Responsibility

Responsibility is a big word and can mean a lot of different things. To me, I think of two levels of responsibility. First, the responsibility that I have as the caretaker of the Library at Harritt Elementary. I must do everything I can, in my power, to keep the Library running to it's fullest potential for all the students and staff. Sometimes though my responsibility falls to enforce policies to make those who use the Library to be responsible for the materials they barrow in good faith. We have seen an increase in students not returning their books weekly. We will be working more closely with the students and families over the next few weeks to again help all who use the Library show their best side in being responsible to bring back their books weekly.

What Did We Do This Week?

Pete's A Pizza by William Steig Max The Hero by Debra-Barracca

Kindergartener's were treated to two books this week. Pete's A Pizza by William Steig and Max The Hero by Debra-Barracca. Both are very delightful books that I enjoy sharing with the students. I have to say all four of this year's Kindergarten classes have well-behaved students that listen very well, and have shown great respect for the Library and the books they check out.

First graders reviewed animal fantasy and learned about Realistic Fiction. We read Max The Hero story and discussed realistic fiction. We also reviewed the topic of diversity and we spent time in the Computer Lab. We worked in a wonderful web site for building reading skills at a variety of levels. Stop in at http://www.starfall.com/ and check it out.

Some second grade classes were able to make their Kachina Dolls last week, while others worked to finish up the Diversity unit by hearing the read aloud book Mystery of the Eagle Feather by Elspeth Campbell Murphy and Jingle Dancer By Cynthia Leitich Smith. Next week, hopefully, all students will have a chance to make their Katchina Dolls. These dolls will be on display for the month of March in the Library.

Third through fifth graders worked hard to complete their Microsoft Word projects. We had five extra Computer Lab times last week (two before school/two after school and Friday 90 minutes over the lunch time) These times allowed some students to catch up, and others to explore areas we don't have time to cover in a classroom so full of students. We had a couple of students advance into the program Movie Maker, and begin learning how to edit movie clips. We have extended our completion date for these projects into the first of next week.

Never Judge a Book By It's Cover

Never judge a book by it's cover, as covers can be misleading. Max from C-1 discovered this when looking through a state book on Wisconsin. Part way through the book the publisher had placed the wrong pages in the book, and now Max was reading all about the state of Wyoming! Great find Max! This is our second incorrectly bound book we have found in our Library since it opened four years ago. Both books have been brought a smile to my face, as well as, the student who discovered the problem.

Such A Bright Week With Star Students

It was just a wonderful week of seeing student behavior shine in Library/Computer. Last week we had one kindergarten boy share his book with another student and receive a Shinning Star Award. Guess what took place in that same kindergarten class? It spread like wild fire this week as everyone eagerly shared with others. What a wonderful class and what a wonderful place to teacher with students like this!

This weeks Star Students are:

A-3... Kailee,Lucie,Tiarra

A-4...Jatziry, McKenna, Erika, Kaylee Rose

B-2...Olivia

B-3...William

B-5...Dakota

C-2...Gabe, Kendall, Emma, Elli

C-4...Wayne

C-6...Dakota

I will have to say in the upper grades I know I missed some Start Students who jumped quickly into the Computer Lab to assist other students in learning the skill of hyperlinking movie clips to their Microsoft Word Document. To you guys I say, I think you are the best and I could not have done it without you. Forgive me for not getting your name written down on my list for the week. You know who you are and that should make you very proud to know you are such a big help to me and your classmates, even though your name is not listed here! You truely are A STAR!

3th, 4th and 5th Graders

Your computer projects, we have been working on over the last couple of weeks, are due this Friday. I will offer to have the Lab open for students to come and get some extra computer time, should they need it, to complete their projects. The Lab will be open Wednesday and Thursday Feb 21/22 8:00-8:45 am and 3:15-3:45 pm. In order to be able to work in the Lab you must have parent written permission. You can bring that in with you or have your parent email me at school Wanek_diana@salkeiz.k12.or.us. I look forward to seeing your completed projects.

Hyperlinking

Today in M-1 we celebrated in the Computer Lab as our first Harritt student completed the task of embedding a hyperlink to their project. Annelise was our first student to accomplish adding a hyperlink to her Endangered Species report on penguins using the * UnitedStreaming website. Yeah Annelise!!! We are sure to have others adding hyperlinks this next week, as other students were previewing movie clips to add to their projects, but we celebrate with Annalises as being the first at Harritt to accomplish this technology task!

*Students are Welcome to use Unitedstreaming at home! Just log in with your Username and Password given to you in class. Enjoy

Shelf Elf and Star Students

We gave out one Shelf Elf Award this week and that went to Kamryn in A-6. Thank you Kamryn in helping keep our library neat and clean.

Our Star Students for the week were:

A-1...JC, Hailey

A-3...Anthony

A-5...Bryson

A-6...Jonah, Mark, Jacob M, Taryn

B-1...Baylie, Laura, Jessica, Bethany

B-2...Sandra, Kayla

B-3...Isaac, Lindsey

B-4... Naomi, Matt, LaTrece, James, Emma

B-5...Justin, Bradley, Tysen

B-6...Marlee, Sid, Sonia, Preston

C-1...Max, Darby, Stephen, Andrea, CJ

C-6...Maria, Brooke B,

M-2 ...Louis

The Principal's New Clothes?

No, Mr. Witman hasn't gotten new clothes! Rather, The Principal's New Clothes by Stephanie Calmenson was the read aloud book for kindergarten this week. The book is based on the familiar Danish Fairy Tale published in 1837 titled The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christan Anderson. Yet, this time it takes place in a modern day setting with a Principal rather than an Empire. Whatever the setting, the moral of this story is always an important lesson to learn and remember. Always tell the truth even when you think it might hurt your image with others is the basis of this very funny modern tale. Ask your kindergarten student about this book. If you don't have a kindergarten student, suggest that your child check this book out from our library. It is a great read for all ages.

Learning Goes On

Now that the book fair is packed up and gone we have jumped in with both feet with all classes to get back on the computers and library skills.

The first and second grade classes have been learning about maps, diversity and animal fantasy.

Third graders have started a project in Microsoft Word. We are working on the following skills: Word Art, alignment, bold, underling, fonts and point sizes. Students who finish the required elements of the project with enough time left will work on adding graphics to their posted "All About Me".

Fourth and Fifth graders have been doing some Internet research on Endangered Animals. They have collected information and are now using Microsoft Word to create a poster all about their endangered animal. In addition to the skills the third graders are learning, fourth and fifth graders are learning spell check, copy and paste, bullets, learning how to site reference sources and embedding video clips for those who finish the required elements of this project with time to spare.

So What Is Going On In Library?

We had a very successful book fair and while the book fair was here every class was treated to a short time to browse the book fair, hear books talks about books at the fair and as well as hear some of the great books that were for sale. Two of my favorite books for the the chapter readers that were part of the book fair were. Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo and The Star of Kazan by Eve Ibbotson

I also enjoyed seeing all the Andrew Clements books on the carts as well. I have always enjoyed Andrew Clements books.

Star Students

Our Star Students for the week of Feb.5th-9th are as follows:

A-3...Abby J, Ben
A-4...Anthony
B-2 ...Ruth
C-1...Paige, Andrea

The Stars Are Not Falling

but...I have fallen behind on posting my star students. Here are those students who have earned a star on my Library wall for the past few weeks. Thanks guys for being such great students.

A-3 Tono, Anna,
B-2...Baldamero
B-4...Nick, Josh, Jordan, Cecila, Jackie, Isabella, Shelby, Emma,
LaTrece, Cassidy, Joshua, Cullen
B-5...Masie, Hunter, Colin
C-1... Stephen,
C-3...Marcus, Araya, Gabbi,
C-4...Cody, Loagan
C-5...Robert
C-6...Ryan, Conner
M-1...Micah, Itzy
M-2...Hannah, Cameron