Hispanic Heritage Month

Our school has been celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month everyday in September by telling facts on the announcements. In the library, we have been focused on learning about Hispanic Heritage Month this week. Our school's bilingual classes are following a dual-language model this year. That means that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the students in bilingual classes are taught primarily in Spanish. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the language of the day is English.

To support the dual language program, I found some books that are bilingual-written in English and Spanish. The students read the book in their groups, then sorted words from the book into English and Spanish, and then they did three column note taking.

We also have been reading two fun books by Hispanic authors. Both of these books take a familiar story and tell it in a new way...using both English and Spanish words!

We are excited about the upcoming fall book fair and will be learning about some of the titles featured in this year's fair all next week. 

Ozobot, Sphero, and Safety!

Before school started, the librarians were all excited because our coordinator Richelle O'Neil was able to give each of us an Ozobot for our library makerspaces. If you are unfamiliar with what an Ozobot can do, check out this short video. Once the craziness of back to school settled down, I tried out the Ozobot at home and fascinated my dog with it. I brought it to school after being absent as a reward to the class that was the best while I was gone. The students really enjoyed getting to see Ozobot follow their commands based on what colors they used. They even named Ozobot different names and talked to him like he could understand them. We had some trouble getting Ozobot to show off his tricks, but as I told the kids...we just have to keep trying!

I am the i3: Innovation in Instruction person for our campus again this year. At our first training of the year, we got to play with a robot called Sphero. Check out this short video to learn more about Sphero. We were all very intrigued and we also started Googling how much it would cost to write a grant for a Sphero robot. Little did we know, as soon as it was time to put Sphero away...we all found out that each school was going to get to take one back to our campus! Thank you to Brian Dean and the Garland Education Foundation for giving our students the opportunity to learn using Sphero. I am still learning about Sphero and will be photographing all of Sphero's parts before he starts getting checked out by teachers to use across Bradfield. Soon, Sphero will be the most popular robot in the school!

Lastly, it is Cybersafety week in Garland ISD so students have been hearing a tip each day on the announcements, receiving lessons during library and in their classrooms, and there is a poster contest going on across the district. I cannot wait to see which poster wins for our school and goes on to compete for a BB-8 robot like Sphero. Here are some of the cybersafety booklets that my 3rd graders created today.

#DotDay

September 15th is International Dot Day! This was the first year that Bradfield students got involved with Dot Day in the library. Students either viewed The Dot by Peter Reynolds on Tumblebook or heard it read aloud by my sub. The book encourages students to leave their mark and to not doubt what their contribution can be even if they think they do have talent. I love the message of this book because it shows that everyone has their own genius. We, as teachers, just have to help kids believe in themselves.

Monday's flex day classes each started with the same blank circle. They used markers, pencils, and colored pencils to make their mark on their dot. Check out the amazing display of dots below.

I had to be out on Wednesday for a technology training (more exciting information about that is coming soon!!), so I saved our dot drawing activity for my Thursday morning class. The 4th graders worked together or individually to create a dot using sidewalk chalk. Not only did they make the playground look awesome, they were excited to have no restrictions on what their "dot" was supposed to look like.

Even the rain and the sun decided to collaborate on making a dot! I cannot wait for next year's #DotDay. I hope to help the students make it even bigger and better.

Llama, Llama...Read with Mama

So, my goal this year is to blog every Wednesday...however, I really did not know what to write about today since we have only had one day of school this week. Then, last night I found out on Twitter about the passing of a great author named Anna Dewdney. She was the writer of the Llama, Llama books. In her obituary, she requested that people read to a child instead of having a funeral for her.

How amazing is that?!?!? Ms. Dewdney was an advocate for children's literacy throughout her career. Her relatable and fun stories have made story time a safe, comforting place for children across the world. Her Llama, Llama stories will be missed by my students and myself. However, I am comforted by the fact that there is a TV series coming soon based on the Llama, Llama books. Kids need to hear that it is ok to miss mama or having sharing drama.

 

My favorite Dewdney book is Llama, Llama Holiday Drama because it tells a great story about how material things are not what is important during the holidays. I always read this book to at least one grade level during the crazy holiday times. I did not know much about the author until I read the article above, but it appears that the meaning behind this book was also echoed in her personal life. She values experiences, specifically reading with children, over stuff that can be bought with money.

Our fabulous P.E. teacher Mrs. Newberry gives a speech at the beginning of the year to the students about how when you are at school, the teachers are your mamas and that our job is to make sure they are safe. If you are in P.E., then Mrs. Newberry is your P.E. mama...if you are in library, then Mrs. Ray is your library mama....etc. I plan to read to my students as their library mama this week in honor of Anna Dewdney. Please join me in honoring her final wishes by reading to a child today, tomorrow, or sometime this week...and keep doing it!