Past+Whole+Class+Activities_First+Grade

First graders visit the library once each week with their whole class to hear a story or participate in a learning activity and then check out two books. To enhance and encourage your child's literacy and information research skills, see the additional activities below to expand upon each week's lesson.

   || || Throughout the months of January and February, students in kindergarten and first grade will hear selections from the 2010-2011 Monarch Award Nominees. At the end of February, students will vote on their favorite book, have their votes submitted to the 2010-2011 Illinois Monarch Award committee, and find out what children throughout the state of Illinois have chosen as their favorite. For more information regarding the Monarch Award, see the following link: Monarch Award. The following books represent a selection of Monarch Award nominees children will experience:
 * Late March and April || [[image:streganona.jpg width="220" height="281" align="center"]] || First grade students will begin their study of Tomie DePaola's wonderful books.
 * March || [[image:sneetches.jpeg width="184" height="256" align="center"]] || March 2nd marks Dr. Seuss' birthday and we'll be celebrating his wonderful books in the LRC throughout the month of March! Listed below you'll find a selection of Dr. Seuss' books that students may hear during story time, in their classroom, or may be available for checkout during their whole class visit to the Library. ||
 * January and February || [[image:cowboy.jpg width="257" height="221" align="center"]]

//** Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek **// by Deborah Hopkinson  //** Bad Kitty Gets a Bath **// by Nick Bruel  //**Cowboy and Octopus **//by Jon Scieszka  //** Dog & Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories **// by Laura Vaccaro Seeger  //** Fred Stays with Me **// by Nancy Coffelt  //** Help Me, Mr. Mutt!: Expert Answers for Dogs with People Problems **// by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel  //** Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale **// by Carmen Agra Deedy  //**Oh, Theodore!: Guinea Pig Poems**// by Susan Katz  //** Rhyming Dust Bunnies **// by Jan Thomas <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> //** Splat the Cat **// by Rob Scotton <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;"> //**The Squeaky Door**// by Margaret Read MacDonald <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> //** Too Many Toys **// by David Shannon <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">//**Your Pal, Mo Willems Presents Leonardo the Terrible Monster**// by Mo Willems <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;"> //**When Dinosaurs Came with Everything**// by Elise Broach. || || First grade students continued their author/illustrator study of Kevin Henkes this week. We read Kitten's First Full Moon, the 2005 winner of the Caldecott Medal, and Old Bear, a short, colorful story. We noted that both books continue the style of artwork that Henkes used in last week's books,A Good Day and My Garden. Students also determined that Kitten's First Full Moon was created entirely in black/white/grays because it takes place at night. We discussed the Caldecott Medal and why it is given to a book--in honor of the outstanding work of an illustrator and his/her illustrations. Encourage your child to read more books written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes to enhance their skills and augment our study. Take time, too, to introduce your child to the world of Caldecott Medal and Caldecott Honor books. For a list of past winners, see the following website: Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938-Present. || || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">First grade students began their author/illustrator study of Kevin Henkes this week. Most well-known for his "mouse" books such as //**Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Wemberley Worried, Owen, Chrysanthemum**//, and others, Kevin Henkes has also written and illustrated several books without his recurring mouse characters and using a different style of artwork. First graders compared and contrasted his artwork in //**A Good Day**// and //**My Garden**// with artwork from his "mouse" books. We noted that his mouse books use very fine, narrow lines to draw his characters, but his non-mouse books use thick, fat outlines to define his characters. We also noted that the characters in //**A Good Day**// have experiences that create bad days just like we do! And just as commonly as those characters have bad days, they also had experiences that turned bad days into good days! We noted in //**My Garden**// that having a great imagination like our main character is wonderful fun. Encourage your child to read more books written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes to enhance their skills and augment our study. ||
 * December 13-17 ||  || Holiday favorites, old and new, this week in the LRC! ||
 * December 6-10 || [[image:Christmas_in_the_Country.jpg width="149" height="191" align="center"]] ||  ||
 * November 29-December 3 || [[image:henrymudge1.jpg width="119" height="186" align="center"]] || Scholastic Book Fair in the LRC! Browse and shop for books during our regularly scheduled LRC time. NO #2 Library Visits this week. ||
 * November 22-26 ||  || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">No classes due to Parent/Teacher Conferences and Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving! ||
 * November 15-19 || [[image:putter.jpg align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">First grade students will watch a short video presentation introducing the Scholastic Book Fair. Following the video, students will continue their study of Cynthia Rylant. ||
 * November 8-12 || [[image:relatives.jpg width="192" height="192" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">First grade students will continue their study of author Cynthia Rylant this week. ||
 * November 1-5 || [[image:innovember.gif align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">First grade students will watch a short video introducing the Character Counts Fundraising Project for the Dominican Republic. Following the video, students will begin their study of author Cynthia Rylant. ||
 * October 25-29 || [[image:roombroom.jpg width="210" height="170" align="center"]] || This week first grade students will listen to a Halloween book! Try some of these Halloween favorites, old and new, at home with your child:**//Moonlight, the Halloween Cat//** by Cynthia Rylant; **//Where's My Mummy//**by Carolyn Crimi; **//Room on the Broom//** by Julia Donaldson; **//Clifford's Halloween//** by Norman Bridwell; **//The Berenstain Bears' Trick or Treat//**by Stan & Jan Berenstain; **//Maisy's Halloween//** by Lucy Cousins; **//Big Pumpkin//** by Erica Silverman; and **//What a Scare, Jesse Bear//** by Nancy White Carlstrom. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">October 18-22 || [[image:sheliarae.jpg width="129" height="160" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">First grade students will complete their mini-author/illustrator study of Kevin Henkes this week with **//Sheila Rae, the Brave//**. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Sheila Rae believes that she is not afraid of anything. She steps on cracks, walks backward with her eyes closed, and teases her sister for her fears. But when Sheila Rae gets lost one day, she discovers maybe, just maybe, she isn’t quite as brave as she thought she was. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">October 11-15 || [[image:kittens-first-full-moon.jpg width="159" height="160" align="center"]]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">October 4-8 || [[image:goodday.jpg width="160" height="160" align="center"]]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">September 27-October 1 || [[image:wild-about-books-451.jpg height="200" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Due to first grade MAP testing in the LRC, most students did not have a regularly scheduled whole class visit to the library. A few classes, however, were able to visit the library and hear the wonderful story, //**Wild About Books**// by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Marc Brown. This delightful story, told in Dr. Seuss-style rhymes, reveals a menagerie of animals eager to read when the accidental, but serendipitous day arrived that Molly McGrew drove her bookmobile into the zoo. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">September 20-24 || [[image:shelfelf.jpg width="183" height="192" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">This week, first grade students listen to //**The Shelf Elf**// by Jackie Mims Hopkins and illustrated by Rebecca Thornburgh. Skoob, our resident shelf elf, teaches us about taking good care of our books, using shelf markers to browse for books, and other good library manners. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">September 13-17 || [[image:goingonbookhunt.jpeg width="157" height="192" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">First grade students listened and participated in the book, //**We're Going on a Book Hunt**// by Pat Miller and illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott. Our book takes the popular chant, "We're Going on a Bear Hunt," and transforms the words into the experiences of active students in a busy school library. First graders joined in on the refrain, "We're going on a book hunt. / We're going to find a good one. / We know how. / Not too easy, not too hard, but just right." Finding a **just right** book is an important skill we will work on all throughout first grade. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Encourage your child's reading habits by continuing to read to them and assisting them in finding books that challenge but do not discourage their developing reading skills--help them find**just right** books. What's the best way to find **"just right"** books? Talk to your child's teacher, your child's school library information specialist, your school's literacy support specialist and your public librarian. All of these folks would love to help you find great books to encourage and develop your child's reading skills. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">September 6-10 || [[image:librarylion.jpeg width="160" height="192" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">Students whose regularly scheduled classes visited the LRC on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday of this week heard the story //**Library Lion**// by Michelle Knudsen and illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. //**Library Lion**// is the delightful story of a lion who begins visiting the local library but runs into trouble as he tries to both obey the rules and help his librarian friend. Books that affectionately describe the delight of the library expand a child's world and encourage them to read and enjoy all that a library has to offer. More library adventure books include //**Library Mouse**// by Daniel Kirk;//**Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library**// by Vicki Myron; //**D.W.'s Library Card**// by Marc Brown; and //**Wild About Books**// by Judy Sierra. Share one of these books with your child today! ||
 * August 30- September 3 || [[image:librarydoors.jpg width="188" height="197" align="center"]] || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">During their first visit to the Library Resource Center, first grade students heard the story, //**The Library Doors**//. What a surprise to find out that the book is sung to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus"! First grade students also checked out their first books of the school year. That's right! First graders are allowed to check out **two books**! They may have chosen a story or a nonfiction book about animals, dinosaurs, trucks, or even a book of poetry. Together, read the books that your child brought home with him or her. You will enjoy sharing the books together and may even learn something new about an exotic animal or dump trucks! Please remember to help your child return his/her books each week. ||