Flat Stanley

In November, third graders brought Flat Stanley to the DES Library and asked me to send him to Antarctica with my brother. And look! He's arrived - and he found penguins! Can you tell what kind they are??

Thanks to my brother Mark for carrying Stanley around with him! If you want to thank him yourself, leave a comment below - he reads this blog!

Caldecott Award

The Caldecott Award for Best Picture Book was given out this week. The winner is A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin Stead and written by her husband, Philip Stead. It's not in our library so I've ordered it from Amazon and will read it to the children the minute it arrives! In the meantime, in ICT this week we talked about and read previous Caldecott winners.

Kindergartners listened to Officer Buckle and Gloria, the 1996 winner by Peggy Rathmann, then compared it to the animated version here. We talked about how the video could "move" and discussed the word animation. Children also noticed background noises in the video, like the music, audience applause, and Gloria's barking.

Other students listened to the 2004 winner, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein. The story's setting is New York City, a place familiar to many of the students. As the story was read, there was great speculation about whether the book was fiction or nonfiction. It tells the story of Phillipe Petit and how, in 1974, he walked, ran, and danced on a cable stretched between the "twin towers" high above the city. When the story was over, we looked at an online slideshow of pictures of Phillipe making his famous walk and actually saw a photograph of him laying on the wire, just like it said in the book! Students all agreed that, while his behavior was risky, Petit must have worked very hard for a very long time to be able to accomplish such a feat!

Doesn't he look happy?

Private Information

First through fourth grades continue activities that deal with online safety and privacy. Fourth graders created long lists of the type of information that should not be shared online without first asking an adult. Here's a word cloud made from their recommendations! Can you add to it? If so, leave a comment!

PS: if you click on the word cloud, it will open in a new window and be a lot bigger and easier to read!

Being Safe Online

In ICT classes this week, students began to learn about being safe on the internet. As an introduction and review, we watched and discussed these online movies. Fourth grade viewed this BrainPop movie and first, second, and third graders all watched this one from BrainPopJr. Both movies stress the fact that personal information should be safeguarded and not shared online. They also send the message that adults at home and at school can help if a child sees or reads something online that makes him or her feel uncomfortable. Click on the links above to review these short, informative, free movies with your student. 

Going Places Safely

First graders went to The New England Aquarium in Boston and to the Bronx Zoo in New York! They heard lots of facts about animals and even saw an octopus move! And they never even left our school! These students are learning that the internet can take them to exciting places! But just as they are supervised when traveling in the real world, they are learning to also bring an adult along when going into cyberspace.

Here are some websites you and your young student can visit together!

The Los Angeles Zoo

The Museum of Modern Art

The New York Philharmonic Kids Zone

If you know of other good "virtual field trip" destinations, leave us a comment and a link, below!