It's a New Year!

January has been very busy at the library! In kindergarten we have been learning about Martin Luther King and Chinese New Year. We have been taking advantage of the wonderful videos and learning activities available on Discovery Education and Scholastic Bookflix.

First graders have been involved in interactive Smartboard lessons that focus on winter and the difference between fiction and nonfiction.

In second grade, Mrs. DeMarco's class and Ms. Kohart's class are doing research on their heritage. We used Google Earth to fly to various countries around the world and researched interesting country facts using the World Almanac. Besides that, all second grade classes are participating in our Searingcott Project! So many wonderful illustrators have never won the Caldecott Medal...we were amazed to find out that Eric Carle, Jan Brett, Dr. Seuss, Dyanne DiSalvo and Patricia Polacco have never won this prestigious award. Our five second grade classes are each researching and evaluating one of those illustrators in their very own "Searingcott" committees. Each class will nominate one book from each illustrator to win the award. Students are creating Searingcott medals using KidPix and will design posters advertising their nominations. In a couple of weeks we will have our vote, award our medals, and try to email the illustrators to let them know!

In third grade have been learning how to use our OPAC - our electronic library catalog - by doing a series of OPAC challenges. Students are becoming experts in doing title, author, and subject searches. Students also learned about the Dewey Decimal System, the numeric system used to organize nonfiction books in the library.

In research classes, fourth graders finished their Research Webquest and are now finishing up a short research project on New York State and City historical sites. They are creating an interactive map using Google maps. The map will have the historical sites marked off with information about the landmark embedded into it.

Finally, fifth graders are starring in our very own reality show, "Survivor M.D.-Long Island"! In this simulation of the popular show, Survivor, students are stranded on an island located in the Atlantic Ocean. Classes have been divided into tribes, each tribe made up of doctors specializing in different body systems. Tribes are given different challenges to complete each week; have chances to win 'immunity' and 'reward' points; and are posting their work in our Survivor Wiki.

Also, we are pleased to announce that our author visit this year will be Kathleen Bart. Watch for information that will be coming home about how to order autographed books! Thanks, as always, to our wonderful PTA for providing this learning experience for our students!