Wemberly Worried, But K Didn't

Starting school can make kids worried ... it can make teachers worried, too! I read Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes to kindergartners; Wemberly is an anxious mouse who worries about EVERYTHING. To calm down, she rubs the ears of her stuffed rabbit, Petal (except then she worries that she'll rub Petal's ears right off).

At our next class meeting, we rotated between three stations: a huge pile of books by Henkes, Wemberly Worried activity sheets (the kids were really good at the maze), and a puppet-making center. Below are some of the Petal puppets the students created.

Our final related activity will be to teach our Petal puppets school rules and library routines. Then they'll be on their way home.

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Sorting It Out - Room 3

In second grade, we're practicing our sorting skills, figuring out how things go together even if they might not appear to at first. Today, Room 3 did a great job organizing cards, bookmarks, and books into different groups with different characteristics: size, color, shape, materials, text, etc.

They worked so hard, and the school was so hot today, that I let them rest for a few minutes at the end of class. Don't you wish big kids and adults still got nap time??

Mock Caldecott 2014 Preview

Each January, the American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." The 2013 winner was Jon Klassen for This Is Not My Hat. Last year's second graders loved it (and so do I). Here is the book trailer:

I've started making my way through some of the best reviewed picture books from the past 8 months. So far, I've winnowed the list down to 12 potential Stadium Mock Caldecott nominees to share with the second graders (and am looking forward to several being published in the fall). As we read them during the second quarter, I'll post titles and related activities. For now, here are the ones with book trailers. They are all available at the public library.

The Dark
Author: Lemony Snicket
Illustrator: Jon Klassen

Exclamation Mark
Author: Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Illustrator: Tom Lichtenheld

That Is Not a Good Idea
Mo Willems

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great
Bob Shea