Sharks and Meerkats, Oh My!

Trying to catch up on my sharing of what I've been doing this year!  I previously posted about hosting our guest author, Ginjer Clarke.  I wanted to share with you some of the activities I did with K-2 before her arrival!

For PreK, K and first, we read the book, Sharks!  I started by showing a collage of different types of sharks and had students give me information that they already knew on sharks (an informal KWL, of sorts, but I've found with my limited time with my Kinders, I usually don't do the written version.  Same with first).  We then read the book Sharks!  The kids loved it!  We then did several themed centers, including Write the Room (I only did this with my Firsties, since it was the first time I'd done it in the library - they did a great job and LOVED IT!) and a coloring page.  I also had plenty of ocean animal books on hand, including sharks, on their level to check out!

With my second graders, we read the book, Baby Meerkats.  I have an actual "life size" meerkat I got years ago from Toys R Us in their Discovery Education line.  I have no idea if its still available today, but it was neat seeing the kids reaction on how small they really are!  They then had a few choices for centers:  Write the Room, a fraction based activity using meerkats, or a coloring page (because they still love to color and create at this age!). 

For my third graders, we didn't do any centers, but focused on the book, Gross Out!  The "Out!" series is wonderfully informative, but a little longer than the other two books I've mentioned.  However, we had a good time getting grossed out by dung beetles, possums, and more!  Fourth and fifth, we took to the Internet and wegivebooks.org to read an e-book "Maxed Out!" about gigantic (and now extinct) creatures.

   

This was a great way to get the kids excited about Mrs. Clarke's visit.  We also had some presales of her books, which she signed while she was here. 

If you'd like to check out my shark or meerkat packet, please click on the link below.  You don't have to use these books with the packets (although I highly recommend them).  I have to say, though, any author that writes about my favorite animal (meerkats), and I am definitely a fan!!!

Visiting Author: Ginjer Clarke

Whew!  This year is flying by!  So sorry to have neglected my blog, but let me tell you, the Library keeps me busy!!!  This past month has been book fair, Read for the Record, visiting author, and Grandparents Day (DURING book fair - yikes!).  I'll try not to flood you too much with the events of October, but I also wanted to share with you some of the items I've been creating as well.  Now that I teach everything from the special needs PreK (2 and 3 year olds), 4 yr old PreK, Autism/Special Needs students, and grades K-5.....I've been creating all over the board!  I even have a folder on my laptop I named "Upload to TpT" and it's getting full!  Sad that I don't even have time to share, isn't it?

Well, on from that - let's go backwards, shall we, and start with our October 28th visit from the wonderful nonfiction author that is Ginjer Clarke.  Such a nice person with such fabulous books!  I'm sure you've seen them - I have several copies from old Scholastic orders, her books have been featured on wegivebooks.org, and her current publisher is Penguin/Random House.  She does a fabulous show for K-1, 2-3, and 4-5.  I had to ask if she was a former teacher because her shows were geared perfectly for each age!  The fourth and fifth graders also had the advantage of having a writing session with her.  I can't say enough good things about this lady- she lives "locally" for us - in the Richmond, Virginia, area.  Not sure how far out she'll travel, but she's definitely worth it!

 

Our author

Our display in the Library:  she had sent books ahead of time to introduce to the kids, which they LOVED!

Before that was Read for the Record.  This year, it was Bunny Cakes and unfortunately, during Book Fair week. :(  Next year, I'd love to do something more for it, but for now, I created a "cake decorating" contest for interested classrooms.  Kids had fun creating cakes they thought Max or Ruby would like.  Max and Ruby picked out their favorite cake recipes, and the winning classes won 3 free books for their classroom library from the book fair.  They felt all the participants did a great job, so any class that decorated a cake got one free book from the fair for the classroom library!  A teacher told me how much her Kinders enjoyed it because even at such a young age, everything is still so structured and they don't often have time to create on their own! 

Max's winner:

 

Ruby's Winners: 

So, I was a book fair virgin, so to speak, this year - my FIRST book fair being in charge!  With Grandparents Day tacked on at the end!  Yikes!  But, we survived and even though we had to move the entire fair to the gym for Friday, it turned out well.  I decided to forgo a theme this time and focus on getting through it with my head intact! :)  Here's a couple views:

 That's my "wide angle" view as you walk in. 

 Got this GREAT idea from a blog that instead of teacher "wish lists", do baskets!  Each teacher had a labelled basket they would put their "wanted" books in, and they would either purchase at the end of the fair, or some lucky teachers had parents buy their books for them!

 I put on my "mom hat" when setting up for the fair and didn't display most of the "nonbook" items they sent until our parents' night and Grandparents' Day (I didn't want students spending money on those items unless it was okay with an adult!).

 Another view

My little thank you gift to each volunteer.  I made the sign and laminated it, but the box and mints are from Dollar Tree!

Since this post is long enough, I decided to share some of my creations in another post!  I hope you enjoyed seeing what I was up to this month!