Holiday: Halloween

I’ve always loved holidays. So much so that I used to go all out and decorate my house for nearly every holiday. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, 4^th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don’t put out as much decorations these days, but I still like to celebrate them in the library.

I do this by trying to find stories that are about that holiday and read them to the students.  They always seem to love them as much as I do.

With Halloween being this weekend, I found this week to be the perfect time to read Halloween stories to grades K – 2.

In Kindergarten I read Click, Clack, Boo! by Doreen Cronin. In First Grade I read There Was an Old Monster! by Ed Emberley. We even managed to get a little sequencing practice in with this story. And, in Second Grade I read Haunted House, Haunted Mouse by Judy Cox. For a couple of classes, I even turned off the lights and read with a flashlight for a spookier effect that the kids absolutely loved. Although, there were a few who were concerned that I might hurt my eyes by trying to read in the dark. Such sweethearts!

Well, now that Halloween is almost behind us, I’ll be thinking ahead to Thanksgiving.  I can’t wait to read those wonderful books!

Digital Citizenship

This week has been Digital Citizenship Week.  We have been learning about how to responsibly use the Internet and social media.

We stressed the importance of not giving out any personal information such as your name, address, phone number or even where you go to school. While at school, we learned to never share our login or password with others and to completely logoff the computer.

We also discussed being respectful and using kind words when online. It is important to THINK before we speak to make sure that what we say is True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary and Kind. If we see that someone is being hurtful or unkind online we must tell an adult.  We want to stand up and say “No!” to cyber bullying. Everything we post online is permanent, so we want to make sure that our digital footprint is not harmful to ourselves or others.

When we bring our own devices to use at school we should keep them safe and secure at all times. It is imperative that we use the assigned WIFI network provided by the district and that we only visit sites that promote learning. We should remember to properly cite our sources on all projects.

Even though we have been discussing digital citizenship over the last couple of weeks, it is really something that should be addressed every time we get online and use the Internet or social media. Be sure and talk to your kids about being safe and responsible online. If you need any tips, Common Sense Media is a good source for parents as well as teachers.

Texas Bluebonnet Award

This week I’ve been talking to the 3^rd, 4^th & 5^th grade classes about the Texas Bluebonnet Award. It is a list of 20 books chosen by various librarians, teachers, parents and students across the state of Texas for students in grades 3-6. All books must have been published within three years of the selection year and both fiction and non-fiction books are considered.

What I love most about this award is that it is based entirely on the votes of the students.  I mean, how cool is that?  Students get to actually vote for the winner! If students read at least five books on the list, they are eligible to vote for their favorite. The book with the most student votes wins the award!

This list always has wonderful books and I tell my students that this is a great place to start if they are having difficulty finding a book. I also love showing the book trailers to the students and seeing how excited they get about the different books. That’s what we have been doing this week and will continue to do next week. They’re so excited about them, that all of my Bluebonnet books are checked out!

Voting will take place at the end of January, so the students have approximately 3 months to read at least five books in order to vote.

Students that choose to vote will be invited to a special Bluebonnet Breakfast in the Library to celebrate the winner in March.

If you would like to take a look at the list, you can find it at the following link: http://www.txla.org/TBA-nominees and the link to the book trailers can be found at: 

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=MkVsUTbV_q0&list=PLmIp4XYo92bvZMuA3MWe5f517UpNwzYF2 

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! 

PTA

Out PTA does a great job of providing for our students and staff.  They have wonderful programs that include Book Fair, Fine Arts Night, Rachel’s Challenge, Teacher Appreciation Week, Veteran’s Day Remembrance, Watch DOGS and Red Ribbon Week.

These programs wouldn’t be possible without the support of the PTA members and that’s you!  For those of you who are already members of our PTA, I sincerely thank you for taking the initiative to have a positive impact on your child as well as others.  If you have yet to join our PTA, I strongly suggest that you do.  Your contribution means a lot to so many.

Besides your membership dues, there are plenty of other ways to contribute.  You could chair a committee or volunteer to help out for a program such as Book Fair or Field Day.  Both of these programs could use as many volunteers as possible.

The Christie PTA is also going green this year.  Newsletters will no longer be printed and sent home with your child.  You may find the October issue at the following links:

English

http://elist.pisd.edu/eNews/0112_99_Christie_PTA__eNews_Oct_2015_English.pdf

Spanish

 http://elist.pisd.edu/eNews/0112_99_PTA_de_Christie__eNews_Oct_2015_Spanish.pdf

If you would like to learn more about Christie’s PTA, you can visit their website at www.christie-pta.org. Thank you again to all of the PTA members that make so much happen for our Christie Cubs!

Responsibility

Responsibility was the theme this week for Kindergarten and First Grade. We discussed what it means to be responsible and different responsibilities you may have.  We read Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis in Kindergarten and Arthur’s Pet Business by Marc Brown in First Grade. The first grade students really enjoyed talking about the responsibilities Arthur had for his pet business. I think they all either have a dog or wish that they did!