah!). We will continue with distinguishing fiction from nonfiction books. We will work a bit more on taking good care of our library books. : – ) Hopefully by the end of the month we will introduce chapter books and start checking out nonfiction and chapter books on a more regular basis.

First Grade: We have moved through poetry books and biography books and will tackle dictionaries very soon. This grade continues to AMAZE me with their voracious appetite for READING!  We have so many first graders who have already read 100 AR books that I have had to create a new program for them-READO!  I am so proud of them, and of their parents who support their reading. Keep up the great work!

Second Grade: During the second half of second grade we work hard on transitioning to being independent users of information. So far we have worked on parts of nonfiction books-table of contents, index, glossary and introduced our first reference book-the atlas. In the coming weeks we will work with dictionaries and online reference sources. Please encourage your children to read at least 15 minutes each night. If your child is not yet an independent reader read with them. The time you spend now will greatly benefit your child’s future academic achievement!

Third Grade: Third graders have come into the library and worked with print and online reference sources. We are looking forward to further exploring our HCPS search engine OneSearch with some activities on energy. Third graders continue to be very enthusiastic independent library users. It would be great to see some more of them focus on completing their genre patch jackets. Encourage your child to try some different kinds of books and earn enough patches to be featured on our morning announcements!

Fourth Grade: We have been working with the print and digital reference sources. We are looking forward to learning how to distinguish between primary and secondary sources as we study the Civil War. A big shout-out to my fourth graders who are reading Book Celebration books! We have been having fun at our weekly lunches and I am so proud of you!

Fifth Grade: We have worked on writing bibliographies and using search engines. Next up is Boolean Searching. We will finally finish up genre with rotations and a test. This time of year is bittersweet as I reflect upon how much we have done together-and how much more I wish we had done! There is never enough time in the school day.  Read, read, and read some more! That is the best preparation for future academic success.

Welcome to Mrs. Hedrick’s blog!  Check in to see what is happening in the Gayton Elementary School Library!